Reviews: Book

Secrets of happiness

Song Dandan has long been a household name thanks to her comic shows at the annual New Year's Eve Gala on China Central Television.

But very few know about the many twists and turns in the life of this celebrity-actress.

Now the 47-year-old shares with readers her painful years as a single mom, her joys and sorrows as a diligent artist, and regretful lessons she has learnt from her divorce and re-marriage in her autobiographic Secrets of Happiness.

Her stories are narrated in a free-flowing, colloquial but engaging language. And the most impressive chapters are about her son, her father and her "comrades" in the comic shows such as Huang Hong and Zhao Benshan.

The book, newly published by Changjiang Literature & Arts Publishing House, has reportedly sold 200,000 copies so far.

Zhu Linyong

In service of science

Science Press announced this week that it would compile a book documenting the notable achievements of contemporary Chinese scientists.

As a State-funded project, the 20-volume book is to be completed in five years and includes about 6,000 Chinese scientists and scholars home and abroad.

The book will cover natural, engineering and social sciences, giving emphasis on math, astronomy, physics, philosophy and economics. It will highlight contributions to the scientific community and to bettering people's lives.

The press will establish a database and publish a DVD format of the book.

Wu Chong

History through the lens

Best Photos of the 20th Century by Chinese Across the World, a selection of 160 pictures which document the remarkable changes in the lifestyle of the Chinese over the past century, has recently been included in the collection of the Asian Division at the Library of Congress of the United States.

The book has been donated by the Chinese Culture Promotion Society, and introduces the photographers and the stories behind the pictures in Chinese and English. It has been hailed as touching, delicately designed and of great news, historical and artistic value.

The preparation for the book started in early 2004, when an appraisal committee began accepting photos from professional and amateur photographers from around the globe. A jury of 12 veteran photographers from home and abroad picked the 160 pictures out of more than 7,000 entries. Lin Qi

What Was Lost

The novel by Catherine O'Flynn is set in Birmingham, in the Midlands of England. But its real backdrop is Green Oaks, a shopping center that replaced a factory in the 1980s.

When it first opened, Green Oaks was a playground for 10-year-old Kate Meaney who vanished one day. The news agent's 22-year-old son becomes the prime suspect and eventually he, too, vanishes.

The novel leaps forward to 2004, when a small girl strays into the frame of one of Kurt's security monitors. As the plot thickens, both turn out to have a personal connection to the case of missing Kate Meaney.

Part ghost story and part mystery, the novel flits back and forth in time and dips in and out of the thoughts of anonymous shoppers without losing narrative drive.

The result is an enthralling tale of a little girl lost, wrapped in a portrait of a changing community over two decades. What binds it all together so impressively is O'Flynn's emotional articulacy, which captures life's sad, strange absurdities and glosses them with a kind of nobility.

The Guardian

(China Daily 04/06/2007 page20)