Entropy
Thomas Pynchon
explores the concept of disorder through a chaotic New Year's Eve party; other stories included in the volume
Hong Kong Book Club
Archive by Year
A brief background of the HKBC
Oranges
John McPhee
… a comprehensive exploration of the orange farming and processing business. The book offers a detailed and informative look at the history, science, and economics behind the cultivation, harvesting, and distribution of oranges.
Grey Bees
Andrey Kurkov
…dramatizes the conflict in Ukraine through the adventures of a beekeeper and his frenemy in what seems to be in the Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine.
A Confederate General from Big Sur
Richard Brautigan
Before going their separate ways, narrator Jesse and his pal Lee Mellon converge, drink, and then go their separate ways.
The Promise
Damon Galgut
Set in South Africa, the story revolves around a family and their struggles with identity, secrets, and the legacy of apartheid.
The Periodic Table
Primo Levi
Primo Levi's _Periodic Table_ is a group of autobiographical episodes of the author's experiences as a Jewish-Italian doctoral-level chemist under the Fascist regime and afterward.
Ravelstein
Saul Bellow
The novel is a roman à clef written as a memoir. The narrator is in Paris with Abe Ravelstein, and Ravelstein, who is dying, asks the narrator to write a memoir about him after he dies.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers
The novel is about a deaf man, John Singer, and the people he encounters in a depression-era town in Georgia.
Who Goes There?
John W. Campbell
The story revolves around a group of scientists in Antarctica, who discover an alien life form trapped in the ice.
A Walker in the City
Alfred Kazin
Alfred Kazin's classic portrait of immigrant life in the early decades of the twentieth century.
The Three Body Problem
Cixin Liu
The novel begins during the Cultural Revolution in China, where a young astrophysicist named Ye Wenjie witnesses her father's death at the hands of Red Guards.
Motherless Brooklyn
Jonathan Letham
The novel tells the story of Lionel Essrog, a private detective with Tourette's syndrome
The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas
Machado de Assis
Bras Cubas is one of the weirdest books I've read in a while and it doesn't feel like it was written in the 19th century.
A Confederacy of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole
A disastrous job interview and a confrontation with the police force Ignatius to find real work as a hotdog vendor.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Walter M. Miller, Jr.
A post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by American writer Walter M. Miller Jr., first published in 1959.
Uncle Vanya
Anton Chekhov
Vanya is a middle-aged professor who feels disillusioned with his life and bitter about his wasted potential.
Klara and the Sun
Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro sets _Klara and the Sun_ in a dystopian future when some children are genetically engineered for enhanced academic ability.
City on the Edge of Forever
Harlan Ellison
The initial Star Trek episode as intended and not the one aired.
Why I Live at the PO
Eudora Welty
a first-person narrative that revolves around the character known as Sister. She recounts the events leading up to her decision to leave her family home.
The Cyberiad
Stanislaw Lem
_The Cyberiad_ are the stories of Trurl and Klapaucius, master inventors and engineers known as “constructors,” who have created marvels for kingdoms.
Ragtime
E.L. Doctorow
_Ragtime_ combines fictional narratives with real-life events, blurring the lines between fact and fiction. Think Zelig.
Intimations
Zadie Smith
The essays in "Intimations" touch on a range of topics, including the impact of the pandemic, racial injustice, social inequality, and the role of art in times of crisis.
The History of Rasselas
Samuel Johnson
Rasselas enlists the help of an artist who is also known as an engineer to help with his escape from the Valley
My Wicked, Wicked Ways
Errol Flynn
Known to millions as the preeminent swashbuckler of the silver screen, Errol Flynn was a complex man who lived a life far more adventurous than any of his films.
White Noise
Don DeLillo
Professor Jack Gladney teaches Hitler studies at a small liberal arts college in rural New York…
William Trevor's Last Stories
William Trevor
The story about the piano teacher has stayed and will stay with me for a while…
Humboldt's Gift
Saul Bellow
explores the changing relationship between art and power in a materialist America. This theme is addressed through the contrasting careers of two writers…
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities
Delmore Schwartz
Readers as diverse as TS Eliot and Lou Reed appreciated Delmore Schwartz's work.
