One last challenge book...

Just one more

I finished Beijing Coma on the 27th and could easily have decided that the challenge was over and I could move on to other things, like that TBR stack I mentioned. But I didn't. Perhaps emboldened by the completion of Beijing Coma or because the month isn't actually over and I didn't want to quit, I picked up another book for this China Rican challenge. I skipped over another Puerto Rican book because I've been having a hard enough time finding titles, let alone titles that I want to read. Plus, even if I did find something, I'd have to buy it. Instead I went with another Chinese book for a couple reasons.

First up, China Pop by Jianying Zhu was already sitting on the shelf. In college, Boyfriend took a couple Chinese classes: language, culture, philosophy. So he has some Chinese books laying around the house. No Chinese lit, but things that qualify for this challenge. So it was easy to get. Plus it has bright colors and is about pop culture, which means it sparked my interest. The more trivial the topic, the more interesting I find it. There must be some inverse mathematical formula that can be applied there, but I'll let some of my smarter friends figure that out. I asked him how the book was and he shrugged his shoulders and said pretty boring. Super. Hopefully he's wrong.

Second, this picks up discussing Tiananmen Square, the horrors that happened there and the cultural move from that point onward through China's shifting identity. And I need that because my reaction to the ending of Beijing Coma was similar to my reaction to Orwell's 1984: I wanted to hide under the covers with my fingers in my ears and pretend nothing like that could ever happen. I'm pretty sure I turned on the TV after I finished the book, but I was just blankly staring at the images while trying to process what I'd just read. I needed something to show me not everything is dark and evil and there is hope, even if it's wrapped up with a Chinese soap opera.

So yeah, the challenge that I debated giving up on not long ago. I extended it. Because I'm a glutton for punishment apparently. Review to come soon.