London Reading Club Books of the month
Christmas Holiday
A coming-of-age novel that moves from genteel British society to the grim underworld of Paris before the war.
At the age of twenty-three, Charlie Mason is endowed with good looks, good manners and a cheerful disposition. Following three years at Cambridge and one working in his father's business, he is looking forward to a jaunt in Paris with one of his oldest friends. Yet Paris is not what he expects - in just a few days his young eyes are opened to the tragedies and ugly dramas of its underworld.
Somerset Maugham, in case you haven't read him yet:
One of the 20th century's most masterful storytellers, he dissects human nature with a cool, sharp, almost surgical approach.
His life was eventful and multifaceted: he studied medicine, worked as a spy, and travelled the world—experiences that formed the basis of his writing.
His masterpiece, *The Moon and Sixpence*, has already been shared in our book club.
Wouldn't you like to see how the sharp-tongued Maugham writes about holidays?
《圣诞假日》，毒舌毛姆写圣诞，会是温暖系读物吗？读完就知道。
毛姆写了一段发生在巴黎的“圣诞之旅”。主角原本只是想度个假，结果却被生活顺手上了一课——比现实更现实，比成长更成长。
如果你正在找一本文艺又清醒、浪漫又苦涩的书来陪你跨过年末，
《圣诞假日》会是那个让你假期不迷惘的小心机。
何况，读毛姆，从来不需要理由！
毛姆，万一你还没读过他：
- 20世纪最会讲故事的英国作家之一，以冷静、锋利、近乎“外科医生式”的笔法解剖人性。
- 他的一生颠沛多彩：学过医学、当过间谍、游历世界，这些经历都成了他写作的底色。
- 代表作《月亮与六便士》,读书会已经分享过。
- 毒舌毛姆写假日，你不想看看他怎么写？
Some books recommended by our members
TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE: AN OLD MAN, A YOUNG MAN, AND LIFE'S GREATEST LESSON
WHY NATIONS FAIL: FROM THE WINNERS OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS: THE ORIGINS OF POWER, PROSPERITY
TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE: AN OLD MAN, A YOUNG MAN, AND LIFE'S GREATEST LESSON
THE GLOBAL PHENOMENON THAT HAS TOUCHED THE HEARTS OF OVER 9 MILLION READERS
Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague? Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it? For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.
Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift with the world.
Recommended by Lili
RIPPLE ON STAGNANT WATER: A NOVEL OF SICHUAN IN THE AGE OF TREATY PORTS
WHY NATIONS FAIL: FROM THE WINNERS OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS: THE ORIGINS OF POWER, PROSPERITY
TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE: AN OLD MAN, A YOUNG MAN, AND LIFE'S GREATEST LESSON
In the small market town of Heaven's Turn on the Chengdu Plain, a simple-minded shopkeeper has married a beautiful village girl who is determined to rise above her station.
Li Jieren's novel is populated with gangsters, prostitutes, farmers, dilettantes, bureaucrats and Christian converts, all drawn from the author's familiar acquaintance. While giving an incomparably vivid account of the lives of commoners, it illuminates a complex balance of power at the end of the last dynasty, when Western powers were clashing with imperial troops in far-off Peking, and the underground fraternities of this provincial backwater were chafing at the activities of foreign missionaries.
Recommended by Xuefen
WHY NATIONS FAIL: FROM THE WINNERS OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS: THE ORIGINS OF POWER, PROSPERITY
WHY NATIONS FAIL: FROM THE WINNERS OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS: THE ORIGINS OF POWER, PROSPERITY
WHY NATIONS FAIL: FROM THE WINNERS OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS: THE ORIGINS OF POWER, PROSPERITY
BY THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING ECONOMISTS DARON ACEMOGLU & JAMES A. ROBINSON Why are some nations more prosperous than others? Why Nations Fail sets out to answer this question, with a compelling and elegantly argued new theory: that it is not down to climate, geography or culture, but because of institutions. Drawing on an extraordinary range of contemporary and historical examples, from ancient Rome through the Tudors to modern-day China, leading academics Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson show that to invest and prosper, people need to know that if they work hard, they can make money and actually keep it - and this means sound institutions that allow virtuous circles of innovation, expansion and peace.
