The Not-So-Secret Diary of a Bad Luck Girl

Working with words all day, of course I have to say more than just “hodgepodge.”

Earlier this week, San Francisco had a mini heat wave. Three days of temps in the upper 80s and low to mid 90s.  Of course here it’s not too humid, but the sun is much stronger, and walking around on Tuesday was killer.  MB and I had lunch in Union Square, and there was absolutely no one sunning himself.  Everyone was hiding in the shade – aside from one drunk homeless guy – and all the birds were breathing with their beaks wide open, a definite sign of hotness.

It was tough to sleep even with both ceiling fans going and MB’s ghetto A/C (the bathtub filled with cold water).  Thank goodness yesterday it started to cool down.  By the time I got home, it was foggy and chilly, and last night was prefectly cool and comfortable.

Carolina Baker over at GirlHabits interviewed me, and the write-up is now up. It was a lot of fun, and some of my own answers surprised me.  When I thought about what I wanted to be known for, I realized I didn’t really want to be known for anything.  It’s funny how others’ perception of me isn’t that big of a concern anymore.  I mean, in individual situations, sure.  Are people interested in something I’ve written?  Am I saying something different?  Am I being putting myself out there enough before calling out other people?  But I’m not too concerned with how I come off, or how I’m known, apart from my writing.

The superpower question was fun too.  At first I thought, Of course I’d fly or be invisible, but then I realized more than anything, I want to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Echo from Dollhouse.  I want to be essentially normal except that I’m very strong and fast and can kick anyone’s butt.

We just started watching The Wire. I know: two years too late.  I’d always heard it mentioned and thought it was about a newspaper for some reason.  But it’s not.  It’s about police in Baltimore and it’s a damned good show.  At first I thought it was a little boring, but now I’m completely obsessed by it.  We’re finishing up season 1 tonight.  No spoilers please!

My boss lent me Kathleen Norris’ Saturday’s Child, a novel written back around 1915 and set at that time in San Francisco.  It’s kind of fluffy but I’m enjoying it all the same.  It’s basically a romance between a young working woman and a rich flighty dude.  I love all the mentions of SF, as well as what everyone is wearing and what they’re eating.

Well that’s enough of this farrago.  Off to the gym and yoga!

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Mission: Lower Cholesterol

I’ve finished up week two of Mission: Lower Cholesterol, aka Fuck My Doctor and His Threats of Lipitor.  This week was both a bit easier and a bit harder.  Healthy choices have already become a habit, but I’m still tempted by bad snacks and desserts.  Well of course: I always will be.  For instance, yesterday at work, I saw an empty Frito bag in my garbage can, and thought, Fuck, I could really go for some Fritos.

I was sort of lax about my green tea habit, opting instead for another cup of coffee one day and just skipping a second round of caffeine altogether another day.  I’m also getting sick of almonds as a snack.  Need to get some mixed nuts.

I’m one day short of hitting my workout goal, unless I go to the gym later today.  This morning I opted for an at-home workout of weight training and Pilates.  My post-yoga recovery this week was much quicker.  I wasn’t nearly as sore the next day, and by the following day was all better.

I also finally brought my yoga mat instead of just using the mats the gym provides.  While the yoga mat is definitely better in that it’s not slippery and much longer, it doesn’t provide as much cushion and so the base of my hands started to get sore.  However, they didn’t hurt afterward so maybe it’s just a matter of getting used to it.

Writing News

I had another piece published in The Frisky last week, I’m Sick of Hearing About Motherhood. I felt like I had written several “nice” pieces and wanted to write something more controversial. The comments range from, “Amen, sister!” to “Oh my God, how can you say such things? We mothers have to put up with SOOO much, and now we have to put up with bitchy attitudes like yours, Miss Angela Tung! We’re MOTHERS! Cut us a break!!!”

I rest my case.

Funny too are comments that say, “Wait till she has a kid!” while in the piece I basically say who knows, I may act the same way when I have kids. Shows that people didn’t take the time to read to the very end.

On the Nervous Breakdown last week, I published I Hate Reading About Music, which has been my most popular piece so far. There has been a lot of music posts lately so I think the subject is on people’s minds. I don’t know if those who don’t read the TNB regularly would be as into it.

This morning I had fun giving a video interview to one of my Nervous Breakdown friends.  I’m always self-conscious about how I look on Skype.  My hair was all wet so I kind of look like a seal in a pink shirt. Oh well.

At work I’ve been given a big month-long project.  It will involve lots of writing, including on days that I’m not in the office.  Yay!  Getting paid to write!

