Foreign-market Books

Non ho avuto il piacere di leggere il libro ma il nome dell'autore mi piaceva tantissimo...... è il mio (omonimia) Giorgio Questa

I had the pleasure of having Mr. Questa as a guest lecuturer in a Fixed Income class. This book was used as the text, prior to its publication. The book is a great intro-intermediate fixed income book. It also covers the advanced stochastic models well. It is one of few books that also integrates the foreign exchange market into the analysis. In a few areas the book is difficult to follow however after a careful re-reading it sinks in.

This is a great book once you get into it. The first part is a little boring but keep reading, it gets really good, adventurous and on the edge of your seat with suspense. You become very close to the characteurs and find links to our society we live in today. It's a great book for older teens

Incredible book... All the young people would love to have a friend like king. A must to read

I liked this book a lot, and it was fun to see how well the literature related back into the title. The book explored a lot of "beautiful images" which when further inspected are rather empty and unexceptional. I guess in a nutshell this book is about a woman in the upper class of French society who, because of innocent questions from her daughter, has somewhat of a mid-life crisis. She comes to realize that her and her family's wealth has made their lives devoid of pleasure and individuality. Of course, there's other great stuff in the book, but I leave that to you to find out. P.S. This book is in French - make sure you can read it!

De Beauvoir's novel Les Belle Images is a wonderful work of fiction which simultaneously exposes and works to subvert mainstream social ideologies. It is representative both of her philosophical leanings toward existentialism as well as her commitment to feminism and of a new social role for women. The characters in the novel are passive, having accepted as necessary the roles society has decided for them. They are shallow, interested only in how they are being perceived by others. With the exception of Laurence (the main character), all the characters are complacent, content with living according to the goals and expectations of mainstream bourgeoisie society. Laurence struggles against this lack of morality, and is discontented by the passive role of woman that she has been forced to submit to.

Le petit village d'Aubignane a été abandonné par la plupart de ses habitants il y a bien longtemps déjà, essentiellement à cause de la mauvaise qualité des terres environnantes. Pourtant les derniers habitants persistent dans leur volonté de demeurer à Aubignane: Le Panturle, paysan énorme qui continue à travailler ses terres avec acharnement et Arsule qui deviendra l'épouse du Panturle. Bravant un climat rude et une nature hostile, ils sont déterminés à lutter pour la survie d'Aubignane. Leur courage s'ébruite dans les villages alentours et lorsque Désiré et Delphine vienne s'installer avec leurs enfants à Aubignane, le Panturle, "les bras le long du corps, il ne bouge pas. Il a gagné: c'est fini", peut savourer le succès de ses efforts.

This book is an enjoyable look at the old country French, self-sufficient individual. Somewhat stuck in his ways of hopeless strife and solitude, the main character appreciates his daily existance until fate grants him a gift through a dear loss. Filled with wonderful characters and imagery, this books also includes a look at the mysterious world of nature and fate. This book is an intriguing, delightful tale of a humble man and how his good works reward him.

I bought this book using a gift card at a local bookstore, while on a budget, so price was important to me. I looked at just about every japanese-english, english-japanese dictionary at the store and chose this one because I liked the structure of the entries (including the kanji and the English-Japanese side includes some common uses of the word), and it seemed to be pretty comprehensive.

Upon using it (for about 2 months now) I find it to be exceedingly frustrating if you want to use it to use the Japanese-English side. For example, I didn't know that 'hanabira' and looked it up in this dictionary, and assumed it wasn't there. It wasn't until I looked up 'petal' on the English side that it made sense. This happens with too many words for the japanese-english side to be useful to anyone that is serious about translating something.

Another complaint that I have, is that it 'translates' Bonito (a type of fish) from the English to the Japanese, crazy enough, it is also bonito. but it doesn't have the translation for ostrich, which I think is a more common animal to come up in conversation. I have encountered a few other instances like this where common words are absent but it is not nearly as common as the failings found in the Japanese-English portion of the book.