Recommended by club member Qiaoping Liu
A LIFE ON OUR PLANET: MY WITNESS STATEMENT AND A VISION FOR THE FUTURE
A LIFE ON OUR PLANET: MY WITNESS STATEMENT AND A VISION FOR THE FUTURE
WHY NATIONS FAIL: FROM THE WINNERS OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS: THE ORIGINS OF POWER, PROSPERITY
In this scientifically informed account of the changes in nature over the last century, award-winning broadcaster and natural historian David Attenborough shares a lifetime of wisdom and a hopeful vision for the future.
*Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Science & Technology Book of the Year*
(Amazon UK)
Recommended by Jessica
WHY GREATNESS CANNOT BE PLANNED: THE MYTH OF THE OBJECTIVE
A LIFE ON OUR PLANET: MY WITNESS STATEMENT AND A VISION FOR THE FUTURE
WHY GREATNESS CANNOT BE PLANNED: THE MYTH OF THE OBJECTIVE
Controversial at its heart, yet refreshingly provocative, this book challenges readers to consider life without a destination and discovery without a compass.
Recommended by Shan
Happier Hour
A LIFE ON OUR PLANET: MY WITNESS STATEMENT AND A VISION FOR THE FUTURE
WHY GREATNESS CANNOT BE PLANNED: THE MYTH OF THE OBJECTIVE
With our schedules overly full, Holmes shares research and easy strategies for not only how to manage, but tap into deeper meaning. Happier Hour is a joyful guide on how to spend hours to live a more satisfying life. —Eve Rodsky, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play
Recommended by Dan
NO ONE CAN GROW FOR YOU 每个人都得自己长大
AMERICA'S LOST CHINESE: THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIGRANT FAMILY DREAM 逐梦彼岸:美墨华人家族百年传奇
AMERICA'S LOST CHINESE: THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIGRANT FAMILY DREAM 逐梦彼岸:美墨华人家族百年传奇
This is a collection of essays by Wen Diya, former host of CCTV's "Oriental Horizon"—"Sons of the East" program. The book is divided into five sections, each titled "Life is a Journey of Finding Reasons," "When Love Becomes Everyday Life," "The Trivialities of Life," "On the Road," and "Those People," revolving around personal growth, her studies abroad, love in life, and her experiences as an interviewer for "Oriental Horizon."
Recommended By Wen Diya
AMERICA'S LOST CHINESE: THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIGRANT FAMILY DREAM 逐梦彼岸:美墨华人家族百年传奇
AMERICA'S LOST CHINESE: THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIGRANT FAMILY DREAM 逐梦彼岸:美墨华人家族百年传奇
AMERICA'S LOST CHINESE: THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIGRANT FAMILY DREAM 逐梦彼岸:美墨华人家族百年传奇
From the 1850s, as the United States pushed west, Chinese migrants met ordinary Americans for the first time. This epic 100-year drama follows the lives of the author’s ancestors, via untouched personal papers. Though no Chinese group had ever gained such influence over a Western population and territory, their home in Mexico would long be forgotten. Today, this family story is reborn: one of nationhood, state racism and a turbulent century; of exile, grit and new ways of belonging. - Hurst Publishers
Recommended by Andrea
WAR AND PEACE
AMERICA'S LOST CHINESE: THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIGRANT FAMILY DREAM 逐梦彼岸:美墨华人家族百年传奇
WAR AND PEACE
Tolstoy's magnificent epic novel of love, conflict, fate and human life in all its imperfection and grandeur
War and Peace begins at a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805, where conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon's army marches on Russia, and the lives of three young people are changed forever. The stories of quixotic Pierre, cynical Andrey and impetuous Natasha interweave with a huge cast, from aristocrats and peasants to soldiers and Napoleon himself.
