No finds this week sorry about that.
Friday Finds #34
Book Review: Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
“Competence can be a curse.” So begins Min Jin Lee’s epic novel about class, society, and identity. Casey Han’s four years at Princeton have given her many things: “a refined diction, an enviable golf handicap, a popular white boyfriend, an agnostic’s closeted passion for reading the Bible, and a magna cum laude degree in economics. But no job and a number of bad habits.”
Casey’s parents, who live in Queens, are Korean immigrants working in a dry cleaner, desperately trying to hold onto their culture and identity. Their daughter, on the other hand, has entered into the upper echelon of rarified American society via scholarships. But after graduation, Casey’s trust-fund friends see only opportunity and choices while Casey sees the reality of having expensive habits without the means to sustain them. As Casey navigates Manhattan, we see her life and the lives of those around her: her sheltered mother, scarred father, her friend Ella who’s always been the good Korean girl, Ella’s ambitious Korean husband and his Caucasian mistress, Casey’s white fiancé, and then her Korean boyfriend, all culminating in a portrait of New York City and its world of haves and have-nots.
FREE FOOD FOR MILLIONAIRES offers up a fresh exploration of the complex layers we inhabit both in society and within ourselves. Inspired by 19th century novels such as Vanity Fair and Middlemarch, Min Jin Lee examines maintaining identity within changing communities. This is a remarkably assured debut from a writer to watch.
Casey’s parents, who live in Queens, are Korean immigrants working in a dry cleaner, desperately trying to hold onto their culture and identity. Their daughter, on the other hand, has entered into the upper echelon of rarified American society via scholarships. But after graduation, Casey’s trust-fund friends see only opportunity and choices while Casey sees the reality of having expensive habits without the means to sustain them. As Casey navigates Manhattan, we see her life and the lives of those around her: her sheltered mother, scarred father, her friend Ella who’s always been the good Korean girl, Ella’s ambitious Korean husband and his Caucasian mistress, Casey’s white fiancé, and then her Korean boyfriend, all culminating in a portrait of New York City and its world of haves and have-nots.
FREE FOOD FOR MILLIONAIRES offers up a fresh exploration of the complex layers we inhabit both in society and within ourselves. Inspired by 19th century novels such as Vanity Fair and Middlemarch, Min Jin Lee examines maintaining identity within changing communities. This is a remarkably assured debut from a writer to watch.
I had to take some time on this review to digest this book and decide exactly what I thought about it.
Free food for Millionaires is very well written and the prose does paint a picture of New York and the lives of this family and the main member we follow Casey in a compelling way. That being said some of the story is sluggish and a little too detailed. Casey is a bright daughter of immigrant parents who just graduated from Princeton she has everything she could want but does not know it. She takes her family for granted, as well as many other things in her life.
All of Lee’s characters are flawed human beings, which makes for a realistic story. And while the story takes a lot of twists and turns and most you would not see coming, it really lacks that little bit of oomph that takes a book from good to great. While I finished the book, I felt that I had no real urge to read it. I would move to pick it up and than think of something else I could be working on and often times would pass the book over until later. For a novel to be truly great I feel you have to want to pick it up and to be thinking about when you will get to read it next. The narrative of the book can get a little confusing as she jumps from one perspective to the next in rapid succession.
With all of that said it is a book worth reading if you are willing to put the effort into it. The version I had came with a readers club guide for discussion and I can see this as being a very good reader’s club book. The way the story is laid out and the many different twists and characters will give a book club something to talk about.
Booking Through Thursday- Olympics
You may have noticed–the Winter Olympics are going on. Is that affecting your reading time? Have you read any Olympics-themed books? What do you think about the Olympics in general? Here’s your chance to discuss!
It has affected my reading time because I have been watching the Olympics. I am not a huge sports person but it seems when I am watching the Olympics I enjoy it and I cannot focus on much else. I have not read anything that is Olympic themed but I would be interested in finding a few books on the subject.
New over at Lady Ambrosia’s…
Well after a wait the first sets of Lady Ambrosia’s Scent infused Stationery is ready to go. There is a list of three fine Stationery’s from fantastic companies. Two kinds of Crane’s Stationery and one kind from Southworth. Price’s are very reasonable starting at just $5 for a bundle and working up from there. Please go to the Fine Scented Stationery Page and follow your links from there!
Scents that you will see:
Lavender
Ambrosia’s Roses
Ginger Peach
Very Sexy (Type)
Fuzzy Navel Orange
Organic Lemon
and
Misbehavin (sweet juicy candied apples and pomegranate, with nuances of fresh ivy and oak moss)
If there is a scent you would like to see us carry that is not listed, drop an email and let me know what you would like to see.
Teaser Tuesday #40
TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to: Grab your current read.Let the book fall open to a random page.Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!Please avoid spoilers! “I felt a sparkle of contentment knowing she’d be upstairs soon, and a splinter of despair: she could marry anytime, and than these would be lost to me, my nights in this room, inhaling beeswax and powdered tea, her curved back my horizon.” Pg. 167 The Tea House Fire by Ellis Avery
Musing Monday #40
Do you keep reference books on your shelves at home? What’s your first port of call when you need information – the internet or a book?
I do have reference books most of mine are history related, Renaissance, Medieval, Revolution ect ect. I also keep some reference books for vet care of Cats, and other Cat related books. I have some horse training reference books and some general horse related reference books. My first place that I go is my books and than the internet, if it is something I have books for if not, than the net it is.
The Sunday Salon #20
Well my Sunday Salon is pretty late. And the biggest reason for that is I decided to pretend that Sunday was not even happening this week. Mostly because my husband failed majorly at Valentines Day. I do not ask for much I do not expect big gifts and lavish this. I told him 8 times all I wanted was a card and my favorite chocolate.
Well at 11am on Valentines Day, I was asked to write down my favorite chocolate. That…really hurt. I mean seriously that he didn’t think enough of me to get the card before the day of. Or to remember the chocolate I like. I mean we have been a couple for almost 6 years and I ask for the same damn chocolate 3 times per year. It is not rocket science.
Of course, at present he thinks I have blown it out of proportion. Maybe I have. However, my feelings and I am entitled to them. So I am avoiding Sunday and I am going to be going to read now.
Quotable Sunday #25
If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell. ~Lance Armstrong
Cancer is a word, not a sentence. ~John Diamond
My cancer scare changed my life. I’m grateful for every new, healthy day I have. It has helped me prioritize my life. ~Olivia Newton-John
Bill Hemmer: “You said cancer changes your life, and oftentimes for the better.”
Joel Siegel: “Yes…. Gilda Radner… said this in her book. What cancer does is, it forces you to focus, to prioritize, and you learn what’s important. I mean, I don’t sweat the small stuff. I used to get angry at cab drivers. It’s not worth it…. And when somebody says you have cancer, you realize it’s all small stuff. And what Gilda said is, if it weren’t for the downside, everyone would want to have it. But there is a downside.”
~American Morning, CNN, 13 June 2003
My veins are filled, once a week with a Neapolitan carpet cleaner distilled from the Adriatic and I am as bald as an egg. However I still get around and am mean to cats. ~John Cheever, letter to Philip Roth, 10 May 1982, published in The Letters of John Cheever, 1989, concerning his cancer and its treatment
During chemo, you’re more tired than you’ve ever been. It’s like a cloud passing over the sun, and suddenly you’re out. You don’t know how you’ll answer the door when your groceries are delivered. But you also find that you’re stronger than you’ve ever been. You’re clear. Your mortality is at optimal distance, not up so close that it obscures everything else, but close enough to give you depth perception. Previously, it has taken you weeks, months, or years to discover the meaning of an experience. Now it’s instantaneous. ~Melissa Bank
We “need” cancer because, by the very fact of its incurability, it makes all other diseases, however virulent, not cancer. ~Gilbert Adair, “Under the Sign of Cancer,” Myths and Memories, 1986
Women agonize… over cancer; we take as a personal threat the lump in every friend’s breast. ~Martha Weinman Lear, Heartsounds
The most important thing in illness is never to lose heart. ~Nikolai Lenin
Saturday Sanctuary #14
The Saturday Sanctuary will be a Weekly Writing Post. I will ask something or give a topic. Sometimes it will be short, sometimes it might be longer. The idea is just to write! So others can read. I thought it would be a great idea for a Book Blog to do something about writing. We are bloggers after all so we must have some enjoyment of writing too! So hop on in and Join the Saturday Sanctuary, grab our link and our picture and post your replies here. Make sure you visit others blogs out there and leave comments. Mostly have fun.
Not to much to write about today the week has been a little bit of a bad one. I had some issues and some Doctor trips and had that settled but I don’t want to worry about that.
I have started reading a fantastic book that I cannot wait to review. The Tea House Fire by Ellis Avery. Also, I have been in a happy go lucky giving mood and have put stationery on sale on my Lady Ambrosia’s creations site. Super discounted prices on the fantastic G.Lalo Stationery: D
*If Mr Linky is down please leave a comment. Mr. Linky has been a pain lately*
Friday Firsts #11
The first line can make or break a reader’s interest. Just how well did the author pull you in to the story with their first sentence? To participate in this weekly book meme is extremely easy.
Grab the book you are currently reading and open to the first page.
Write down the first sentence in the first paragraph.
Create a blog post with this information. (Make sure to include the title & author of the book you are using. Even an ISBN helps!)
Did this first sentence help draw you into the story? Why or why not?
Link back to Well-Read Reviews in your blog entry.
Come back to this blog post, hosted on WellReadReviews.com and add your direct link to Mr. Linky! ** Very important!
“When I was Nine, in the city now called Kyoto, I changed my fate.” ~ The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery
I picked this book up at a bargain price at Borders over a year ago and on a whim. Tonight when I was trying to decide what book to read next I picked it up and read this line. Knowing I had to do my Friday Firsts and needed a new book to read. And even though I had 4 other maybes in my lap after reading that first line, I continued to read the first several pages. This book became my next choice. The first line pulled me in for sure and made me hook onto the story. I want to know how she changed her fate and what happens.
