A book:When Fox is a Thousand by Larissa Lai. When Fox is a Thousand is a lyrical, magical novel, rich with poetry and folklore and elements of the fairytale. Larissa Lai interweaves three narrative voices and their attendant cultures: an elusive fox growing toward wisdom and her 1000 birthday, the ninth-century Taoist poet/nun Yu Hsuan-Chi (a real person executed in China for murder), and the oddly named Artemis, a young Asian-American woman living in contemporary Vancouver.
With beautiful and enchanting prose, and a sure narrative hand, Lai combines Chinese mythology, the sexual politics of medieval China, and modern-day Vancouver to masterfully revise the myth of the Fox (a figure who can inhibit women's bodies in order to cause mischief). Her potent imagination and considerable verbal skill result in a tale that continues to haunt long after the story is told.
A movie:The Linguini Incident because I always recommend it and because David Bowie is just drool-worthy in it. Plus, the interior of the restaurant (and Cecil and Dante) always makes me laugh out loud.
Someone you should follow:Of Blog of the Fallen At first glance it's just another fantasy/sci-fi book review site, but Larry also reviews foreign language texts, classics I've never heard of, and "literary" fiction. In other words, it's a mix of all the things I love, not just the genre works. He also has some nice interviews and I've been finding his reassessment of Tolkien really interesting.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-06-05 02:17 pm (UTC)With beautiful and enchanting prose, and a sure narrative hand, Lai combines Chinese mythology, the sexual politics of medieval China, and modern-day Vancouver to masterfully revise the myth of the Fox (a figure who can inhibit women's bodies in order to cause mischief). Her potent imagination and considerable verbal skill result in a tale that continues to haunt long after the story is told.
A movie: The Linguini Incident because I always recommend it and because David Bowie is just drool-worthy in it. Plus, the interior of the restaurant (and Cecil and Dante) always makes me laugh out loud.
Someone you should follow: Of Blog of the Fallen At first glance it's just another fantasy/sci-fi book review site, but Larry also reviews foreign language texts, classics I've never heard of, and "literary" fiction. In other words, it's a mix of all the things I love, not just the genre works. He also has some nice interviews and I've been finding his reassessment of Tolkien really interesting.
And Happy Birthday!!!!