Recommended by Penny
CATFISH 猫鱼
NEXUS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFORMATION NETWORKS FROM THE STONE AGE TO AI
WAR AND PEACE
Filmmaker Joan Chen's autobiographical collection of essays—from her childhood home in Shanghai to her home in San Francisco; from her teenage years on the "Little Flower" film crew to behind the scenes of "The Last Emperor" and "The Sun Also Rises"; from the past of her grandparents to the spiritual journey of three generations of intellectuals—her parents and brother… "Catfish" is a rare contemporary memoir, a spiritual history of intellectuals, a biography of a film artist, and also a book of growth and courage for contemporary women
Recommended by Wen Diya
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World 丝绸之路 一部全新的世界史
NEXUS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFORMATION NETWORKS FROM THE STONE AGE TO AI
NEXUS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFORMATION NETWORKS FROM THE STONE AGE TO AI
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER by Peter Frankopan- Far more than a history of the Silk Roads, this book is truly a revelatory new history of the world, promising to destabilize notions of where we come from and where we are headed next. It is a dazzling exploration of the forces that have driven the rise and fall of empires, determined the flow of ideas and goods and are now heralding a new dawn in international affairs.
"A rare book that makes you question your assumptions about the world." --The Wall Street Journal
Recommended by Li Qian
NEXUS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFORMATION NETWORKS FROM THE STONE AGE TO AI
NEXUS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFORMATION NETWORKS FROM THE STONE AGE TO AI
NEXUS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFORMATION NETWORKS FROM THE STONE AGE TO AI
The story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Sapiens Stories brought us together.Books spread our ideas – and our mythologies.The internet promised infinite knowledge.The algorithm learned our secrets – and then turned us against each other.What will AI do?NEXUS is the thrilling account of how we arrived at this moment, and the urgent choices we must now make to survive – and to thrive.(Amazon UK)
Recommended by Jialu Wang
FROM THE SOIL: THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHINESE SOCIETY
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MONEY: TIMELESS LESSONS ON WEALTH, GREED, AND HAPPINESS
FROM THE SOIL: THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHINESE SOCIETY
This classic text by Fei Xiaotong, China's finest social scientist, was first published in 1947 and is Fei's chief theoretical statement about the distinctive characteristics of Chinese society. Written in Chinese from a Chinese point of view for a Chinese audience, From the Soil describes the contrasting organizational principles of Chinese and Western societies, thereby conveying the essential features of both. Fei shows how these unique features reflect and are reflected in the moral and ethical characters of people in these societies. This profound, challenging book is both succinct and accessible. In its first complete English-language edition, it is likely to have a wide impact on Western social theorists.
Recommended by Xuefen
THE INSTITUTIONS FOR REPRODUCTION 生育制度
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MONEY: TIMELESS LESSONS ON WEALTH, GREED, AND HAPPINESS
FROM THE SOIL: THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHINESE SOCIETY
This book is a classic work on family sociology that left a strong mark on society when it was first published. The author drew on lecture notes from teaching at a university during the War of Resistance Against Japan, shaping them into a thoughtful exploration of family life. While it focuses on the family’s role in having and raising children, it also looks at much more: how people choose spouses, the meaning of marriage, how families are organized, the roles of parents, the gaps between generations, the passing on of traditions, and the ways kinship networks expand.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MONEY: TIMELESS LESSONS ON WEALTH, GREED, AND HAPPINESS
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MONEY: TIMELESS LESSONS ON WEALTH, GREED, AND HAPPINESS
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MONEY: TIMELESS LESSONS ON WEALTH, GREED, AND HAPPINESS
Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people.
In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life’s most important topics.
©2020 Harriman House (P)2020 Harriman House
Recommended by Lili