Books: No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

This is an unusual book that starts off in a strange way, but pays off with perseverance. With no background information before I started reading, I wasn’t sure about the genre. The first part of the book is quite silly and serves as sort of a mocking of the pervasiveness (and ridiculousness) of social media culture. The jokes kept coming and I was thinking that things were starting to get stale. I almost stopped reading thinking that this just wasn’t for me, but the author was sneakily assembling in the background what would come to the forefront in the second part of the book. I’m really glad that I stuck around. If I have any criticism it is that the two parts of the book could be more balanced.

The format is Part 1 and Part 2, and I honestly really didn’t pay much attention to the Part 1 page (thereby missing the implication that there was a Part 2). While Part 1 focuses on mocking the ridiculousness, Part 2 is a more serious look at what really matters – for all of us. The beauty and the heartbreak in this part of the book was worth the price of admission. I didn’t know that the author is also known for her poetry, and it really does show through in her prose.

So I was (in the end) really satisfied with how the book worked out, and I’d encourage people reading it to stick around for the second part to see how it all ties together. It is hard to explain here without ruining the story for someone, but I can just say it was more that worth your time.

Next I am waiting on a book at the library, so for the time being I’ll be catching up on magazine articles that I’ve been saving.

Welcome to Japan – Susan and Dave

For the past week or so we’ve been hosting my cousin Susan and her husband Dave at our place. It was their first ever visit to Japan, and it was our pleasure to have them stay with us and also show them around a little.

We started by picking them up at Kansai airport, which was crowded with a lot of incoming foreign visitors. We had a little time to kill so we walked around, and it felt a little weird to be at the airport without actually taking a flight somewhere. Eventually Susan and Dave made it through customs and out the gate, and we drove them to our place. They were in pretty good shape despite the long flight, so we started out by taking them to our usual yakitori place, Yutori.

The rest of their visit we sort of suggested things they might like to do, and they sort of went along with what we had suggested. They were great guests, and hopefully they enjoyed the destinations as much as we liked introducing them.

Their first full day we walked around Okubo and Akashi, eating takoyaki and anago-yaki in a backstreet restaurant off Uonotana street. We walked around Akashi park, took a train to see the Akashi bridge, and also did a little shopping in Okubo to make sure that they had the supplies we might need. For dinner we got some Osho gyoza to snack on, and Kuniko threw together a simple cabbage salad.

The next day we all spent together in Kobe, looking around the backstreets and shopping avenues. We started at Meriken park and the Port Tower, went through the earthquake memorial area, and then on to have some steamed chicken and soup dumplings at Man-En. We enjoyed some local beers at Open Air Brewery. We then went up to see the female waterfall at Nunobiki underneath the bullet train line, and then took the ropeway up to the herb garden. The garden wasn’t really in great shape because of the season, but it was nice to walk around a see the facilities. We then did a little shopping at one of my favorite bakeries (called simply, “Bake”) and then took the subway to get to our dinner place, an oden-centric restaurant called Takadaya. We talked them into a second dinner – garlic noodles at Rai-Rai, but we all felt the noodles were a little too salty. I was a little disappointed, but we did happen to sit next to a (sort of) famous food vlogger, and later in the trip we watched her video online and heard our voices speaking in the background. Cool!

After walking so much in Kobe, we took the next day to rest our feet and cook in. Susan offered to cook some Persian dishes, and so we went to do a little shopping, ate some okonomiyaki at Tsukushi for lunch, and then went home to chill out and get ready to cook. We had dinner on the table when Kuniko got home from work – Lubia Polo (Persian green bean rice), Mast o khiar (yogurt and cucumber sauce), and finally some Shirazi salad (cucumber and tomato salad). It was a feast! We really enjoyed working with Susan in the kitchen and seeing the meal come together.

Having rested our legs we got up early to head to check out Kyoto. Kuniko drove us, and despite a pretty big traffic jam we got there fairly early. We started with Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion), and then walked to nearby Ryoanji to see their grounds and zen rock garden. Then it was back to the car for a drive to a riverside restaurant near Jingo-ji for yudofu and soba noodles, served hot over a fire with a paper bowl holding the contents – a little unusual!