I am still glad that I purchased this book, because I got it primarily to work on my vocabulary, but I will probably buy another dictionary soon to make up for this one's failings.

THIS BOOK HAS BEEN VERY HELPFUL IN LEARNING THE JAPANESE LANGUEGE AND THE SYMBOLS IN THE WORDING.....THIS WILL MAKE IT VERY HELPFUL IS OUR UP AND COMING TRIP THERE...

After only a few years, the entire binding is coming apart -- it is almost split in two halves! One page started coming out the first couple months I had it. This is the reason for the lukewarm review.

As a reference, it is great, though not perfect. It has an excellent number of entries, and many entries in the English-Japanese section also give answers for related phrases and a mixture of usages. It also provides answers in various parts of speech, where applicable (adjective, adverb, verb, etc). For examples, it doesn't give entire sentences as in Kodansha's, rather an excerpt just long enough -- this is good because giving many entire sentences wastes space.

However, even though it was published in 1997, after the World Wide Web caught on fire, it doesn't show terms like link, click (verb), email, and webpage (so I didn't know how to properly write the adopted word "e-mail" phonetically in katakana until I got the Langenscheidt dictionary). It is very out-of-date with things like that. This is my other big gripe.

Sometimes words in the English-Japanese section are not in the Japanese-English section, but this doesn't happen too often. Sometimes I can't find a particular usage. Particles are defined in both sections. A minor gripe is the Japanese-English section is alphabetized per English rules, not Japanese rules, and also I would like to see the romaji gone completely from both sections (or at least an alternate version).

This book badly needs to be updated. Because of that and most especially the terrible quality of the binding, I would give it only 2 stars -- except it has more entries than Kodansha's Furigana Dictionary.

You just can't win!

This is a perfect dictionary for those who have no experience with the Japanese "alphabets;" it uses Romanized Japanese, and next to each word features the kanji/kana used in its purely Japanese counterpart. It has a pretty decent word-count and I still use it every now and then if a word proves elusive.

However, after I became acquainted with the kana, I found this text a bit annoying. It's easier to misspell the kana version of a word when you're using the Romanized Japanese. The kanji has no furigana; yes, some of them are self-explanatory, but certainly not all. And if you're just starting out with kanji, you're usually not sure which syllable goes where, so it's actually a little bit annoying until you gain more experience. Another negative note: this dictionary is easy to use as a crutch in order to avoid those scary kana -- and of course, learning the kana is the most useful thing you can do!

I think it's a pretty valuable resource, and I am certainly not sorry I bought it. Beginners should find it a breath of fresh air. However, an intermediate or higher level Japanese-language student will find this book more of a hindrance than a help. If you fall into that beginner category, and are a serious student of the language, I encourage you to take the dive into kana... it's way more useful in the long run!

This is by far my favorite dictionary for Japanese. And believe me, I went through several trying to find one I liked. The Romanji and Kanji definitions are exactly what I needed as a beginner and now, as an intermediate student, they still prove very useful. I use this everyday.

I would also recommend The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary as a nice compliment to this dictionary. If you're using Japanese in a business environment, I might suggest Cassell's English-Japanese Business Dictionary which may be hard to find but is a good permanent piece for your reference collection.

There seems to be a lot of forex books out there. When some people want to get rich on forex others exploit the opportunity by selling books the traders. This is such a book.

The book deals with both technical and fundamental analysis. Both parts are covered on a very superficial level. That is what happens if everything is included in one fairly slim book.

The book contains some bits of information, because the author seems to be knowledgable. But the overall impression is not very strong. This might be a decent book if you knew absolutely nothing about forex. But then again, with the Internet around you don't need a book like this one.

