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Around the World in 2000 Books

(give or take a few)

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Indonesia

Potions and Paper Cranes: a bunch of bad things happen to a bunch of unlikeable people

June 12, 2019June 12, 2019 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 2 Comments

Potions and Paper Cranes, Lan Fang, 2013

Indonesia, #21
Kindle edition, $10
Read August 2017
Rating: 2/5
Recommended for: an additional perspective on race and gender in World War II-era Indonesia (but only if you’ve already read everything else)

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Daughters of Papua: Life’s a bitch. You know the rest.

May 6, 2019April 28, 2019 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 3 Comments

Daughters of Papua, Anindita S. Thayf, 2009

Indonesia, #18
Borrowed from SF public library (via Link+)
Read August 2017
Rating: 2.5/5
Recommended for: People who found Bambi just a bit too lighthearted

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The Birth of I La Galigo: Intense pregnancy cravings, eggs of unknown provenance

April 25, 2019June 13, 2019 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ Leave a comment

The Birth of I La Galigo: A poem inspired by the Bugis legend of the same name, Mohamad Salim, Sapardi Djoko Damono, and John H. McGlynn

Indonesia, #17
Borrowed from SF library (interlibrary loan)
Read August 2017
Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: lazy folklorists

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A Very Sleep-deprived Assessment of “The Rainbow Troops,” or, Adventures in Toddler Jet Lag

March 23, 2019March 23, 2019 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 9 Comments

The Rainbow Troops, Andrea Hirata, 2005

Indonesia, #16
Kindle edition, $10.00 from Amazon
Read July 2017
Rating: 4/5
Recommended for: Bad news bears

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The Original Dream: A very inaccurate synopsis

March 4, 2019March 4, 2019 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 3 Comments

The Original Dream, Nukila Amal, 2003, translated by Linda Owens, 2017

Indonesia, #15
Kindle edition, $1.99 from Amazon
Read July 2017
Rating: 2.5/5
Recommended for: hot messes

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Beauty is a Wound

February 19, 2019April 28, 2019 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 3 Comments

Beauty is a Wound, Eka Kurniawan, 2002

Indonesia, #14
Borrowed from SF library
Read August 2017
Rating: 4.5/5
Recommended for: Anyone longing for a 100 Years of Solitude update written by Chuck Palahniuk
Content warning (after the jump): sexual assault

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Earth Dance

November 5, 2018November 5, 2018 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ Leave a comment

Earth Dance, Oka Rusmini, 2000 (translated by Rani Amboyo & Thomas M. Hunter)

Indonesia, #13
Borrowed from SF library (interlibrary loan from UC Riverside)
Read July 2017
Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: scheming social-climbers and their hapless daughters

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Saman: A very inaccurate synopsis

September 14, 2018September 17, 2018 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 4 Comments

Saman, Ayu Utami, 1998

Indonesia, #12
Kindle, $5 on Amazon.com
Read: June 2017
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommended for: I don’t even know

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The Weaverbirds: Eyes are not like guns OR nipples, pick another metaphor please

August 1, 2018April 28, 2019 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 3 Comments

The Weaverbirds, Y.B. Mangunwijaya, 1981

Indonesia, #10
Kindle, $10 on Amazon.com
Read June 2017
Rating: 2.5/5
Recommended for: boring people

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This Earth of Mankind: That’s enough, thanks

July 16, 2018January 8, 2019 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 2 Comments

This Earth of Mankind, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, 1975

Indonesia, #9
Paperback (received as a gift)
Read May 2017
Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: guys who think #metoo is just a witch hunt

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A slightly belated #burmese #bookstack

I have been reading this book since November. It’s not terrible or anything; in fact it’s a pretty compelling story of a young woman who marries a man who doesn’t understand her and treats her like a doll, determining what she eats, what she wears, when she sleeps, and (most harrowingly) whether and how often she can see her family. The heroine’s passivity in the face of all these ever-tightening restrictions is a little frustrating to me, but it’s set in Burma in the 1930s, where women were pretty much expected to be passive and compliant all the time. It’s not exactly a page-turner, but I don’t think that’s why I’ve stalled out on this book. I don’t know whether to blame the pandemic or just life with two small children, but for perhaps the first time in my life I just haven’t felt like reading. Might as well say “I haven’t felt like breathing,” but there it is. But at last I’m nearly finished with “Not out of Hate,” and I decided to download the Kindle edition of “Letters from Burma” and the audiobook of “Burmese Days” so that hopefully I can get a little more reading done during the long long hours I spend nursing my toddler to sleep in a dark room. I would very much like to reach a stage where parenting and reading are not in conflict, but I’m afraid that day might never come.

It’s been a long time since I wrote a blog post. Frankly it’s been a while since I read anything that wasn’t by NK Jemisin or Stephen King. But I still have all these books from Southeast Asia that I’ve read and haven’t written about, so I jumped back in with quick takes on a whole bunch of books from the Philippines, including this fantastic buddy-cop serial killer mystery starring two Jesuit priests.

Folsom Street Fair, 2015

#tbt to my last blog post of 2019: America Is in the Heart, by Carlos Bulosan

Drawings from today’s blog post, Philippine Food and Life by Gilda Cordero-Fernando. Link in profile.

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