BLACK RICE, a novella by K. M. Kaung

It is soooo hawtt!

Self, remember what you were moaning about only yesterday?  About how chilly it was inside the house?

Must you always need reminding:  BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR ???

Kyi’s novella, Black Rice, arrived in the mail today.  That was quick!  Self only ordered it on Tuesday!

The voice packs a punch.  The reader is immediately immersed in the narrator’s world, Burma during World War II:

. . .  The bricks in the old temples are held together by stucco cement mixed from nothing but lime, sand and boiled sticky rice.

Yet this rice-based cement has held the temples together for hundreds of years.  The monk and the nun fortune-tellers always say:  My name fits my skin color.  My skin color matches my name.  That is necessary for good luck and survival.  In our country these are necessities, like food and drink, like good health.  No one proves that better than the Old Man, Bright Sun himself.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers.  Stay tuned.

 

JENALYN, Self’s First Novella, Downloadable Now: Only $2.99 per Download!

And here’s the link, dear blog readers!

It’s very experimental storytelling.

And it’s available FREE for a very limited time  (NOT!  You waited too long!  Now you have to pay $2.99!)

If anyone is interested in reviewing Jenalyn or The Lost Language (more about this collection, below), please contact self so that she can send you review copies!

*     *     *     *

And here’s something else:  Because The Lost Language, self’s third collection of short stories, was published by a Philippine press, Anvil, it hasn’t been readily available here in the States.  Self has told many people that, if they should chance to be in the Philippines, they should drop by their local National Bookstore or Powerbooks and pick up a copy there.  That, or have a visiting relative bring over a copy.

But self has just discovered that Linda Nietes of Philippine Expressions (L.A.-based long-time purveyor of Filipiniana) gets a monthly shipment of books from the Philippines, so if you want a copy, all you need to do is e-mail her at:

linda@philippineexpressions.com

She has a Paypal account.

When self’s first book, Ginseng and Other Tales From Manila, was published, it was Linda Nietes who organized the launch in L.A.  And she has done the same for untold numbers of Filipino and Filipino American writers.  Really, self cannot thank her enough!

Stay tuned.

Embarrassment of Riches: NYTBR, 18 September 2011

Here, dear blog readers, are the reviews self feels like saving after perusing the 18 September 2011 issue of The New York Times Book Review.  There are quite a number!

  1. Susann Cokal’s review of Leah Hager Cohen’s fourth novel, The Grief of Read the rest of this entry »

NYTBR 25 April 2010: Biography of Muriel Spark, New Crime Books

Books self is interested in reading after perusing the 25 April 2010 issue of The New York Times Book Review:

(1) After reading Charles McGrath’s review of Martin Stannard’s Muriel Spark: The Biography:

  • Martin Stannard’s Muriel Spark: The Biography
  • Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

(2) After reading Jacob Silverman’s review of Brad Watson’s new book Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives: Stories:

  • Brad Watson’s 2002 novel, a finalist for the National Book Award, The Heaven of Mercury
  • Brad Watson’s new book Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives: Stories

(3) After reading Marilyn Stasio’s “Crime” column, the following mysteries  (4 of 4, a record):

  • Jesse Kellerman’s “stunning” The Executor
  • Ariana Franklin’s A Murderous Procession
  • Declan Hughes’ City of Lost Girls, whose hero, the private eye Ed Loy, “has a strong work ethic, doesn’t take himself too seriously and has the wit to appreciate a good comic-book store.”
  • Peter May’s Freeze Frame, which brings the reader “back to the golden age of detective fiction, when stout men in club chairs puffed on after-dinner cigars as they pondered brain-teasing puzzles involving timetables and exotic poisons.”

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.

Favorite Books So Far, 2009

Has self already drawn up a list of the books she’s enjoyed reading, so far this year? She might have, but perhaps self is experiencing another of her senior moments.  If dear blog readers remember similar post, can someone tell her?

Let’s see, since January 1, self has read:

  • 15 novels (including several that should rightly be called “mysteries”)
  • 12 non-fiction books (a few of which could probably more rightly be referred to as “memoirs”)
  • 1 short story collection (George Saunders’ CivilwarLand in Bad Decline –  excellent!) and 1 novella collection (Jim Harrison’s The Summer He Didn’t Die –  also excellent!)

Let’s see, of the 15 novels self has read so far this year, her favorites have been:

NYTBR 7 June 2009: The Short List

Books self is interested in reading after perusing the 7 June 2009 issue of The New York Times Book Review:

1. After reading Paul Berman’s review of Gerald Martin’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Life :

Gerald Martin’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Life

2. After reading Anthony Doerr’s review of Josh Weill’s The New Valley: Novellas:

Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
Joyce’s The Dead
Mann’s Death in Venice
Garcia Marquez’s Chronicles of a Death Foretold

3.    After reading Dagmar Herzog’s review of Anne Nelson’s Red Orchestra:  The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler:

Anne Nelson’s Red Orchestra:  The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler

4.    After reading the “Crime” column of Marilyn Stasio:

    Jeffery Deaver’s latest, Roadside Crosses
    a first mystery by Rebecca Cantrell, A Trace of Smoke

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