I found that this book was great for somebody getting into Forex Trading from day trading with equities. However, I would not suggest this book for beginners. I loved the history of Forex, and the book was great in terms of advice although she does often use terminology with no explanation of what it is e.g. nonfarm payrolls. If you want a book that moves slowly, this is also not a good choice. Do read this book with a good forex dictionary or access to the internet as you will need to look stuff up. Overall I liked this book alot as it was my first Forex book but I have read tons of books on stock and options trading. Best part is, that with the bear market now Forex trading is a much better option.

This book was the first one I purchased about currency trading.
In short, this is the most useless book I've ever read. It does not teach the reader anything on this subject. 5% of useful info that's in the book one can grab from the web. Really, it's just a waste of money. And the price for this book is just outrageous. I'm planning to donate mine to the local library.

In my search for good FX trading books, I found no good book yet, and this book is no exception. This book is poorly written, has no consistent flow, and it does not lead the reader anywhere. Just few areas I found somewhat interesting like correlation between pairs, and volatility as a function of time of the day, and that is why I gave it a rating of 2. Otherwise, 1 will be enough. Someday someone may write a good FX trading book that really respects the intelligence of the reader. Not all FX retail traders are losers!

I just finished reading this book and after reading more than a dozen of books on forex and day trading I must say the book is a waste of money. Most of the topics in the book are covered superficially and the few trading strategies presented are poorly documented and contain errors.

I enjoy the writing of Paul Theroux. This book is a train book about crossing China in the 80's. It gives a glimpse into life in China post mao.
If you enjoy Paul Theroux's writing this want disappoint.

Armchair travelers and actual travelers will positively become immersed in the lives and countries of fellow travelers and foreigners as Paul Theroux journeys accross Europe. Scents, sights, sounds and a dead-on ability to skewer irritating passengers and crew, off-train traits and culture give much zing to the chugging train trip. Another Theroux treat.

I read this book over a week-long period, almost 20 years after he rode the Iron Rooster through China. The many commentaries of country life, the weird customs of the people and the constant yearning to shoot birds for food made me wonder if China today is still like it was 20 years ago. I certainly hope it is not, but Theroux's style and detailed observations of miniscule events make this a very interesting, graphic read. I had the sense of where I was in the country, from the barren desert to the freezing mountains and every track inbetween. I didn't want to get off the train.

This was my first Theroux travelogue. I will certainly read many more.

From curmudgeon to comedian, Paul Theroux plays many roles. So too does China, and this is why they make such a good match. Certainly, this book drags in places, but to that end it only mirrors actual travel. It isn't just about the destinations, but the time spent between the destinations, or in this case the time the author spends riding China's trains. Those looking for an informative history of the Great Wall or an amusing anecdote concerning the Terracotta Warriors will have to look elsewhere. Theroux shuns tourist sites almost as much as he shuns foreign tourists. When he does encounter a famous place, he often gives it a one-line assessment. He sums up Beijing's abundant cultural offerings, for example, by saying that everything was "very big and very impressive."

There is no doubt that Theroux can be caustic, but his cold appraisals should ring true for anyone who has traveled in China, at least to some degree. The problem with many China books is that they are often penned by people who are smitten by the Middle Kingdom and therefore don't wish to offend. But Paul Theroux doesn't care who he offends. In any of his books. Period. Simply put, he calls it as he sees it. Despite his penchant for snobbery, one thing that Theroux is exceptionally good at is getting in on the ground level and talking to people. This makes for many of the volume's brighter moments, like when he asks to see a commune and a group of Cantonese laugh so hard they almost fall over.

RIDING THE IRON ROOSTER is a thorough inspection (pun intended) of China during the days it was emerging from the long shadow if Maoism, but before it had begun rocketing toward the realm of capitalism. As mentioned, it can be frustrating, but no more frustrating than China itself. And like China, it's worth it for those gripping moments and laugh-out-loud encounters. I have to hand it to Mr. Theroux. He traveled around China for an entire year, a trip so extensive that he visited several places twice. To my way of thinking, he deserves four stars just for that.

