Review: Apologies to My Censor by Mitch Moxley

Title: Apologies to My Censor: The High and Low Adventures of a Foreigner in China
Author: Mitch Moxley
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Publish Date: July 2, 2013
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a non-fiction fan.
• You're a memoir fan.
• You like armchair traveling.

 What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "The story of a young man's outrageous adventures in China and his search for identity in the most unexpected of places.

Mitch Moxley came to Beijing in the spring of 2007 to take a job as a writer and editor for China Daily, the country's only English-language national newspaper. The Chinese economy was booming, the Olympics were on the horizon, and Beijing was being transformed into a world-class city overnight. Moxley planned to stay only through the Olympics and then head back to Canada.

But that was six years ago. In that time, Moxley fed a goat to a lion, watched a lingerie-wearing bear ride a bicycle, and crisscrossed the country writing stories. He also appeared as one of Cosmopolitan's one hundred most eligible bachelors in China, acted in a state-funded Chinese movie, and was paid to pose as a fake businessman.

During Moxley's journey of self-exploration, his comic adventures and misadventures in China gave way to the creation of his alter ego—Mi Gao, or Tall Rice. A funny and honest look at expat life, Apologies to My Censor also depicts the ways a country can touch and inspire you."

My Two Cents:

"Apologies to My Censor" is a funny memoir of Mitch Moxley's, a journalist, adventures in China. This is the book that you would get if Tucker Max were a little more worldly and told better stories that had a little bit less of the gross-out factor. Between the armchair traveling and the laughs, I really enjoyed this book.

I love reading stories about places all over the world. China is absolutely fascinating to me because it seems like someplace that is so different from so many of the other places in the world. Moxley finds this out very quickly when he takes a job for the English language newspaper, China Daily. He was sort of lost back home and is hopeful that this job will help him find his path. Beijing becomes sort of a long delay along the way but Moxley makes the best of it.

Some of the stories in the book are really funny. I loved reading about Moxley's comedy of manners as he tries to make his way through China and ends up offending so many of the denizens of the country. I also thought it was really interesting to read about China right prior and during the Beijing Olympics as the country was trying really hard to change their country's narrative to the outside world.

Overall, this book will appeal to those looking to travel the world with a couple laughs along the way.