Worth a Read Meh Length 272 Quick Review Sugar is really yummy, but cutting it out of your diet doesn’t have to mean you feel like you’re eating cardboard.
When I was 25, I went through a few health ordeals, which made me completely change how I eat. Since then, I have had a very healthy diet. I’m always on the lookout for new recipes to change things up. Zero Sugar Cookbookby David Zinczenko is informative and inspirational.
I love cookbooks. I don’t actually follow recipes because I know what I like and what I don’t like. I love looking through cookbooks for inspiration. I take the recipes and add and adjust where I see fit.
Zinczenko gives a bunch of information about sugar and the health effects it has on the body and the mind in the beginning of the Zero Sugar Cookbook. Sugar is addictive. It is also added into so many foods. The book teaches how to read nutrition labels and ingredient lists. Food can be confusing, but it shouldn’t be. There are different kinds of sugars in food. Some sugars are added; some sugars are natural. There are good sugars and bad sugars. The book claims a person can lose up to a pound a day on the diet. I don’t know about that, but there are tons of great tips and information.
I love looking through recipes. There are some really good ones in Zero Sugar Cookbookranging from appetizers to entrees to snacks to dessert. I’m kind of a child, so I love looking at the pictures in cookbooks. These pictures don’t disappoint. Being sugar free doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy food. I took a recipe on page 44 and tweaked it, but it still sticks to the sugar free diet. It was delicious.
Worth a Read Yes Length 352 Quick Review Pride and Prejudice is set in modern day Pakistan in the Binat home. Kamal fills Unmarriageable with all the wonderful judgements one would expect from a Jane Austen novel.
I’m not necessarily a fan of love stories, but Jane Austen tells far more than how two people fell in love. She had a sharp eye and a quick wit. Pride and Prejudice is beloved by the world for so many reasons. Soniah Kamal brings the plot and characters into the world by setting it in a world not so different from Victorian England: Pakistan. Unmarriageableis a beautiful retelling.
Alysba Binat is the second oldest Binat Sister. At 30, she is all but unmarriageable. She helps support her family as an English Lit teacher alongside her older sister Jena.
I’m not going to give the plot line because you are probably familiar with it anyways. Unmarriageabledoes a good job sticking to the plot while making it modern and global.
I love well Kamal does at bringing this classic story into the modern era while also making it relatable to a completely different demographic. Muslim girls in Pakistan face similar life choices as the Bennet girls did in Victorian England. As much as times have changed, for so many women and girls life has not progressed that much. Unmarriageableis able to point this out to the demographic who do have choices. Kamal also makes the point that Pakistan was colonized by the British and taught to revere British Literature while looking down on their own cultural heritage. Through this novel, Kamal is able to combine a mixed literary heritage into something beautiful transcending religion, gender, and culture.
I love how Kamal uses Pakistani versions of the character’s names throughout Unmarriageable. It’s really interesting to see how that translates. The use of Urdu words and phrases is also a great way of blending Pakistani culture into the book while making it accessible to Western readers. Alysba teaches Pride and Prejudice to her class, so it comes up often throughout the book. It works within the novel, but I don’t particularly love this literary device. It feels a bit overdone and boring. What I do appreciate is how many books Kamal mentions of Pakistani heritage.
I never thought I could dislike Mr. Collins more than I already do. He’s an odious and boring character. Kamal out does herself with Mr. Kaleen when he says, “Alysba was lucky he was not the sort if man who’d respond to her insult of a refusal by throwing acid on her.” Oh how lucky she was. Ugh. This hurt me.
Unmarriageableis a lot more pointed than Austen’s original. Austen tells the story and lets the reader surmise. The satire, observations, critique, and sarcasm are left for the reader to take in. Kamal points out relationships, dynamics, hypocrisies, etc. There is a lack of nuance requiring much less analysis. The plot moves faster than the original work and is a much smaller book. I wouldn’t say this is better or worse; it just is. It does appeal to the modern reader more than the original would if published today.
I really enjoyed reading Unmarriageableby Soniah Kamal. It is a wonderful retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It has a lot to offer readers of all ages and backgrounds. Perfect for summer vacation.
Memorable Quotes ““But reading widely can lead to an appreciation of the universalities across cultures.”” “Perhaps you truly could not make someone disbelieve what they’d been so thoroughly conditioned to believe.” “A woman is nothing and no one without virtue. Her virtue is the jewelry of her soul.”
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Worth A Read Hell Yes Length 544 Quick Review An intense look into the challenges of emmigrating during the mass exodus from Shanghai in the midst of the communist revolution in China of 1949.