Troy Parfitt, author

For many travel writers, the point is more in the journey than the destination. That is especially true with Paul Theroux here. Whether it is the rubble of the Great Wall, the desolate wastes of Inner Mongolia, or the awe-inspiring vistas of Tibet, Theroux uses the various places of China he encounters by rail as a backdrop for what interests him most, the people.

Published in 1988, as China emerged from the darkness of the Cultural Revolution and just before the Tiananmen crackdown of 1989, "Riding The Iron Rooster" captures the world's most populous nation catching a wave of democratic sentiment, embracing materialism and such symbols of Western decadence as Jan and Dean. Whether government handler or fellow rail passenger, most everyone Theroux meets has regrets about the country's hardline past and doesn't mince words expressing it, in the process challenging his (and our) expectations of encountering a continent of doctrinaire Maoists.

"We can always fool a foreigner" is a Chinese proverb Theroux quotes right off the bat, and he takes it as his job proving otherwise. Better equipped than most Westerners, he has not only been to China before but speaks the language, enough so he can distinguish genuine laughs from politeness or insecure warning, while asking questions that would have gotten him in trouble ten years ago but now evoke amusement and curiosity.

The result is a highly subjective, idiosyncratic blast, of a self-admittedly rude foreigner pushing boundaries in an attempt to uncover deeper truths from a populace unaccustomed to giving them. His admiration of the Chinese is not without frustration. "I hated sight-seeing in China," he writes. "I felt the Chinese hid behind their rebuilt ruins so that no one could look closely at their lives."

Score this one China 1, Theroux 0, but he does put up a noble fight, and provides you with an entertaining glimpse at a country that engages your deeper interest, and admiration for an author always willing to go the extra mile, even in a cold and filthy railcar.

The book does lack some sense of geography; even consulting the map on the flyleaf doesn't help as Theroux expands and contracts the reader's sense of time and space. He may dismiss the terra-cotta soldiers' ranks of Xi'an with a couple of paragraphs, while spending pages on the quality and universality of public spitting. But you wind up with a journey that tells you as much about the complexity of Theroux, a dyspeptic but very talented observer in the tradition of Evelyn Waugh, as it does about the great land he visits here.

"Travel is frequently a matter of seizing a moment," he writes. "It is personal. Even if I were traveling with you, your trip would not be mine." Here, you sort of are traveling with him, and the result is a literary journey as intoxicating as it is educational.

As a professional in the investment business I highly recommend this book. I will sum it up in a few words. A book that all CEOs, World Leaders and anyone serious about understanding the positioning of the United States in the decades to come. A fascinating book written by an intriguing person, the combination equals a must read.

1. The Chinese saving and investment rate exceeds 35 percent among its 1.3 billion people.

2. There is room for upward growth in Chinese industry, including power and energy, tourism and media, agriculture, infrastructure, and high tech.

3. American Depositary Receipts is a way for Americans to invest in China.

4. Changes in regulation, reduction of tariffs, and the promise of greater market access for foreign first are beginning to shape competition in fields like banking, media, and telecommunications.

5. Commodities will be a way to profit from China's expansion. Owing a piece of the things that china's hot economy simply can't do without guarantees less need to worry about governments, management, or pension funds.

6. In 2006, China attracted $70 billion in foreign investment and brought their foreign currency reserves about $1.3 trillion.

7. Do you want to profit from increased purchasing power of the biggest middle class the world has ever seen?

8. Huawei Technologies sold 1.5 million notebooks in 2006.

9. Lenovo Group (LNVGY) caters to 160 countries and 2006 revenues reached $1.3 billion

10. China Spacesat (SHA) has increased orders for smaller satellites.

11. Shanghai Aerospace Automobile Electromechanical engages in military and civilian work, makes satellite-data-receiving equipment, auto parts, battery panels, and solar battery panels.

12. 2006, there are 137 million internet user in China and 76% have high speed internet. There are eighty million bloggers. Shanda Interactive Entertainment (SNDA) claims 2.29 million active accounts.

