Here are 100 books that The Painter from Shanghai fans have personally recommended if you like
The Painter from Shanghai.
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Having lived in China for three decades, I am naturally interested in the expat writing scene, from the nineteenth century up through the present. One constant in this country is change, and that requires keeping up with the latest publications by writers who have lived here and know it well. As an author of four novels, one short story collection, and three essay collections on China, I believe I have something of my own to contribute, although I tend to hew to gritty, offbeat themes to capture a contemporary China unknown to the West.
I’ve long been interested in China’s Taiping Rebellion (1850-64), the bloodiest civil war in history, with an estimated 20 to 100 million casualties.
Lofthouse’s substantial novel is one of the few in English to take on this topic and successfully forge a love story out of it, and a shocking one at that. Englishman Robert Hart, a real historical figure who would later become inspector-general of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service and a Qing Dynasty official, is known to have purchased young concubines for sexual purposes.
Lofthouse builds on this to create the most fraught, tortuous, and fascinating love triangle I’ve ever encountered in literature, as Hart is caught in a tug of war between the jealous desires of sixteen-year-old Ayaou, her fourteen-year-old sister Shao-mei, and his own Victorian morality.
An outcast foreigner. A quiet lover. The fate of the Far East.China, 1854. Robert Hart is on the run. Fleeing Ireland to escape a promiscuity scandal, the syphilitic nineteen-year-old arrives in the Middle Kingdom at the height of the Qing Dynasty. And though he buys a woman to share his bed, the libidinous Westerner has no idea she will help him shape the course of a nation.With the insight into the culture and language his beautiful concubine provides, Hart helps the emperor put down the bloody Taiping Rebellion. And as he fights against scheming Brits and Americans during the Opium…
A poisonous maiden, a Daoist sex cult, and a violent insurgency.
The polyandrous Yan family in China's rural Shaanxi Province takes in two carpenter brothers. When one brother is convicted of murder after killing their neighbor in a dispute, a constable threatens to expose the family's rumored polyandry and extorts…
Having lived in China for three decades, I am naturally interested in the expat writing scene, from the nineteenth century up through the present. One constant in this country is change, and that requires keeping up with the latest publications by writers who have lived here and know it well. As an author of four novels, one short story collection, and three essay collections on China, I believe I have something of my own to contribute, although I tend to hew to gritty, offbeat themes to capture a contemporary China unknown to the West.
Also set during the Taiping Rebellion, Lande’s engrossing story begins as a sea adventure which drew me in like a Chinese version of Moby Dick, with swashbuckling characters who yell and curse in the eloquent twang of Shakespearean lowlifes.
The action shifts inland along the Yangtze River as protagonist Fletcher Thorson Wood (based on historical figure Frederick Townsend Ward) organizes a mercenary force with Western weaponry to fight off the Taiping.
There is no love story—the central characters are too busy for that—but it’s the texture of the prose, the sheer scintillating, rhythmic mastery of language, and the huge panoply of disparate voices, all superbly wrought by the author, that kept me gripping the helm of this epic narrative.
Only one man dared fight to defend Shanghai from rebel hordes - the American adventurer who called up a ragtag band of deserters to defeat armies of thousands. "A master in hell before a minion in Heaven. I'll be a prince in China, and lord over these heathen beggars, or I'll make a great many of them wish they'd better joss - better luck - than to cross my bow." Arriving in the midst of the bloodiest civil war in human history, Fletcher Thorson Wood takes up the imperial cause against the "Christian" rebels, trains and fights beside native Chinese…
Having lived in China for three decades, I am naturally interested in the expat writing scene, from the nineteenth century up through the present. One constant in this country is change, and that requires keeping up with the latest publications by writers who have lived here and know it well. As an author of four novels, one short story collection, and three essay collections on China, I believe I have something of my own to contribute, although I tend to hew to gritty, offbeat themes to capture a contemporary China unknown to the West.
Disguised as a long-lost memoir, this compact Taiping Rebellion tale surprised me by its stately prose, exquisitely controlled by Barre from the first page to the last.
When the fictionalized Rowley is separated from (the historical) Frederick Townsend Ward’s battalion, he is captured by a beautiful but fierce Taiping rebel, Sweet Little Sister. Rowley’s simple, unironic first-person voice is perfectly suited to his worshipful love for his captress, as she leads him around the rebel camp on a leash, alternately teasing and sexually tormenting him.
The full-blown sadomasochism of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs and Pauline Réage’s The Story of O both come to mind, but it requires a special purity of delivery to pull it off, which is why I found Barre’s telling just as exciting and erotic.
China's Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) was one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history; somewhere between twenty and forty million people lost their lives, in battle, or to starvation and disease. With the exception of World War II, more lives were lost in this conflict than in any conflict in history. The Taiping rebels fought to spread their own bizarre form of evangelical Christianity throughout China, and to overthrow the Manchus who in 1644 had defeated the Chinese and established the Ch'ing Dynasty. The Taipings were opposed not only by Ch'ing forces but by various western adventurers and professional soldiers who…
A poisonous maiden, a Daoist sex cult, and a violent insurgency.
