in the country. mia alvar. (310)

i was excited when i learned of in the country, because mia alvar is filipino and being filipino myself, i had to read her book.  i must add that though racially i am filipino, culturally i am more american, a blend of all of the cultures in my household and that i interacted with growing up.  due to this, i was not anticipating identifying completely with alvar's characters but being able to recognize their experience.

reading this collection of short stories, i realized that i know nothing about filipino history.  as i read "old boy" and "in the country", i was confused by the politics i read.  i know that the philippines like most southeast asian countries had a dictatorship, however, i don't know who it was? was it marcos? i only know imelda because of her shoes and that david bryne album.  i really need to study up on this.  i would like to think that i will study of the history of the philippines but i probably won't.  i have some much to read already, and not the biggest fan of non-fiction, but will try.  

it would have be nice to know if the senator in "old girl" and "in the country" was based on an actual person.  i enjoyed both stories though i really did not like the senator, reading about his arrogant ways and his selfless wife, i was frustrated as i read. i also expected him to die in a bombing since he was set to run the boston marathon, but this was a different time.

before i go on, i have to admit that filipino males are not protrayed in the greatest light in these stories, which unfortunately i can related to.  my father is filipino, and though without him i would not be here, he was a dead best dad.  furthermore, he too had a shadow family, a term i learned of in a story of the same name. the story goes that my dad wanted to marry my mom when she was pregnant with me, yet, i have a half sister that is about a year younger than me, so you do the math.  in the stories, the men are greedy, dominate, drive by sex, lazy, and selfish.  yet oddly enough, and sadly, the women in the stories allow them to be as such.  i haven't read any of the author's interviews, but i wonder if this was intended.

another thing that this collection covered was filipinos working in the middle east.  i learned of this a couple years ago, when i worked for a saudi family that had two filipino nannies.  they, of course, took a liking to me, because i was filipino as well and once shared adobo with me.  reading this collection, it was interesting to see how long this has been occurring. it was also interesting to see why filipinos are nurses, i didn't know that the government had called for them to be educated as such to help supply the world with nurses!

so my favorite stories were "in the country", i think it demonstrated how corrupt the government was and how it crushed the spirit of the people

of the phillippines.  i sympathized with the milagros and it was sad to see how her son's life ended.

"the miracle worker" was enjoyable story because it demonstrated that though you can everything money can by, the most valuable thing is hope.  it was also disheartening to read about what the maid did to the baby.

i really liked old girl in "old girl", though her husband was a monster.  i was happy that she became president in "in the country".

overall, this collection of short stories demonstrated just how hardworking and how truly dedicated the women of the phillippines are.  they support and care for the men and as we see help keep the country great. 

i hope to read more form alvar in the future and am happy there is a female filipino writer, i can read!

gumption: relighting the torch of freedom with america's gutsiest troublemakers. nick offerman (308)

i learned of nick offerman's gumption:  relighting the torch of freedom with america's gutsiest troublemakers at bookcon.  i knew he had written another book but assumed it was autobiographical but discovered at his panel it was about americans he admired for their gumption.  i have to add that he brought out both john hodgman and paul rudd during his panel, and yes, rudd was a huge distraction for me.

to be completely honest, this work did not live up to my expectation.  i had expected profiles of some great americans, but what i really got was some interesting facts, offerman gushing about why he loved them, and then some random discussion on politics, life, social media, etc.  i mean the points he made were interesting, but after a while it just got too redundant.  although i love ron swanson, i don't feel that close to offerman, as say, amy poehler or aziz ansari, so all of his random jokes where more awkward than funny. or maybe i am being mean, i just didn't literally laugh out loud as i read, though i am sure there was an the expectation that i did.

that being said, i learned a lot, just wish i had learned more and plan on doing some further reading with the books he suggested for further reading. 

my absolute favorite profile was yoko ono, perhaps because she was the person that i was the most familiar. i loved how offerman started off with admitting how he was judgmental about her, believing in the music folklore that she had broke up the beatles, but thanks to his wife, megan mullally, he saw the light.  and can i just add way to go mullally for purchasing some yoko art, i would have purchased a piece if i could afford it.  anyway, it was lovely to read about how she and john met through her art.  something that i didn't know, but i recognized the pieces because i attended her one woman show at the moma this past may.  i knew of the apple that john was intrigued by and was frustrated when i couldn't climb the ladder to read the message on the ceiling like john did.  but yes, it is amazing that her message was one of positivity and not negativity.  i should add that the book closes with a photo of this piece.  i like offerman found it amazing how she still lived in the dakota.  i am also amazed by her continued activism for social progress.  i really want a poster that says "war on women is over (if you want it)" or maybe a shirt.  but yes i loved the chapter on yoko ono and will be doing some further reading on her.

