First WOW

Finally, my first WOW book of the year: Susan Choi's A Person of Interest. This book is dense with insights, ideas & observations about marriage, friendship, betrayal, loneliness. At the end it morphs into Fugitive-esque suspense, without losing its literary stride. I worry that this will prevent the literati from giving the book its due, which is substantial.

The Book of Unholy Mischief, what a delicious stew. A chef in the Doge’s palace, dodging the Inquisition & a member of secret society protecting Knowledge, takes an orphan under his wing in the kitchen. Surprising mentions of The Present Moment sprinkled throughout. Oh, and lots of writing about food, wonderful food. The Buddha of Suburbia is the best Indian ex-pat in Britain novel that I’ve read. There’s certainly be a lot of them lately. I got to this one late, written in 1990. Fun portrait of actors & artists in the days of class warfare in Britain of the 60s & 70s. Some tough observations about families, love, self-discovery & the high costs of all three. Shift gears: Maynard & Jennica a quirky portrait of quirky NYers in present day, including using the word “like” frequently in speech by a few of the characters (oi vey). The structure of the book is a bit overbearing: one & two page monologues by all the characters are used to advance the story. A fun conceit, but for the entire 300 pages of the novel? OK, I’m being to hard on it, It’s funny at times & touching.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July, I'm glad I'm here in the USA! OMG, ain't that controversial?! Today I'm celebrating some of the best things about our country: art, literature & music!!! First, I finished a painting that I've been working on for a couple of weeks. It's quite different from recent works, related to chakras. Then I finished reading Sarah Dunn's secrets to happiness, which was a lot of fun. Think Saul Bellow collides with Sex in the City! When the protagonist see's The Cloud of Unknowing on her boyfriend's nightstand & he quotes Pema Chodren, I just about jumped! I am listening to a CD by Gil Shaham & Andre Previn of violin & piano sonate by Gershwin, Copland & Previn. Beautiful, tonal 20th Century music, gorgeously played.

So, red states & blue states you can kiss my keister......
My country is purple!