What to Read...

I seem to have had a hard time finding something good to read lately.  Partly it's because I've been slogging through the pile of free stuff on my Kindle from Amazon.  I've come to the determination that Amazon's editors don't care about quality writing.  I wouldn't recommend a single title they've published.  I'm hoping with time there will be some improvement, but based on the number of their works on the Amazon best seller list, I figure there's no incentive for them to change.  (Just my opinion - maybe you feel differently!  Plenty of people like James Patterson, but I hate him.)

Loved the book, enjoyed the movie

One book I read soon after I arrive in Japan is The Martian by Andy Weir.  This was before I saw the movie, but at the time I already knew Matt Damon was playing the lead and I could easily see him in the role.  I think part of the reason I appreciate the subject is because I could relate to his feelings of isolation, though on a slightly different scale. 

Don't waste your time!

We have an English library at the Tokyo American Club, so that makes it convenient to check out the latest releases.  I figure any time I can check out a bestseller versus buying it for my Kindle, it's a discount on our monthly dues!  I'm excited to see The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney.  It received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus Reviews, along with many other publications.  And I greatly dislike it.  This family drama feels like something people read so they can feel superior and intelligent.  To describe it in one word, I would pick pretentious.  I'm reminded of another paperback, The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud.  It's because of these two that I now remember to check the "regular person" reviews, too.

My opinion - yuck!

How to describe??

So when I see The Nix by Nathan Hill I approach it with some trepidation.  It's beloved by The New York Times, Booklist, Washington Post, USA Today, etc, etc - and for once it lives up to the hype!  I'd classify this as literary fiction.  It's difficult to come up with a single sentence to describe the plot, because the narrative is told from several viewpoints, and a limited number of chapters are a completely different tone and style. (My favorite is the Choose Your Own Adventure theme.)  Most of it takes place in modern times, with some flashbacks to the 1960's.  I'll borrow from Robyn JC's Amazon review: "Samuel is an underachieving assistant professor of literature at a nothing college outside Chicago who dislikes his students, spends way too much time playing an online fantasy game, got a huge advance for a novel he never wrote, and is pining for the girl he loved when he was eleven. His life is stalled out big time, but he is dragged out of stasis when his estranged mother, who abandoned him when he was eleven and has never been heard from since, makes national headlines for throwing rocks at a Presidential candidate - she is the Packer Attacker! Through a ridiculous series of events, Samuel is tasked with writing his mother's life story, and is forced to investigate her life since leaving him. The Nix is the tale of how mother and son came to where they are -- and where they might go from here."  The summary doesn't make it sound exceptional, but it is!  This is a great pick if your book club enjoys 640 page tomes because you'll want to discuss it with someone when you finish it.

Oprah likes it, too!

When the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner and National Book Award for Fiction shows up on the New Releases shelf at the library, I check it out.  The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is an "alternative" historical fiction saga.  His premise is that an actual physical railroad exists to assists slaves escaping from the southern states (along with a few other changes to the past).  The story takes place during the pre-Civil War days and focuses on Cora, a slave in the south.  It's satisfying, but not always pleasant, as he details the evils of slavery.

Why do I like this cover so much?

For awhile I refused to read anything with the word "wife" or "daughter" in the title - by 2010 it had become an avalanche of stories using that motif to tell their narratives, and I became tired of it.  After the success of Gone Girl, "girl" took over (I liked Luckiest Girl Alive, but not so much Girl on a Train).  Now "woman" is starting to be overdone, but for some reason the cover of The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware kept catching my attention.  Since I can get it for free, I decide it's worth trying.  This modern day, (mostly) closed room mystery is great for a plane ride - it's engrossing, but light enough that you don't have a hard time figuring out where you are in the action if you take a short nap (though there are a lot of characters to keep track of).

Not scary, despite what the descriptions say.

The library has Ruth Ware's earlier work, In a Dark, Dark Wood, so I pick it up.  It's also a present day, (mostly) closed room mystery, but you have to suspend belief a bit for this one - there are some plot holes and questionable character motives.  It's a fast read, so if you don't like it, at least it's over quickly.










The similarity in titles makes me think of In the Woods by Tana French (one of my favorite detective mysteries).  Her latest release appears at the library, and I'm excited to see it.  Her collection isn't exactly a series, though they all deal with a (fictional) Dublin Murder Squad, the elite force of the police, though its members are not always the best of the best.  She follows a concept in which a minor character from the previous book becomes the main in her current one.  I think of the set as more circular than linear, though time passes normally in the fictional world and previous main characters rarely reappear (except in her current novel).  The fifth, The Secret Place, is well written but a little too mystical for me, but in the sixth detective mystery, The Trespasser, she's back to excellent form.

