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Isham Cook

Goodreads Author

Born

in Chicago, The United States

Website

http://IshamCook.com

Twitter

Ishamcook

Genre

Fiction, Travel, Nonfiction

Influences

Ballard, Beckett, Borges, Dick, Kafka, Hesse, Melville, Mishima, Sade ...more

Member Since

January 2012

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/ishamcook

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American essayist and novelist. His writing philosophy is big concept, discriminating, provocative. His influences are Ballard, Beckett, Borges, Dick, Kafka, Hesse, Melville, Mishima, Sade, and all uncompromising authors who bulldoze their way into new territory. And, of course, it all begins with Shakespeare.

Kirkus Reviews calls his second novel The Kitchens of Canton "poignant...language barriers abound, with dialogue in Cantonese, Italian, and Latin, but Cook isn’t merely interested in verbal language—body language, customs and rituals, and symbols are also on full display. The book also explores Americans’ complicated relationship with sex, juxtaposing it against their seemingly comfortable relationships with weapons and violence. An in ...more

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Combine Editions
Isham Cook’s books

Average rating: 4.31 · 796 ratings · 135 reviews · 11 distinct works

	The Kitchens of Canton 4.31 avg rating — 197 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	American Rococo: Essays on the Edge 4.28 avg rating — 198 ratings — published 2017 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mustachioed Woman of Shanghai 4.41 avg rating — 184 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Confucius and Opium: China Book Reviews 4.50 avg rating — 132 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	At the Teahouse Cafe: Essays from the Middle Kingdom really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 2015 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lust & Philosophy 3.88 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2012 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Exact Unknown and Other Tales of Modern China 3.93 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2014 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Massage and the Writer 3.82 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 2014 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sexual Fascism: Essays 3.50 avg rating — 8 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Tao of Poison it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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The Tao of Poison. A novel.

A poisonous maiden, a Daoist sex cult, and a violent anti-government rebellion.

Polyandry—one or more males moving in and sharing the wife’s bed with her husband’s consent in exchange for money or labor—was common among the impoverished in Imperial China, though illegal, and the polyandrous Yan family in rural Shaanxi Province take in two carpenter brothers. When one brother is convicted of

Isham is Currently Reading

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My Education

by Susan Choi (Goodreads Author)

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Apr 03, 2022 02:28AM

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Treat Us Like Dogs and We Will Become Wolves

by Carolyn Chute

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Apr 03, 2022 02:07AM

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The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047

by Lionel Shriver (Goodreads Author)

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Apr 03, 2022 12:01AM

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Isham Cook rated a book it was amazing 1984 by George Orwell	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The book needs no hype; it remains one of the two founding dystopian novels - the other being Huxley's Brave New World. However, since reading Barbara Demick's "Nothing to Envy," about life in North Korea, I have to say that that country surpasses "1 ...more
Aug 28, 2025 03:30AM · like · see review
Isham Cook rated a book it was amazing Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A most incisive study of North Korea, the contemporary world's great tragedy of an entire nation confined to a concentration camp. Things have marginally improved under Kim Jong Un, largely due to the regime's new method of generating income through ...more
Aug 28, 2025 03:27AM · like · see review
Isham Cook rated a book it was amazing The Complete Works of Shakespeare [38 plays, 4 poems, sonnets] by William Shakespeare	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I've now read all the plays (many multiple times) except for King John and Henry VI (1-3) & VIII, which I'll get around to at some point. My views on Shakespeare (garnered after years of teaching him as well) are summed up in my concise essay "A Shak ...more
Aug 28, 2025 03:23AM · like · see review
Isham Cook rated a book it was amazing My Splendid Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Gripping historical novel set during the Taiping Rebellion in China based on the life of the historical figure of Sir Robert Hart (1835–1911) and his conflicted and tortured relationship with two Chinese sisters and former slaves who sought to share ...more
Aug 25, 2025 02:01AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of My Splendid Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — My Splendid Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Isham Cook is now following Linda's reviews
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Isham Cook rated a book it was amazing Second Life by Stephani Cook	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Perhaps because the author's surname was the same as my pen name, I picked up this memoir in a secondhand bookshop. I soon discovered the prosaic cover belied its gory contents: a most grim, challenging, and disturbing read, as any good book should b ...more
Jun 22, 2025 09:48PM · 1 like · like · see review
Isham Cook rated a book it was amazing Bernardine's Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China by Susan Blumberg-Kason	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
It's hard to imagine a celebrated socialite at the center of more storied personages than American Bernadine Szold-Fritz was in 1930s Shanghai. Gravitating to her salons and theatrical extravaganzas (Anglo-Chinese collaborative dramas) were the cream ...more
Jun 08, 2025 10:49PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Bernardine's Shanghai Salon by Susan Blumberg-Kason. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Bernardine's Shanghai Salon by Susan Blumberg-Kason <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Isham Cook rated a book it was amazing Quicksand by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aesthetically perverse in the way only the Japanese can be, this precision-tooled psychological thriller published in 1929 would have benefitted from more explicit lesbian sexual description, admittedly impossible at the time. The story really boils ...more
Jun 01, 2025 05:21PM · 1 like · like · see review
Isham Cook rated a book it was amazing Ti-ping tien-kwoh 2 Volume Set: Ti-ping tien-kwoh: The History of the Ti-Ping Revolution, Including a Narrative of the Author's Personal Adventures: ... - East and South-East Asian History) by Augustus F. Lindley (2012-08-16) by Unknown Author	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This history of the Taiping Civil War in China (1850-64) has to be one of the most harrowing accounts of warfare I've ever read. The U.S. Civil War was child's play by comparison. Augustus Lindley was an ex-British naval officer who joined the Taipin ...more
Oct 24, 2024 02:37AM · 2 likes · like · see review
Isham Cook has read Screw Consent: A Better Politics of Sexual Justice by Joseph J. Fischel	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 28, 2024 10:05AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Screw Consent by Joseph J. Fischel. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Screw Consent by Joseph J. Fischel <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Isham Cook (?)

“But the outcome was inevitable: she assumed you would not take no for an answer; she could already see your charming smile morph into the grimace of a rabid dog. To”
― Isham Cook, Lust and Philosophy

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Isham’s Quotes

“Andrew Solomon, in his book The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, traces the links between addiction and depression, which frequently co-occur, as well as the intimate relationship between depression and anxiety. He quotes an expert on anxiety who suggests we should think of the two disorders as “fraternal twins”: “Depression is a response to past loss, and anxiety is a response to future loss.” Both reflect a mind mired in rumination, one dwelling on the past, the other worrying about the future. What mainly distinguishes the two disorders is their tense.”
― Michael Pollan, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence

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