I am Sailing

I'm going to write anout my #24 and #25 books this year, but before that let me enjoy myself over recollecting some priceless moments. This evening is my sister's high school reunion, so I sort of had the bathroom for myself, and this is what happened. I washed my face with tonic, used refreshing eye gel and chocolate face pack, had a nice hot bath, applied cherry scrub on my feet, came up, and put a cherry-colored nail polish on. Isn't it a lovely way of indulging one's self? And for tomorrow I have an appointment to the cosmetician. Call me Miss Vain.
Book #24 was China Man by Maxine Hong Kingston, best known for The Woman Warrior. This book, first published in 1977, introduces the stories of her male kins, e.g. great-grandfathers, grandfathers, fathers, and brothers. From the period of the American post-Civil War Reconstruction to the Vietnam war, she portrays men of Chinese ancestry with peculiar stories. Among them we find gold-diggers, plantation workers, builders of the railroad, and laundry shop owners as well as scholars. In search of a better life these men set off for the fabulous Gold Mountain to follow their dreams and conquer America, the land of opportunities. Intertwined with their stories, we read myths, legends, tales, old wife's tales, and anecdotes about other Chinese man. What we get in the end is a beautifully written history of Chinese immigrants; their struggles and successes, which on a greater scale can be interpreted as the universal struggle of the human race.
This is a clever and touching book, and while reading I realized that I'm getting more and more interested in this culture.
Book #25 was A Night to Remember by Walter Lord, although I read it in Hungarian (A Titanic pusztulása). It is a 200-page-long account of the last night of the Titanic, from the moment of the crash with the iceberg until the survivors finally get to New York on board of the Carpathia. I bought it for my boyfriend's birthday, and soon after reading it he lent it to me saying that I must read it, too. In April we went to see an exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the tragedy, and after that he went crazy about the issue. I also bought him a Discovery Channel DVD on an expedition aiming to bring a part of the wreck to the surface. Then about a week ago he bought a big model set of the ship, which we're going to paint and build. I'm supposed to attach the ropes, as it requires daft hands. He's planning to finish in about one and a half months, but we haven't started yet.
So, the book was originally published in 1955, then republished in 1976. Lord, an acknowledged historian, collected a lot of records, and used the accounts of more than 60 survivors, though I haven't looked up the exact details of his research method. The story is told thoroughly and in an exciting way, though sometimes it was hard to follow who was who, and a map of the ship would have been useful, too. The Hungarian translation and especially the punctuation wasn't 100% perfect, which is a pity.
I read it in less than 2 days, and could hardly put it down. The story was full of what if's, and I think it bothers millions of people to this day. I might watch James Cameron's movie again, too.