red velvet

J2 and C are in business. i am their first customer. the pot-luck session is around the corner and i finally have a non-store-bought option! but i'll have to say this, there ain't no free lunch in life, not even for the mother of the cook.

book of the year (fiction)

2007  daniel isn't talking - marti leimbach (2006)

2008  a free life - ha jin (2007)

2009  cold comfort farm - stella gibbons (1932)

2010  memoirs of a geisha - arthur golden (1997)

china dolls - m yu / b kan (2007)

stereotype driven. flat. heavy handed. totally forgettable.

i must stop reading new authors just because they purport to break ground in asian american works. the only immigrant writer who has been an unmitigated joy to read is ha jin. read a free life (2007). he writes with a spare prose that teases suggests and slyly guides you, in much the same way the best chinese writers do. with the book's end you reluctantly end a parallel journey that has allowed you a glimpse into somebody's beautifully crafted world.

china dolls, on the other hand, evaporates from your head as you read it. this is arguably the worst book i have read this year. ugh.