Thursday, February 7, 2013

Better Late Than Never

Well, it's been a while since you heard anything from this old lady. Over the past nine months I have given birth to a new book--well it's not ready for publication yet, but the first draft is done. It seems at this age, I can really only concentrate on one thing at once and so writing my blog has definitely suffered the consequences.

Oh, and I should tell you that during the summer we did take a month off to travel in Europe. So later I will be talking about our trip through five countries there--Germany, Switzerland, Leichenstein, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. Although I was doing research for the new book, there was lots of fun involved as well.

For now, I've been doing a lot of reading and so I will tell you about some of the best books I read this winter. Today is an anthology about China written by John H. Rydzewski. Here are my comments:


As one who loves to travel, I have long desired to visit the mysterious countries of Asia. But even though I did manage to tour Japan, I have never been to its huge neighbour, China. So I was delighted when Author John Rydzewski offered me a copy of his book, “China Diaries & Other Tales from the Road.”
John is an itinerant writer who has travelled through more than forty countries on five continents and decided, not only travel through China; but to live and work there for three years.

His book is an anthology of stories about his adventures there and gives the reader insight into everything from dating the beautiful, northern Chinese policewomen of Dàlián to traveling along the mysterious Silk Road. The book gives an excellent overall perspective of an expatriate’s life in this huge country that is well on its way to being one of the top economic leaders of the world.

There are some funny moments and some poignant moments and Rydzewski’s ability to draw word pictures brings it all to life. He doesn’t spare himself in some of the episodes such as one entitled “Do You Smell Something.” The beauty of the book is that you don’t have to read it all at once. Each chapter is a story in itself and you can enjoy the entire book over a period of time.

Whether you have a trip to China in mind, or fear that you will never make it there, this is a great read and I highly recommend it. Five stars for this fascinating collection from John  Rydzewski.