Entre Nous.

Where the HELL is my chiffon?

I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone that the third season of Project Runway premiers tomorrow night on Bravo.  There will also be an hour long special airing before the premiere which will take a look behind the scenes of casting the third season and will be hosted by Tim Gunn.  It is also rumored that there are two straight male designers appearing on this season of Project Runway.  I'll believe it when I see it.

It's that time again...

...time to select our next book for Blogger's Book Club.  We'll be voting from the same list we have been using since book one, but if you feel a deep need to suggest a book not on our list then go for it.  We will start reading the selected book around mid July if you care to participate. 

 

1.  Tete-a-Tete : Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre by Hazel Rowley
"Though Rowley identifies her engaging and accessible chronicle as the "story of a relationship," it is in fact the story of the many relationships forged by two of the most brilliant, unorthodox and scandalous intellectuals of the 20th century: Beauvoir and Sartre, who from 1929 until Sartre's death in 1980 remained "essential" to each other but never monogamous." 

2.  Little, Big by John Crowley

"Little, Big tells the epic story of Smoky Barnable - an anonymous young man who meets and falls in love with Daily Alice Drinkwater, and goes to live with her in Edgewood, a place not found on any map. In an impossible mansion full of her relatives, who all seem to have ties to another world not far away, Smoky fathers a family and tries to learn what tale he has found himself in - and how it is to end."

 

3.  Possession by A.S. Byatt

"Literary critics make natural detectives," says Maud Bailey, heroine of a mystery where the clues lurk in university libraries, old letters, and dusty journals. Together with Roland Michell, a fellow academic and accidental sleuth, Maud discovers a love affair between the two Victorian writers the pair has dedicated their lives to studying: Randolph Ash, a literary great long assumed to be a devoted and faithful husband, and Christabel La Motte, a lesser-known "fairy poetess" and chaste spinster. At first, Roland and Maud's discovery threatens only to alter the direction of their research, but as they unearth the truth about the long-forgotten romance, their involvement becomes increasingly urgent and personal. Desperately concealing their purpose from competing researchers, they embark on a journey that pulls each of them from solitude and loneliness, challenges the most basic assumptions they hold about themselves, and uncovers their unique entitlement to the secret of Ash and La Motte's passion." 

 
4.  Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

"I exist!" exclaims Ruby Lennox upon her conception in 1951, setting the tone for this humorous and poignant first novel in which Ruby at once celebrates and mercilessly skewers her middle-class English family. Peppered with tales of flawed family traits passed on from previous generations, Ruby's narrative examines the lives in her disjointed clan, which revolve around the family pet shop. But beneath the antics of her philandering father, her intensely irritable mother, her overly emotional sisters, and a gaggle of eccentric relatives are darker secrets--including an odd "feeling of something long forgotten"--that will haunt Ruby for the rest of her life."

 
5.  Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros

"Caramelo weaves a large yet intricate pattern, much like the decorative fringe on a rebozo, the traditional Mexican shawl. Through the eyes of young Celaya, or Lala, the Reyes family saga twists and turns over three generations of truths, half-truths, and outright lies. And, like Celaya's grandmother's prized caramelo (striped) rebozo, so is "the universe a cloth, and all humanity interwoven.... Pull one string and the whole thing comes undone."

Blogger's Book Club - Book Two, Bone

Book number two in our Blogger's Book Club (BBC) was Fae Myenne Ng's (pronounced Ing) Bone.  This first novel by Ng "explores the aspirations, struggles and emotional scars of a family living in San Francisco's Chinatown." 

Here's the premise of Bone:  "In sharp contrast to the overdramatized lives of Chinese Americans in Amy Tan's work, Ng's simply written first novel is totally without sensationalism. Yet because her characters are depicted so realistically, the reader cannot but be moved by the hopes, grief, and quarrels of two generations of Chinese Americans in San Francisco's Chinatown. Mah, who has worked hard all her life in garment sweatshops, finally is able to own her baby-clothing store. Her husband, Leon, who used to be a merchant seaman, worked two shifts in ships' laundry rooms to provide for his family. Nevertheless, the family is torn apart after Ona, the middle daughter, jumps from the tallest building in Chinatown. The bones of contention and bones of inheritance come together in great turmoil as Nina, the youngest daughter, leaves Chinatown for New York City and then Leila, the oldest, marries and moves out to the suburbs. Leon, the paper son to old Leung, fails to keep his promise to take Leung's bones back to China. Thus, a family's tragedy is cast in greater historical context, and the reader is rewarded with a rich reading experience."

 

Bone spent a bit of time on the best sellers list in 1993.  Although I personally had never heard of the novel until it was recommended for the BBC.  I was looking forward to beginning the book for several reasons, the first being I'm a big fan of contemporary Asian literature and the second being it's set in the bay area (where I resided for two years and keenly miss at the moment). 

 

Ng's novel skillfully describes life in Chinatown without resorting to Western judgments on Chinese culture.  Bone is largely centered around the suicide of the protagonist's younger sister, focusing on how the tragic death affects different family members.  Ng's novel is aimed at celebrating rather than judging the immigrant community.  It is also saturated with Chinese American history.

 

As much as I was prepared to like this book I did have some issues with it.  I had a difficult time really connecting with the characters and wish some would have been better developed, mainly Nina.  Plus several times I felt the story became flat and confusing.  I suppose that it was the authors intention for the chapters to skip around like the scattered memories in a journal but I didn't feel this technique was executed that well.

 

One thing I really enjoyed about the novel was the cultural aspects, the descriptions of what it's like to experience America as a Chinese American.  I can see why it's required reading for many students.

 

So although I was not completely taken with the novel I did think it a worthwhile read and would recommend it.

 

[I do want to apologize for taking such a long time to post this review.  Work is always my excuse for not blogging as often as I'd like and once again I do have to blame my job for keeping me away.  I'd like to especially apologize to Theresa as I know this should have been written almost two weeks ago!] 

 

Lisa left this comment about Bone and since she doesn't have her own blog I will post her thoughts here. 

I liked "Bone" even though it wasn't always easy to read. The predictability of Mah and Leon's fighting was becoming as tiresome as having those arguments when, toward the end, it started to have its own rhythm. The fights were the backbeat for the lyric of the rest of the personal and family lives. The book definitely immerses the reader in the daily life of Chinatown, especially in the garment industry and food to the extent that it leaves a sensory mark, like an actual visit. A real trip would show you the way in and out and this Chinatown seemed hemmed, insular and inescapable. The novel was a rich read that rewarded the reader's patience, at times, by the end of the trip.

[If anyone else read book two and wants me to include their thoughts on the book on my blog please Email me and I'll post them right away.]