Tiểu thuyết tình cảm của Vũ Trọng Phụng về mối tình ba trai một gái. Cả ba chàng điều yêu nàng đắm đuối. Nàng thì chỉ yêu anh nhà nghèo nhưng bị ba mẹ ép buộc lấy chồng nhà giàu. Truyện ngắn, đơn giản, không bi lụy. Bài học từ sách là lòng kiêu ngạo hại cả một đời người. Tốt hơn hết là yêu thì cứ yêu đừng kiêu ngạo.

“Lục xì” là cách người Hoa Việt phát âm hai từ tiếng Anh “look, see”. Nhà Lục xì là cơ quan y tế chuyên chữa bệnh hoa liễu cho phụ nữ làm đĩ. Ở Hà Nội vào thiệp niên 30, thống kê hơn 5000 đỉ lậu — “nghĩa là cứ ba mươi lăm người lương thiện lại có một người thường nhật sinh sống bằng sự gieo rắc vi trùng hoa liễu”, theo phóng viên Vũ Trọng Phụng. Khác với tiểu thuyết Làm đĩ của ông, Lục xì là phóng sự về nạn mại dâm và nạn hoa liễu. Đọc không văn vẻ và hấp dẫn như tiểu thuyết nhưng hữu ích.

Even after all these years designing and developing websites, I still suck at JavaScript. I have read a number of books on JS and have yet done any JS programming on my own. In the past few days, I decided to pick up Nick Morgan’s JavaScript Crash Course. I refreshed the basics and understood the use of DOM. Unfortunately I was not interested in the projects. I didn’t want to create a Pong game. I need to figure out what I want to do with JavaScript and then learn by doing it. Nevertheless, this is still a good book on JavaScript for beginners.

In her heartrending novel, Thảo Thái weaves together three different voices across three generations: Minh (grandmother), Hương (daughter), and Ann (granddaughter). Readers get to know the characters through their own stories, struggles, and secrets. Through her original, compelling writing, Thảo Thái captures the complexities of the women’s relationships with men, their surrounding, and each other. Banyan Moon is a gripping, spellbinding debut rooted deeply in Vietnamese culture and literature.

Last night I picked up HTML5 for Web Designers to refresh my memories. I read Jeremy Keith’s first edition when it first came out 14 years ago. Rachel Andrew’s second edition had solid updated information. I am planning to teach my two teenage kids HTML and CSS. I would like them to read this book.

Out of curiosity, I flipped through Trí C. Trần’s Essential Vietnamese Grammar to see what he teaches English speakers our language. Then I came across his translation of Vietnamese proverbs sprinkled throughout the book. I collected them here:

Sông sâu còn có kẻ dò, Nào ai lấy thước mà đo lòng người. (Even a deep river can be fathomed by somebody, but no one could ever use a yardstick to measure the depth of the human heart.)

Uống nước nhớ nguồn (When drinking water (from a brook), you should think of where the source begins.)

Ăn trầu thì phải có vôi, Cúng rằm thì phải có xôi có chè. (Areca nuts must be chewed together with slaked lime; mid-month offerings must include sticky rice and desserts.)

Vụng múa chê đất lệch. (An unskilled dancer often blames the ground for being uneven.)

Cha mẹ nuôi con biển hồ lai láng, Con nuôi cha mẹ tính tháng tính ngày. (How much parents nourish and nurture their children is as endless as oceans and lakes, while the children calculate days and months when it’s their turn to take care of their parents.)

Ăn lấy chắc, mặc lấy bền. (Eat solid food and wear durable clothing.)

Được bữa giỗ, lỗ buổi cày. (Going to a death anniversary banquet means losing a plow day.)

Giàu thú quê không bằng ngồi lê kẻ chợ. (A wealthy person in the countryside cannot compare with one hanging around in the city.)

Trông trời cho chóng gió đông, Cho thuyền được gió, cho nhông tôi về. (I hope that the east wind will soon blow, so all the boats will sail along with it and my husband will come home.)

Thương nhau mấy núi cũng trèo, Mấy sông cũng lội, mấy đèo cũng qua. (One would climb any mountain, cross any pass and swim in any river to be with their lover.)

Trong đầm gì đẹp bằng sen, Gần bùn mà chẳng hôi tanh mùi bùn. (What other flowers are more beautiful than the lotuses in the marsh Which grow near the mud but are still good smelling?)

Ra đồng gặp vịt thì lùa, Gặp cướp thì đánh, gặp chùa thì tu. (If you happen to see a flock of ducks out in the fields, herd them; if you bump into some robbers, fight them; and if you find a temple, become a monk there.)

Bán anh em xa, mua láng giềng gần. (Sell your faraway siblings to buy some nearby neighbors.)

This little book features 59 quotes on writing and short responses from the author to demonstrate the intersect between writing and mindfulness. Some of my favorite quotes including John McPhee’s “Writing teaches writing,” Carlos Fuentes’ “Writing is a struggle against silence,” and Thích Nhật Hạnh’s “Compassion is a verb.” It’s an enlightening read.

In this Why I Write series, Knausgaard shares his personal stories. I love the quote he heard from another writer, “I write because I am going to die.” I also love this passage:

The discrepancy between the reality I lived in and the literature I was writing at a certain point led me to throw in my cards and try something new. I wanted to get close to reality, and the genre with which I felt the greatest affinity at the time was the diary. What would happen if I combined the diary’s closeness to the self and urge for reflection with the realist step-by-step novel? The rules I set myself now were exceptionally simple. I would write only about things that had actually happened, and I would write about them as I remembered them, without doing research or amending my memory to conform to other versions. I also had to write a certain number of pages every day, first five, later ten, and toward the end up to twenty. In that way I simply wouldn’t have time to think, to plan or to calculate, I would have to go with whatever appeared on the screen in front of me. This method came about because I had set out to write about myself, and since we know more about ourselves than about any other subject, it seemed important to avoid the established versions and to seek instead the complexity that lies beneath our self-insight and self-image and which can be accessed only by not thinking about how our thoughts and feelings will seem to others, how it will look, who I am if I think and feel these things.

I read this long essay in one sitting.

This book obviously follows the format of Universal Principles of Design, but it is no match to the classics. It focuses on UX, which is great for digital design, but the principles are falling short, especially towards the end. I would say 60 principles are solid and 40 are fillers. The author also pimps many of her own work, which makes it less universal. The book is still worth a quick read through.

I am a fan of Gay’s writing, particularly in Hunger. She has such an easygoing, approachable style. Over the years, I would read any opinion pieces she had written. Whether writing on politics, race, civil responsibilities, culture, or man problems, she brings fresh, smart, and honest opinions to the table. Her latest book is a collection of essays she had written in the past decade. It’s a good read.