Mini Book Reviews

Seppo has been getting me two books per month as a part of my Christmas present. I’ve been cutting down on book purchases because I want to go through the books I own but haven’t read yet, so every time I buy a new book, I feel guilty. This gets around the guilt. 😀 It’s nice because I get a nice influx of new books as well as have the opportunity to go through the older books.

January picks:

The Tenth Circle: A Novel. I like Jodi Picoult. The best of her books would definitely rate a 5/5 for me. I loved The Pact: A Love Story. My Sister’s Keeper: A Novel was almost as good. Not quite, but almost.

Then she has a set of books that I find to be quite middle of the road. A book that falls into this category still has that something that grabs me, whether it’s the lyricism of her prose or the emotional depth that her characters show, but for some reason, it doesn’t quite come together. This was one of those books. I can’t heartily recommend it, as I felt that the turning point of the book did not deliver the impact the author was hoping to deliver, and in some sense, I felt a little betrayed.

It’s strange to say that I feel betrayed by a storyline, but that’s a part of her strength as a writer: she brings me into the inner lives of the characters in such a way that I can understand & empathize with the differing perspectives of the characters, even when they are diametrically opposed. So when things happen that seems to break a part of the trust (between me, the reader, and the cohesive world of the book), whether it’s that the characters seem to break, er, character, or whatever, it does feel like a betrayal.

Of course, I am speaking very vaguely because I don’t want to give anything about the story away.

There were many beautiful parts of the story, as well as painful parts written beautifully. I don’t necessarily believe that it’s a failing of the writing that I didn’t like it that much; many people may not be bothered by the things I was bothered by. And perhaps others would be bothered by things that didn’t bother me at all.

3/5 stars.

Nights of Rain and Stars. Maeve Binchy is one of my favorite authors. It can definitely be a draining experience to read one of her best stories because she brings the reader so deeply into the everyday heartaches of everyday people. Jodi Picoult is a person who puts ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances and deals with the fallout of the circumstances and the people’s decisions that come from or created said situation. In contrast, Maeve Binchy deals with the everyday: the man and woman who grow apart in old age, the friendships that slowly diverge after the closeness of childhood, small dreams that remain just one step too far away.

There is something in the way that Maeve Binchy writes her younger characters that remind me of Agatha Christie. It’s funny (to me) that I say that because Agatha Christie is definitely not known for writing great characters. Agatha Christie was an amazing author, and I have yet to read any mystery writer who’s even come close to touching her finesse and understanding of human nature which drive most of her plots, but her characters are always quick sketches of “that kind of person”.

By that, I don’t mean that she had only one set of person she wrote about. I mean that within a couple of sentences, she was able to establish what kind of person a character was, whether it was a blustery retired military man who is easily flattered by the presence of a young lady, a dreaming young man in love, or a smart but naive woman who knows everything about everything but the guy who is making a fool of her.

Agatha Christie quickly set the stage with these people and set about getting to the plot. All the motivations and evidence arose from the kind of people she was dealing with, not just the surface person she started with, but who they ended up revealing themselves to be.

I suppose the comparison comes to mind because Maeve Binchy also sketches out people in a similar vein. She populates the stage with the characters, then, rather than moving in a plot-centric fashion, she fleshes them out so that they are more than the initial impressions.

Er, I meant to be reviewing this actual book, rather than giving a disseration on Binchy versus Christie, which is not even something that entered my mind before I started to write this entry. Heh.

This book was also a 3/5 stars, but that’s given that I have a very high standard for Maeve Binchy. I wouldn’t recommend this as a first Binchy novel. Instead, I’d start with Tara Road or Circle of Friends (note: I’ve seen the movie and it lost all the beauty of a Binchy novel, so don’t judge it by the movie).

February picks:

Songs of the Humpback Whale: A Novel in Five Voices. This is Jodi Picoult’s debut novel, as far as I know. It employs a gimmick which, while interesting, detracts from the core story, which stands on its own pretty well. Actually, there are two gimmicks, but one of them was perfectly fine by me. I would have given this story a 4 out of 5 stars if it weren’t for the structure. As it stands, I give it a 3 out of 5. Actually, maybe a 2.5 out of 5, given that I found it very difficult to empathize with one of the characters. It knocks the story balance off-kilter, as 4 of the 5 voices are very easy to empathize with.

