Today is Bastille Day, so how a propos that I'm reviewing Ellen Sussman's new novel, French Lessons (Ballantine, 2011), which I read last week.French Lessons is a delightful novel centered around three Americans who find themselves in Paris. The book takes place over the … [Read more...]
Asian lunch boxes
I love lunch boxes of all types. I always carried one to school when I was younger, before it became uncool.But now I'm thinking about buying some kind of environmentally-friendly, BPA-fee container to tote around all the food I bring for my kids when we go out, even just to … [Read more...]
Betty Ford, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Chinese censorship
With the passing of Betty Ford last week and the purported death of former PRC President Jiang Zemin, all sorts of random images are spinning through my mind.First of all, check out this photo of Betty Ford in Beijing back in December, 1975. The PRC leadership was falling … [Read more...]
Book of the week–The Oriental Wife
Last week I picked up The Oriental Wife (Other Press, 2011), a new novel by Evelyn Toynton and looked forward to a light summer read.I'd read the description on the back cover and thought nothing could be worse than growing up Jewish in 1930s Germany. Sure, after the main … [Read more...]
An ode to Wade-Giles
All the hoopla surrounding last week's anniversary of Hong Kong's Handover got me thinking about the many Hong Kong vs. China dichotomies. Which led me to a broader old China vs. new China reverie.Take Wade-Giles. It's not a British taipan, but rather a system of Mandarin … [Read more...]
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