After a great meal by the river we went ahead and walked down the road to see the Jingo temple. We had to climb a lot of steps to get there, but Susan and Dave hung in there and managed to get to the top. We bought little plates and hurled them off the side of the mountain, symbolizing some kind of evil we were banishing from our lives.

Afterwards we took them back into town to check into their hotel. From there we walked to the station area to look around for an izakaya to visit for dinner. It was pretty hard to find one, but eventually did. We ordered a variety of dishes, including raw horsemeat, but everyone tried everything and it was fun to have some variety. From there we walked back to Susan and Dave’s hotel, stopping at a convenience store along the way so they could stock up on snacks. Then we left them there and drove on home.

We had a day to ourselves while Susan and Dave were in Kyoto – we did a little laundry, a little cleaning, and mostly just chilling on the sofa playing video games. A little downtime is good now and then.

The next day I met Susan and Dave in Osaka – Kuniko was working so we figured we would look around and then meet her for dinner. We started with Namba and the Dotonbori area, Kuromon market, and Doguyasuji (the kitchen tools street). We walked from there through the dodgy Den-Den town to get to Shinseikai. We walked around the tower and found a kushi-katsu place to eat fried stuff on sticks. After lunch we made our way back to Umeda, and went to the newly opened Grand Green park and had a few drinks at the underground Osaka Time Out. It had just opened a few days before, so the service and staff were a little rusty but it had good vibes to chill out and drink.

Finally we took a long walk (longer due to construction in the area) to go to the Nomoka area near Whity, underground. We found a pretty cool Japanese izakaya that had a 500 yen beer and sashimi deal (yes!) and when Kuniko arrived we dug into various dishes there. Then we stopped at a Taiwanese restaurant for some flying fish egg dry noodles, and also some pickled greens with octopus that was really refreshing. We were eating a lot this trip. Then it was back to the train for a long ride home.

The next morning we did a little shopping for snacks and specialized ingredients for later, and then went over to the Yamaji’s place for lunch. Initially we started outside, but it was unseasonably cold and so we moved the party inside later on. We were enjoying some homemade tempura, and plenty of other little surprises that Chieko had put together. They really cook Japanese food well – it was so good. Towards the end she served a phenomenal crab miso soup that brought the house down. There were also some spring-themed rice balls – one green and one cherry blossom colored. Everything was great, and they really put in a lot of effort to make Susan and Dave feel welcome. Even though it was a lunch we didn’t get back until six or seven pm. As usual parties at the Yamaji’s can really take up a lot longer than you would think.

The next day Susan, Dave and I went out to see the coastline, and then did a little shopping at the Aeon supermarket. We had a chilled out day at home, talking, drinking and eventually cooking lamb skewers and sausages on the grill, with Kuniko making a Tuscan salad that is one of our favorites. We talked and drank for a long time – going through quite a few bottles of wine in the process. It was a chance to catch up and swap stories, and it was the kind of thing that is rare for me to do with any of my family members.

The next day Kuniko was working, so I took Susan and Dave to Hiroshima by bullet train. We got up early and caught the bullet train from Nishi Akashi, changing to a faster train in Okayama, and arriving in Hiroshima around 9 am. It was an easy train ride from there to Miyajima-guchi, and we visited an eel rice restaurant (Anago-don Ueno). They had just opened the doors and we got in early on the waiting list. It was a huge bowl of eel and rice – and it was so delicious. The restaurant had been recommended by Mr. Yamaji, and I’m glad we went. We were stuffed and it was still before 10 am!

From there we took a ferry across to Miyajima island. The weather was excellent, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and we arrived just before the majority of tourists had arrived. We walked around the coast, taking in the views of the torii gate and the different structures on the island. The deer looked a little worse for wear, but I think the cherry blossoms made up for it.

Back from the island we took a local train line to the Peace Park and walked the grounds, and then walked across town to the Okonomi-mura, three floors of okonomiyaki restaurants (more like food stalls, actually) serving in the Hiroshima style. We found one that was open (there were plenty of choices) and settled in for a couple different selections. It was great, and it was fun to be tucked into the corner wolfing down great food. Eventually we wrapped up and headed back to Hiroshima station by cab. We got in the foreigner line to buy tickets back – the foreigner line was much shorter than the regular line – and so it was no problem traveling back and getting home well before Kuniko made it back from work.

Our last day with Susan and Dave we drove them into Kobe and parked in Kitano, and then walked around the old foreigner residences. We were killing time until our lunch reservation was ready, so we went to Nishimura Coffee to have some unusual coffee selections. Dave had a cafe royal (with sugar cubes burnt and melted into the coffee), Kuniko had a coffee float, Susan had a brandy coffee, and I had hot peanut milk. The atmosphere was fun, the staff were very professional, and it was a fun stop. Then we walked across the street to have Kobe beef at Wakkoku – our go-to Kobe beer restaurant. They didn’t disappoint – the meal was really good. The cook was chatting with us and I think it was the perfect meal to wrap up the trip with.

From there we drove Susan and Dave to the airport (a bit early) but they had plenty of time before their flight back to Hawaii.

It was so nice to have Dave and Susan here – they were excellent guests and despite four people staying in our little house it was super comfortable. They were flexible and open-minded, which is essential when traveling to a new country and putting up with weird toilets, constantly taking off and putting on shoes, and culture and language issues. After they arrived we realized that the real goal of the trip for them was spending time together with us, and that was certainly the highlight of the visit for us as well. There were a lot of similarities between us as couples, and so it was really easy to get along and have fun together. We are hoping we’ll see them again in Japan in the future. It isn’t all that far away from Maui.

Books: A History Lover’s Guide to New York City by Alison Fortier

We have plans for a visit to New York City this summer, and although I have been before (23 years ago!) I thought it would be worth checking out a guide to the historical sites.

Usually when we travel to a new country, we have a strategy to seek out impressive architecture or cultural hotspots along the route of our trip. Even though the Big Apple is in my home country, I’m still treating it like a foreign destination.

Last time I was there was with Brian Haven – we parked his car in New Jersey and took the train into the city, and we chose (somehow) quite a few famous places to check out. Now, reading this book makes me feel like we did a pretty good job picking our spots.

But this will be Kuniko’s first time, so the book was a valuable resource to figure out the places that we’ll get the most out of. The book is comprehensive with a focus on the historical relevance of these places. With the addition of little factoids it made for an interesting read.

Sometimes I felt like the organization of the sites into categories wasn’t intuitive, but that can be helped by just using the search function. Now that I have a big list of things to see, the next step is to sit down and figure out how we can see our top priorities over the two day visit.

Books: The Big Empty by Robert Crais

With a writing style very similar to Robert B. Parker, this is the closest I can get to enjoying new Spenser stories. There are a lot of similarities because a mystery that works has a specific formula. Crais does more experimentation with the formula but the basics are all here. And I guess that is all I need.

One of the key points I like is the pacing – moving fast and drawing you in. The tension of knowing both the bad guy’s perspective as well as the good guy’s works well here, especially since we learn there is something different about this bad guy.

Unfortunately there were some big tells in the beginning which led me to know the twist early on. That took away some of the fun, but I get it – it must be tough to keep this formula fresh as a writer.

My solution, more Joe Pike. This side character (and occasionally in books as a main character) is intriguing and scary and admirable all at once. He appears in this book occasionally but as usual I was hoping for more.

Next I am reading A History Lover’s Guide to New York City by Alison Fortier.

Books: The Vegetarian by Han Kang

This book reminded me a lot of some of the Korean TV shows or movies that I’ve seen – and maybe it was written to end up as a visual drama.

I’m not sure I “got” the story here. It seems to be addressing several issues – a woman’s right to control her own body, outdated patriarchal family structures, the preoccupation with how other people perceive you. Some of this is cultural, some psychological, but none of it is really clear. I felt like the character viewpoints switching as they did were distracting rather than revelatory, and it felt like the whole book was sort of built about one particular scene that was in the author’s mind.

The good news was that the story was fairly compact, and it didn’t take long to read the book. It is rare for me to read books about Korean people or culture, so I was glad to get a glimpse at some of the differences between their culture and Japan and the United States.