13. China has a baseball league, the CBL, Basketball (CBA), football (CSL).

14. 2006, China had sixty million credit card owners. 2009, the banks break even and by 2013, they are $1.3 billion in the black.

15. 2006, there were 440 million mobile phone services and another 48 million expect to join by 2007. China Mobile is the largest cell phone operator with 300 million subscribers.

16. Keeping holdings in the Chinese Yuan, or renminbi, may be a relatively safe way to hitch an upward ride on China's growth.

17. It is reasonable to expect a 300 to 500 percent rise against the debt ridden US dollar over the next twenty years.

18. In 2005, there were an estimated 510,000 public disputes across China, a sign that some forms of protests are being allowed. Will the turmoil rise to the point where it would seriously affect the business and investment climate?

19. Three reason why China's economy will flourish: a. rural dwellers replenishing aging labor b. corruption is comparable to Asian tigers c. foreign companies will invest to solve China's environmental problems.

20. There are 110 million Chinese carriers of hepatitis B and C.

21. Will China float its currency freely. The yuan levels against the dollar are increasingly strong. Will the higher valuations on the yuan cripple Chinese exports? Foreign investment and Chinese innovation should sustain demand for higher quality Chinese products, a similar cycle that the Japanese import/export cycle experienced in the 70s/80s/90s.

22. Is China heading for a "hard landing" as the Chinese government struggles to control growth. China's growth may not be strongly tied to US economics. In 1997, during the Asian financial crisis, China's market soared 38 percent. In 2000, as the US internet bubble burst, China's economy surged forward 49 percent. The US imports are not the only influence in China. Much of China's growth has been internal and stimulated by domestic demand. Because China is a country with high savings, a stock crash won't have the same impact on capital for expansion. Chinese companies have plenty of places other than the stock market for cash.

23. 2006, sixty-five million investment accounts or 10 percent of the population of China, grow from nothing.

24. What are the biggest challenges facing China? Excess liquidity, balooning credit, an asset boom and over-investment in loss-making heavy industries. All factors in Japan's downturn through the 80s.

25. In 2006, China produced 50 percent of the cameras, 30 percent of the worlds air conditioners, and 40 percent of the microwaves sold in Europe.

26. In 2005, 98 percent of villages were electrified and the second largest consumer of electricity in the world. By the end of the 1990s, the Chinese central government controlled less than 50 percent of the power production. The Big five include China Datang Corp, China Power Investment Corp, China Huaneng Group, China Guodian Corp, and China Huadian Corp.

27. China needs $2 trillion in electricity infrastructure between 2001 and 2030. In China, coal accounts for 70% of the electricity capacity. In 2007, China became a net importer of Coal.

28. China will reach US oil consumption of 20 million barrels a day within twenty years. China imports 3.5 million barrel/day of oil. Chinese oil refineries are among the best-managed enterprises. Due to price control, China ranks with the US among the countries with the lowest gas prices. The Chinese governments have been will to let gas prices rise to regulate use and allow Chinese oil companies to stay profitable. Chinese oil companies boost exports of diesel to take advantage of better prices on the world market.

29. The Chinese government plans on spending $200 billion on renewable energy.

30. China ranks number one in world farm output. China has a rural population of 940 million. China's farm production remains relatively unproductive. A single US farm hand works 140 acres and is 200 times more productive than his Chinese counterpart, who works one acre. China plans on a $42 billion investment in agrarian infrastructure: more efficient irrigation systems, retail markets, and e-commerce.

31. Between 2000 and 2004, China jumped from nineth to fourth in world agricultural exports by emphasizing products they have a comparative advantage: a half pound peach, fuji apples, Chinese Walnuts, mushrooms, garlic, Christmas trees, Mandrin Oranges, and strawberries.

I agree with Jim Rogers. China is way too important for investors to ignore. China is growing fast and they are here to stay and perhaps are on their way to become the next great world power. But I found Rogers' book very flimsy. If you are unfamiliar with the changes in China, there are many other better books that can help you to better understand the changes. If you already know about these changes, then this book adds hardly anything. Book is also poorly organized. One minute he can be talking about the different dynasties or the cultural revolution, the next minute he talks about the newest companies in different industries.

