Nonfiction

Coming Home Crazy

An Alphabet of China Essays
By
Bill Holm
“Entertaining, thought-provoking and touching.” —PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
Select Format

A captivating book about what happened to an American in China, his adventures of daily life and on the road, and what the United States looked like after he got home.

Arranged by letter of the alphabet, with at least one entry per letter, these short pieces capture the variety of daily life in contemporary China. With Bill Holm as companion, one learns what it is like to travel by “hard-seat” train to a remote village, to smuggle Chinese classics back into China, and to experience Mickey Mouse-mania in the Middle Kingdom. Writing about traditions that endure in rural areas as well as the bureaucratic absurdities an American teacher and traveler experiences in the 1980s, Holm further covers such topics as dumpling making, night soil, and banking.

This edition also includes an afterword about the country since Tiananmen.

ISBN
9781571312501
Publish Date
Pages
264
Dimensions
6 × 9 × 0.5 in
Weight
13.9 oz
Cover Art
Author

Bill Holm

Bill Holm was born in 1943 on a farm outside Minneota, Minnesota. He received a BA from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1965 and an MA from the University of Kansas in 1967.

Praise and Prizes

  • “Entertaining … Bill Holm clearly loves the Chinese people and their traditional culture.”

    Los Angeles Times

  • “[A] fantastic expedition into the whims, absurdities, smells, tastes and wonders of modern Chinese life … Bill Holm provides a warm, wise and unrelentingly witty guide to surviving China.”

    San Diego Magazine

  • “Entertaining, thought-provoking and touching. After reading his book, you won’t look at the United States or China the same way.”

    Philadelphia Inquirer

  • “I love it. It is the best book on China I have read for a long time.”

    Nien Cheng
    author of Life and Death in Shanghai

  • “The warmth, courage and enduring spirit of the Chinese people permeate the pages of Coming Home Crazy.”

    Charleston News and Courier

You Might Enjoy

Based on this book, we recommend you try…
The Windows of Brimnes: An American in Iceland
Nonfiction

The Windows of Brimnes

Bill Holm

A Minnesotan of Icelandic ancestry, the author’s travels have taken him all over the world. Here he repairs to Brimnes, his fisherman’s cottage on the shore of a fjord in northern Iceland. Looking west from this place of seemingly endless and…

Poetry

Playing the Black Piano

Bill Holm

This collection reflects on the author’s time in Iceland (his ancestral home), his ongoing love affair with music, a friend’s death from AIDS, and his bold reactions to the world around him. Moving from Oregon forests to the deserts around Tuscon…

Eccentric Islands: Travels Real and Imaginary
Nonfiction

Eccentric Islands

Bill Holm

Part traveler’s journal, part philosophical exploration, this book considers the idea of islands and asks whether they encourage eccentricity and grandeur in human beings. Along the way, it introduces beguiling characters and cultures, from the well…