Chinese history – and Asian history for that matter – is so basically covered in the United States. If you want to know about non-white history, you have to educate yourself. It’s Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month; coincidentally, I’ve been reading a lot of books by and about Chinese/Chinese-Americans. Great timing. Last Boat Out of Shanghai by Helen Zia is a beautiful tribute to the men, women, and children who lived through the exodus from Shanghai.
People were leaving Shanghai in droves during the ‘40s as a reaction to the turmoil going on within the country after the Japanese occupation and the rise of Mao and the communist party. Zia focuses on four people’s lives before, during, and after the exodus in Last Boat Out of Shanghai. Benny, Ho, Bing, and Annua lived very different lives, but they were all affected. Benny was the son of an affluent comprador family. Ho grew up well-off in a large extended family compound. Bing was abandoned, adopted, abandoned, and adopted all during the uproar in China. Annuo grew up with two highly educated and revolutionary parents. Each of these people have their own very interesting tale about struggle and survival. Zia gives them each their own spotlight while intertwining their stories.
I have so much to say about this book, but I would be giving the story away. I have a particular affinity for Annuo because she spent time in Ames, Iowa, and her brother earned a PhD from Iowa State University. Last Boat Out of Shanghaigives an emotional depth to the intense era. China was recovering and reacting from years of difficulty and occupation. Trying to find its way and identity to an ever changing world. Zia begins each person’s story before the communist revolution in their childhoods and follows them through their adolescence and adulthoods after fleeing Shanghai. Their lives began and ended differently, but they all went through the struggle.
I completely consumed this book. I have always had a love for history and the individuals who live and create it. These four people show their extraordinary resilience by surviving. Helen Zia is able to bring a humanity to the stories and history found in Last Boat Out of Shanghai, which was the General Gordon by the way.
Memorable Quotes A message was sent via a photo “If he was standing, all was well. If he was sitting, things were bad. When he finally sent them a picture, he was lying down.”
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Title: Last Boat Out of Shanghai Author: Helen Zia Publisher: Ballantine Books Copyright: 2019 ISBN: 9780345522320
Worth A Read Yes Length 304 Quick Review A Chinese woman arrives in the U.S. to give birth to her baby, but due to circumstance stays to make her way in the face of adversity in Vanessa Hua’s A River of Stars.
Reading books about immigration is important right now. It’s easy to talk about immigrants as a group or an other, but when you’re faced with stories of struggle, despair, children, and the humanity of it all, it’s hard to think of keep them separate from ourselves. The political climate in the U.S. is very …interested in immigration right now. We need these stories. Even though, A River of Starsby Vanessa Hua is a novel, it is very much grounded in reality for millions of men, women, and children living in fear and unknowns here in the U.S. and around the world.
Scarlett is a 37 year old Chinese woman who arrives in the United States to give birth to her bosses baby. She stays at a home for pregnant Chinese women, but it feels more like a prison filled with gossipy, rich ladies. Scarlett runs away with Daisy, a well-off, pregnant, teenage. They end up in San Francisco’s China Town scraping by, giving birth, and figuring it out, while the clock on their tourist visas keeps ticking away. They make friends and learn to lean on one another for help and companionship.
There are four fundamental characters in A River of Stars: Scarlett, Daisy, Boss Yeung, and Mama Fang. Chapters randomly alternate perspective allowing each of these characters to tell their side of the story. It humanizes each of them, and shows their motivations, misunderstandings, feelings, and more. If the story had followed just Scarlett, it would have been vastly different. The immigrant story is not one sided but multifaceted and complicated. Everyone is searching for something, and at the core it is a search for identity and belonging. Hua also makes use of transliterations instead of using just English. The Chinese infusion is a lovely addition to the story because immigration stories usually include a language hurdle. Motherhood is an essential element to this story. Without it, the narrative kind of falls apart. Emigration is often heavily influenced by existing children or future children. Parents want the best for their kids. It’s a fairly fundamental emotion.
Vanessa Hua does a great job of creating an interesting story that is both fun to read and right on the nose for the political climate in her debut novel A River of Stars. It’s perfect for the upcoming summer months.
Memorable Quotes “Daisy didn’t realize that you might share the same bed, but dream different dreams.” “She didn’t yet realize aunties specialize in contradictory advice.”
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Title: A River of Stars Author: Vanessa Hua Publisher: Ballantine Books (Random House) Copyright: 2018 ISBN: 9780399178788
Worth a Read Yes Length 208 Quick Review Work Wifeby Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur explores the unique relationship between female duos as company founders and how these duos are changing the workplace.