The Science of Sexy: Dress to Fit Your Unique Figure with the Style System that Works for Every Shape and Size. Ok, so I’m kind of embarrassed about this one, but I’d really like to present myself better. :p I really can’t add anything else to the following review, which says everything I want to say:

This book was great and the author’s formula of figuring out your body type is very precise. You take three simple measurements to get your basic shape, and then look at a height/weight chart to figure out if you’re average, medium, or tall, and that’s it. Then you flip to the section for your specific body type (there are 48 possible types) and read the do’s and don’ts for dressing well.

With other style books I’ve read (for example The Pocket Stylist: Behind-the-Scenes Expertise from a Fashion Pro on Creating Your Own Look by Kendall Farr), they just give your three basic shapes to choose from and it’s hard to figure out which one you actually are.

The only drawback to this book is that once you have read the 4 pages for your particular body type, that’s about it. The chapters in the beginning with shopping advice were very general and didn’t teach me anything I haven’t already heard (such as buy clothes that are well made and don’t buy expensive trendy items that will likely be out of style next year). I would have liked it if the author had included photos of each celebrity body double because I was not familiar with some of the stars and it would have been nice to have a visual.

I do really enjoy this book and I’m glad I bought it. It would be fun to share with girlfriends who are interested.

I’d give it 5 out of 5 for the 4 pages it gives me for my body type and the general advice it gives. But given that I had to get the whole book, I’d say it’s more of a 2 out of 5, which makes me feel bad because the advice is still good. This would be better as a series of booklets, from which you could just get one or two. I understand why it’s better as a whole though. Hrm. Maybe I’ll bump it to a 3 out of 5 then.

Hilarity

Seppo is on the phone with his dad, as I type. Seppo’s opening words to his dad were:

If I were to tell you the best thing that could possibly have happened to me, what would you think it was? I mean, aside from having gotten married and whatnot?

Answer in the comments.

Californian?

Last night, as I was walking Mobi around for his evening walk, I stopped to think about how many years I’ve been living in California. I’ve been here 8.5 years now. Holy moly. By the end of next year, I’ll have lived in California longer than anywhere else in my life.

• Ages 0-7 years and 2 months: South Korea. Within Korea, I lived in at least three different places. I attended part of first grade.
• Ages 7 years and 2 months to 8 years and 9 months: New York. I lived in two different relatives’ houses, then in two different apartments. I attended two different schools.
• Ages 8 years and 9 months to 18 years and 2 months: Philadelphia. I attended three different schools and lived in one rental then our first owned home. I lived in that house for 6.5 years. That’s the longest I had lived in one location ever.
• Ages 18 years and 2 months to 19 years and 10 months: Cambridge. I lived in a co-op of 30-some MIT students.
• Ages 19 years and 10 months to 22 years and 2 months: Boston. I moved across the river to Boston to live with my sister (and roommates) in an apartment.
• Ages 22 years and 2 months to 24 years and 10 months: San Jose. I lived in one temporary apartment for a week and 4 actual apartments.
• Ages 24 years and 10 months to now (30 years and 8 months): Oakland. I’ve been shacked up with Seppo at the Money Pit all these years. Wow, in about 8 months, this will be the longest residence I’ve lived in, ever.

I lived in Korea only 7 years and 2 months of my life. I lived in Philadelphia just under a third of my life. But those were my formative years; I identify strongly as a Korean American from Philly.

I’ve been here for almost a decade now. But I don’t identify as a Californian. It feels like a place I’m still just getting used to, somewhere I’m resting while I gear up to go somewhere else. I know I’ve changed, that I’m not the same person who grew up in Philly. I know I’ve mellowed out, become less sarcastic, less likely to cast the evil eye. I know that I’ve grown more friendly, that I don’t have the edge that fellow Philadelphians would recognize.

I feel a little sad. It’s like I’ve lost a little bit of me, but haven’t found a way to fill it back up in just the right way.

I like California. In particular, I love the political and social climate of the Bay Area. I love that being an Asian American is so commonplace as to practically be a non-issue. I love that when Seppo and I have kids, people won’t stare as much as they might in a different state/city.

But I still don’t feel like I can claim it. Or that it can claim me as a native daughter. Or that I/it should.

Rosie Follow-up

Today, via a post on 8asians, I saw this video by Poet Beau Sia:

Rosie saw it and responded here.

Thanks, Beau, for articulating so well what the “big deal” was. And thanks, Rosie, for finally really apologizing and admitting that your actions were hurtful.

WTF?