From an investor's perspective, it gives you some information about various companies and types of shares (ie: A shares, H shares, etc.). There is no depth though. There are lists of companies in various industries, but Rogers provides hardly any information. He also does not teach you how to find out more about these companies and regulations that might affect investors. For example there are no answers to important questions like: Does China have anything analogous to SEC, GAAP? Where can we get financial statements on companies listed in Shanghai stock exchange? What is executive compensation like? Etc.

If you are thinking about investing in China then it is important to understand their culture, politics and recent business environment and Rogers tries to provide readers with some basic material here, but the lack of depth or new insights make this book not worthwhile. Here are some other books that I recommend:

China Wakes (a little outdated but still very important)
China Road
Wild Swans

Anytime someone makes you a lot of money, you tend to become a fan. And so I am a fan of Jim Rogers. I believe this man makes a lot of sense when he talks economics. I learned this by reading his earlier books about driving around the world. He admits to being a lousy trader. But he is great at looking at the big picture and investing according.

He made me money with an earlier book, Hot Commodities, which I had for four years before I invested in commodities. If I had invested when I first read the book, I would be retired 2 or 3 times over. Even though commodities have taken a huge tumble lately the bull market is not over yet and they will make me more money.

But this book is about the money that can be made in China. If you watched the 2008 Olympics you saw a new China. The reports from China are amazing. The growth, the production, the consumption, and everything about China is not just super-sized, it's gigantic-sized. With three stock exchanges, close to double digit GDP growth every year, and the largest financial reserves, there is plenty of opportunity here.

I am writing this review to help you decide if you should buy this book or not. I hope this review helps. If you want to read more of my reviews of stock trading and investment book, you can get them at www.thetradingtipster.com.

Another reviewer has already painstakingly detailed the book chapter by chapter. My takeaway is that if you are looking for places to invest, then get this book. It explains why China is growing and why it will continue to grow. This book also breaks down all the sectors of the economy. Everything from travel to agriculture to the Chinese space program is discusses and dissected in easy to understand language. Dozens of companies are also listed with brief descriptions of each. The descriptions are good because you get a sense of what if happening in China, but for the average American investor most of these companies cannot be invested in.

But even if you only focus on Chinese companies listed on NYSE and NASDAQ or get into the Chinese Market ETF (FXI) you can still make a nice long term gain. The author stresses that investing in China is a long term process with ups and many downs along the way. He does not recommend any company in the book, he only mentions them to give the reader a broad understanding.

If you want to know what's going on in China and profit from it, from a man who knows how to make money, this book is a great place to start. It opened my eyes to China when I first read it and am patiently waiting for an opportunity to invest in the largest bull market of our lifetime. The author compares China to the Wild West of America. Lots of money to be made, but you have to be careful.

By looking at the trends in the US market and what is going on around the world, it makes sense to reason that investments for the next few decades will probably get a higher return in places like China than in the US. Even if you don't agree with me on this point, you will probably agree that diversifying by investing in China is not a bad idea. And if you believe that then this book will help.

As a big Jim Rogers fan, I am amazed to find myself giving his book a 1 star rating. While his first 3 books were excellent, this book should never have been published.

The book gives a cursory rehash of the "China is the next great super power" argument (which I believe is true) and then just gives long lists of random Chinese stocks with short and shallow rambles in between stock lists.

The book makes it clear that the listed stocks are not recommended stocks, just a long list of all the Chinese stocks that the author could come up with. It's obvious that no research was done on the stocks listed and most have no more than 1 paragraph on them describing what they do.

I found many errors in this book, especially in chapter 8, "The Calculating Trader", as well as some in other chapters. Unfortunately, if you don't catch these errors, this book will only confuse you more. If you do catch them, it will just annoy you. Granted, I have the first edition of this book (2005); hopefully these errors have been corrected in the new June 2008 second edition. I gave the book 2 stars because it does have some decent overview information in it.