I hope I haven't given too much away with any of the descriptions.  Once I decide on a book I try not to find out too much detail, otherwise I can usually figure out the plot (I've read a lot).  But if I've brought something new to your attention, have fun investigating it further!

Hanami Season

Worthy of publication!

A few weeks after we return from Thailand hanami season begins in Tokyo.  This year we want to view some cherry blossoms in places we missed previously.  Our first stop is Nakameguro, in the southwest part of Tokyo.  A river (I would describe it as a canal) runs through this part of the city and is lined with cherry trees.  They make a gorgeous canopy down the street and across the water.

No one can resist taking a selfie with a
sakura background.

It's like a blossom waterfall!

Here's your close up!

I wonder if he gets tired of being asked to have his picture taken.

The street is lined with tables & booths selling drinks and food.  I'm surprised to see so many because one of the reviews said there might be limited food and others didn't mention anything.  I knew the Japanese wouldn't let me down!  (Side Note:  Steve returned a couple of days later, closer to the weekend, and said he thought there were fewer food booths.  So maybe the merchants don't show up every day.)

Is this a successful picture?

I can't resist the drink of the season, sparking rose with a strawberry!  It's not bad (for pink wine - I'm not a big fan of rose) but it's fun to sip as we walk and take pictures.  I try for a still life photo, but I don't know think I'm as successful as Steve is with his sunset wine glass picture.

Surrounded by blossoms.

Steve could submit this to a travel brochure!

We arrive in the late afternoon on a weekday, so it's crowded, but not TOO crowded.  However, the number of people keeps increasing the later it gets.  We plan to stay through nightfall until the lanterns and lights are turned on.

Trying to capture the glow of the lanterns.

One more sakura selfie!

Right as it reaches dusk and everything is lit, the rain starts.  It stays a drizzle for about 15 minutes, then turns into a pouring thunderstorm (only the third one we've seen in the 18 months we've lived in Tokyo).  Luckily, we've walked back to the station by this time, so we decide to return home.

Very pretty, even in the rain!

Steve plays with shutter speed to try for a better picture.

Later in the week we go to Rikugien Garden, in the northern part of the city.  We visited them soon after we moved to Tokyo to see the Autumn Evening Illumination, when the trees are lit up at night in all their fiery glory.  They do the same thing for the cherry trees in the spring.  It's a much smaller spectacle (and less crowded) because they don't have as many sakura, but it's still pretty.

 

The moon cooperates with the illumination theme, and peeks over the blossoms on one of the trees.

The lights on this tree make it look multi-colored.

Yes, another selfie!

Amazingly, it's not all outdoors!  We attend a sakura theme party.  There's a sakura cocktail, but it's too sweet for us.  Steve decides to stick with the fresh sake.

Fresh sake straight from the barrel!

It's like a compulsion...must do selfie with cherry blossoms.

We repeat one location, but that's because it's right beside our apartment and we go there often, anyway!  The Aoyama Cemetary has paths lined with sakura. 

I think Steve has a second career as a photographer.

Too pretty for ghosts to hang out at this graveyard.

I finally get the shots I waited for all last season!  Blue, blue sky and pretty pink flowers - it really does happen.

Blue sky, pink blossoms - it's not just a myth!

Cherry trees at our apartment!

Tie-dye has fun with the flowers, too!  We make him model for our photographs.

Have to take the picture from down low so you can see the blooms.

Mom!  I'm a boy dog, not a girl dog.

A potted tree - it counts!

Running around in the fallen petals - he jerked the leash, causing my hand to move as I took the picture.

As the cherry blossoms fall, the next flowers pop up - tulips!  Together they make a pretty picture.  Unfortunately, none of my photos capture the petals as they fall.  You feel like you're in the middle of a (not as cold) snowfall when the breeze blows them off the branches.  Magical!

One final picture (and it's not a selfie!)

Travel Reading

It seems to be more difficult to find fiction where the action takes place in Asia, versus Europe.  Before our vacations I run through Amazon's search engine, which does allow me to narrow down to specific countries...but it's hard to find something other than your basic romances for settings in the Far East. 

I find limited choices when it comes to Vietnam other than novels that take place during the War.  In 2015 my book club read The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen so I don't want to repeat it.  It won the 2016 Pulitzer for fiction, along with other awards.  I enjoy the first half of the writing, but once the characters return to Vietnam it feels like a slog.  Other members of my book club feel the same way, but we have a lively discussion about the issues he portrays.  At least I finish this award-winning one, unlike The Luminaries!