I speak up against people when they say ignorant crap about Asian-Americans, and I’ll speak up against Asian-Americans when they say ignorant crap about others! WTF, Kenneth Eng! It is completely, utterly despicable and outrageous that he’d write a column entitled, “Why I Hate Blacks” and “support” that piece with a bunch of racist, ignorant diatribe. It sickens me and I intend to write to AsianWeek blasting them for approving it, paying Mr. Eng for that piece of hateful rhetoric, and choosing to publish it. They’ve pulled it from the website already, but the print copy has already gone out. They’ve already given voice to Eng’s ugliness, and in giving it voice, implicitly approved it and gave the appearance that other Asian Americans would condone it.

Well, I do not.

Via Kimchi Mamas.

You can join me in signing a petition against the article here.

You can read a copy of the petition and the original article as a pdf here. Disgustingly, the intro sentence starts, “Here is a list of reasons why we should discriminate against blacks…” What is this, a KKK manifesto?! I am really, really sickened.

Mega Dinner

It’s late at night (early in the morning?) but I’m still winding down from dinner last night.

A couple of weeks ago, Seppo randomly asked me if I wouldn’t mind having a couple of people over for dinner. It seemed like a decent idea, so I agreed.

[Continued after lunch the following day.]

Seppo put a bunch of people who know each other down for an evite for last weekend. We figured about half will have prior plans, so we’ll get maybe 4-5 people over. That’s doable. Turned out only like 1 person could make it, so we changed the evite for this weekend.

Well, turned out almost everyone could make it and were were gonna have 9 people over, in addition to us! Whoa!

Seppo has recently gone on a food science kick, so suddenly he wanted do a fancy-pants dinner. I randomly decided I wanted to make the French Laundry’s Salmon Cornets, so, not thinking it through, I agreed.

We cooked all day (perhaps we’ll cover the details of the dishes on the foodblog) and had a great time. We had Kevin, Uyen, Klay, Alan, Becky, Hoa, Sean, Holly, and Mack over, and served the salmon cornets, Seppo’s homemade curry-stuffed ravioli (one oversized rav) atop mashed potatoes, mixed greens with slices of smoked duck breast drizzled with reduced balsamic and extra virgin olive oil, short ribs with root vegetables and chive oil, and Seppo’s molten chocolate cake with creme anglaise and blobs of raspberry sauce. Oh yes, I can’t forget the piles of cheese, olive bread, and drinks people showed up with. 🙂 In particular, I enjoyed the triple cream brie Seppo found and a Scottish semi-hard cheese of some sort that Hoa brought.

The party wound down around 1am, after Seppo conked out on the couch. I stayed up until like 4:30am websurfing and programming the new TiVo. Heh.

It was definitely a fun time, and wouldn’t mind doing a big dinner again. Seating was problematic, which sucked, but we managed to get everyone into one room. We need to improve out time estimates. We even had a schedule and a priority list for the day, but still managed to run long. D’oh! 😀

Hopefully, Seppo will post pics soon.

Memer, memer, you are it.

Via Seppo.

RULES: Each player of this game starts off with 10 weird things/habits/little known facts about yourself. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 10 weird habits/things/little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. At the end you need to choose 10 people to be tagged and list their names. No tag backs.

—

I need to get this post in ASAP because Seppo and I have the same ten people who read our blogs. Also, some of them don’t have blogs so you can write up your ten things in the comments, if you so wish.

