Just Finished: Next

As I was looking for  new books to add to my new Kindle, I saw a recommendation from The Believer  for James Hynes' novel Next and I thought, 'They've got their hands on the pulse of culture...why not." So I bought it, read it, and now I shall divulge my opinion...

Kevin Quinn is a somewhat pitiful middle class, middle aged editor from Ann Arbor, Michigan who secretly flies to Austin, Texas for a job interview. From the get go it's obvious that Kevin is unfocused and directionless. He's ungenerous though polite to the people in his life, and his dignity clings the fact that he owns his own house and is quite fit for a 50 year old. He is mortally afraid of terrorist attacks exacerbated by one that very morning by a ginger haired Scottish Muslim extremist named Kevin, incidentally. Besides that Kevin's biggest hangup is women and his own inertia. The majority of his thoughts center on these two things, and he becomes infatuated with every woman he meets, including a young woman sitting beside him on the airplane who he calls Ms. Joy Luck Club for the novel she is reading.

As Kevin disembarks from the plane and takes a cab to his interview. Arriving several hours too early for his interview, he goes to a Starbucks where he flirts with at least two women before seeing Ms. Joy Luck Club hiking up the street with her duffle bag. Impulsively, Kevin follows her in the oppressive Texas heat up the street into another cafe then to a gourmet supermarket, and finally to a bridge. All the while Kevin bounces back and forth with the inner demons that are his past girlfriends and lovers–the Philosopher's Daughter who has haunted him for 25 years after saying he had not passion or compassion, Lynda who was a meaningless fling, his 13 year relationship with Beth that ended with her leaving him to have another man's baby, and finally Stella, his tenant and younger girlfriend who may or may not be pregnant and who he may or may not want to escape from to Texas.

Kevin's complicated mess of a life is further compounded when he is knocked on his feet on the bridge and his pants are ruined. A pretty runner/doctor helps him, they share lunch and deep dark secrets then she drops him off at Wolh's (presumably code for Kohl's) to buy new clothes. At this point, Kevin doesn't really want the job in Austin but he cleans himself up and goes anyway...and now if you're still reading this then you might feel much as I did by this point somewhere between 75% into the novel–WHAT IS THE POINT? But...that's when things take a turn for the worse amazingly enough.

On the cab ride from Wohl's to the interview Kevin completely misses a radio newscast announcing another terrorist attack in a US city. Once in the lobby of the office building he faintly hears breaking news of yet another attack. And (I'm going to spoil the ending sort of)-the very building Kevin is in gets hit by a bomb. What the heck? Where did that come from? The floor creaks and things fall out of fresh hole in the wall. Smoke fills the stairwells. The fires bears down from below and Kevin has one choice to make, finally moving out of his inertia...what is he going to do Next?

Oh my goodness, I am never trusting The Believer again. I felt like I was middle aged by the time I finished this book. Listening to Kevin's mess of thoughts for 300 pages was like listening to anyone's thoughts for a whole day–b-o-r-i-n-g. I seriously wanted to slap all his sexual fantasies right out of him and all his disappointments and tell him to MOVE ON. Then the last 50 pages come out of nowhere almost and as a book review from the New York Times pointed out–the author basically seems to have created a book around a short story though the story he had to tell was really just that last bit.

Next is a novel that is very real in a lot of ways and I suppose very representative of where a lot of Americans are mentally (don't get me wrong, terrorism is extremely scary). And I suppose I can take away from this book the need to move forward in life rather than harboring regret for 25 years, to take risks and not waver back and forth like a school girl trying to decide on which flavor of ice cream to choose, and also to listen to the news and not get in the tallest building in town when there are a run of terrorist strikes on small American cities. Point taken, but next time please get to the point faster.

A Short Trip Down Duolun Lu

My friend Lo and I went to Dulun Lu  (lu = street in Chinese) a few weeks ago. It's an old street in Hongkou District. It's semi-preserved with the Old Shanghai feel complete with neat old antique shops, a cafe or two, and street food. It was very gray but I got a few shots.