Since we're visiting Cambodia on the same jaunt, I focus my "location" reading on it.  There's more selection here, and I choose two works.  I'm interested in how the temple ruins were discovered by the Europeans and brought into the world spotlight, along with some of the more recent history of the overthrow of the regimes in the 1970s.

The first book I pick before our trip is The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay.  Unfortunately, it never gives you a sense of the Cambodian setting.  The events could be taking place anywhere in Asia or South America (or Egypt if you make it a desert instead of a jungle), other than the fact that she keeps mentioning the apsara (dancing women statues).  It's your standard "plucky heroine out to make a name for herself" plot.  In the 1920s Irene (the main character) leaves the US to search for a temple she believes holds a great archaeological discovery and along the way she also ends up uncovering secrets from her family's past.  My other main complaint is the author's inconsistency with her characters' behaviors.  For example, Irene rushes to a city to hopefully see her father figure before he dies, but once she arrives there she waits several days before trying to see him..for no good reason.  She also complains (frequently) of the colonial powers looting their subject countries' ancient treasures, but her big plan is to steal ancient scrolls from Cambodia to restore her reputation in the museum world community.  Despite the starred review from Booklist and being a finalist for the Edgar Award Best First Novel, I wouldn't recommend this bestseller.

I also discover In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner.  This is probably my favorite of all the ones I've read so far based on where we've traversed.  This semi-autobiographical story is told from the point of view of a child, Raami, who is a princess in a minor branch of the royal family during the Khmer Rouge civil war.  You're given an excellent sense of how the country was torn apart and destroyed - both the people and the land.  It helps me to understand and put a (fictional, but based in reality) face when I view the temples, countryside, and killing fields.  The events are depressing, but it's hopeful, too.

I did not reread this!

For our next trip, I thought it would be easier to find publications that use Thailand as a setting.  I do have more choices, and I have to chuckle when I see Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason show up on the list.  Yes, part of it does take place in Thailand!  Having finished it years ago, I decide to skip it. (Though in honor of Bridget Jones, I watch the newest movie, Bridget Jones' Baby, while I'm by myself in Phuket.)





My first choice to put me in the mood for Thailand is A Good Death by Christopher R. Cox.  Though published four years ago, it has only 10 reviews on Amazon, but starred reviews from Booklist (hopefully they won't let me down again) and Library Journal.  It does turn out to be gratifying!  I'd put this in the private eye mystery genre, as the main character, Sebastian, is charged with going to Thailand to investigate the death of a Laotian refugee turned American citizen.  The company who hires him believes she faked her death for the insurance money and wants him to find her.  It takes place in the 1990s, so it's fun to see references to fax machines and limited use of email and no cell phones.  This is the first fictional tale by an award winning journalist with decades of experience traveling and reporting on southeast Asia, and his knowledge creates a vibrant picture of the area.  

I did not read this!

Since we also spend time in Phuket I decide on Cross Currents by John Shors. I'm familiar with one of his paperbacks, Beneath a Marble Sky, a historical fiction based around the building of the Taj Mahal.  His previous book is fine, but the characters are predictable - I feel like I could have mapped out the events of the story line way before I come to them.  I considered trying out another one he wrote that takes place in ancient Cambodia, Temple of a Thousand Faces, which is set around the building of Angkor Wat.  But due to the similarities of the inspirations of those two works I decided to pass on it.  However, when he pops up again when doing my research for Phuket I decide to give him another chance.

Again, it's fine.  It's not poorly written, but it feels like once I'm introduced to the characters I can foresee everything that will happen to them (and as I reach the ending it turns out I'm correct).  I'm sure other people love him (his reviews average 4 to 4 1/2 stars on Amazon) but there's no surprises.  The simplicity of his tales means if you're dealing with something complicated in your life this author won't cause a mental strain.

It takes place in 2004 on the island of Koh Phi Phi, near Phuket.  You can probably already anticipate one event that will take place, and Mr. Shors discusses the tsunami in an Author's Note at the beginning.  I would categorize this as a family drama, as the narrative focuses on a local family trying to scratch out a living by renting outs huts on the beach and a pair of American brothers who come to the island, with their own, different problems to resolve.

I didn't want to write comprehensive plot summaries or reviews since there are so many other places you can find exhaustive accounts of the novels.  However, if something I've said has piqued your interest, happy reading to you!  I'm looking forward to finding material for our next adventure - Singapore and the Maldives!

