wars for asia

aubade@cutgrassliesfrail.com — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Capsule review: The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949 (S.C.M. Paine)

Like catnip for middle-aged dads. Impeccably researched and well written. Paine manages to make legible the hash that was the long Chinese civil war.

Rating: ★★★★★

reconstruction

aubade@cutgrassliesfrail.com — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Capsule review: Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (Eric Foner)

The inability to plan for the consequences of a war and what to do with the conquered ; the haste to move on to the business of America, business ; a childish faith in free market and free labor ideology ; the prerogatives of Capital when challenged by Labor sweeping all other concerns away ; and, of course, ineradicable white supremacy, violently enforced. Quintessential America.

Rating: ★★★★☆

spring snow

aubade@cutgrassliesfrail.com — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Capsule review: Spring Snow (Yukio Mishima)

A perfect novel. Mishima writes prose with Flaubertian control, detachment, and elegance (a word itself often used in the story) and every element comes together masterfully. Even parts that may seem extraneous to the central story—the visiting princes, Honda’s attendance at a criminal trial, various philosophical digressions—offer their own counterpoints and add meaningfully to the whole.

A striking image, coming after Satoko reflects on her time with Kiyoaki inevitably coming to its end:

Behind him [Honda] heard the sound—so faint that he thought he must be imagining it at first—of Satoko pouring the sand from the shoe she had taken off. To Honda, it sounded like the most enchanting hourglass in the world.

Rating: ★★★★★

reading log

aubade@cutgrassliesfrail.com — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

2026

[in progress] Der Stimmenimitator • Thomas Bernhard
To Rule All Under Heaven: A History of Classical China, from Confucius to the First Emperor • Andrew Seth Meyer
The Left Hand of Darkness • Ursula K. Le Guin
[in progress] We Had It Coming: and other fictions • Luke O’Neil
Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 • Eric Foner
How China Works • Xiaohuan Lan
Spring Snow • Yukio Mishima
The Great Global Transformation • Branko Milanović
The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View • Ellen Meiksins Wood
A Brief History of Commercial Capitalism • Jairus Banaji
The Jakarta Method • Vincent Bevins
What Every Web Developer Should Know About HTTP • K. Scott Allen
The Perspective of the World • Fernand Braudel
The Wheels of Commerce • Fernand Braudel

2025

Clown Town • Mick Herron
The Structures of Everyday Life • Fernand Braudel
Murphy • Samuel Beckett
The Age of Empire: 1875–1914 • Eric Hobsbawm
L’ère du capital: 1848–1875 • Eric Hobsbawm, tr. Eric Diacon
The Age of Revolution: 1749–1848 • Eric Hobsbawm
Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union • Vladislav M. Zubok
The Wars for Asia, 1911–1949 • S.C.M. Paine
The Penguin History of the USA • Hugh Brogan
Kleine Geschichte Chinas • Kai Vogelsang

2024

Der Knochenmann • Wolf Haas
Auferstehung der Toten • Wolf Haas
Scientific Babel • Michael D. Gordin
A Month in the Country • J.L. Carr
Beton • Thomas Bernhard
Kalmann und der schlafende Berg • Joachim B. Schmidt
Mahomet • Maxime Rodinson
Kalmann • Joachim B. Schmidt
Saisonarbeit • Heike Geißler
Die Physiker • Friedrich Dürrenmatt
They Called It Peace • Lauren Benton
Player of Games • Iain M. Banks
Seeing Like a State • James C. Scott

2023

Footnotes in Gaza • Joe Sacco
Palestine • Joe Sacco
A Savage War of Peace • Alistair Horne
Naming Things • Tom Benner
The Song of Achilles • Madeline Miller
The 100 Years War on Palestine • Rashid Khalidi
The Dog of the South • Charles Portis (re-read)
The Good Soldier • Ford Madox Ford
The Divine Comedy • tr. C.H. Sisson
Beowulf • tr. Seamus Heaney
Tales from Ovid • tr. Ted Hughes
Book VI • tr. Seamus Heaney
The Aeneid • tr. Sarah Ruden
The Odyssey • tr. Emily Wilson
War Music • Christopher Logue (re-read)