The polyandrous Yan family in China's rural Shaanxi Province takes in two carpenter brothers. When one brother is convicted of murder after killing their neighbor in a dispute, a constable threatens to expose the family's rumored polyandry and extorts…
Having lived in China for three decades, I am naturally interested in the expat writing scene, from the nineteenth century up through the present. One constant in this country is change, and that requires keeping up with the latest publications by writers who have lived here and know it well. As an author of four novels, one short story collection, and three essay collections on China, I believe I have something of my own to contribute, although I tend to hew to gritty, offbeat themes to capture a contemporary China unknown to the West.
Hong Ying’s first novel, Summer of Love, was banned for depicting a sex orgy amidst the backdrop of the Tiananmen Square protests. Almost as provocative, to me, is K: The Art of Love, which plays on the old theme of a wealthy man’s spurned wife, Lin Cheng, with the twist that it’s not the young lover she takes on who liberates her but Lin herself, steeped in Taoist sexual practices, who liberates him with her ferocious passion.
Her lover happens to be historical Julian Bell, son of Vanessa Bell, the sister of Virginia Woolf and member of the polyamorous Bloomsbury Group; Lin is modeled after Julian’s real Chinese lover, Ling Shuhua. What I find most refreshing about Hong Ying’s novels is her frank and fearless sexuality, clearly stemming from her own experiences, thinly disguised.
China, 1930s. Julian Bell, son of the Bloomsbury set's Vanessa, is newly arrived in Peking. In search of fresh experiences, he encounters the beautiful, intelligent and deeply erotic Lin Cheng. Though Lin is wife to a university professor, their passionate assignations blossom into an affair.
Schooled in the ancient Taoist arts of love, Lin instructs Julian in the ways of the East. But if society won't tolerate this union between Occidental and Oriental can their love possibly survive?
Based on a true story this is a tragic tale of romance, betrayal and sexual desire set against a backdrop of conflict…
Like many Americans of my generation (boomer) who became China scholars, I witnessed the civil rights and anti-war struggles and concluded that we in the West could learn from the insights of Eastern thought and even Chinese Communism. I ended up specializing in modern political thought—I think of this field as the land of “isms”—nationalism, socialism, liberalism, and the like. I have lived in China and Japan, and spent twelve years as a historical researcher in Taiwan before returning to America to teach at the University of Connecticut. Today, I would not say China has the answers, but I still believe that the two most important world powers have a lot to learn from each other.
Another beautifully written book, this one about how Beijing residents of all backgrounds found their identities in a tumultuously changing environment and how they fought with and against each other for political agency. Readers see into the lives of policemen, rickshaw-pullers, tram conductors, and the middle classes. It reminds me of how history is made brick by individual brick.
In the 1920s, revolution, war, and imperialist aggression brought chaos to China. Many of the dramatic events associated with this upheaval took place in or near China's cities. Bound together by rail, telegraph, and a shared urban mentality, cities like Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing formed an arena in which the great issues of the day--the quest for social and civil peace, the defense of popular and national sovereignty, and the search for a distinctively modern Chinese society--were debated and fought over. People were drawn into this conflicts because they knew that the passage of armies, the marching of protesters, the…
Peeking over the American fence, I found myself in China in 2004 as the nation was transitioning from its quaint 1980s/90s self into the futuristic “China 2.0” we know it today. My occupation, like many expats, was small-town English teacher. I later departed for what would become a two-year backpacking sojourn across all 33 Chinese provinces, the first foreigner on record to do so. Since then, I have published three books about China; my anthology Unsavory Elements was intended as a well-meaning tribute to the expatriate experience, however my own essay – a bawdy account of a visit to a rural brothel – was understandably demonized. The following five books expand on that illicit theme.
Starting out as a serial in an 1890s Shanghainese magazine, yet remaining unpublished until 2005 following the discovery of its English translation among the belongings of the late Eileen Chang, The Sing-Song Girls of Shanghai is an unparalleled historical classic set in the pleasure quarters of the Qing Dynasty. Unlike the hyper-erotic writings of Li Yu and Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng, the author, Bangqing Han, opted for a tempered realism unique for its period. Clocking in at 600 pages, and densely layered with multiple character arcs that are a bit difficult to keep track of, Sing-Song Girls may require more than one reading.
Desire, virtue, courtesans (also known as sing-song girls), and the denizens of Shanghai's pleasure quarters are just some of the elements that constitute Han Bangqing's extraordinary novel of late imperial China. Han's richly textured, panoramic view of late-nineteenth-century Shanghai follows a range of characters from beautiful sing-song girls to lower-class prostitutes and from men in positions of social authority to criminals and ambitious young men recently arrived from the country. Considered one of the greatest works of Chinese fiction, The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai is now available for the first time in English. Neither sentimental nor sensationalistic in its portrayal…
At heart, I believe every one of us is creative. It doesn’t matter if you express your creativity through words, notes, metal, wood, food, fabric, or paint. Personally, I love to sketch, paint, write, and sculpt. There is something magical about bringing your imagination to life and sharing it with the world! Our art allows us to share our emotions, dreams, memories, and culture with the world. As a fantasy author, I wanted to create a place where art can transform the physical world too.
