{"id":2607,"date":"2011-10-30T19:18:26","date_gmt":"2011-10-31T00:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=2607"},"modified":"2021-06-02T19:17:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T23:17:22","slug":"bridge-of-birds-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2607","title":{"rendered":"Bridge of Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bridge of Birds<\/em> (1984) Barry Hughart<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A year or so ago I ordered The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox<\/a><\/em>, because I’d read Bridge of Birds<\/em>, loved it, and wanted to read more. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately for me, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox<\/a><\/em> is a BIG book. It’s three volumes: Bridge of Birds<\/em>, The Story of the Stone<\/em>, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen<\/em>, all in a single hardback volume, and every time I thought I wanted to read it, I looked at the size of the thing and changed my mind.<\/p>\n

So I finally broke down and bought it in eBook format. And the immediately started rereading Bridge of Birds<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Still wonderful. And now I can read the next two!<\/p>\n

‘Take a large bowl,’ I sad. ‘Fill it with equal measures of fact, fantasy, history, mythology, science, superstition, logic, ad lunacy. Darken the mixture with bitter tears, brighten it with howls of laughter, toss in three thousand years of civilization, bellow kan pei–which means “dry cup”–and drink to the dregs.’ Procopius stared at me. ‘And then I will be wise?’ he asked. ‘Better,’ I said. ‘You will be Chinese.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Subterranean Press <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bridge of Birds (1984) Barry Hughart A year or so ago I ordered The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, because I’d read Bridge of Birds, loved it, and wanted to read more. Unfortunately for me, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox is a BIG book. It’s three volumes: Bridge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,27,31,2,6,33,291],"tags":[134],"class_list":["post-2607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-alternate-history","category-asian","category-fantasy","category-folk-fairy-tales","category-historical","category-paper","tag-barry-hughart"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-G3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9668,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9668","url_meta":{"origin":2607,"position":0},"title":"Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was","author":"Michelle","date":"February 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (1984) Barry Hughart Set in the Middle Kingdom of China, Year of the Tiger 3337 (AD 639) All the children in the village between the ages of eight and thirteen have fall victim to an unknown illness, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Bridge-of-Birds.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":464,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/464","url_meta":{"origin":2607,"position":1},"title":"Bridge of Birds","author":"Michelle","date":"October 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (1984) Barry Hughart I have a weakness for fantasy novels set in Asia--especially those set in ancient China. So when I saw Bridge of Birds on the shelf I immediately snatched it up. A strange malady has struck\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Bridge-of-Birds.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13275,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13275","url_meta":{"origin":2607,"position":2},"title":"The Story of the Stone","author":"Michelle","date":"July 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Story of the Stone (1988) Barry Hughart (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox) Year of the Serpent 3,339 (A.D. 650). I've been re-reading The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox before bed for a really long time now. I'd read a page or two,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox-e1510885499371.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13510,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13510","url_meta":{"origin":2607,"position":3},"title":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen","author":"Michelle","date":"October 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen (1990) Barry Hughart (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox) Year of the Horse 3338 (a.d. 640) This is my least favorite of the three stories. That doesn't mean it's bad, just that I don't like it as much as the first story. A vampire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox-e1510885499371.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2631,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2631","url_meta":{"origin":2607,"position":4},"title":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen","author":"Michelle","date":"November 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen (1991) Barry Hughart This is the third and final book in the Master Li and Number Ten Ox trilogy. I'm a little sad to see it end, but it was quite enjoyable. Oddly, the passages that caught my attention in this book weren't the funny ones, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2611,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2611","url_meta":{"origin":2607,"position":5},"title":"The Story of the Stone","author":"Michelle","date":"November 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Story of the Stone (1988) Barry Hughart Master Li has taken Number Ten Ox on as his assistant. The Abbot of the monastery of the Valley of Sorrows comes to Master Li asking for help resolving the unexpected death of his librarian, and the strange dead spots in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}