Category: Books
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Weekly Wanderings: April 28, 2024
My brain felt chaotic and restless as I walked through the Toledo Museum of Art yesterday morning, taking in the works surrounding me in each room but not settling on anything long enough to fully consider it. Scuffed parquet floors creaked underneath my steps as I moved through rooms offering a special exhibit on African…
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Weekly Wanderings: April 7, 2024
As Willy Wonka said, “We have to get on, we have to get on! We have so much time and so little to do—scratch that, reverse it. This way, please!” First, I’m giving a virtual talk on Tuesday afternoon (Eastern Time) as part of the CHINA Town Hall program organized by the National Committee on…
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Weekly Wanderings: March 31, 2024
Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates, and happy final day of March to anyone else who feels like this month has been extra-long. March is always weird for me because the AAS conference falls somewhere in its latter half, so I spend the first couple weeks preparing for that, speed through five high-adrenaline days on…
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Weekly Wanderings: March 10, 2024
It’s a short one this week—just some recent book reviews from me—because I’ve been in full-tilt AAS 2024 Annual Conference preparation mode for the past seven days. My suitcases are on the living-room floor, half packed; dry cleaning will be ready for pickup tomorrow; there are several dozen table tent cards in my office that…
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Weekly Wanderings: March 3, 2024
Signs of spring have arrived in southeast Michigan: there’s a pile of asparagus in my kitchen waiting to be trimmed for dinner, I can hear birds chirping through the porch door that I’ve cracked open, and I’m wearing flip-flops instead of fluffy slippers. I’m sure we’re due for at least one more bout of bitterly…
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Weekly Wanderings: February 12, 2024
新年快乐 and 恭喜发财 to one and all as we kick off the Year of the Dragon. At the Association for Asian Studies #AsiaNow blog, I have two new interviews with authors to share: And at Goodreads, I reviewed The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen, a compelling and beautifully written novel about the members of…
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Weekly Wanderings: December 24, 2023
I’m keeping things short and sweet today, as there’s still lots to do here at my parents’ house to prepare for Christmas tomorrow. Thanks so much for reading these posts—please enjoy the usual assortment of recommended stories, plus my favorite Christmas cookie recipe. But first, more Goodreads reviews from my recent deep-dive into fiction to…
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Weekly Wanderings: December 17, 2023
I’m sure there’s some mathematical concept that can explain why I’ll request five books from the library over a three-month span, only to see all five become available to me within the same week. Overnight, it seems, I find myself checking out an arm-full of books, all in great demand, with only 21 days before…
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Weekly Wanderings: November 26-27-28, 2023
I try to have these Weekly Wanderings ready to publish on Sunday mornings. Throughout the week, I’ll have an open Word doc on my computer and add links to it as I trawl the internet, building the post in bits and pieces. Sometimes I’ll also write the headnote in advance, but usually that’s the last…
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Weekly Wanderings: November 19, 2023
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in San Francisco last Wednesday—Xi’s first trip to the United States in six years, and the first meeting between the two leaders in exactly one year. Everyone seemed to have low expectations for this interaction, and the two sides met them, reaching a couple of modest agreements to work…
Maura Elizabeth Cunningham 