1. When I sit down to eat in the livingroom (this doesn’t apply to if I eat in the diningroom or in other people’s homes) by myself or with Seppo (no other guests), I get all antsy if everything is not just so. I need to have my glass of water nearby, the throw over my lap, the cushions and throw pillows adjusted, remote control next to me, salt & pepper (and any other condiments if appropriate) within reach, and the channel queued to what I want to watch before I take a bite. It’s not something I do consciously, but I feel all weird when I don’t, like I forgot something really important. This is going to be what makes me sound like a psycho the older I get.
2. I love to sing at the extreme top of my lungs when I’m in the car by myself. I’m not talking merely loud. Loud is for mere mortals. I sing like my life depends on how far my voice can reach.
3. Watching my little brother being born was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I can’t think about it without getting a little choked up. I love that little bugger. Also, seeing my mom in such intense pain was terrifying.
4. For about a year, I noticed that everytime I got up to use the restroom at work, I hummed The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” to myself, just the line that goes, “We all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine.” I have no idea why. I caught myself and had no idea why I was doing it.
5. My head is shaped funny. If you imagine where you’d tie high pigtails with your hair, my head is slightly pointed in those spots. When I was younger, I was 100% convinced this was because my mom tied my hair too tightly when I was a kid, so I’d grumble at her about it, loudly and constantly. Unfortunately, when my little brother was born, shortly after his skull grew mostly together, I found that he had the same bumps. Oh well. Sorry, Mom.
6. I have no fear of public speaking, if I know in advance that I’m going to. Wait, no, I think even when I don’t have advance notice, I don’t have a particular fear of speaking in front of people. I spoke in front of 500 people in high school with only a 5 minute heads-up. I don’t think I did a good job, but it didn’t bother me and it didn’t scare me. I do, however, have an intense fear of speaking with individuals.
7. I am incredibly and illogically vain about my nails and feet. I don’t take good care of my nails and they always look chewed up and the cuticles are always dry. Hangnails are always torn off the nail, resulting in torn skin all around my fingertips. So I’m not vain about how I keep them or anything, just about their natural characteristics. The nail beds are extremely long, about 2x longer than they are wide. They go to about 0.5mm short of the tips of my fingers. See? No one cares. But I think they are awesome. And I love the shape of my feet. I don’t know why. But I think they are cute.
8. I am the worst loser in the world. Well, depends on what it is. I have a grand old time loser at bowling. I laugh as I lose in card games. But if it’s a game that I think I could be good at — never mind if I actually am or not — and I’m on a losing streak, then I’m a total sore loser. I pout and get all grumpy. This is only with losing streaks, not singular losses. I’m such an ass sometimes. 😀
9. I tripped a younger kid once when I was about four years old. And it still eats away at me. It was hateful and shameful. I wish I could turn those two seconds back. I can still see his crying face and the terrible momentary feeling of glee, followed by intense self-loathing.
10. Since the world knows how crazy I am about Seppo and that I regularly shout my love for him from the rooftops, I know I can’t use that for my 10th item. Boo. However, I don’t know how many people know I had a huge, unrequited crush on Seppo for years before we said one word to each other. I did. And I know it embarrasses Seppo. I spent one entire class one semester checking him out and thinking how cute he was. And it turns out that he’s so much more than just his pretty face. 😉 I’ll step away while you go barf.

I tag — in no particular order — niralth, rooparoopa (she’s so not going to see this for days/weeks :D), A_B (so not going to post anything for the sake of anonymity), AngryChad, Stephanie, hapacheese, mini-boss, the two inhabitants of Casa Caudill, and dre.

Bonus challenge to one of the people who I know read this but don’t generally post: edy, TUPbC, Hoa, slightlydope, or kerowack.

Video on Web2.0

This is a beautifully clear and concise visual presentation on why Web2.0 is significant.

Biting the bullet

I’m getting a TiVo TCD648250B Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder!

Dun dun dun.

ETA: Basically, we are stacking a reward certificate, credit card reward points, and referral rewards to make this slightly less ridiculous. And I’m using Price Protectr to make sure if the price drops in the next 30 days, that we will get a price match.

Happy Year of the Golden Pig!

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

My older brother is expecting a child around September. I am so excited for him. I just heard that my “baby” cousin (only 4 years younger than me) is engaged to be married this year. It’s a great year! 🙂

Let’s see… On Saturday, Seppo and I cooked up traditional rice cake & dumpling soup (’cause the rice cakse look like round full moons), jap chae (literally breaks down to the roots “assorted/various/miscellaneous” and “julienned things”, and it is literally that), and bulgogi (bought pre-marinated from Koreana) with blanched cabbage leaves and ssam jang (“wrap” + “sauce” — mixed up at home from primary ingredients). We also had seaweed salad and some seasoned fish cake that we bought pre-made.

Max and Amanda joined Colin, Seppo, and me at our house. They brought Meyer lemons and seltzer water, which we mixed up with our Meyer lemon syrup. We also had a fantastic sparkling blueberry juice, coutesy of Colin.

We wrapped up the evening with little walnut-paste-filled bitesized-cakes-shaped-like-walnuts and a melonball scoop of Dulche de Leche ice cream. Hee hee.

And because that wasn’t enough, we all walked over to the newly opened L’Amyx tea bar and hung out there until shortly before closing.

Yesterday was all about a trial run for Saturday’s dinner. I’ll upload the pics for Saturday and Sunday’s efforts and post about them on the food blog this week. Bonus: I’ll change the stupid food blog template so that it’s not all messed up anymore.