i also plan on reading more about eleanor roosevelt.  i had no idea that she and franklin d. were distant cousins.  i also loved reading about how she stuck to her beliefs regardless of what her husband supported.  eleanor lobbied for a bill that made lynching illegal in the south, even though her husband was worried that he would lose southern support.  she was also against imprisoning the japanese americans in internment camps after pearl harbor.  again i would have loved to read more about her, but am glad that offerman pointed me in the right direction to read more about her.

maybe it's the feminist in me, but i also plan on reading more about carol burnett.  i used to watch reruns of the carol burnett show, as a kid.  my grandma turned me on to her.  i remember laughing though i don't remember any specific jokes.  i would really love to revisit her show.  it was extraordinary to learn of her humble beginnings and to see that she is a fellow bruin!

the other woman that sparked an interest in me and one that i had never heard of was laurie anderson.  her music and art sounds amazing.  also i loved that she ordered a grilled cheese and bourbon when she and offerman met up.  i did like her idea about reverse boot camp, i feel like we do need to help our servicemen and woman return back to civilian life.  i didn't put in a request for her work, but will later on down the road.

i loved the conan o'brien chapter.  who knew he was so intelligent? and i have to admit it made him really sexy.  it was great to read his thoughts especially about how we view these times, i agree that we romanticize the past and the world is really not as bad as we think it is.  also conan knows his stuff, i mean he is a harvard grad and a history major.  i mean i would love to read books about history from him or even just a book about his life.  why hasn't that happen yet?  also since sadly there are no books, about conan, his further reading section, included books that he mentioned in his chapter.  i think i will read his books just for fun!

i enjoyed reading about james madison, we really do owe a lot to him.  i had no idea how crucial he was to the creating of the constitution and the bill of rights.  also, love that he was a big reader.  (actually alot of people featured were big readers.)

speaking of big readers, the stories in theodore roosevelt's chapter was awesome.  i mean he got shot during a speech and continued on with his speech! talk about impressive!

the chapter on frederick law olmsted was really interested.  thanks to my friend ivan, i have learning about new york, and how it came to be, so loved learning about olmsted and the designing of central park.  it was great to know that olmsted wanted the park to be one everyone and not just the rich.  i also learned that the entrances are labeled different, next time i am in nyc, i'm looking for the strangers' entrance and the warriors' entrance.  another central park bucket list item for me is to eat at tavern on the green.  i also plan on going to prospect park, which is supposed to be he and his partner, valux's best work.  i have been to the brooklyn museum but never explored the park.

i did enjoy micheal pollen's chapter, i would like to read his work, the omnivore's dilemma but am worried they may change my diet.  but i love my food! i will check out the rest of his works, i just don't read much non-fiction, but will add him to my to-be read list.

i sadly wasn't familiar with the writers mentioned, though i did recall coming across george saunder's congratulations by the way on california bookstore day, but didn't buy it.  however, i think i will given it read.

last but not least, i enjoyed read about george nakashima, a furniture maker.  his story was incredible because he was in an internment camp during world war II, after which, he started marking furniture and became successful.

the individuals that offerman wrote about were interested, again i would have liked to see more about them, versus offerman's opinion of them or thoughts he inspired by him.  if you like offerman, check it out, but just know that you there will much left to be desired, so hit up that further reading list.

further reading (for my personal reference):
 the autobiography of eleanor roosevelt eleanor roosvelt
days that i'll remmber: spending time with john lennon and yoko ono joanthan clott
all we are saying: the last major interview with john lennon and yoko ono david sheff
one more time carol burnett
this time together carol burnett
stories from the nerve bible:  a twenty-year retrospective laurie anderson
king lear shakespeare
the beatles:  the biography bob spitz
the soul of a tree george nakashima
congratulations, by the way geroge saunders
a clearing in the distance witold rybczynski
and michael pollan's works

emma. jane austen. (307)

i decided to read emma, because,  the movie, clueless, was loosely based on it. i i recently read as if, and didn't get any of the emma reference, so figured it was time for me to read austen's classic.

