LA Confidential was a present from my boyfriend, a James Ellroy junkie, so the pressure for liking this book was already high. And since I’m a bit of a contrarian (A bit?! my boyfriend would say), I’m predisposed to dislike things that others so vehemently love. I’ll find the holes to poke through, the flaws that are there — whether intentionally placed or not — and I’ll do my best to skewer the book/movie/show that others love so much. Because I’m a bitch. There’s a reason why […]
I’m Back!! back back back back back!!!
I should say that I have let way too much time lapse since I read both these books. Coming off my high on Wool, the first of a three-part series by Hugh Howey, I was very eager to get into the other two and bought them both pretty much immediately. My memory on some of the details are spotty, but I’ll try to keep this about my feelings regarding the two books. (Possible spoilers ahead for people who haven’t read Wool. In which case, you should totally read […]
This book might make you question yourself and your relationships
A Lover’s Discourse came recommended by a very good friend with very good literary taste, so I did not question a thing about the book when I picked it up. I went into it blind. Finding out that it was actually a philosophical treatise on the language we use as lovers was the least jarring of discoveries. Depending on what type of person you are, and what type of relationships you’ve been in, A Lover’s Discourse functions more as a mirror, and it can be a painful and […]
Crazy Rich Asians AKA Kevin Kwan was eavesdropping on my childhood
My decision to read Crazy Rich Asians wasn’t an accidental one. I had just returned from a family wedding in Singapore, and being around so many of my relatives — some of whom I haven’t seen in more than 15 years — aroused such a bizarre sense of nostalgia. Part of it is comforting, like seeing the faces and personalities of my aunts and uncles (all of whom are physical variations of my mother); part of that nostalgia came with relief. It reminded me of how exhausting […]
Wickedly funny, and painfully accurate, satire of journalism
I loved Scoop. LOVED IT. I’m also slightly miffed that I never read it until this year. How could it be that this awesomely biting satire on journalism was not in my life before? What starts out as a case of mistaken identity secures a foreign correspondent gig for the reluctant William Boot, a hapless columnist for the gardening section of the Beast. He is sent to the fictional African country of Ismaelia, where he is told to report the war between the good vs. the […]
Fear and Paranoia in Burma
This book was a random acquisition and comes with a bit of backstory. I was reporting in Mandalay, central Burma, on a number of stories, and one of them required me to interview a comedy troupe that is known for staging vaudevillian shows that harpoons the country’s authoritarian regime. Now that Burma is considered a democracy, this comedy troupe is still putting up nightly shows for tourists, making fun of the fact that the current government is really a puppet for the military. One of […]
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