2022–2014 (unordered)

Nada • Jean-Patrick Manchette
Fatale • Jean-Patrick Manchette
Le petit bleu de la côte ouest • Jean-Patrick Manchette
La position du tireur couché • Jean-Patrick Manchette
Pond • Claire-Louise Bennett
The Dog of the South • Charles Portis
The Thirty Years War • C.V. Wedgwood
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy • John le Carré
A Perfect Spy • John le Carré
Jane Eyre • Charlotte Brontë
Wuthering Heights • Emily Brontë
A House and its Head • Ivy Compton-Burnett
Speedboat • Renata Adler
The Bridge on the Drina • Ivo Andrić, tr. Lovett F. Edwards
A Question of Upbringing • Anthony Powell
Märchen deutscher Dichter • ed. Elisabeth Borchers
Das Parfum • Patrick Süskind
Die Wand • Marlen Haushofer
Der bunte Schleier • W. Somerset Maugham, tr. Anna Kellner and Irmgard Andrae
Kurzgeschichten / Nouvelles • Bertolt Brecht
Deutsche Kurzerzählungen / Nouvelles allemandes • ed. Alain Lance and Reiner Müller
Deutsche heutige Kurzerzählungen / Nouvelles allemandes contemporaines • ed. Michel Lemercier
Das große Heft • Agota Kristof, tr. Eva Moldenhauer
Der Beweis • Agota Kristof, tr. Erika Tophoven-Schöningh
Die dritte Lüge • Agota Kristof, tr. Erika Tophoven
A Legacy • Sybille Bedford
The Good Soldier Švejk • Jaroslav Hašek, tr. ?
Memorial • Alice Oswald
On the Road to Babadag • Andrzej Stasiuk, tr. Michael Kandel
In Europe • Geert Mak, tr. Sam Garrett
Verbrechen • Ferdinand von Schirach
Frau Sartoris • Elke Schmitter
Fake Accounts • Lauren Oyler
Manhunt • Gretchen Felker-Martin
Exercices de style • Raymond Queneau
The Price of Salt • Patricia Highsmith
Little Women • Louisa May Alcott
Prague Tales • Jan Neruda, tr. Michael Henry Heim
The Gift • Vladimir Nabokov
Loving • Henry Green (re-read)
The Radetzky March • Joseph Roth, tr. ?
Voyage au bout de la nuit • Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Une vie • Guy de Maupassant
Le testament français • Andreï Makine
Les sauvages (tome 1) • Sabri Louatah
Light Years • James Salter
HHhH • Laurent Binet
A Handful of Dust • Evelyn Waugh
Desperate Characters • Paula Fox
Slow Horses • Mick Herron
Dead Lions • Mick Herron
Real Tigers • Mick Herron
Spook Street • Mick Herron
London Rules • Mick Herron
Joe Country • Mick Herron
Slough House • Mick Herron
Bad Actors • Mick Herron
Faire l’amour • Jean-Philippe Toussaint
Fuir • Jean-Philippe Toussaint
La perfection du tir • Mathias Enard
Offshore • Penelope Fitzgerald
The Leopard • Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, tr. Archibald Colquhuon (re-read)
An Essay On French Verse: For Readers of English Poetry • Jacques Barzun