What I’m Reading Now

I just finished The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly.  It was a very interesting book, an interesting style.  On the surface it seems to be a book for children or Young Adults because of the fairy tale aspect, but it’s quite gruesome at times and very sad overall.  Now I’ve started Corelli’s Mandolin.

I wanted to pick up a copy of Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi, which I’ve never read before, but it was checked out at the library.  I’ve always wanted to read it but just never got around to it.  Then I started watching a documentary on Mark Twain last week and became interested again.

I didn’t realize Mark Twain could be kind of a jerk to his family, and had a lot of darkness about him, blaming himself for his brother’s and son’s deaths.  I think a lot of “comedians” are like that, not a laugh a minute but actually quite depressed.

I also didn’t know that his first lecture was given here in San Francisco at the Maguire’s Academy of Music.  I wonder if that theater is still around.  I’m curious to go see.

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First up, my Frisky piece from last month, “I’m Competitive,” is now on CNN Living.  Thanks to my pals for telling me!

The range of comments is interesting.  I can’t help but wonder how people would feel if I were a man.

In other news, I’ve just closed in on week one of Vanquishing My High LDL.  All I have to say is thank God for dark chocolate and its cholesterol-lowering abilities.  It saved me twice when I was craving something sweet.  Also, I’ve been drinking tons of tea – green, chai, ginger, rooibus.  No milk or sugar of course, which isn’t hard for me since I’ve always had plain tea.

If I go to the gym today, then I’ve met my workout goals for the week – hard cardio four times a week, at least a 20 minute walk the balance of the days, and some kind of weight training twice a week.  I did yoga for the first time in a month earlier this week, and it KILLED me.  My shoulders and upper back so sore I could barely dress myself.  By yesterday though, I was fine.

I finally finished Gone with the Wind.  Wow, that took me almost a month to read.  While I’m not sure it was a great book – some parts are great, but the last third is sort of all over the place – I will say it was fascinating.

I knew that it was racist, but I didn’t know how racist.  It’s one thing to portray the perceptions of the time in a knowing way, but it’s another for the author to believe those perceptions.  For instance, that blacks were actually happy to be slaves, and that those who liked their freedom were “uppity” and “trashy.”  That blacks were like animals and children, and needed white people to take care of them.  I kept waiting for the other side of it, the human description to balance out all the descriptions comparing blacks to dogs, horses, apes, and elephants.  But it never came.

Margaret Mitchell’s portrayal of women, on the other hand, is very well-rounded and fair.  There are all types of women in the book, and not one is better than the other.  There’s fierce and independent Scarlett, who pays a price for her independence.  There’s seemingly timid and quiet Melanie, who shows surprising strength.  No one is perfect (except maybe Melanie) and no one is a pure villain, not even the Yankees.

The book is also surprisingly anti-war.  “A rich man’s war fought by poor men.”  Sounds familiar.

Needing a break from romance, I’m now reading John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things.  Eerie and sad so far.

3 comments

Can you believe I’ve been so busy I didn’t have the chance to post since last Wednesday?  It’s a good feeling.

I’ve quickly gotten used to commuting to my new job.  The bus seems to come at eight on the dot every morning, which gets me in ten or fifteen minutes before my 8:44 train.  Because the train is going away from the city, it’s usually pretty empty.  I can get a seat by myself and write or read peacefully before the very quick 30 minutes passes and I’m at my destination.

I’m definitely glad it’s not every day though.

Yesterday morning I was able to get myself to the gym (with MB’s prodding), which felt great after not working out Thursday or Friday.  I worked on my writing somewhat but not enough.  I finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which made me cry.  Just one more in the series!  Today I started The Woman in White

In writing news, I have two new pieces:

Wrinkles in Time at The Nervous Breakdown about how reading Madeleine L’Engle made me want to be a writer.

I’m Not Beautiful, and That’s Okay at The Frisky about how while I was once hot, I’ve accepted that I’m now not, and that maybe beauty isn’t worth fretting over after all.

In case you’re interested, at my writing site, I’ll be posting once a month a summary of my publications for that month.  Of course all my writings can be found at Clips.

Today I need to work on my novel like crazy and get a couple of pitches ready.

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It was nice to take a small break from writing this weekend, after last week’s busy schedule.  I did work on stuff, but in a leisurely way.

I’ve decided to continue with my corporate mystery.  I can’t remember if I wrote about this, but I was going to throw in the towel since I was so bored writing it.  I had an idea for another novel, but I was just as bored starting that.  At least with the corporate mystery, the characters are more developed in my head, and I know where the story is going.

We saw Iron Man 2 over the weekend.  I was expecting it to be lame, but we both enjoyed it.  I had read something about “too many villains,” but I didn’t think there were, especially compared to that one Batman.

