Books
Colleen Hoover’s year, and self-help queen Brené Brown’s: 2022 in books
American romance and young adult author Colleen Hoover was her fans’ best-kept secret a year ago. Not any more. Reader of human emotions Brené Brown had nearly as viral a year as Hoover.
Profile | Chinese humorist’s career sparked by surreal theatre of a Canadian office
The strangeness of being part of the multinational staff of a trading company in Montreal gave Qi Yimin the idea for his first book. The polyglot author and humorist explains why a writer needs such life experiences.
‘I thought I was a loser’: how a career coach’s book changed CEO’s life
Olivia Chan had a variety of interests but no career path. Reading life coach Margaret Lobenstine’s book showed her how to balance different passions without losing focus.
What reading The Blue Sweater taught a banker about impact investment
Jacqueline Novogratz’s book approaches social investment with an entrepreneurial focus, and reading it inspired banker Katy Yung to set up a community of impact investors in Hong Kong.
Then & Now | The China Coast artists like George Chinnery who found a ready market
Art depicting familiar southern Chinese scenes was popular among the merchants and officials of the China Trade, such as Hong Kong’s Sir Paul Chater.
What reading bell hooks’ All About Love taught a Hong Kong NGO director
When Bowie Lam read All About Love: New Visions, the executive director of NGO Teen’s Key Hong Kong changed its programmes used to help teens.
From Hermès Birkin to Lady Dior, stories of the most iconic It bags
From the Hermès Birkin and the Lady Dior, to the Chanel 2.55 and the Fendi Baguette, the designer handbag is a fashion icon linked to some of the world’s most prominent women.
Review | Behold the history of men’s fashion and see how splendid it used to be
‘Fashioning Masculinities’, the catalogue from the Victoria and Albert Museum’s current exhibition, takes a trip through the history of men’s fashion, from sumptuous dandies to sobering suits.
The rich clothing and adornment traditions of China’s ethnic minorities
‘China Adorned: Ritual and Custom of Ancient Cultures’ boasts almost 700 images that document and demystify the customs of more than 30 of China’s ethnic minorities.
Personal, political, metafictional, novel This Devastating Fever has it all
Sophie Cunningham’s novel, ostensibly about a writer composing a Leonard Woolf novel, sees the Australian writer create space for topics not just close to her life, but to her fierce intellect and passionate heart.
Review | Water-cooler futility and the tragedy of dead-end jobs in Diary of a Void
A put-upon Japanese office worker pretends to be pregnant to get out of menial tasks – that’s the cue for Emi Yagi’s biting observations about male-dominated workplaces.
The race against time to save Forbidden City’s treasures recounted
Adam Brookes uncovers some new heroes of the second Sino-Japanese war – the curators who catalogued the Forbidden City’s treasures, then packed them and ensured they were kept secure during years of conflict.
Review | Traditional Japanese culture and 1970s hedonism collide in Kyoto Stories
The American student protagonist of Hayao Miyazaki collaborator Steve Alpert’s diverting short story collection flirts with geishas, is invited to join a swingers club and burns down a traditional teahouse.
Review | Scholars respond to Pope’s call for ‘global compact on education’
In a project initiated by Pope Francis, education scholars propose how the world’s most demanding challenges – climate breakdown and rising intolerance, among them – should be met in the classroom.
Review | ‘Disabled oracle’ Alice Wong on living life to the fullest
Born to Hong Kong immigrants to the United States, Alice Wong wasn’t supposed to live to adulthood. But live she did, and has become a formidable activist for disabled communities.
Crime writer Tess Gerritsen on her creative burst in Covid-19 lockdown
A new Rizzoli & Isles novel, Listen to Me, gothic ghost story Shape of Night, #MeToo thriller Choose Me and film production with her son Joshua – the Chinese-American writer put on a spurt while stuck at home.
Profile | He fell in love with diving and China as a teen, and made a career of both
China-based American explorer and writer Steven Schwankert tells Kate Whitehead about growing up watching Jacques Cousteau, and how his interest in shipwrecks led him into documentary-making.
Inside the surveillance state: how China cows its people
China’s surveillance system may not be as advanced as the Communist Party claims, but the omnipresence of cameras has reaped rewards in controlling, coercing and cowing its vast and diverse public.
Review | Historical context gets in the way in a story of Italian-American migration
Mercury Pictures Presents, Anthony Marra’s third novel, is a sprawling work containing multiple narratives. It might have been better to have kept its focus on Maria, who emigrates from Italy and ends up in Hollywood.
Review | From Africa to the Caspian steppe, nomads who changed the world
Migrants fleeing climate change, walls erected to keep them out – events today have echoes in history, as Anthony Sattin sets out in Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World.