Reading Modern Literature

Join us as we discuss the second half of Chan's novel!

For this meeting, we'll be discussing parts IV-VI of the novel - roughly, its second half. If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find a copy of it here:

Join us as we continue our tour through Asian literature by discussing the first half of Chang's classic novel!

Publisher's description:

"Shanghai, 1930s. Shen Shijun, a young engineer, has fallen in love with his colleague, the beautiful Gu Manzhen. He is determined to resist his family’s efforts to match him with his wealthy cousin so that he can marry her. But dark circumstances—a lustful brother-in-law, a treacherous sister, a family secret—force the two young lovers apart.

As Manzhen and Shijun go on their separate paths, they lose track of one another, and their lives become filled with feints and schemes, missed connections and tragic misunderstandings. At every turn, societal expectations seem to thwart their prospects for happiness. Still, Manzhen and Shijun dare to hold out hope—however slim—that they might one day meet again. A glamorous, wrenching tale set against the glittering backdrop of an extraordinary city, Half a Lifelong Romance is a beloved classic from one of the essential writers of twentieth-century China."

If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find a copy of it here:

Join us as we conclude our tour through Asian literature by discussing the second half of Chang's classic novel!

If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find a copy of it here:

Join us as we begin our series on speculative fiction by discussing Gene Wolfe's classic triptych of interrelated novellas!

Publisher's description:

"Far from Earth, two sister planets, Saint Anne and Saint Croix, circle each other in an eternal dance. It is said a race of shapeshifters once lived here, only to perish when men came. But one man believes they can still be found, somewhere in back of the beyond.

In The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Gene Wolfe skillfully interweaves three bizarre tales to create a mesmerizing pattern: the harrowing account of the son of a mad genius who discovers his hideous heritage; a young man's mythic dreamquest for his darker half; and the bizarre chronicle of a scientist's nightmarish imprisonment. Like an intricate, braided knot, the pattern at last unfolds to reveal astonishing truths about this strange and savage alien landscape."

If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find a copy of it here: