Foothill Writers Conference Post-Reading Report & NYTBR 6 July 2008

July 10, 2008 at 5:49 pm (Books, Eavesdropping, Surprises, Writing)
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It’s the day after self’s reading at the 2008 Foothill Writers Conference. It was a very interesting day, though half the time self’s thoughts were home in her garden, wondering which plants were expiring in the terrific heat (She had no time to water before grabbing her bag and leaving the house for the 12 noon reading in the “Band Room”)

This year, self had made sure she had all the pages of her manuscript with her, and in fact she decided to bring two, so that she could decide at the last minute which one she preferred to read. And it was funny that she actually had the audience choose for her and, lo and behold, the choice was the right one, for self found herself reading with more expression than she usually does, and the rest of the day continued fun from there.

But now it is this morning, and the AT & T repairman has just knocked at the door and informed self that there is trouble with the telephone line but that he cannot fix it right now and will have to come back later. This repairman was constantly talking on his cell to (presumably) a woman, gossipping about some mutual acquaintance (also a woman). But he was very nice.

Without further ado, here are the books self is interested in reading after perusing the 6 July 2008 issue of The New York Times Book Review:

(1) After reading Holly Morris’ review of Julie Salamon’s new book, Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God, and Diversity on Steroids:

(2) After reading Kate Sekules’ review of Michael Meyer’s The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed:

  • Michael Meyer’s The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed

(3) After reading Douglas McGrath’s review of David Gilmour’s The Film Club:

  • Knut Hamsun’s Hunger
  • David Gilmour’s The Film Club

(4) After reading Hermione Lee’s review of Paul Fisher’s House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family:

  • Paul Fisher’s House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family

(5) After reading Boris Fishman’s review of David Benioff’s new novel, City of Thieves:

  • David Benioff’s new novel, City of Thieves

(6) After reading Isaac Chotiner’s review of Peter Clarke’s The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Birth of the Pax Americana:

  • Peter Clarke’s The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Birth of the Pax Americana

(7) After reading Mick Sussman’s short reviews in the “Nonfiction Chronicle:”

  • David I. Kertzer’s Amalia’s Tale: An Impoverished Peasant Woman, an Ambitious Attorney, and a Fight for Justice
  • Bob Delaney’s (with Dave Scheiber) Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob

(8 ) After reading Jonathan Wilson’s review of Amin Maalouf’s memoir, Origins:

  • Malouf’s Prix Goncourt-winning novel, The Rock of Tanios
  • Malouf’s “quirky” history, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
  • Malouf’s trenchant In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong
  • Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table
  • Amin Maalouf’s memoir, Origins

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Walking: Downtown Burlingame

June 18, 2008 at 2:09 am (Eavesdropping, Food and Drink, Relatives)
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It was a beautiful day — Well, OK, just a tad warm.

Self had gone shopping in Marina Market (Is it just her imagination or are there really more non-Asians — read: “whites” — shopping there now? One blonde woman took a call on her cell phone and chattered excitedly to someone, self guessed her husband: “Yes, I’m having a lot of fun just wandering around and looking at everything!”). Afterwards, on impulse, self decided to drop by Daly City, to uncle’s house, where Dearest Mum is currently ensconced. And there she found uncle in the process of preparing a very hearty breakfast for his two grandsons, who he seemed to be babysitting. And this is what he prepared for the two 10-year-olds (who were so rapt with their laptops that they never even looked up once, not even to thank him):

  • 10 strips of bacon
  • “coddled” eggs
  • slices of apricots and peaches
  • toasted English muffins

What a breakfast! Self wanted to sit right down and join them. But she was not invited, so she held her tongue.

Then, self inquired if Dearest Mum wanted to go anywhere. And Dearest Mum said that she had in fact the urgent need to go to a bank. So self offered to drop her there. And, since it was nearly lunchtime, Dearest Mum decided we should eat somewhere in downtown Burlingame. And she revealed that yesterday, she had treated out uncle, aunt, and a number of other relatives to breakfast at Copenhagen. So today she wanted to try something different. And she settled on Crepevine. And self and Dearest Mum shared something that turned out to be Eggs Benedict, only fancied up with Canadian ham and spinach. Also, a dessert of cherry blintzes with vanilla ice cream. (Self all the while wondering if the prawns she had bought from Marina Market would survive two hours in her car, under hot sun, or whether they would start to smell, and if so, would Dearest Mum say something, etc etc)

Anyhoo, there were several interesting things self noticed while on this walk:

  • Dearest Mum insists on crossing the street anywhere she feels like it. Self tried to steer her to the pedestrian crosswalks, but Dearest Mum insisted that self’s aunts and uncles cross wherever they like, it is the “usual practice.” So, because self already has the reputation of being a real “stick,” among Dearest Mum’s side of the family especially, who are so flamboyant and free-spirited, she kept quiet.
  • Dearest Mum started out walking on self’s right, but as soon as she realized she was in full sun, she crossed over to self’s left. And then, whenever we encountered slower-moving pedestrians, she would consider it a matter of pride to maneuver around them as quickly as possible, even if this meant crossing from the shady part to the sunny part of the sidewalk. And, as we encountered many many slow-moving pedestrians today, Dearest Mum was constantly cris-crossing in front of self, which put self in mind of her beagles, who always end up tangling their leashes.
  • Dearest Mum had a list of books she needed to get for Dear Tel Aviv Bro. Self forebore to look at the list. But, after entering a Books Inc., Dearest Mum suddenly lost interest in the whole proceeding and pushed the list into self’s bag, telling her to go and get the books and she’d reimburse self later.

Such were the fascinating observations self made today about Dearest Mum, who is an ever-changing kaleidoscope of interesting behavior.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

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Eavesdropping

April 29, 2008 at 6:38 am (Eavesdropping, Home, Quotes, Surprises)
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On TV: Law & Order: CI (not the Vincent D’Onofrio team, the other one)

Female Partner: Where is your husband?

Rich Woman in Evening Gown: He’s doing what he always does. Writing.

(Self: ha ha ha ha ha)

Chris Noth: We need to speak to him.

Rich Woman in Evening Gown: You can’t. He’s writing a series of short stories about the desolate and forlorn.

(Self again: ha ha ha ha ha)

* * * *

For your edification, dear blog readers: fascinating photo captions from the April 21, 2008 issue of The New Yorker:

    On p. 110: Eleven billion elevator trips are made each year in New York. Otis Elevator estimates that it transports the equivalent of the world’s population every five days.
    On p. 97: SHOWCASE “Family Tree” (2000) by Zhang Huan. The artist asked three calligraphers to write on his face for one day.

Stay tuned.

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The Street: Excerpts From Shlonsky’s “In Tel Aviv”

March 28, 2008 at 3:36 pm (Eavesdropping, Places, Pleasures of Travel, Quotes, Sayings, Some Interesting Articles, Tel Aviv, Voices)

Self’s first Shabbat. Self didn’t know, no buses run after 4 or 5 p.m. A Filipina told her, while self stood waiting in vain at the stop for Bus No. 10 on Arlozoroff.

Ying was asleep when self left the hospital. Less voluble today, but her fever’s gone: her temperature was 36.5. But lymphoblasts — or whatever you call those cells doctors count to measure the body’s immune response — were low, “only 500″ said the nurse. So, self had to wear a mask all day.

Now, back at Ruppin Street. This narrow thoroughfare is like a stage: all manner of people come and go. Self likes sitting on the balcony, where she can enjoy the breeze while listening to Astrud on her brother’s ipod. Motorcycles spurt up and down the street, doors slam, car engines sputter and turn over. And always, there are voices.

Nephew’s back from a trip to Haifa with self’s brother. All excitement: he wants to share his views of Haifa, the bomb shelters and the beautiful palace with the pink trees. Then, he shows me his newest invention: nutella with yoghurt, something he dubs a “nutgurt.” Self has to admit, it looks dee-lish.

Tomorrow self wants to go to Old Jaffa. Nephew told her it was only a 25-minute cab ride. But how much is a 25-minute cab ride? 100 shekel? Self has to husband her finances sooo carefully, especially as hubby’s tales from his office grow increasingly bleak and the economic forecasts in The Jerusalem Post spout doom.

Ah, but let’s deal with that when self returns, in another week. In the meantime, this is an excerpt from a series of poems by Shlonsky — a member of what Barbara Mann calls the “first generation” of Hebrew modernists in Palestine — from the series called “In Tel Aviv”:

Street lamps before evening falls
Ah– who lit you, yellowed eyes?
For what did you bring, empty auto, untimely,
a strange gust to the wine house?

Hackerbrau pictures on the walls,
overturned glasses on the bar.
And in a neglected nook a clock drowses,
and a Jew asleep at the counter.

I, a Jew, came for no reason,
I, a Jew, returning home,
an empty car shifts another moment,
and silence returns to what it was.

And a snoring shofar roars,
A scratch in the skin of silence.
And only streetlights still throw
Yellow rings to the earth.

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What Self Read (At the Frick, On the Plane)

March 23, 2008 at 1:50 pm (Books, Eavesdropping, Insomnia, Places, Quotes, Surprises, Tel Aviv, Voices)
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Brother has gone to the hospital to fetch Ying, who is being allowed to return home (to the apartment) this afternoon. Yes!!! In the meantime, self, who seeks only to crash on a mattress on the floor of the apartment — since she has not slept a wink for over 24 hours — has drawn up a list of all the various books/ magazines/ newspapers she has read in the course of two (very busy) days, starting from Friday, 21 March, when self embarked on the plane for Newark, NJ up to today, Easter Sunday, in Tel Aviv:

1.
Self has finished reading The Bookseller of Kabul (Was able to read straight through to the end while on the plane from New York to Tel Aviv, and while most of the other passengers were sleeping). What a fascinating, heartbreaking book. Self thinks the images of the bookseller’s daughters and wives will remain with her for a very long time.

2.
Read, from cover to cover, the latest issue of People Magazine (featuring on the cover a radiant J Lo, doting over her newborn twins)

3.
Read, in the Frick, while standing in humble obeisance before Parmigianino’s seductive portrait of an unknown lady: several pages by the museum curator, speculating on the model’s identity, which was no help as all the curator did was surmise that the painting was either that of a) a bride; b) a courtesan; or c) a complete figment of the painter’s imagination (which last suggestion self thought was the most un-interesting)

4.
Browsed the Friday New York Times (in which she read that new J-horror flick “Shutter” is not quite a success — in the opinion of reviewer A. O. Scott)

5.
Began reading the next book on her list (shortly after arriving at the apartment where her brother is staying in Tel Aviv), George Howe Colt’s The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home

6.
Began perusing last Friday’s edition of The Jerusalem Post, which was lying on top of the grand piano in the living room of the apartment. Before self begins quoting from an article in said newspaper, she wishes to mention the reading activities of her seatmates on the two planes she was a passenger on:

On the plane from SFO to Newark, NJ:
Boy on her left was reading a many-paged tome which looked to be science fiction, judging from the one-word chapter headings (one went something like Owenaira?). Boy on her right (who looked like a devout student from a yeshiva) was reading issue after issue of Gun Magazine. Self surreptitiously glanced over at the articles he was reading. One was on handguns and had accompanying illustration of a Glock semi-automatic. Another was on “Ammo for Handguns.”

On the plane from Newark, NJ to Tel Aviv:
Seatmate on her left, a middle-aged man with gray hair, scribbled endlessly, page after page, on small pads of yellow ruled paper. And then read USA Today and Newsweek.

And now to the quote for the day, from the Jerusalem Post of Friday, 21 March 2008:

‘Speak English’ signs approved at Philly Shop, article by Patrick Walters (AP):

Dateline: Philadelphia — The owner of a famous cheese-steak shop did not discriminate when he posted signs asking customers to speak English, a city panel ruled Wednesday.

In a 2-1 vote, a Commission on Human Relations panel found that two signs at Geno’s Steaks telling customers, “This is America: WHEN ORDERING PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH, do not violate the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance.

Shop owner Joe Vento has said he posted the signs in October 2005 because of concerns over immigration reform and an increasing number of people in the area who could not order in English.

Vento has said he never refused service to anyone because they couldn’t speak English. But critics argued that the signs discourage customers of certain backgrounds from eating at the shop.

Commissioners Roxanne E. Covington and Burt Siegel voted to dismiss the complaint, finding that the sign does not communicate that business will be “refused, withheld or denied.”

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

3 Comments

Even Though No One Read This Morning’s Post

March 20, 2008 at 12:20 am (Eavesdropping, Food and Drink, Home, Surprises, Voices, Writing)

Self is keeping it! Because self truly feels that dear blog readers should be able to read something other than the pablum being dished to us on the nightly news.

Today, self hied herself out of doors long enough to:

Tie back long-ish stems of:

Self is so proud of herself, dear blog readers! Five years ago self wouldn’t have had the foggiest idea what the above-named plants were. Now she has them all flourishing in her garden. Around noon, self interrupted hubby’s strenuous mid-day labors to inform him that if he watered deeply on the weekends, all the plants would survive. And that he should never, under no circumstances whatsoever, water her roses at night, or they will develop rust and black spots and in two weeks, when self returns, it will be too late to reverse the viruses and self will just have to lop off canes and that will mean no blooming roses this summer.

Then, self ran some errands, which involved doing the following:

    Buying a box of See’s chocolates for Melissa A. for when self sees her in New York, Saturday morning, 7:30 a.m. (Self and Melissa meeting for breakfast! Then high-tailing it to the Frick! Where self’s 16-year-old nephew will meet up with us!). As self was stepping out of the store, she overheard the girl at the See’s counter heave a heartfelt sigh and murmur, “I love this job.”
    High-tailing it to Post Office and mailing a story to Tin House. She hasn’t bothered them since 2006, so she feels she’s entitled. With Tin House, self can be “cool” (unlike with Prairie Schooner, to whom self now submits a story every six months, out of sheer stubborn-ness. Every time the SASEs come back, with the little postage-stamp size rejection slips, with not even a signature — at least, someone has the wherewithal to stamp “Prairie Schooner” on the outside of the envelope, as if self needed to be reminded about who exactly it is rejecting her — self just turns around and pops another one in the mail. She’s pretty sure by now no one even bothers to read the first page. Probably all a first reader has to do is look at the name and go, “Put this in the s__t pile!”)
    Bought a New York Times, because tonight self is blessedly free (Hubby informed self he’d be coming home late again, and even if he does show up earlier than expected, self is prepared to serve him a rotisserie chicken from Safeway — Ha ha ha ha!). Tomorrow self will be running around with cousin Maitoni who is visiting from Virginia: she’ll be picking up niece G from Stanford, right after teaching her morning class at xxxx community college, and we are all going to Half Moon Bay for a late lunch at Pasta Moon. Then we will meander down the coast a bit, then wend back, and hopefully by the time we get back to Redwood City, hubby will be home so he can treat us to margaritas at Margarita’s.

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Self Googles “Tel Aviv Writer”

March 13, 2008 at 9:18 pm (Eavesdropping, Opportunities, Places, Pleasures of Travel, Surprises, Writers and Others)

Why? Because self is shortly to be in Tel Aviv. And self must admit that there are times when she is very very nervous, and other times when she is very very happy because she will soon be seeing beloved sister-in-law Ying again. The nervousness must come from brother telling her about all those shootings in Jerusalem, and all those images which spring unbidden into self’s mind — of the carnage caused by roadside IEDs (In Iraq, not in Israel, though. Self, are you perhaps, as some readers claim, retarded?)

But, anyhoo, self is filling her suitcase with good things for Ying to eat (hope they don’t get confiscated at the airport), things like Indian rice cakes and curry mixes (Beloved sister-in-law is half-Indian). Self sent over a huge bundle of food last month, but — alas! — they were all confiscated by Isreaeli customs. Self must admit that the package looked oddly lumpy (She’s a terrible packer)

Today, self tried for the umpteenth time to do a google search for “Tel Aviv writer,” a search she tries every couple of days. Once, she tried “Tel Aviv Bookstores” and –um, she must have mis-spoke the first time, because today she tries it again and now pops up a most delectable list of bookshops with names like Bibliophile (Allenby Street), Books at Basel (Basel Street), Book Junky (Dizengoff Street), and Emily (Ben Gurion Boulevard). Oooh, self will have fun google-mapping these!

Yesterday, self tried googling “Tel Aviv history” and came up with a book by a Barbara Mann, published by Stanford University Press, a book she promptly ordered (Good reading for the plane!).

Today, when self googled “Tel Aviv writer”, she came up with — yowza! A blogger named Lisa Goldman! With a blog that talks about some gorgeous hunky hunk winning an Israeli acting prize!

Self can hardly contain her excitement because, well, she can hardly wait to make contact with Tel Aviv blogger Lisa. Or, even if she never does make contact, simply to read this woman’s blog (she doesn’t blog every day, but the images of this specific hunky hunk are quite plentiful) is to feel as if one is already transported to the streets of that far-away city.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

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Interesting Facts (Gleaned from February 12 Issue of San Francisco Chronicle)

February 18, 2008 at 4:48 pm (Eavesdropping, Insomnia, Places, Quotes, Some Interesting Articles, Surprises)
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Self did not sleep a wink last night, dear blog readers. Not one wink. Yet, such is her perseverance that she is here, at 8:40 a.m., ready and able to blog. Would you not say she is tops in category of writers-who-can-still-function-after-zero-hours of sleep?

Self remembers reading somewhere that scientists have discovered that there is a link between the number of hours one sleeps and longevity: that is, those who sleep at least seven or eight hours a night are more likely to live longer.

Which, judging from last night’s insomnia, means that self does not have long for this world, dear blog readers.

Okey dokey! This morning, despite being extremely bleary-eyed and feeling extremely lousy (and self still has to drive to the City tonight to appear before a class at San Francisco State!), self is reading the San Francisco Chronicle of almost a week ago and has discovered the following highly interesting pieces of information:

    Seven people were killed in Oakland over the weekend.
    The Native American language Eyak will soon witness the passing of its last native speaker, which prompts Santa Clara professor Jeff Zorn to write, in a letter to the editor: “We all have better things to worry about.”
    There are “about 110,000 Vietnamese Americans living in Santa Clara County alone.”
    Feb. 12 was the 199th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth.
    Susan Jacoby, in the Opinion page, maintains that “fewer than half of Americans accept the scientific validity of any form of evolution,” a fact which rather startled self (!!!) and which, Jacoby maintains (and self agrees) is “completely at odds with America’s image of itself as a world leader in education, science and technology.”

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

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Wednesday Morning Musings: 13th of February

February 13, 2008 at 3:52 pm (Bookstores (That Carry Self), Eavesdropping, Food and Drink, Holidays, Surprises, Writing)

It’s the day before Valentine’s Day. Ouch!

While all of self’s students have been in la-la land this week (probably daydreaming about upcoming hot dates), self has had to field the following:

    E-mail from Director of Writing Center, requesting a meeting. She names the only two days of the week that self does not have to teach. What intuition!
    Hubby came home last night, announced his company was going under, and then spent the rest of the night talking on webcam to people all over the country (and probably the world)

But, fie, fie, self, why so gloomy? At least you still have all of your faculties! Which means you can still blog!

And you were able to stop yourself last night from having more than two servings of delicious dinner you whipped up: zitti with a sausage and mushroom cream sauce (liberally laced with hubby’s favorite madeira). And you were able to stop yourself from eating more than three pastillas de leche the entire day.

Such feats definitely call for celebration!

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

2 Comments

Who Won?

February 6, 2008 at 7:18 am (Conversations, Eavesdropping, Food and Drink, Surprises, Voices)

Self doesn’t know yet.

For one thing, hubby surprised self by saying: “It’s our wedding anniversary. Let’s have dinner someplace.”

Which, ah, let me tell you, is something on the scale of momentousness of Obama winning California (Did he?)

So self reluctantly (or perhaps this is a lie: perhaps she did it with alacrity) gave up her place in front of the TV set where she’d been watching return results posted from such far-away places as: Alabama. Georgia. Utah.

And we had Greek food in San Carlos. And were the only ones in the restaurant. The manager shrugged: Everyone’s watching the primaries, he opined.

And in the hour we were there, three different women came in for take-out, and each one had to field the same question from the manager: Any news about who is winning California?

And self thinks it is really extraordinary, the amount of interest and excitement this election is generating. And she sincerely hopes it will lead to something good.

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