Overall I thought the writing itself was well done, but the story didn’t quite come off. I will be unsurprised if this ends up as a drama in the next year or two. I’m not sure I’ll watch it, though.

Next I am reading The Big Empty by Robert Crais, one of my favorite private investigator series that reminds me of Spenser.

Books: The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

I enjoyed this travel book – a day by day account of a naturalist’s journey accompanying an expedition to a remote part of Tibet to observe the wildlife there, including a rare opportunity to see wild snow leopards.

This took place back in the 1970s in a completely different time. There are a lot of detailed descriptions of Buddhism (and the various cultures practicing it), a focus on meditation, and a great deal of explanation of Eastern religious thought. In other words, this is not only a physical journey but a metaphysical one, and if you are OK with that you’ll enjoy the book more.

I especially liked the descriptions of the lonely and beautiful places that were (at that time) isolated and less traveled by westerners. Watching out for snow leopards created a tension that built throughout the book, and the resolution of this tension was both unique and ingenious – so I don’t want to spoil anything here.

Sometimes I had trouble with the author’s attitudes – he was kind of a jerk to the locals occasionally. Even though he had recently been through a lot with the death of his wife it felt like his short temper flared up at the oddest times. After spending a long time at the remote location in the spiritual heart of the area contemplating Buddhism and mindfulness, it took less than a week for him to start complaining about his travel companions. From the amount of energy and research he has put into his Buddhist studies and practice I felt like he got remarkably little in return.

Next I am reading The Vegetarian by Han Kang.

Books: The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

This author puts out a book just once every ten years or so, I was excited going into reading this as I thoroughly enjoyed her other books. I wasn’t disappointed with this one – there is a lot to like here.

As usual the writing is excellent – detailed, unhurried, and poetic without feeling too artsy. There is a story here that takes a while to come to life. The way the author brings to life the place and the era (1970s Alexandria, Louisiana) – it takes time to set this up and thankfully it isn’t rushed. The vibes while reading about this brought to mind Steven Spielberg’s style – especially his movies about coming of age. We spend a lot of time with one particular character, a twelve-year old girl, and seeing the world through her sharp but innocent eyes reveals a lot about that time and place.

The location gives the chance to explore (kind of in the background) race relations of the time, and examine how a dynasty crumbles.

My favorite section was Harriet and Hely’s expedition to capture a poisonous snake – I couldn’t believe how scary and real that part felt. It is rare for a book to give me the willies like that – but I read it twice just to see how well it was constructed to freak us out.

It was a fairly long book, and sometimes I was wondering if it was really taking me anywhere. The story presents a mystery in the first chapter and this mystery provides the impetus to many of the events in the book, but finally at the end of the book the resolution of the mystery is not really clear – a blink-and-you-miss-it offhand comment that may or may not provide the resolution we are hoping for.

But part of the message I got from this book is that the world isn’t black and white and sometimes we don’t get the things we want. The author used a clever device with the story of the Antarctic explorer Captain Scott, and how “victory and collapse were sometimes the same thing.”

My only real criticism was that some characters felt extraneous (for example, Allison) and were used more as a way to provide points of view during key moments. Maybe I was missing something with their inclusion.

While I am still reading the book on the making of the James Bond movies, I’ve changed the pace of that reading to go along with watching each movie, so it’ll take quite a long time to finish that book. But for my next active read it is The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen.

Books: Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows

A very interesting book that is about more than just systems analysis. As an introduction to the subject it has a little bit of math, a little bit of engineering, and quite a bit of philosophy.

The book gives constructive advice on analyzing situations and pulling apart complex systems and getting at what makes them work. The advice is aimed at non-technical readers (like me!) so there was a lot I could take away from this book.

I can see that there must be a lot of interest in this topic in the field of economics – people analyzing why Company A is getting ahead while Company B might not be worth investing in. The economics part of the book was the least interesting to me, maybe it just went a little too deep and I’m more comfortable in the kiddie pool.

I also thought that considering the book was written way back in 2003 it contains a lot of insight that is applicable to the current political situation in the USA and around the world. That speaks to how fundamental the author’s ideas are. She writes with a lot of humility too – the systems analyst must be content with knowing that they can never know everything about a system, they can never compute every variable, they can always be surprised by unexpected events to throw the whole thing off kilter. But that isn’t a reason not to make the effort.

Next I am reading Some Kind of Hero by Ajay Chowdhury and Matthew Field.

Books: The Voyeur’s Motel by Gay Talese

I had read a New York Times long article that featured this story, and just by chance I found that the author had enough material to make it into a book. He tells the true and bizarre story of a hotel owner who installed viewing vents over certain rooms in his hotel and took notes on his guests over the years, without ever getting caught.

The author, like the reader, is shocked that something like this could happen, and most of the book is spent looking at the motivations of the hotel owner, and looking at the ways he justifies his behavior. There is also a lot of social commentary, especially of the transition from the 60s to the 70s in the USA, and what effect it had on the behavior of the guests.

Mostly the hotel owner was interested in the sex lives of others, so the book is full of the owner’s descriptions, quoted directly by the author of this book. It was interesting to see that the “notes” that the hotel owner took were considered by him as scientific documents – but in the end I felt this term was closer to a cover story and justification.

At the end of the book the now elderly hotel owner, having sold off his hotels and staying at home with his wife, complains of the surveillance state that he lives in – with big brother watching him all the time. The author of the book tries to point out the irony of this guy complaining about unwanted surveillance, but the point is wasted on the voyeur owner – who has justified everything in his own head.

This was a short book but from a sociological point of view fairly interesting. What a weird story!

Next I am reading Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows.

Books: About Grace by Anthony Doerr

I wanted to keep one Anthony Doerr book in reserve – I really enjoyed his books and his writing style, and it is good to have one more out there that you can break open if you are having a bad day/week/year. But talking with my mom about some of his other books she made me realize that I had in fact missed a book, so I read this (his first) to bring the remaining books back down to one.

Since this was his first novel I wasn’t sure what to expect – was his writing always good or did it start out rough? Quickly I found that yep, it was always good. Something about the prose streaked with poetry makes it easy to read but also fires images in your mind.

I liked the slow pace of this book – it was sometimes hard to reel myself in and keep myself from speeding through it. But taking time pays off and we can really get a sense of the places that the characters visit. Places like St. Vincent, Alaska, and Cleveland. Three places I’ve never been but I can almost taste the air and feel the vibes of each location.

The story of this book starts with a hook – dreams of the future – but one thing that bothered me was that this linchpin for the plot fades away towards the middle and near the end. I think in his later books he hides more skillfully the elements that hold everything together.

I recently read the nonfiction book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek that focused on nature – but About Grace also does a great job of writing about science and nature, in a completely different way. I’m glad I was lucky enough to read these two books close together.

Next I am reading The Voyeur’s Motel by Gay Talese.

Books: Call for the Dead by John le Carre

This is the second book I’ve read by le Carre, and the first one featuring George Smiley, a character that he became famous for.

My first feeling while reading the book was that the name “Smiley” was always interfering with the way I read – the corner of my eye would catch the word “smile” and think that something amusing was happening. Do other people read like this? I wonder.

But the book was filled with interesting characters, even the thugs were engaging in intelligent discourse, and there were also some very dated technologies that unfortunately played a big part in the plot line. I was totally stumped when someone used their local telephone exchange to set a reminder wake up call – what the hell?

On the other hand, this book lets you into another era to see how things went. How member’s clubs were formed, and how information spread without the aid of the internet.

As with the other book that I read by this author, the writing is excellent. The story is more of a detective mystery than a spy story, but just the same I enjoyed the book. Down the road I may read more from the series.

Next I am reading About Grace by Anthony Doerr – my mom helped me realize that I hadn’t read this one yet.

Books: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

I like books that feature someone in isolation, especially out there in nature enjoying an unhurried pace. This book sort of fits the bill, with a fair amount of poetry and philosophy on top of it.

Written back in the 70s, this book tells all about the area around Tinker Creek, somewhere in the Ozarks. The author’s observations and experiences are included along with her musings on nature, religion, and philosophy. I didn’t really find myself interested in the religious aspect of the writing but there isn’t all that much to get through.

