shadows on the wall

This week has been a hot one in southern California (finally? haha).

hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet

I just finished reading this book - a New York Times bestseller - by Jamie Ford (http://www.jamieford.com/).  Despite having read a lot of very excellent books this summer, I can safely say that this is one of the best books I have read - all year.  It tells the story of a Chinese boy an a Japanese girl in Seattle during World War II, and switches back and forth, from that wartime era to forty years later, when the new owner of the Panama Hotel (which had been boarded up for decades) finds the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps.  Phew, that was a long sentence!

The book itself is a fast read (I started it and finished it in less than a day), not confusing at all - the relationships depicted by Ford are complex, but so sensitively rendered and so real.  The narration focuses around Henry, the Chinese boy, and consequently gives an interesting view of the events surrounding the Japanese internment - the view of a person tormented because of his race, and during World War II, often mistaken for "the enemy."  The conflict between the generations (young Henry's father, a Chinese nationalist who knew of the treatment of the Chinese people under the Japanese, harbored a deep hatred for the Japanese.  Later on, Henry and his own son must deal with problems of communication and general understanding of one another).

Most important are the friends in unlikely places, in troubled times.  Yes, I know that sounds cliche.  But it's true.

The Seattle Times called it "a wartime-era Chinese-Japanese variation on Romeo and Juliet."  Having read the entire book, I can see an amalgamation of the best parts of my favorite stories - even a bit of the story line of Claire and Lorenzo in Letters to Juliet (under graver circumstances, of course).

It's hard for me to say any more about it, but Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a worthwhile read for everybody.  May I say I might recommend this reading even more than I would recommend The Elegance of the Hedgehog?

summer begins!

Finished work on Friday...now it's time to relax for a few weeks before school starts again!

Things on the "to-do-in-LA" list:
Natural History Museum/La Brea Tar Pits
LACMA. and possibly see the Tim Burton exhibit, which closes Oct 31.
MOCA. we have a family membership that we need to activate.  I want to go to as many MOCA locations as possible.  The MOCA at the Pacific Design Center, for example, has a Miranda July exhibit/installation that should be interesting.

I've not been to any of these museums, so it should be fun :)

the elegance of the hedgehog

Upon learning that a movie based on The Elegance of the Hedgehog (entitled The Hedgehog) is coming out soon, I've been reminded that this book has been on my to-read list for quite some time now.  It also started me on a whole train of thought about the Hedgehog and the Fox ("The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing"), but that's a whole other story.

Anyways, I finished reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery yesterday, and, despite my absolute love for Terry Pratchett humor, this was one of the best books I've read in a while.  I mean, I can see how it was a NY Times bestseller.  

One of my kinds of books exactly - completely relatable narrators and lots of philosophising: about Art, beauty, life.....yup, the kinds of things I like to think about, plus the kinds of things that I don't know enough about to philosophize about.  And all in gorgeous prose.  Admittedly I cried at the end of the book, but it wasn't one of those completely despairing endings.  Bittersweet.  But not completely depressing.  (For example, I didn't feel as depressed as I did when I read Girl in Translation, which isn't even supposed to be that depressing, I don't think).  The ending was sad, yes, but it held so much hope.  So. Much. Hope.  And redemption.

I mean, who can't love a book that waxes poetic on the joy of drinking tea for a page and a half?

"Yes, the world may aspire to vacuousness, lost souls mourn beauty, insignificance surrounds us.  Then let us drink a cup of tea.  Silence descends, one hears the wind outside, autumn leaves rustle and take flight, the cat sleeps in a warm pool of light.  And, with each swallow, time is sublimed."

and a bit on architecture:

"An open door introduces a break in the room, a sort of provincial interference, destroying the unity of space.  In the adjoining room it creates a depression, an absolutely pointless gaping hole adrift in a section of wall that would have preferred to remain whole.  In either case a door disrupts continuity, without offering anything in exchange other than freedom of movement, which could easily be ensured by another means.  Sliding doors avoid such pitfalls and enhance space.  Without affecting the balance of the room, they allow it to be transformed.  When a sliding door is open, two areas communicate without offending each other.  When it is closed, each regains its integrity.  Sharing and reunion can occur without intrusion."

and about the food critic who lives in the building (who, by the way, is the focus in Barbery's novel Gourmet Rhapsody - which I'm reading next):

"To write entire pages of dazzling prose about a tomato - for Pierre Arthens reviews foods as if he were telling a story, and that alone is enough to make him a genius - without ever seeing or holding the tomato is a troubling display of virtuosity.  I have often wondered, as I watch him go by with his huge arrogant nose: Can one be so gifted and yet so impervious to the presence of things?"

broken records

found this post in my 'drafts' section from quite a while ago. hmmm.

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just discovered this scottish band - i love the sound!

the drama of guitar, drums, keyboard, violin, cello....and an accordion?

not to mention that the lead singer somehow reminds me of a male version of florence welch of florence + the machine.  if that's possible.

and another sketchbook page

i'm back! (sort of)

These past few weekends I've been sewing and sewing and sewing...and finding new ways to make summer dresses without zippers or complicated stuff, preferably in under two hours.

Inspired by this dress-with-a-belt-never-mind-cinching-it-exactly-where-the-bodice-meets-the-gathered-skirt look by frida gustavsson (stockholm street style) -

Ok, so the dress I made looks nothing like this.  But take my word, I got some sort of an inspiration from frida's dress :P

I altered one of the McCalls knits-only patterns that doesn't actually need to be sewed up in a knit material (M6347) by basically just chopping the pattern in half...at the waist.  The top I kept the same; the skirt section I added 3 more inches to the fold, so that I could gather it and attach to the bodice.

With a belt, voila!  (not finished yet....just a general idea).

Super comfy, super soft, and just my kind of summer dress :)