This week I’ve been reading Four Reigns, Kukrit Pramoj‘s doorstopper of a novel about life in the Thai court in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Author: Kelly Dunagan
The Woman Who Had Two Navels: A very inaccurate synopsis

The Woman Who Had Two Navels, and Tales of the Tropical Gothic, Nick Joaquin, 2017
- Philippines, #14
- Paperback, $13.98 from Amazon
- Read January 2018
- Rating: 4.5/5
Philippine Food and Life

Philippine Food and Life, Gilda Cordero-Fernando, 1992
- Philippines, #21
- Borrowed from SF public library
- Read March 2018
- Rating: 3/5
- Recommended for: Patient foodies
Readings from the week: Hindu influences on Thai Buddhism
This week I finished Sightseeing, Thai Tales, and The Night Tiger. I’m still plugging away at Contes Populaires de Cambodge, du Laos, et du Siam—in fact I’m still reading the same story that I was last week (“Vorvong et Saurivong”), but I feel better about it because I realized this story makes up the entire second half of the book. So when I finish it, I’m done (thank God). I’ve gotten to the point where I’m assigning it to myself, like homework, and am only sticking it out because I’m so close to the end that I might as well finish it.
The Bamboo Dancers

The Bamboo Dancers, N.V.M. Gonzalez, 1959
- Philippines, #13
- Borrowed from SF public library
- Read December 2017
- Rating: 3.5/5
- Recommended for: Zooey Glass in Manila
This week’s readings: Stories from Thailand, plus a bonus Malaysian novel
I had a very long travel day this week, so I got most of my reading done while stuck on a plane holding a sleeping or nursing baby. Jet lag is way more brutal when there are two little (also jet-lagged) people in your house and no one seems to want to sleep at the same time, so I got very little done the rest of the week. Continue reading
Last year’s books and next year’s plans

Well, it’s a new year, and although I usually make kind of half-assed, unspoken resolutions (except for the time I resolved to floss every day, which is also the only resolution I’ve ever kept for a full year), this year I’m going to lay out some specific goals for the blog—because I’m just sick of writing blog posts a year after reading the book (or, ok, two years at this point, which is just objectively ridiculous)—and I’m letting you know about it because if I manage to follow through, there will be a serious uptick in e-mail notifications and I don’t want anyone to be annoyed (at least not without being forewarned).
America Is in the Heart

America Is in the Heart, Carlos Bulosan, 1946
- Philippines, #11
- Paperback, received as a gift
- Read January 2018
- Rating: 2.5/5
- Recommended for: enthusiastic communists
Shadow and Solitude: A play in one stupid act

Solo Entre las Sombras (Shadow and Solitude), Claro M. Recto, 1917
- Philippines, #9
- Print-on-demand paperback, received as a gift
- Read November 2017
- Rating: 2/5
- Recommended for: False dichotomists
Philippine Short Stories 1925-1940

Philippine Short Stories 1925-1940, Leopoldo Y. Yabes, ed., 1975
- Philippines, #8
- Borrowed from SF public library
- Read December 2017
- Rating: 4/5
- Recommended for: completists