Steve Leaves Me!

Gorgeous view!

I'm woken up several times during the night because my hand is itching. After the fourth time I finally turn on a light and look, and see a big bump on my hand. I figure it's a mosquito bite, and since I didn't bring any bug bite medicine, I rub some antibiotic cream on it (best I could think of at 3:00am). In the morning the bump has gone down some, but my hand is swollen.  On closer analysis it looks like it was actually a spider bite. I stop by reception at our hotel, and they have some medicine for it. They don't look concerned about my swollen hand and since there's no red or black streaks, I figure I'm okay. 

The high octane version of the anti-itch medicine.

Later that day I stop by the convenience store to buy my own container of anti-itch medicine.  I'm glad I did, because the next two nights I'm woken up by killer attack mosquitoes.  I've always been a mosquito magnet, so I made sure to get my vaccinations before we start traveling around southeast Asia.  I haven't had a problem with mosquitoes during our visits, but we've been lucky to miss the rainy seasons in the countries we explored.  I had a few bites in Bangkok when we were by the river at night during our bike tour, but nothing like what's been happening in our room at Phuket.  They only bite my hands (not that I'm complaining, but my face is exposed too - why do they miss that?) and only in the middle of the night.  I get huge, itchy welts but I dig out my newly purchased medicine and after about 10 minutes the urge to scratch has gone down enough so I can fall back asleep.  (I've spared you the swollen hand pictures.)  I finally learn my lesson, and after that I spray repellent on my hands before bedtime.  Problem solved!

Steve misses waking up to this view!

A couple of weeks before our trip we find out Steve has a meeting in Tokyo during the last two days of our visit to Thailand.  He usually does some work while we're on vacation (I like to sleep longer and take more time to get ready to go out, so he uses that time to keep up with business) but it's only the second time he's had to leave me while we're traveling (the first time we were visiting a friend in Zurich, so I wasn't left by myself).  We have enough time to reschedule our activities so he can scuba and go on the boat trip before he departs, but then I'm left for a couple of days on my own.  

How many suns are there?

Before he flies out we enjoy a romantic waterfront sunset dinner at our hotel.  A special table is set up for us, with roses, candles and lanterns along the hotel infinity pool overlooking the sea.  The sun cooperates by giving us a vibrant light show as it sets. 

That's us!

Unfortunately, we're not good enough photographers to capture us and the sunset together!  So you can either see us...

That's the sunset!

...or the sunset!  Time to do some reading in the camera manual. 












We ask our waiter to take a photo of us, and you can't see the sun but you can see the beautiful twilight sky.

That's us and the sky!

Steve uses the remaining dusk to try out some of his creative photography skills.  Since we couldn't take pictures where our faces are visible with the sun, he tries some with silhouettes. 

That's me!

And some still lifes...

Steve's favorite picture.

By myself at breakfast

The next morning Steve (and I) are up early so he can leave for his flight.  I don't really want people to know I'm now by myself (typical single female at a hotel) but the fact that he leaves with his suitcase and our giant duffel bag full of all our purchases is probably a give away that he's not returning.  I try to play it off like he just has a quick meeting in Singapore (only four hours away by plane) and that he'll be coming back.  It's hard at a small boutique hotel though - I keep being asked if Mr. Perun will be joining me by the staff.  It's a lot easier to pull this off when I'm at a Hampton Inn.

The sundeck - my favorite part of our villa!

During my last two days I visit the spa, relax in my private pool and enjoy my sundeck.  Thank goodness you can read a Kindle in the sun!













I'm able to take some scenic pictures during the gloaming from my room's infinity pool.

Even prettier in person!

Still the best way to eat a cheeseburger!

When it's time for my departure, I don't have any problems with my flights, even though I have to connect in Guangzhou, the same city we were diverted from last year.  Unfortunately I have to deal with a red eye flight, but the discovery of a Burger King at the Bangkok airport makes up for it.  For only the second time in 18 months I get to eat a cheeseburger MY way, versus Japan's way!

We're good dogs - may we please have a treat?

Steve's busy with work, so we don't have Tie-Dye delivered back to us until after I return home.  It turns out he's not as happy with his suite room now that he's by himself.  The kennel owner and I discuss some different options, and we decide on his next visit he'll stay in a large crate - maybe he'll feel more comfortable without so much empty space around him.  He does make a good friend though - they tell us she and Tie-Dye have a lot of fun together.  Normally he doesn't like dogs bigger than him, but Tie-Dye's probably glad to have another dog his size to play with!

Patty cake...

Come and get me!

Race you to the river!