to start, i have to add that the movie did mess with my head as a i read.  i kept on trying to sort out who was who based on the movie.  though i did not see any of the characters as the actors.  i did start watching emma, the mini series, so started to see jonny lee miller as mr. knightly.  also i knew that mr. frank churchill was engaged due to a quote i read in as if, so the big surprise at the end was not a big surprise.  i was also shocked at how blinded emma was to their relationship.  i must add i knew the piano was from frank because really he ran into town for a haircut?!?!

i have to admit that it did take me a while to get into the novel.  it was quite a struggle from to read this novel, especially since all of the good stuff happens in the last fourth of the novel.  other complaints included was mr. woodhouse's neediness, poor miss taylor indeed for having to listen to him whine. how horrible that he could not be happy for her but instead lamented about she was no longer in their service.  i have no idea how anyone put up with that.  and though i might be guilty of miss bates' blabbering on and on, but just reading the descriptions of her talking, bored me.  and maybe it's just because elton was so "so sweet that he gave me a toothache" in clueless (i would listen to the cranberries all day with him), but felt bad that mr. elton married such a dreadful woman!  ps kudos to amy heckerling on the picture fiasco which was a great mirroring of the painting mix up.  also love love loved how heckerling had tai burn her belongings from elton just like harriet did with her mr. elton things.

back to the novel, so though i was bored, i have to admit that just like emma, an darted through my heart when it came to mr. knightley.  austen created the most sensitive, noble, morale, loving men and mr. knightley was rather quite knightly.  she created these moments when her leading men confess their love and her readers sit there wishing it would happen to them! i mean what a dreamboat mr. knightley was when confessing his love for emma.  so sweet was this ending to the novel that i forgave austen for how bored i was in the beginning.

i will close in saying that even though i didn't love it straight off the bat, emma is like the quintessential girl novel, reminding us how naive we were when we were young and when it came to love and life.  how often we fall in love with men we can not have, and at the same time can be blinded to affection of someone else.  or we try to give someone advice and we really should just keep our noses out of their business.  i guess its best to say that, emma reminded me of how when i was younger, i though i knew everything, but really i was just clueless.  

the improbable theory of ana & zak. brian katcher. (306)

i decided to check out the improbable theory of ana & zak, after seeing it

posted on epic read's instagram

post of books for geminis.  i started following epic reads after i got a free tote from them at bookcon.  anyway, this was the post:  

i decided to read the improbable theory of ana & zak because i liked the title.  i had no idea what the book was about but the title sounded cute.  and i guess you can judge a book by its title because this book was cute.

the back cover broke down the story for me perfectly:

i figured this would be like a geeky nick and norah's infinite playlist, well sci-fi geeky, since nick and norah were music geeky.

as epic reads shared, this work would appeal to my dual nature and it did! the book flips back and forth between ana and zak's perspectives.  ana was this overachiever, do anything for college applications girl (totally me!), and zak was this slacker, sci-fi, convention-attending boy.  their paths crossed when zak, to make up for plagiarizing a report, joined the quiz bowl team that ana spearheaded, she was the unofficial captain of the team.  they get off to a rocky start when at the tournament, zak took ana's place for one round, this totally pissed her off.

the weekend of the tournament, sadly conflicted with washingcon, a convention that zak attended every year.  however, both are in seattle and miles apart. zak was disappointed but graduating was more important.  with the con being so close to the tournament, he did considered going.  however, he and ana end up at the convention when clayton, ana's little brother, took off to the convention after listening to zak's stories.

having never been to comic-con, but having attend hello kitty con and book con, i could imagine the chaos of washingcon. though reading this made me wish i had attended a comic-con.  

ana and zak went on a wild goose chase looking for clayton to avoid getting in trouble with ana's parents.  ana was super uptight and as it was revealed, because her parents kicked her older sister out because she got pregnant in high school.  this caused ana to stress about being perfect.  though she was annoyed with zak at first, she started to see that zak was a great and helpful guy.  

i totally would have had a crush on zak in real life, though the goatee would have to go! that goatee was the only thing that ruined my book crushing on him.  i hope ana got him to shave it.  zak was this sweet and easy going guy, friendly to all.  though his life wasn't perfect, it was revealed, his dad died of cancer, and he didn't get along with his stepdad.  however, his issues didn't effect how he treated ana, unlike how she treated him.  her meaness at the beginning is even more upsetting given how zak kept on getting beat up, thanks to ana.

