American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China, by Matthew Polly is a 2008 Alex Award winner.
If you've read this book, please leave a comment with your review of it and whether you think other readers are likely to find it engaging (do you think they’d be eager to finish it and perhaps start reading another book when they are done). If you recommend the book, please also state any themes or topics that would be good for discussion. Thanks.
3 comments:
I recommend we shortlist this book. It meets all the requirements for our program, most importantly that of broadening students' horizons. Also, it's a memoir, which is a different style from previous years' choices.
I loved this book. When I first received the review copy, I wasn't sure it would be my style of book, but I couldn't put it down. I found the writing to be engaging, funny, interesting, and very easy to read. I like that it is a memoir and that the author was college age during his experiences. Very much a coming of age story. I would recommend it as a potential choice this year.
Obviously I am biased toward this one since the author grew up in Topeka, Kansas... my home town. :)
"Everybody was kung-fu fighting
Those cats were fast as lightning
In fact it was a little bit frightening
But they fought with expert timing"
That's about the extent of my interest in kung-fu.
Plus, it bothered me that the story seemed to just be waiting to be made into a movie.
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