If you haven’t read any of Charles de Lint’s stories, you’re in for a treat!
Each of his stories feels so fresh and original. His characters jump off the page… but will also break your heart. This novel is about a young artist named Isabelle Copley (Izzy) whose whimsical paintings seem so real they could come to life. But is her art just… art? The writing is beautiful and lyrical, but also dark and scary.
Memory and Dream is also a great entry into de Lint’s story world of “Newford”.
From her mentor, Rushkin, Isabell Copley had learned to paint creatures that come to life--literally--and years after these creatures have ruined her life, Isabelle returns to painting, haunted by memories, dreams, and the threat of her mentor's return.
Sandy is a writer, traveller, and hopeful romantic with a lengthy bucket list, and many of her travel adventures have found homes in her novels. She’s also an avid reader, a film buff, a wine lover, and a coffee snob. She lives in Melbourne, Australia with her partner, Ben, who she met while travelling in Greece. Their real-life love story inspired Sandy’s debut novel One Summer in Santorini, the first in the five-book Holiday Romance series. The series continues in Paris, Sydney, Bali, and Tuscany. Sandy's standalone novel The Christmas Swap celebrates her favourite time of the year, and her rom-com, The Dating Game, is set in the world of Reality TV.
This is such a fun read―a fictionalised account of the real-life husband and wife’s experience of walking the Camino de Santiago. I love how the two protagonists, who start as strangers, take turns to tell their stories, especially the hilarity in the ‘he said–she said’ of their relationship―they really are opposites but both bring out something remarkable in the other. Romantic in a very real way.
'Charming and absorbing' Daily Mail 'Sleepless in Seattle meets Wild . . . A beautifully crafted tale of love, self-acceptance, and blisters' Sunday Express
A smart, funny novel of second chances and reinvention from the author of The Rosie Result - two misfits walk 2,000 km along the Camino to find themselves and, perhaps, each other.
Zoe, a sometime artist, is from California. Martin, an engineer, is from Yorkshire. Both have ended up in picturesque Cluny, in central France. Both are struggling to come to terms with their recent past - for Zoe, the death of her…
As an author, one of my goals is to encourage kids to fall in love with reading–but I’m not an illustrator. I wish I practiced art more as a kid. If I had, maybe I’d be illustrating my own books. If only these five books existed forty years ago, perhaps I wouldn’t have given up on art. So, in addition to falling in love with reading, I’d love to inspire those same kids to keep exploring their artistic sides. I’ve seen how these books invigorate the artistic spirit of creatives and I hope they do the same for you.
Sometimes art is pretty to look at and sometimes art is powerful.
Ignotofsky shares short bios and gorgeous pictures of fifty female artists throughout history and across the globe, most of whom I wasn’t familiar with prior to reading the book. Not only will this book inspire young artists to create, but Women in Art will inspire them to research these artists further, as each one deserves her own picture book biography (some of which already exist!).
THIS BEAUTIFUL BOOK WITH A GOLD FOIL COVER IS THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR YOUNG BUDDING ARTISTS.
Women in Art is an EMPOWERING and INSPIRATIONAL celebration of some of the most iconic and fearless women who paved the way for the next generation of artists.
From well-known figures such as Frida Kahlo and Dame Vivienne Westwood to lesser-known artists including Harriet Powers (the nineteenth-century African American quilter) and Yoyoi Kusama (a Japenese sculptor), this charmingly illustrated and inspiring book highlights the achievements of 50 notable women in the arts.
Covering a wide array of artistic mediums, this fascinating collection also…
As a teenager, I found the layered poetry of Sylvia Plath as riveting as an impasto-layered canvas by Vincent Van Gogh. A love for the rhythm of words and paint, as well as the power of art to tell stories and critique history led me to study art history. Influential college professors opened my eyes to the systematic exclusion of women from art and history. Today, I’m a professor at the University of San Francisco, where I specialize in modern, contemporary, and African art, with an emphasis upon issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and class. I’m particularly interested in women artists and artists who cross cultural boundaries.
As an undergrad, I was blessed to have two professors who changed the course of my life: Angela Davis and Whitney Chadwick. Both of these professors discussed the intersectionality of gender, race, and class. Women, Art, and Society was published in 1990, and in 2020, the sixth edition was released. Although women artists’ representation in art history pedagogy has improved since 1990, the art world in general still favors men over women, making Chadwick’s book a relevant read. It provides a historical and critical look at women artists from the Middle Ages to the present, covering a range of media and artists from various cultural and geographical backgrounds. It challenges the assumption that great women artists are the exception to the rule and charts the evolution of feminist art history.
Whitney Chadwick's acclaimed study challenges the assumption that great women artists are exceptions to the rule, who 'transcended' their sex to produce major works of art. While acknowledging the many women whose contribution to visual culture since the Middle Ages have often been neglected, Chadwick's survey amounts to much more than an alternative canon of women artists: it re-examines the works themselves and the ways in which they have been perceived as marginal, often in direct reference to gender. In her disussion of feminism and its influence on such a reappraisal, the author also addresses the closely related issues of…