Women and men are different. Whether that’s due to nature, nurture, or a combination is up for debate – and not likely to be figured out any time soon. There is one very evident thing, we work and lead differently. Where men tend to compete and fly solo, women tend to support and congregate. Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur are cofounders of the company Of a Kind and cowriters of Work Wifeinspired by their own work wife relationship.
Cerulo and Mazur were college friends long before they began their Work Wifejourney. After moving to NYC and having individual careers, they decided to mesh their passions into one company: Of a Kind. Their friendship was the foundation of their company, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t face all the hurdles every startup faces. Instead of going it alone, they were able to lean on one another and still do to this day. Work Wife chronicles their journey as cofounders, but it also looks to other iconic female duos leading companies of all sorts. They wanted to highlight there is more than one way of being a duo or even a trio in a leadership position. There is no set way of being successful as a female leader but many.
Work Wifetalks about several high profile duos and trios. These women are uber successful in their spheres. If you do any reading about women owned businesses or leadership or friendship, these women will inevitably crop up. I am familiar with all of their names because of this. I think it’s fabulous. Also a little sad that there are so few women in leadership roles, and we have to keep using the same women on repeat. It just proves we can do it, and there is a need for more of us. Obviously.
Cerulo and Mazur approach Work Wifewith humor and friendship. There is a ton of great information, but you can sense their relationship and sense of fun coming through in their words. There is a great amount of admiration for each other. I love the sense of collaboration. There is very little ego; though, they do tackle some of the issue that come with the money and percentage side of things – not so cheery and rainbows. One of the biggest takeaways from Work Wife, which transcends business relationships: How partners talk in meetings is an indicator of their relationship and the health of the business. Are they competing? Or are they supporting, listening, and building off one another. This is such an important thing to take into life and other relationships. You can even see this in how they write the book. They speak in the third person “Claire…” or “Erica…” and then switches back to “we,” which is the guiding force behind the book. They are a united force. Other important topics they touch on for women: how men and women deal with money differently, motherhood, communication, regular meetings with a coach, how things tend to come out in the wash.
The writing seems very them. I don’t know them, but it would be hard to make up that playfulness. They write using the acronyms they undoubtedly use in day to day life. In partnership, it’s important to have a short hand. One thing I found a little redundant was the constant reminder of who each woman was. The other duos and trios of female partnerships are mentioned so consistently, it is hard to forget who they are. I do love that they included a profile and portrait of the duos at the very beginning of the book. I like having faces to go with names.
I want to end on this quote: “Female hysteria may no longer be recognized as a medical condition, but the stereotype – and the reliance on it as a tool to silence and discredit women – persists. Having someone to validate perceptions help eradicate the self-doubt that can ratte even the most confident among us.” It’s a central theme in Work Wife and life. As a woman there is always the fight against centuries and milleniums of oppression and stereotype. It’s been a long battle, but I think we’re starting to make some head way, in great part to the work and openness of women like Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur.
Memorable Quotes “At its core, our friendship was built for two.” “Following your gut is the one hard-and-fast rule of forging a work-wife partnership.”
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Should I Read Meh Length 336 Quick Review Traditions refuse to change in Homeward Houndeven when a snow storm threatens the Christmas hunt. Everyone makes it home safe except one.
Homeward Houndby Rita Mae Brown is comprised of elements, which should make me like it. Unfortunately, they are just that. Elements failing to come together to create a memorable book. What I thought would be a huge cast of dynamic characters was a bland smoothie.
The basic gist: A whole bunch of characters are gathering in the Virginia countryside for the traditional run days before Christmas. The run is steeped in 400 years of tradition and hierarchy. The hierarchy is further bolstered by the social structure of the area they all live. Toss in a pipeline and a wealthy gentleman, who goes missing.
Brown begins Homeward Houndwith a list of characters including the humans and the animals. Each character was accompanied by their traits and role within the group. I like the concept when there are so many characters involved because the story doesn’t have to explain it in the story. Unfortunately, the story still felt the need to, so it was basically a waste of time reading those pages. Brown has one family and their “African American”ness was emphasized. Instead of feeling inclusive, it felt racist for needing to point out this otherness in rural Virginia. I got it, they’re black in a sea of white folk in a literal blizzard.
Having a pipeline and a missing person were the main driving forces behind the plot in Homeward Hound, but neither did a great job of making me want to read more.
My favorite part of the entire novel was the way Brown decided to deal with dialogue. The animals had conversations among themselves in the midst of human interactions. The human dialogue was noted in the traditional way with quotes. When the animals spoke, their conversations were italicized, so the reader would know an animal was speaking instead of a two legged character.
I do really like the cover art and the concept of Homeward Hound. The elements just did not come together in a cohesive and compelling enough way to make me enjoy reading the book. I like the cover more than the content.