I originally bought this book in February 2007 after watching an infomercial on currency trading. This book is good for anybody who wants to start currency trading but dont know where to begin. After reading it, I was hooked.Now one year leter I am trading the currency market and now I am successful at it.

This book will give you the basic knowledge and foundation of the currency market.If you are someone who is already trading and have experience then this book is not for you.

Also once you read this book read it at least two more times.

I have been trading currencies for about a year and a half now, and this was a great start to get a broad picture of the FX market.

This isn't a "dummies" step by step but it is a clear overview of trading in the currency market.

It could be written with a little more... excitement or novelty. It is a fairly clinical read. It isn't a good comparison but triple w dot babypips dot com is a fun version of the material in this book. They are not associated but the web site is a good primer for this read (or vise versa).

The basics are all covered and that makes it worth the price.

This book is very true to its name, definitely for those of us who aren't experts at trading yet. The book is filled with a general overview of the forex world and I would say that this book should be the first one any novice picks up (even before babypips).

After reading a ton of books, finally one that is really helpful in making a good foundation for you trading habits.
This book gives a lot of basic information about Forex (useful to those like me who wants to know everything about), good hints about risk and money management.
But if you want to study seriously, a must is the second title of the author Getting Started in Forex Trading Strategies (Getting Started In.....)

This is a gem of a novel and I praise the Pulizer committee for choosing a book that is so witty and fun to read. While the story is about two different "odd couples," the real love affair is with Britain and all the possibilities it offers for the traveler. Vinnie is not your typical heroine--you may love or hate her, but she is real and I really cared about her journey. The novel is full of other quirky characters, too, that you will keep you amused throughout.

Alison Lurie's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is a work that explores love and all its complexities through two polar opposite academics who teach at the same ivy league school: the factitious Corinth University.

One academic is the aging spinster professor, Virginia Miner, a published scholar who also happens to be a respected expert in the study of children's literature, with a particular emphasis on nursery and playground rhymes. An Anglophile at heart, she feels more at home in England than in the United States. Having received a stipend for her sabbatical in England, Professor Miner's aim is to further her research for a work-in-progress. Unlike her experiences in American academia, which are not all-too-thrilling, in England, she is a minor academic celebrity, where intellectuals take sincere and interested note of who she is as well as her profession and assorted writings on the literary aspects of children's lives.

The other academic is the complete opposite of the prim and proper, if not a bit aloof and sarcastic Virginia Miner. His name is Fred Turner, Ph.D., an expert on English writers: Johnson, Fielding, Hogarth and specifically John Gay, whom he is supposed to be writing a book on. While Prof. Miner is not necessarily unattractive, she is ordinary looking at best with a somewhat restrained personality that aches to say what she is truly feeling. Dr. Turner, however, has the features of an "Edwardian hero: classically sculptured, over-finished..." (p. 29). He is too beautiful looking to be taken seriously, and almost all his students wish to sleep with him. He is an up-and-comer in academic circles, especially in the Corinth English Department, somebody who will bring appeal, vitality and energy to old English department pretensions. He is married to a somewhat feminist artist and photographer named Roo, whose behavior is crass and a total contradiction to his refined and intellectuial nature. During a photographic exhibit that involves Prof. Turner, a humiliating fiasco occurs, and after that negative experience, he travels to England to research his book-in-progress.

While both Vinnie Miner and Fred Turner have a reason to flee, their lives, once in England, get hilariously entwined in a flurry of aristocratic dramas, Vinnie less so when she encounters an emotionally down-on-his-luck Texan engineer named Charles (Chuck) Mumpson, a specialist in waste-disposal systems while en route to London. Fred gets involved with a small time television actress named Rosemary Radley, a flighty and gregarious woman who is not too swift, a woman strongly hardened by the profession which she operates in and is trying to excell at. Yet, she is layered in masks of her own making, for life is hard and difficult. And love is particularly unattainable, especially when it is not on her terms.

