Bangkok Tattoo - Gritty Mystery set in Thailand

Bangkok Tattoo
by John Burdett
Vintage, 2006

With all the numerous plot elements that John Burdett juggles in his second installment with Royal Thai detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, he keeps the action moving, the narration sizzling with insight and humor, and world events all in check. This outing starts with the murder of a CIA operative in post 9/11 Thailand. On the surface, he is murdered by a prostitute who just happens to work for Jitpleecheep's mother and his superior, Captain Vikorn.

However, nothing is quite so simple and in a world where money buys many things, Jitpleecheep finds himself torn between his disire to be a good Buddhist and his yearnings for Chanya, his prime suspect. He then has to balance that against the wishes of his boss and his mother.

At times graphic in his description of violence, Burdett does potray Thailand as a complex place with many conflicting values. While it might not be for everyone, Bangkok Tattoo will teach farang (foreigners) a thing or two about place while entertaining them with a series of twists and turns that are as indelible as the best tattooo.

J.K.

Friends of the Mendocino College Library Book Sale

Hello Readers,

The Friends of the Mendocino College Library are holding a book sale on Friday, December 1st, at the Gymnasium at the same time as the Ceramics Club and the Horticulture program are selling items for the holidays. The Friends will be selling books, Videos, DVDs, and music CDs at the sale.

We hope you will stop by, buy some books, and help the Friends support the library programs such as readings and next summer's Litfest, as well as help buy new materials for the collection.

Linda Noel reads tonight!

Poet Linda Noel will do a reading of her poetry at the Mendocino College Little Theater in the Lowery Library Building tonight at 7 PM. This free event is to celebrate National Native American Heritage Month and is sponsored by the Friends of the Mendocino College Library, an associate group of the Mendocino College Foundation.

Linda Noel is a Native Californian of the Koyungkowi tribe who grew up in Willits. The former Poet Laureate of Ukiah has presented her work at various venues across the western United States and has most recently been both a featured reader and workshop presenter at the Redwood Coast Writers Conference, the Watershed Project, The Conference of American Indians; Humboldt State University, and Santa Rosa Junior College to name a few. Her work has been published in a variety of magazines, journals and anthologies including The Dirt is Red Here, by Heyday Books. She will be included in the “Sing Me Your Story, Dance Me Home: Art and Poetry from Native California” exhibit based on the Heyday book and coordinated by the California Exhibition Resources Alliance. The exhibit will tour more than twelve museums and libraries across California, including the Grace Hudson Museum in December 2007.

Noel was first published in 1983 through Strawberry Press, NYC with a chapbook titled “Where You First Saw the Eyes of Coyote.” She is currently finalizing her manuscript titled “Mountain Stitch.” For more information, please phone (707) 468-3051 or visit the college web site at www.mendocino.edu. # # # #

Linda Noel Reads at 7 PM on November 8, 2006

Mendocino College Celebrates National Native American Heritage Month with Linda Noel Reading Ukiah, CA - Poet Linda Noel will do a reading of her poetry at the Mendocino College Little Theater in the Lowery Library Building on Wednesday, November 8 at 7 PM. This free event is to celebrate National Native American Heritage Month and is sponsored by the Friends of the Mendocino College Library, an associate group of the Mendocino College Foundation.

Linda Noel is a Native Californian of the Koyungkowi tribe who grew up in Willits. The former Poet Laureate of Ukiah has presented her work at various venues across the western United States and has most recently been both a featured reader and workshop presenter at the Redwood Coast Writers Conference, the Watershed Project, The Conference of American Indians; Humboldt State University, and Santa Rosa Junior College to name a few.

Her work has been published in a variety of magazines, journals and anthologies including The Dirt is Red Here, by Heyday Books. She will be included in the “Sing Me Your Story, Dance Me Home: Art and Poetry from Native California” exhibit based on the Heyday book and coordinated by the California Exhibition Resources Alliance. The exhibit will tour more than twelve museums and libraries across California, including the Grace Hudson Museum in December 2007.

Noel was first published in 1983 through Strawberry Press, NYC with a chapbook titled “Where You First Saw the Eyes of Coyote.” She is currently finalizing her manuscript titled “Mountain Stitch.” For more information, please phone (707) 468-3051 or visit the college web site at www.mendocino.edu. # # # #

Roy Kesey's Nothing in the World

Nothing in the World
By Roy Kesey
Bullfight Media
2006

Roy Kesey’s novella is reminiscent of Jerzy Kosinki’s The Painted Bird as it deals with someone watching and living the horrors of war. While Kosinski focused on World War II, Kesey focuses on the more recent Serbian-Croatian conflict. Taking a young protagonist, Josko Banovic, who is anonymous in many ways while in school, he develops Banovic into an expert marksman and cold-blooded sniper. He is in the thick of war, but he is someone who kills from a distance.

Kesey also has several brief inter-chapters that act as fables and show us other people along the countryside and how the war changes and ravages them. These sections are especially poetic and dream-like.

As a reader moves deeper into the book, Josko appears to be in a dream-like state as he begins following a siren of sorts. At that same time, he searches for his sister Klara. Both quests are part of the tangled, hallucinatory world that Josko inhabits as the disintegration of his country and society continues. Brutal and brilliant, this novella captures the essence of what happens to those torn apart by war. Its title reveals itself by the time the journey is over. - J.Koetzner

Welcome to the Mendocino College Library's Reading Blog!

Welcome! This is the launch for our Mendocino College Library's Reading Blog. I hope you will participate by posting reviews of books that you have read so that we create a dialogue about books that we are reading. There are no restrictions on genres, on how many reviews you write, and definitely no problem with announcing news about books by local authors, etc.

Let's create a community of readers who share what they read and let others know about books that are worth reading. In addition, let's post about readings by local authors so that we stay informed about the possibilities to hear writers as they read their work to audiences locally.

I should also mention that the college is hosting LitFest, a celebration of the written word on June 1-2, 2007. Watch the college web site and this blog for more information.