First one of the arched entrances to Duolun:

A close up of a statue. I feel like this doesn't look like anything, but I like it anyway.

I blurred the background lots to try to mask the stupid car in the background.
Ancient streets should not have cars.

 This guy made sculptures of people...we declined but they look kind of cool and
I love the artist's face in the background.

 

Rarrr.

A  cool old Catholic church that melded Chinese and Western architecture really well. 

Didn't get to go inside but it was one of purty.

 I didn't really bump up the colors on this but they were awfully vivid. I think it was the extreme overcast of the day. The teenager at this fruit stand was very cheeky.

 I'm a sucker for ironwork.

 

There was an awesome antique shop there with lots of cool, unaffordable dusty things from old Shanghai. It was really dark though so I didn't get much besides this neat typewriter.

I took a few pictures in some of the old alleyways behind Duolun as the light was quickly fading. If only I had the fortitude to bring my tripod with me everywhere I go...

Just Finished: Amsterdam

I rarely manage to read three novels by the same person, but Ian McEwan is now on my short list of thrice read authors. So far I've read Atonement, which was my favorite by far (go read it and bring your dictionary!), and On Chesil Beach. 

Lest you be deceived, all McEwan novels are tragedies, but I've been used to tragic literature since high school since that was all we read (aside from Jurassic Park in biology and a Grisham after our AP exams were over)....so I bought Amsterdam eyes wide open.

Amsterdam is a novel about two men–Clive Linley, a famous composer, and Vernon Halliday, a newspaper editor, who in the process of mourning the loss of their former lover Molly Lane grapple with their own middle aged-ness and morality. Despite both having been romantically linked to Molly in the past, they are longstanding friends and both equally dislike Molly's widower as well as another of her former lovers the Foreign Secretary Julian Garmony. Yet in the  weeks following Molly's death, both of these men become key players in Clive and Vernon's lives through a potential scandal that could bring down the Foreign secretary, their friendship, and both of their careers.

As Clive and Vernon struggle with how to deal with the scandal each falls on a different side which causes each to question their lengthy friendship and the decisions that have brought them to their current life stage...yet they tragically blind to their own faults. Although the characters never seem to realize it, they are horribly unconflicted about the decisions they make. McEwan points to the potential for regular people in positions of opportunity and power to perform unfathomably selfish acts while never acknowledging their own through inconsistent, underdeveloped moral standards. Clive and Vernon's relationship deteriorates as each character gets more vengeful culminating in an expected dark ending that feels like a moldy wet blanket on a rainy night. Amsterdam ends without any hope at all and that is a cautionary end to an already dark novel.

A "Mighty" good song

Ever heard of tropical folk pop? Well let me introduce you to this catchy tune and it's free. The lyrics are simple but make me want to run faster and put the things I fear in their place (ie, running one more minute on the treadmill, talking on the telephone...).

You were a wild thing when you were younger,
stomping through the jungle.
You were mighty and you were stronger
but I bow no longer.
All your temples will lie in ruin
once I ravage through them.
All your rivals will not go near you
but I do not fear you.
Well, you howl and you roar,
but I am not afraid of you anymore.

You think you can have it?
Then come and get it.

New favorite photo

Donald Miller's Million Miles

I haven't read much Donald Miller but he definitely seems to be a thinker listened to by Christians and non-Christians--which is rare. Here's info about his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years...


What story are you telling? from Rhetorik Creative on Vimeo.

Get Excited...

...I know I am because I just picked up my new (used) 15 inch MacZBok Pro!!! Do you know what that means?

1.  More photos for you (cause I'll be able to edit more photos faster...which also means I'll watch fewer movies and TV shows)

2. I can watch movies and TV shows on a bigger screen! Better for my eye sight too. What a bonus.

3. I have a highly functioning computer that I actually own versus my work computer (the other mac in the household) and my nearly 6 year old Dell (which is still kicking, just sort of like a 3 legged dog kicks).

4. I won't have to carry my MacBook to work anymore...better for my back and it's obscene to have 3 computers in one small room. It just doesn't look right.