As Fred Turner is a newbie to the academic system, with its policies and proceedures, Virginia Miner is the cool-as-a-cucumber veteran, a seasoned and independent world traveler, but she is lonley; she has foresaken honest-to-goodness love as something not applicable to her. There is a veneer around her that stunts her, and that is her anti-romance, anti-everything that has to do with relationships attitude. She's had affairs, but everything after became platonic. But it is Chuck Mumpson, her exact opposite, who opens Virginia's eyes to the truth that opposites do indeed attract. And what happens to him at the end of the novel is honest in the sense that real love can sometimes hurt, but it is not always a healing experience, if not at that moment than certainly after the fact--like a good memory.

Each character seems successful, but there is a missing piece to each one. Fred Turner, Virginia Miner, Rosemary Radley and Chuck Mumpson, along with a plateful of others. They are people who need each other, irrelevant of whether or not they are successful in their jobs and whatnot. Emotional human needs overide lots of other factors in this life, for no person is an island onto him or herself. And Foreigh Affairs illustrates that fact perfectly. Highly recommended!

One of our most overrated contemporary authors. No more wit or insight than you'll find in a ordinary "chick-lit" novel.

This book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1984. While there is nothing particularly profound about it, it is a very readable, well-paced addition to the 'academics abroad' genre. The story is reminiscent of David Lodge's excellent "Changing Places". However, where Lodge's two academics are English and American transplants, respectively, Lurie follows the progress of two American academics, each on a 6-month leave in London.

One of the pleasures of this particular genre is the author's freedom to allow characters to develop in unexpected ways. Lurie takes full advantage, particularly for the older (and more interesting) of her two main protagonists, Vinnie Miner, a professor of English in her mid-fifties. Indeed, the author has said that the main theme she wanted to explore in the book was the way in which people living abroad, freed of pre-existing expectations, can change their lives, sometimes quite drastically. (As an immigrant to the U.S., who still has family in Ireland, the question of how one's identity can morph with a simple change of longitude is one to which I can definitely relate.)

Lurie tells a good story, in a voice that is smart and appealing. Although she juggles her various plotlines and romantic liaisons expertly, the conclusion is not entirely convincing. However, this is a minor flaw in an otherwise excellent story, skillfully told.

A funny and humane novel -- one might call it a domestic comedy if it's theme weren't transatlantic in the Jamesian tradition. "Foreign Affairs" gently balances the "affairs" of two Americans, member of the same academic dept. (at Corinth College based on Cornell University), but opposites in every other respect.

Vinnie Miner, a 54-year-old spinster, is a physically plain but professionally successful specialist in children's literature, who has an almost irrational love for all things English. Fred Turner, a preternaturally handsome young assistant professor, is floundering in his scholarly work on the eighteenth-century poet and dramatist John Gay and feels alienated from his London surroundings. One character embarks on a socially disastrous love affair that turns out to present an opportunity for authentic passion, while the other pursues love in the highest echelons of chic London society to find only its impersonation.

In her exploration of these complementary "affairs," Lurie reveals opposing perspectives on what it means to be American and English, training her sharp but forgiving wit on the foibles of both nationalities as well as on the academic profession. Lurie herself has written on children's literature, and so she knows whereof she speaks. Especially engaging are the scenes where she follows Professor Miner on her fieldwork into the playgrounds of London and its environs or when Vinnie broods over an uncomplimentary review.

Like her creator, though, Vinnie also possesses an irresistibly engaging imagination, one that pictures her rivals as bloated victims of the Great Plague of 1665 or of her own self-pity as a dirty-white terrier of indeterminate size. The flexibility of that imagination takes this initially unbeguiling middle aged woman heroine beyond where her more fearful literary models have gone, helps the reader see her as a figure full of possibility, and in the process breaks new literary ground. Really a delightful and fun-to-read book.