I finished the fifth Harry Potter and now am reading Love in the Time of Cholera.  I like it, but I really love the Harry Potter books.  Just two more in the series!

This weekend I started my “diet,” which for me means “not eating like a pig” as well as making sure I eat enough so I don’t binge later.  For instance, at Nick’s Crispy Tacos, I usually just get one fish taco (fried: baby steps), which doesn’t quite fill me up and then I end up eating a meal at 4, as well as dinner at 8.  So this time I added the tortilla soup, which was AMAZING by the way.  That satisfied me but I didn’t feel stuffed and gross.

I have to remember to incorporate soup whenever I can.  One, I love it.  Two, clear soups are pretty healthy I think, usually full of veggies and lean meat.  Three, like I said, they’re filling but don’t make you feel gross.

Last night we had fish dinners at Grub Stake, and I refrained from eating my potatoes.  Just my salmon and veggies.  MB got an apple crumble dessert and I had just a bite to taste it.  Later I had part of Luna Bar for my “dessert.”

Today I need to work out!

In other news, I finally got an interview!  I haven’t had any luck so for this particular position, I decided to have fun and be honest.  My application email wasn’t so much an application as an essay incorporating what they asked for.  Not a dense essay but sort of ranty and conversational, the way I write some stuff for The Nervous Breakdown.  The interview’s on Wednesday.

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It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a BBC 100 update. Here are the books I’ve read since last time, with my six-word reviews.

Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier. Suspenseful gothic romance – must see movie!

Great Expectations, Charles Dickens. Clever, wordy – once read is enough.

Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling. Better than Twilight. Now an addict.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling. Better than the movie. Want more!

Persuasion, Jane Austen. Smart, entertaining. Sad Austen died young.

Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden. Fascinating, but Asian blue eyes = cataracts.  (The equal sign is totally not a word.)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling. My God, so good, I cried.

Now I’m reading A Prayer for Owen Meany, which I didn’t like at first but now I’m really enjoying it.

Finally, here’s the whole list again.  Bold are the books I’ve read since beginning this project in October, red are my most recent reads.  The other crossed out books are ones I read in the past.  Thirty-six total now, more than a third, yay!

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1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

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So I was up till two last night because, like a dumb dumb, I had a strong coffee late in the afternoon.  I couldn’t help it!  I love Philz.

Update on the cruise saga: I found one that fits the dates my parents are looking for, and departs from Los Angeles.  I gave the info to my mom, and also let her know that I don’t want to go.

“I thought you wanted to go!” she said.

“For about a second,” I said.  She laughed.

My parents understand that I find cruises really really boring.  Of course they’re disappointed that we won’t be joining them, but they won’t make us do anything that we don’t find fun.  Now they just need to decide if they want to do that cruise.

Because I had decided not to stick around the week after my cousin’s wedding, I could make our flight arrangements.  They were pretty cheap – less than $300 round trip for two people.  Makes sense.  The flight’s just an hour, but over Thanksgiving the tickets were almost $400 per person, I guess because we were flying into a different airport and it was the holidays.

We were going to stay with my brother but then thought the hotel would be easier.  The wedding’s right downstairs so we don’t have to worry about transportation.  I thought the hotel was $150 a night, but it turned out my cousin had a discount code, so the price was cheaper.

I love getting a good deal.

In other news, I’m officially addicted to the Harry Potter books.  I read my first, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (out of order because I picked up a free copy from the “library” in my building’s laundry room), and I loved it!  I was surprised.  Although it moves fast, it doesn’t feel like a kids’ book.  I’ll try to get the others from the library.  Now I’m reading Persuasion, which is no Harry Potter but still enjoyable.

I have an essay to hand in today, as well as possibly some more ideas to another magazine.  I’ve decided, since my writing site is static now and I have essays that I’ve written that don’t necessarily fit anywhere, I’m going to start posting them on my writing site.  The first is a write-up of my experience at the Korean spa with ES back in February.  Enjoy the naked reading!

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It’s time for another BBC 100 books update. Since my last one, I’ve read four more books, crossed out and indicated in red below.  (The ones in black bold are the others I’ve read since beginning this “project” in October, and the non-bold ones are books I’ve read in the past.)

And again here are my somewhat snarky six word reviews for each:

1984, by George Orwell. Accurate prediction.  Only missed the Internet.

Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks. Beautiful and devastating Great War romance.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. Trippy with strange, incomprehensible math jokes.

The Godfather, by Mario Puzo. More character background but no Cuba.