There are lots of other reasons, but I just had to say that I am so thankful and blessed to have gotten this computer. It's going to be so helpful!

More, better posts soon!

Just Finished: A Comparison of Two Books

VS.              

I recently read two books that had one basic similarity–each chapter focused on a different character and all the novel's characters were somehow intertwined. Books that shift from character to character require a delicate balance. They can be too short story-eque in which each character is too much a separate entity from all the others in the book. It can be too matchy-matchy in which all the characters are so kitsmetically intertwined that their lives crash into one crucial point. They can be so short story-esque and so focused on a particular moral or idea that neither of them end up being worth much or they can be well done with an evenhanded treatment of the characters, their relationship to each other, and the overall story arch.

Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin and Tom Rachman's The Imperfectionists, in my opinion, are the good and the bad of character chapter books. I will say that both are well written and insightful however where McCann's novel is a hodge podge of half-told stories Rachman's book is a fairly smooth storyline composed of separate characters's stories that form a whole, compelling narrative.

Just Finished: 4 Brief Reviews

Sitting atop my outdated, veneer covered speakers are a collection of books I've finished over the past two months. Finally, the day has come to review them. I'll keep it short.

Secrets in the Dark by Frederick Buechner: This book is a series of sermons that Buechner has given over his long career as a preacher/writer. I have to say that I was a bit surprised by the collection. Buechner is fairly revered (at least it seems so from the number of endorsements on the book jacket) and has published several works of fiction that have received acclaim. I found that many of his sermons were very thoughtful and insightful but overall he seemed to shy away from making a concrete statement about anything. Perhaps I misread him, but in my view Buechner toed the gray line throughout many of his sermons and I don't think that's the point. I do think he was worth a read, especially to get a different perspective from a thoughtful man of the faith.

Howards End by E.M. Forster: A classic I never read about two very different families colliding and the changes of England at the turn of the century. The novel focuses on the Miss Schlegels, two sisters who are independent and forward thinking, especially about money and class matters but who become acquainted with the Wilcoxes, a family of very conservative ideas in which women have little say. As the back of the book says, Howards End is a novel about England's fate. I can't agree or disagree about that, but it was an interesting portrayal of how people's ideas and ideals get muddled in the carrying out of them. Overall the novel was fairly uneventful, more like character studies, until the end when there are a series of unexpected twists that test all the main characters and their tightly held views. Worth a read, especially if you have someone to discuss with.

About A Boy by Nick Hornby: I think Nick Hornby must be one of the funniest writers alive. I haven't read anything of his that didn't make me laugh out loud. You've probably all seen About a Boy avec Hugh Grant as main character Will. Even so, the book is worth a read. If not, this is a story about an extremely selfish and self-sufficient man who gets harangued into hanging out with a hopelessly uncool middle schooler who doesn't understand sarcasm named Marcus who lives with his single, somewhat depressed hippy mother. I loved this novel because it was funny, human, and honest. The characters are slightly over the top in a way that is fairly believable and the relationships are well crafted. I hate to say it, but it's got heart.

Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman with Ellen Vaughn: Mary Beth Chapman, wife of the famous Christian musical artist Stephen Curtis Chapman, writes this autobiography after the death of her adopted daughter Maria. In 2008, Maria was hit by her older brother Will in a tragic accident that shook the family. Choosing to See talks about the grief of the family in this horrific event as well as Chapman's story of growing up with the moniker "Chubby Chapman", getting married to a man very different from her self (she describes herself as Eeore and her husband as Tigger), dealing with depression, having a family, and deciding to adopt three little girls from China. Throughout the book, which is very conversational, Chapman is open about her struggles and how God met her and changed her through all the trials she has encountered. Chapman's voice rings true as a slightly zany mother of six and her experiences are really of faith in the face of difficult and horrible circumstances is something to admire and strive to follow after.

Kitchening: Haitian Chicken Puffs

When I have a catering gig at twocities gallery, I do a massive search to find new appetizers. They're not the easiest thing for me to drum up off the top of my head and I like trying to recipes. I found these Haitian Chicken Puffs on a blog called First Look, Then Cook and they looks delish and something that Chinese and Foreigner taste buds would enjoy. Thankfully, I was right. They had a great combination of spices and veggies that I would never think of putting together on my own. Plus they use puff pastry which pretty much makes everything better.

