Think there’s a need to start tidying up my bookshelves, and keep a little record of the books that I’ve read. Looks like I should start reading more Chinese books.

Books read since First Day of Year of Rooster:

Title	Author	Personal rating	Notes
The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe	C. S. Lewis		More interested in its narrative style (point of view and tone), its anachronicle nature than anything else. The story itself is none less than an epitome of western binary opposite often found in myths – good/bad, male/female, warmth/coldness etc. Fast read if you do not take time to appreciate the language.
The Map that Changed the World	Simon Winchester		Unless you enjoy reading a discursive account of some British class maltreatment to a rose-tinted boring genius, intercepted from page to page with uninteresting footnotes, irrelevant personal letters, and unintelligible Latin geological and geographical terms more than you can find in the Britannica Encyclopaedia, go ahead and read. Otherwise I found absolutely no value in this piece of l’histoire at all. Have struggled to finish it.
Ring For Jeeves	P.G. Wodehouse		Pure British comedy yet universally funny. Highly enjoyable.
Number Ten	Sue Townsend		Hilariously funny description of the plight of lower class Britain. Ironic and sharp. Written with wit and concern of people’s interest. Put down by the New/Old Labour dispute though, but that’s only personal. May get a bit cheesy at times.
Morgenstern Menschen	Jean-Jacque Sempé		A comic drawing book lent to me from I, v. funny, what a pity it’s in German, a language I have only the minimal understanding.
Utopia (2^nd Edition) with background and criticism	Thomas More, Robert Adams trans. & ed.		Absolutely boring and naïve, childish account of a Christianity-influenced society. Don’t understand why it managed to be a classic. Even worse than Plato’s Republic.
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (II)	Conan Doyle, Leslie S. Klinger Ed.		With lots of original illustrations and cultural/historical/literary notes, a must read for Sherlock Holmes fans. Comes in two volumes, each as thick as brick. Sometimes notes get too tedious could just completely ignore. Quite a lot of typo considering its publisher.
Bridget Jones’s Diary	Helen Fielding		V funny. Sarcastic in some point. More original than its sequel.
Bridget Jones – The Edge of Reason	Helen Fielding		A page-turner. V funny language. Sheer entertainment. Expect cliché ending.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night	Mark Haddon		Bitterly funny. Easy language and v informative. Recommend hard cover version. Some slips of narrative perspective/tone towards the later half of story.
A Reading Diary	Alberto Manguel		Enjoyable reading. Inspired me to read Sherlock Holmes again and Don Quixote in the future. A bit loose. Some sparkling gems scattered here and there. Would like to read his A History of Reading.
The Da Vinci Code	Dan Brown		Centre of controversy, a bit of hype, claimed to a must-read of scorpions. Fast pace, page turner. A good thriller stuffed with historical references. Just don’t read stuff into it. Some of its ideas regarding Jesus and Christianity just happen to resonate mine.
Global Village Idiot	John O’Farrell		Made me laugh out loud on MTR trains. Heavily loaded with Brits culture and political opinions. Got insights into the social scene of contemporary Britain.
The Quite American	Graham Greene		Gripping and silently cruel. Terribly true to human characters.
The Heart of the Matter	Graham Greene		Masterfully written. Not a fast-paced story but the characters are honestly portrayed. A beautifully sad story.
Fury	Salman Rushdie		A friend’s gift. Felt like should read his works since am going to study postcolonialsim. Reality blend with fantasy, a bit too difficult for me. Some beautiful/touching passages. Maybe prints too small.
The King's English: A Guide to Modern Usage	Kingsley Amis		If you’ve read Fowler’s prototype of this book, you should read this modern version as well. Amis is surely a man who knows what he’s talking. Would like to read his novels as well.
沉淪	郁達夫		就像書名和作者名的意象一樣，鬱悶。好像是屬於意識流的小說，瀰漫著一個青年沉淪的氣氛。性慾與靈魂極度壓抑的一部小說。
巴黎的鱗爪	徐志摩		原來是短篇小說和散文集。頭篇故事類似於Flaubert的東西；以後有好些充斥著浪漫主義情懷的文學批評文章，和一些無病呻吟。給人感覺是一個受西方主義荼毒的上流五四青年。
Brave New World Revisited	Aldous Huxley		Absolutely great. Don’t read if you can’t bear fresh ideas. A perfect combination of literature and science. Read also my book report.