2013–2008

Invisible Dragon • Dave Hickey
Air Guitar • Dave Hickey
Canti • Giacomo Leopardi, tr. Jonathan Galassi
Tenth of December • George Saunders
Autobiography of Red • Anne Carson
Autoportrait • Edouard Levé
Swann’s Way • Marcel Proust, tr. Lydia Davis
Voyage de noces • Patrick Modiano
Leah • Seymour Epstein
Madame Bovary • Gustave Flauvert, tr. Lydia Davis
The Tragic Menagerie • Lydia Zinovieva-Annibal, tr. Jane Costlow
Antigone • tr. Robert Fagles
7 Greeks • tr. Guy Davenport
War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy, tr. Louise and Aylmer Maude
Amsterdam Stories • Nescio (J.H.F. Grönloh), tr. Damion Searls
Skylark • Dezso Kosztolanyi, tr. Richarc Aczel
At Last • Edward St Aubyn
Mother’s Milk • Edward St Aubyn
Some Hope • Edward St Aubyn
Bad News • Edward St Aubyn
Never Mind • Edward St Aubyn
Memoirs of Hadrian • Marguerite Yourcenar, tr. Grace Frick
Stoner • John Williams
Cousin Bette • Honoré de Balzac, tr. Sylvia Raphael
Middlemarch • George Eliot
The Wife of Martin Guerre • Janet Lewis
Jakob Von Gunten • Robert Walser, tr. Christopher Middleton
What Maisie Knew • Henry James
The Portrait of a Lady • Henry James
The Story of Art • E.H. Gombrich
The Peregrine • J.A. Baker
The Runaway Bride • Elizabeth Kendall
The Brown Decades • Lewis Mumford
Frozen Desire • James Buchan
War Music • Christopher Logue
Ancient Greek Lyrics • tr. Willis Barnstone
The Iliad • Robert Fitzgerald
Sentimental Education • Gustave Flaubert, tr. ?
Payback • Margaret Atwood
The Goshawk • T.H. White
Journey by Moonlight • Antal Szerb, tr. Len Rix
Poets in a Landscape • Gilbert Highet
The Red and the Black • Stendhal, tr. ?
Selected Stories • Robert Walser, tr. Christopher Middleton
The Soul of Kindness • Elizabeth Taylor
Fathers and Sons • Ivan Turgenev, tr. ?
The Leopard • Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, tr. Archibald Colquhuon
Alien Hearts • Guy de Maupassant, tr. Richard Howard
Bel Ami • Guy de Maupassant, tr. Douglas Parmée
Beware of Pity • Stefan Zweig, tr. Phyllis Blewitt
The House in Paris • Elizabeth Bowen
The Castle • Franz Kafka, tr. Willa and Edwin Muir
Stories • Anton Chekhov, tr. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
The Road into the Open • Arthur Schnitzler, tr. Roger Byers
The Great Gatsby • F. Scott Fitzgerald
Loving • Henry Green
Pnin • Vladimir Nabokov
They Came Like Swallows • William Maxwell
Red Cavalry Stories • Isaac Babel, tr. ?
Emma • Jane Austen
Shakespeare • Mark Van Doren
Plays • William Shakespeare
Pale Fire • Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita • Vladimir Nabokov
Elective Affinities • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, tr. ?
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man • James Joyce
Dubliners • James Joyce
Time Will Darken It • William Maxwell
Down and Out in Paris and London • George Orwell
Homage to Catalonia • George Orwell
Gulliver’s Travels • Jonathan Swift
Paradise Regained • John Milton
Paradise Lost • John Milton
The Divine Comedy • Dante Alighieri, tr. Jean and Robert Hollander
Storm of Steel • Ernst Jünger, tr. Michael Hofmann
The Aeneid • tr. Robert Fitzgerald
The Odyssey • tr. Robert Fagles
The Iliad • tr. Robert Fagles
The Histories • Herodotus, tr. Aubrey de Sélincourt
Lucky Jim • Kingsley Amis
Walden • Henry David Thoreau
The Culture of Narcissism • Christopher Lasch
The First World War • John Keegan
The Russian Revolution • Sheila Fitzpatrick
Poetic Meter and Poetic Form • Paul Fussell
Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy • David Stevenson
Moby Dick • Herman Melville
Dead Souls • Nikolai Gogol, tr. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
In Parenthesis • David Jones
The Brothers Karamazov • Fyodor Dostoevsky, tr. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
White Noise • Don DeLillo
The Quiet American • Graham Greene
The Master and Margarita • Mikhail Bulgakov, tr. ?
The Great War and Modern Memory • Paul Fussell
Notes from Underground • Fyodor Dostoevsky, tr. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
Hunger • Knut Hamsun, tr. Sverre Lyngstad
Journey to the End of the Night • Louis-Ferdinand Céline, tr. Ralph Manheim
Blood Meridian • Cormac McCarthy
The Road • Cormac McCarthy
The Trial • Franz Kafka, tr. ?
The Stranger • Albert Camus, tr. ?
The Guns of August • Barbara W. Tuchman

reading on cut grass lies frail