I liked Jurassic Park... another one by Michael Crichton is Prey which I also liked.

Anything by P.G.Wodehouse makes great escapist reading; or Evelyn Waugh's funnier books (Decline & Fall, Vile Bodies, Scoop, Put Out More Flags, etc).

wow, has it really been over a year since this thread was created? It feels like yesterday .

fretfulporpentine, why are you digging out old threads? It is very DanB-like behaviour.

The kitchen God's wife by Amy Tan or snowflower and the secret fan by Lisa See.

oooh, I had forgotten about this thread!

I read Snowflower and the secret fan recently, I loved it too.

I've just done a swap for the Kitchen God's Wife and I should be getting it in the next couple of days. I'm looking forward to reading it!

I'm trying to read The accidental by Ali Smith but I'm finding it difficult to get into, I keep going and reading my older books...quite strange for me...

I'm embarassed to say that I actually cried when reading snow flower, have never cried over a book before must have been good

The Kitchen God's wife is really good, I think it's Amy Tan's best book, better than the joy luck club.

I'm always crying over the sad bits in books! Nothing to be embarrased about!

I haven't read anything by Amy Tan yet. Not sure why I picked it.

Have you read The secrets of Jin-Shei by Alma Alexandra? It was good but I think Snowflower and the secret fan is better.

Another book I love based in China is The girl who played go by Shan Sa. Also The binding chair by Kathryn Harrison is one of my faves. Empress Orchid by Anchee Min is also very good.

Have read the binding chair and I have empress Orchid but havent read it yet. I think the binding chair and snowflower give a good insight into foot binding totally different to how I imagined it to be. Have been winding my boyfried up about it ever since I read snowflower, he says it makes him feel sick Don't know why though.

Alas the MAsh House by Devonshire Green is no more. Also, I'm perturbed that there is a related book entitled "Meat and Two Veg". Ooh err.

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell is great, most stuff my Allan de Botton, CS Lewis' adult writings, oh and anything by Kipling :)

Amy Tan is great....nice to see I'm not the only one slightly hooked on oriental fiction

teek, do you mean CS Lewis sci fi or the theological stuff? I'm a big fan.

Can I be horribly pretentious and go for 'Crime and Punishment' shortly followed by 'The Artist of the Floating World'?

...as for non-fiction.....hmmmmmm........I really don't know...I read so many academic 'factual' i.e. interperative monographs....actually I did read a wonderful paper on Polar Bears on the Stuart stage...that was fabulous.

I have been hooked on oriental literature for about 3 or 4 years now I think it was the Joy Luck club by Amy Tan that set me off.

Has anyone read her new book saving fish from drowning yet?

Am always on the lookout for a new oriental book as there are so few around. Does anyone know of any good ones hopefully that I havent already read yet? in the vein of Amy tan or lisa see or even Jung Chang

Chris, you might be able to answer a question for me... I saw/heard "The Thieving Magpie" (Rossini opera) a while back and they used a fake/stuffed magpie on stage. Do you know if there's any evidence that real caged magpies might have been used in performance?