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October 09, 2008

Books I Read in the Last Six Months

New Total: 147

The Tea-House Fire by Ellis Avery
I’ve read my fair share of fiction-set-in-Japan (and China for that matter), and this was another one. Not good, not bad. Reviews seem to think it is “a magisterial novel that is equal parts love story, imaginative history and bildungsroman, a story as alluring as it is powerful”. Eh, I guess.

The Raw Shark Texts: A Novel by Steven Hall
In the works of Amazon.com, this book is “a twisting, trippy thriller that tears through the landscape of language, revealing the lurking terrors uncovered in every letter of the written word. Steven Hall swims in the same surreal waters as pop-culture pioneers David Lynch and Michel Gondry, and The Raw Shark Texts deserves to be shelved somewhere between Trainspotting and Life of Pi. It pulls you under like a riptide, leaving you exhausted, exhilarated, and gasping for air.” I stayed up until almost dawn, turning the pages well after my eyes ached with exhaustion. Bizarre and fabulous.

The Know-It-All” One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs
A memoir of the year A.J. Jacobs spent reading all 32 volumes of the 2002, the Know-It-All is by turns a random dabbling of historical facts and a look at what reading 44 million words can do to a couple. While I think its supposed to be charming and eccentric, I found the author more than a little annoying. I certainly hope he was exaggerating for the purposes of the book—otherwise it should be titled One Man’s Quest to Become the Most Obnoxious Person in the World. And that’s saying something as I’ve dated at least one contender for that title.

Run: A Novel by Ann Patchett
I adore Patchett’s earlier novel Bel Canto, and was delighted to read her latest, an “intimate domestic drama that nonetheless deals with big issues touching us all: religion, race, class, politics and, above all else, family.” There is something about her writing that is totally engrossing – other reviewers have likened it to a great television show (like Six Feet Under) in its character complexity. It’s rare that I can read in an airplane – I usually end up distracted or napping – but this was a book where I was happy to squeeze in a few more pages while everyone else disembarked the aircraft. Simply lovely.

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Why do I keep reading British-Indian lit? I never enjoy it, and then I feel like a bad person. This novel got lots of acclaim as a “briskly paced and sumptuously written, the novel ponders questions of nationhood, modernity, and class, in ways both moving and revelatory,” but I have to disagree. While it was a gazillion times better than Brick Lane (which was admittedly British-Bengali), I got to the end only to say I made it through. The most notable piece of the book is where I was assaulted by a strange guy while reading Chapter 5 out in front of my apartment building. Fortunately, I was already so irritated by the book that I lost no time in threatening to call the police if he didn’t stop stroking my arm. And thus ends my attempts to enjoy the genre.

October 06, 2008

The Ford Mustang 2008: A Write Again Soon Review

I know I've been woefully remiss in my blog postings lately. It's a combination of being in a relationship (so much time for gazing adoringly into Mr. MMB's face, so little time for self-reflective ramblings) and partly because I have never been so busy in my life. Right now I'm sitting at the BWI airport in the glorious international terminal (8 gates, 10 total passengers, 0 minutes waiting in the security line) waiting for a flight to Toronto, which will drop me in Calgary, and then on to Kelowna and I thought to myself, what better way to avoid the mountains of work you have piled up than a quick review of a car you recently drove? Indeed.

When I was in southern Oregon a couple of weeks ago for a Big Idea trip, I had the pleasure of renting a car because my work site was several hours from the nearest airport. Because of the plane's mechanical difficulties, I ended up arriving at the final airport more than 7 hours late, and the car rental company had given away all the compact cars and all that was left was a 2008 Mustang.

I've never really driven a "muscle car" before, and I assume that many people are like me out there. So, for the benefit of all those Mustang virgins, let me give you my quick thoughts.

What The 2008 Mustang Is Good For

- Running red lights. Within 10 minutes of getting in the car--before I even got on the ramp to the highway from the airport--I had rumbled through a red light. Had a truck been coming the other way, I would now be a smudge on the Oregon pavement.

- Talking your way out of tickets. On day 3 of my rental, I was driving back to the airport town where I would fly out the next morning. Apparently, the Mustang is well-equipped to power up those steep hills, and so I didn't notice that I was flying along past all the other motorists. A cop nicely pointed out that 25 miles over the speed limit (of 65 MPH) was probably a little fast, but then got distracted by the car (is it a V-8? Hell if I know...) and let me off with a warning.

What the 2008 Mustang Is Bad For

- Wildlife Safaris. I lived for a few years as a kid in southern Oregon, and one of the highlights of my young life was the drive-through wildlife safari. It's a splendid little park where you can drive through the paths and see lions, cheetahs, bears, elephants, giraffes, etc. In most cases, there is no wire/cage separating you from the animals, and it's a delightful alternative to the zoo. Since I had an extra day, I thought I'd go back and see if the reality lived up to the memory. It might have, had I been able to see. The Mustang's bucket seats meant that I had to wriggle and crane my neck to get a good look at the animals. It was tough enough on the driver's side, but the animals had to be practically next to the window to get a good look out the passenger's side. Thumbs down.

- Using lots of gas. I am used to a 30+ MPG car, so it was startling to see the fuel gauge peter out as the miles flew by. Thankfully, I was able to expense my gas costs, and so didn't feel the pain at the pump.

- Turning radius. I left my mark on southern Oregon, in the form of black tire marks on several curbs. It's my version of blowing a kiss to the local residents.

In short, I think that the Mustang is a bit overrated. The big benefit (impressing cops) wouldn't be necessary if the car didn't make it so easy to speed. And the feeling of not being able to see out of the windows properly is irritating even when there aren't giraffes three feet away.

Bottom line, I prefer my Scion.