since the setting is a con, a bunch of craziness happened, a vampire ball, a run-in with a strawberry shortcake cosplay player (is that right?), a battle, and like i mentioned, some fights. there was this weird twist, when zak found a bag of cocaine.  he was held hostage with a gun, this felt too extreme for me.  but the same thing happen on an episode of a different world, so i guess it could happen? i personally would have liked to have seen that part edited out because it felt too ridiculous to me.  it just seemed unrealistic, and excessive.

in the end, zak and ana of course, fell in love.  they found clayton, survived the drug dealer, and made it the tournament. i have to add i was anticipating that monte cristo question in the final round. the novel, being ya, cleaned up nicely, in the end, zak and his stepdad got along and ana finally stood up to her mom.

a cute book that i could totally see being turned into a movie.  however, i am too old to know who plays teens now, so can't give a dream cast. this was an enjoyable read and if teen me had read it, i would have totally gone to comic con because of it.  adult me might make it happen.

my cousin momo. zachariah ohora (305)

my cousin momo is the story about cousin momo, a flying squirrel, and his visit to his cousin's house.  his cousin were extremely excited about his visit.  however, momo's odd behavior, made them upset about the trip.

for example, momo, wanted to be a muffin man when they dressed up as superheroes! (i thought his costume was amazing!):

and then while playing hide and seek, cousin momo got distracted by the mushrooms and had to take pictures:

though we were not told this, it's obvious that cousin momo is a hipster flying squirrel visiting from williamsburg.  i mean i totally wanted to be his friend!  however, his cousins not so much.  there was an awkward moment where momo was about to head home but the cousin see that is fun, not weird.  so they all played together:

pastry power!

and accepted cousin momo for the hipster that he is!

a cute story with great illustrations! i highly recommend it!!

kitchens of the great midwest. j. ryan stradal (303)

after seeing kitchens of the great midwest all over my instagram (granted i do follow it's publisher's account), i decided to check it out.  also people had been posting pics of bars made from a recipe in the book, and with my new insta account @booksandsnacks, i figured i should read it.  being a lover of food and books, i was excited to read this book, but was also a little wary about how food would be portrayed.  but all my worrying was for nothing because j. ryan stradal knew his stuff!

kitchens of the great midwest chronicled the life of eva thorvald that ended with a meal that a culmination of her life that reminded me of a final challenge for top chef that would have made tom colicchio proud.  each portion of the meal related back to a story, the reader read about her life.

the novel opened with her father lars thorvald, an awkward but loving man and a great father.  he was a chef and was so excited to feed so much so that the doctor warned him about introducing things to early to eva.  i mean he wanted to give her pork shoulder at like three months, which is alittle extreme. however, helped provide eva with an extraordinary palette.  oh, i should add that lars was really a lovely person, it was so sweet to learn of his dedication to his family and he made the best lutefisk.  sadly, however lars passed away and eva was raised by her aunt and uncle, though she did not know it during her youth. i forgot to mentioned, by this point, eva's mother had abandoned her and lars.

the story then jumped to eva as a tween.  she was obsessed with peppers and after getting in trouble with at school ran away to her cousin, braque, who was away at college.  quick sidenote, eva had the coolest cousins (via her aunt by marriage/"mom"'s side) that had great taste in music, braque got her a bikini kill shirt and randy listened to nine inch nails.  anyway, braque and eva went around hustlin' people to make money, eva due to her high tolerance of spicy food, would shock adults with the spicy food she ate.

the next chapter of eva's life introduced, will prager, a boy who was her first sweetheart.  i have to add i loved will prager's taste in music as well (okay, stradal's amazing taste in music.)  i even listed out all the songs, which i youtubed as i read to help soundtrack the chapter:

"where is the love"

"super bon bon" soul coughing

"car" built to spill

"in an airplane over the sea" neutral milk hotel

"fade into you" mazzy star

"why (mtv unplugged version)" annie lennox

"reason to believe"

their first date was at a fancy restaurant and it reminded me of when i first started fine dining, how unsure i was about the procedures and of course how much i would be spending.  it was a nice little stroll down memory lane.  anyhoot, it is her that the reader and will realized that eva had a special gift when it came to food and she began working in that very restaurant.  i have to add that eva moved away and though i hoped that will would come back into her life and they would end up lovers, but this did not happen.