I was more interested in the idea of taking your own time to observe what is happening in nature all around you. How important to have the ability to notice what is all around you and have the curiosity to figure out what it might mean. To not be tempted by technology and instead rely on nature for your intellectual stimulation – what a concept. The nice thing about a book written predominantly about nature is that not much has changed in the 50 years or so since the book was written.

This bold young author really took some chances. While some parts became a little confusing for me, for the most part she takes the topics and thinks them through, occasionally beyond where you would expect it to go.

I can see why this book has been recommended as an important non-fiction work – I’m glad I could finally read it.

Next I am reading Call for the Dead by John le Carre.

Books: The Algebra of Wealth by Scott Galloway

There are a lot of books on developing your personal finances, and it has been a while since I read one. I thought it might be interesting to read one written recently to see what advice has changed lately, and see if there is anything that I’ve been missing.

I liked the author’s writing style – approachable, patiently explaining the basics but not dumbing it down too much. He takes the time to address some of the reasons that someone would want to accumulate wealth – it is not just to get more strippers and blow. The author provides some other perspectives, and other ways of thinking about money besides “I should get as much of it as I can”.

To be the author of a book on accumulating wealth I think you should definitely be wealthy. I can see that he is stepping carefully when justifying the need for (over-)accumulating wealth. Certainly he understands his target audience but it is with a much more measured tone than perhaps Gordon Gecko would have taken.

Especially the anecdote on how he justified the purchase and use of a private jet – essentially trading money for more time with his kids. From an accounting point of view it made sense but it seemed to me that there may be some other considerations that he (unconsciously?) danced around.

I’d recommend this book for Americans getting started with investing, that have a lot of time as a resource, rather than old farts like me who are on the other side of the time equation. But even for me there were plenty of interesting insights and things to think about. Overall, it was worth reading.

Next I am reading Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard.

Books: Once Upon a Tome by Oliver Darkshire

This book was given to me by my mom for Christmas. Written in London dry prose, the author talks about his experiences working at a rare book shop. I enjoyed this book mostly because I wasn’t sure if it was fiction or non, and at these levels of sarcasm and humor I’m still not sure.

A long time ago I met a friend at a concert, who brought along a friend I didn’t know, and after talking and drinking I told a terrible joke, and this new person laughed almost to the point of tears. I wasn’t sure at the moment whether the laugh was authentic or not, without any background info. But I felt sort of the same way reading this book, and to be honest I enjoyed it a lot more than the episode with my friend’s friend.

At first I thought that this might be a story, but it turns out to be full of (what the author clearly will admit to being) “ramblings”. The self-deprecation is turned to nearly maximum level, but we watch this book seller go from apprentice to veteran, and see very weird situations happening daily.

There were so many witty turns and comments that I felt like I wanted to highlight almost every page. Maybe I just need to read more English writers.

It was a fun book to read, maybe even more fun for booksellers as I’m sure they’ll be getting the jokes much more clearly than I would.

Next I am reading The Algebra of Wealth by Scott Galloway. Time to see how far behind I am with my financial future!

Books: Untamed by Glennon Doyle

When I started reading this book I didn’t know the backstory of the author and what steps she had gone through to reach where she is now. Of course all this is explained later, but only now do I realize why people might be seeking out this book, and why the author is dispensing her wisdom.

First, the good points – this book shows the re-invention of the author, from heterosexual, religious, traditional wife and mother to three kids to homosexual, religious (?), non-traditional wife and mother to three kids. I guess the difficult point was that she had written several books about her previous lifestyle(s) and was prescribing that behavior – now her lifestyle was completely different and she was coming to terms with it in this book.

The author encourages a lot of self-reflection and independent thought. She emphasizes how little of this happened to her, and blames society (American, I guess) for expecting/forcing women to fit into traditional roles. It took courage for her to see her way out of it, and I think she is trying to lend some of that courage to readers who might need it.

There was a lot of drama in this book – so many passages felt like scripts that people could cut and paste into their own life. I didn’t like the self-helpy vibes that this book gave off – and how she paints with very broad strokes about the people and society that surrounds her.

But she does bring a lot of bravery into her writing and as they say, if the book helps just one person then mission accomplished.

Next I am reading Once Upon a Tome by Oliver Darkshire.