quote:

Originally posted by Ishmaels coffin:
Rings a bell, faintly, somewhere off in the distance...

I have the same reaction. I'm pretty sure I've read this.

Kino looks like a Japanese name, but...

Ding ding ding ding! I recognized it. It's "The Pearl" by Steinbeck. I had to read it again, and it clicked.
Now I will do a victory dance!

Ok. Here's mine:
"The truth is, if old Major Dover hadn't dropped dead at the Taunton races, Jim would never have come to Thurgood's at all. He came in mid-term without an interview- late May, it was though no one would have thought it from the weather- employed through one of the shiftier agencies specialising in supply teachers for prep schools, to hold down old Dover's teaching till someone suitable could be found."

Oh god!! The Pearl. I haven't read that for 20 years! ha!

To k/c's quote: I adore John LeCarre, so it took me only a few moments to recollect 'Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy.'

Ishy time:
'....War is
A grave affair of state;
It is a place
Of life and death,
A road
To survival and extinction,
A matter
To be pondered carefully.'

I don't know yours, Ish, but I love The Pearl because you can read it in a morning and feel like you've been reborn and need to share the experience.

Steinbeck roamed round your part of Cali did he not? Great author.

Good on you, ishy. I loved LeCarre back in the good old days of the cold war. The Karla trilogy, in particular, was my favorite. I'm not sure that the fall of the wall has been kind to him, though. I haven't enjoyed his African books as much. "The Mission Song" was OK, but "The Constant Gardener" bored me, frankly. The enemies are just not as colorful. Say what you want about the Soviets, they were great enemies!

Mmm, yes k/c, I love a good cold war thriller. Roaming around dives in Vienna or Berlin, nothing like it.

My choice, to clue people in, is Asian, if that helps.....

Would it be "The Art of War," by Sun Tzu?
And can you read it in the original?

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
PRG won't show before Monday, so how about:

You know me so well.

And I think you're right, KC. I think it is Art of War.

I'm not gonna doubt PRG when it comes to books!

So, I'll go ahead and take a turn.

Keeping with the Asian theme:
"I have been many years training in the way of strategy, called Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, and now I think I will explain it in writing for the first time."

Nothing. I got nothing....

You're kidding?! Ish, I thought sure you'd get this one!

Well, as I had absolutely no idea, I used Google, and I can say that I have never heard a whisper of either book or author!
Love Japanese film, but Japanese literature I have not had a lot to do with.

Well, I've no doubt someone here has read it. PRG?

Of course! I have been on a bit of an Asian lit kick lately, both fiction and non, and this is one I picked up again and skimmed through. It is none other than The Book of Five Rings by Mr. Miyamoto Musashi. A classic text to be sure.

Give me a bit and I'll see if I can dig something up to post.

You have yet to let me down, PRG!

It's an interesting book, Ish. Not really literature. More of a "how to" for kendo and bushido, interspersed with philosophical observations.

It was somewhat popular among the readers of business books ("Who stole my cheese," "Built to last," and all that other drivel) as some kind of authentic strategy guide. A guy reads this, and suddenly, an assistant vice president for sales from Teaneck, NJ is a samurai!

As someone who loves the segoku jidai (hey mark, I saw an early post that suggested you were a big fan of Lone Wolf and Cub) I thought it was a nice window into what they were actually thinking. And, of course, Musashi looms so large in Japanese folklore as a kensai. If you love Japanese film, you have, of course, seen the Samurai trilogy? That's based on Musashi's biography.

Great, Kendo, the only direction I can go now is down!

Ok, I actually have a line! It definitely shouldn't be as tough as my last. Continuing with the Asian invasion:

"When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini's The Thieving Magpie, which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta. "

quote:

Posted by kendocubano
As someone who loves the segoku jidai (hey mark, I saw an early post that suggested you were a big fan of Lone Wolf and Cub) I thought it was a nice window into what they were actually thinking. And, of course, Musashi looms so large in Japanese folklore as a kensai. If you love Japanese film, you have, of course, seen the Samurai trilogy? That's based on Musashi's biography.

I love the Lone Wolf & Cub series. Have almost all of them. And yes, I have seen the Samurai Trilogy, but only on a bootleg, so I wasn't aware of its source.

As for PRG's quote, Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle', an Asian novelist I am familiar with.

Try: 'Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen sat one morning in the windowbay of their father's house in Beldover, working and talking.'

Ooooh! D.H. Lawrence is one of my favorites! This is from Women in Love.

I'm actually at home so I'll go grab a book and post in a few.