the next part of eva's life revolved around dinner parties, which reminded me of the dinner parties that my friend danny used to host.  they weren't potlucks, he did all of the cooking, nor were they as catty. thought it was probably just octavia that was catty.  i mean she was horrible person and had a bad life because she made bad choices.  but back to those dinner parties, eva was so nice and her caesar salad sounded amazing!

i have to admit that was a little bored by the storyline that introduced jordy.  i am going to say that that part was just to introduce venison into the menu.  odd, but i read it.  i think the novel would have been better if the venison was included a different way that related more to eva.

i was very excited about pat pragar's section, mostly because i made those bars and they were delish.  also that new woman was so mean.  and i wonder what happen when she got pulled over.  also, those vegan people were the worse, but i guess if you were vegan, you would be angry and hungry too.

the last part of the book, reintroduced cindy, eva's mom that abandoned her.  her life though enjoyable was not great, which felt kind of like karma for abandoning her daughter.  by this time in the story, eva was a successful chef.  she started out by hosting these random dinner parties around town, well the town she lived in.  she then decided to start a pop-up dinner party.  i had seen something like it on top chef, but have sadly never attended one of those.  she was so successful that she began doing her dinners in even more exotic places, and the waiting list was years longs.  anyway, cindy decided to get on the wait list so that she can meet her daughter.  it is from cindy's perspective that we learn of the dinner of eva's lifetime.  it's pretty amazing, i was impressed by the courses and everything related back to the stories, we had read.  it was brillant, as a lover of food and good storytelling, i couldn't imagine a better way to end a great novel.  also, all of the people from eva's life, were there as well.

it really was the perfect ending to a great book! i really can't get over how great it was that the meal related back to her life.  well, done stradal.  this book is definite read if you love food. i highly recommend and as an added bonus, there are also recipes in it, so you can make some of what you read. i recomend pat pragar's bars!

here is pat's recipe:

here are some of the recipes i want to try:

mom's chicken wild rice casserole:

mom's carrot cake

barn ramstad's kraft caramel bars 

last celeste's mississippi mud bars which reminded me of something my grandma would make, but we called them brownies.

the festival of insignificance. milan kundera. (303)

i checked out the festival of insignificance because its the first book that milan kundera has written in 6 years, i think.  i don't know it's been a while, so i decided to check it out.  i did reread the unbearable lightness of being in anticipation.  and just like i felt that i wasn't intelligent enough to completely grasp how wonderful unbearable is, i was definitely not intelligent enough to get this book.  i mean there was a bit about stalin and one of his guys that was old and wet his pants.  there were four friends.  there was musings on women's body parts being sexy and what that had to say about the era (i thought that was quite witty).  there was a future mother that drowned a man when she tried to commit suicide because she was pregnant, this was a complete shock to me.  there was an actor who made up his own language.  a man that lied about having cancer.  a mother, who was an angel, that passed away.  there was an absent mother.  there was talk about a play that completely theoretical, i liked that talk.  but all in all there wasn't too much cohesiveness to make this a full story for me.

i did google afterwards to help myself understand it more.  also to see that hopefully i wasn't an idiot, but i did find one guy that was just as confused as i was.  and he loved kundera.  his article was good.  you should read it, it is better than any review, i would write.  you can read that article here.

i mean there were some deep little musings that i enjoyed.  the one how women like men that do not overwhelm them with flirting, because it causes them too much pressure to perform, instead we like men that seem to ignore us because its the insignificance that sets us free.

i liked the talking about lines.  because i hate lines at museums, though i always find myself in them.  i absolutely hate how people will wait in a line to see artwork, i purposely bounce around when i see this happen in hopes that people will follow suite.

the idea of apologizers was interesting to think about since i am one.  a boy i once dated pointed out how i always said i was sorry for things when there was nothing to be sorry for, but i did it out of habit/reflex.  who knows why.  though amy schumer has this great skit about it just being in women's nature to apologize because of society.  though the apologizers in kundera's work were both men.  and i do agree that apologizing does make you the scapegoat for things when you did nothing wrong and just say it.  but i do agree with charles that i would like a world filled with people who apologized versus not.

i also liked that mom's rant on human rights.

all in all this book felt insignificant and maybe that was point.  maybe kundera wrote this book just to get out random little thoughts and made it a quick read to demonstrate how the thoughts we think are insignificant.  they are best when in discussion but when they stop being part of our dialogue, they use their meaning.

oh and i didn't really get that whole play thing in the end. i don't know.  read this if you want, it's short, but really in comparison to his other works it seems insignificant.