Also, doesn't this picture make it look like I have a personal butler who carries around appetizers for me?

Haitian Chicken Puffs
slightly adapted from First Look, Then Cook 

Ingredients

• Cooking oil (I used olive oil but you might go for something with less flavor)
• 1/4  cup  chopped yellow or red onion
• 2  tsp minced garlic
• 1/2  pound ground chicken breast (hard to find here so I ground some chicken in my food processor. worked great)
• 1/4  cup shredded carrot
• 2  tsp  no-salt-added tomato paste
• 2  tsp  fresh lime juice
• 1  tsp  cider vinegar
• 1  tsp  chopped green onions
• 1  tsp  chopped fresh parsley
• 1  tsp  chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2  tsp  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4  tsp  salt
• 1/8  tsp  ground cloves
• 1/8  tsp  grated nutmeg
• Tabasco sauce (or your choice of hot sauce), to taste
• 1  (14-ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1  large egg
• 1  tablespoon water

Preparation

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with a tablespoon of cooking oil. Add  onion, and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add chicken and cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add carrot and cook 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add lime juice and vinegar, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add green onions and next 6 ingredients (through nutmeg); stir well. Remove from heat; cool mixture to room temperature.

Add a few or more than a few drops of Tabasco sauce to the mixture, depending on your audience. Place cooled chicken mixture in a food processor; process until almost smooth (mixture will begin to clump).

Preheat oven to 400°.

Roll puff pastry into a 15 x 12–inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Cut puff pastry into 20 (3-inch) squares. Combine egg and water, stirring with a whisk. Brush egg mixture along edges of pastry squares; spoon about 1 scant tablespoon filling in center of each pastry square. Fold each pastry square in half; press edges closed with tines of a fork. Brush top with egg wash; arrange 1 inch apart on a baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Makes 20 small puffs.

Two New Likes

I've discovered a few new likes lately and I thought you should know.

1. Parks and Recreation: Although this comedy is in it's 3rd season, I've heard nothing about it. It was on  Netflix Watch Instantly so I thought I'd give it a try. While it did get off to a slow start, I must say it is quite funny. It's got a slight Office feel to it, but definitely has it's own personality. Once you watch a few episodes and get to know the cast, you'll like them.

2. Pinterest: It's a virtual pinboard of ideas...lots of people's ideas. This site is great if you want to drool over good ideas of every sort--photography, fashion, houses, food, books, etc. There are even occasional pins of cute baby animals! (Don't let that deter you.) Pinterest is the Tastespotting/Food Gawker of the creative world. Very addicting. If you want in, let me know and I'll invite you. We can be pinboard friends. You know you want to.

New Pictures

I haven't taken many pictures lately (handing my head in shame). But I have a good reason. For the past week plus (during some very nice above 40 degree weather days), I have been under the weather with the worst cold ever. Ever. I'm well on my way to health now and wanted to post some photos...both new and old but all newly edited. Let me know what you think. Seriously. You are my faithful critics. 

Also, don't expect a lot of new photos coming up soon. It's freezing and very difficult to take pictures with numb digits.

#1–Fresh organic apples from Shandong Province. Are they too specked to be stock photos?

#2–Call me: There are stamped phone numbers all over the city for advertisements I assume. I must say that I question their effectiveness. Also, when I was taking this picture on a cold, rainy day in Shanghai, some strange guy came up to me and started making strange sounds as if he were trying to feed a squirrel and I was the squirrel. At such times I avoid eye contact and watch my bag.

#3–I ventured to the park across the street one cold Saturday morning and there were some elderly folks who didn't shoe me away while I was trying to take their picture. Bless 'em!...cause I'm super timid taking people shots.

#4–Wisteria: I love these flowers. I took this last spring. I feel like the flower doesn't pop out of the background enough despite my efforts. What do you think?