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1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
1a. The Fellowship of the Ring
1b. The Two Towers
1c. The Return of the King
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

I’ve read a total of 29 books now. I’m currently reading Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. It’s an old-fashioned, gothic romance, but the cover looks like Danielle Steele.

Oh well, at least it was cheap.  Should start getting books out of the library though.

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I thought I’d take a little time to give an update on my progress on the BBC 100 Books list.  I’m SLOGGING my way through.

The books crossed out are ones I’ve read in the past, and the books crossed out in bold are the ones I’ve read since I started this project in the fall.  (You’ll see I took some liberties with the first one and put all three titles, and that I’m a procrastinating machine.)

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
1a. The Fellowship of the Ring
1b. The Two Towers
1c. The Return of the King
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

So I’ve read a total of five books! WOW! Right now I’m reading Cold Comfort Farm, which shouldn’t take as long as Midnight’s Children, that’s for sure.

What did I think of these books I read? Just to be snarky, here are my six-word reviews.

The Lord of the Rings
Too long, watch the movies instead.

Little Women
Very Christian, still sucked me in.

Midnight’s Children
Like Heroes on crack in India.

* * *

In other news, I’m sure you’ve heard by now that J.D. Salinger died. He was 91 and since Catcher in the Rye, a total recluse.

I read Catcher in the Rye for the first time in junior year English. Although I was in honors English the year before and always did well in creative writing, I was put in the non-honors class, ie, with the dummies (or so I felt). This was all because I hadn’t done well on the grammar portion of the SATs, which I didn’t try very hard on and didn’t know would be a determinant of my placement the following year. (I smelled bullshit, and still do.)

I was angry because of this and for a shitload of other reasons, and so when I started to read Holden’s sad, angry voice, I thought, That’s me.

One of our assignments was to write the “next chapter” of the book in Holden’s voice. I remember my classmates writing about their own piddly problems. That pissed me off. Did they seriously think Holden would care about a physics project and curfew? Did they get the point of the book at all?

People were phonies. At my school, the teachers and administrators were nice to the smart, well-dressed kids who’d get into ivy league colleges and make the school look good. The poor kids who smoked and took shop were a lost cause. I actually heard one of the teachers say that. “She’s a lost cause,” dismissively of some girl with frosted hair and a Slayer T-shirt.

But I still wanted to succeed. I still wanted to fit in. The next year I got into Advanced Placement English (suck it, Ms. Palmieri!) and Advanced Writing. I got a 5 on the AP test and the school award for creative writing. I had friends and was going to my first choice college. Maybe I was a phony too, but it was definitely easier than being angry and trapped on the outside.

The voice of the book continued to haunt me for years. One of the first great things I wrote was a novella about an angry Asian American girl who more than anything wants to leave her parents and seek her long-lost grandparents. What I liked about the piece was the voice. I could hear it – her cadence, the snap of her voice, reluctant tenderness – and only now I realize that was Holden Caulfield, reborn as Doris Tanabata Lee.

Lately I’ve been thinking about giving Doris another visit. Maybe her voice – watered down Holden’s – is worth it.

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I’ve been working on a few small projects for this blog and the writing one.

Clips

Now that I’m publishing a bit more, I’ve organized my pieces by category.  You can find all my Nervous Breakdown posts under Personal essays (as well as older works), and the small articles I’m writing for Demand Studios under Health and beauty – in case you’re interested in learning about acne and hair loss – as well as Other.  My published and/or recognized fiction and children’s books are included too.

I love organizing shit!

You can also find a link to Clips on the right hand side of this blog, under Writings, in addition to a direct link to my Nervous Breakdown author page.

Eats

I’ve tried so many different restaurants here in San Francisco, I thought it’d be fun and useful to create a page summarizing them all.  It’s a bit obsessive, but that’s how I roll.

I thought it might be good for anyone visiting the area, though where I’ve eaten is very particular to location (ie, near my abode).  Of course I still need to try Ti Couz for crepes and The Pork Store for breakfast or whatever.

I plan on updating the page regularly.  You can find it to the right under Amusements.

Movies & Books

Under Amusements, you’ll also find What I’ve Been Watching, which is just a list of films I’ve seen (I also like keeping track of stuff), once in a while with a review.  What I’m Reading Now is a list of books.  It began as a way to make sure I was reading at least one book a month, and now it’s just another obsessive thing.

Speaking of books, I’ve barely made a dent in the BBC 100 Books list.  It took me three months to read the Lord of the Rings triology, which is listed as just one item on the list.  They’re great stories but for some reason I took a long time to slog through them.

Now I’ve given myself a break and am reading Little Women, which I’m sure I’ll be done with soon.  After that, I dunno: Midnight’s Children?  The Godfather?  The Stand?  So many choices.

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