Been on an entertainment slump ever since returning from Europe. Chalk it up to my jetlag, work (new cookbook!), writing deadlines, Chinese New Year festivities, Joie's visit, the boyfriend's coral foot infection (which meant that we stayed in for a couple of days watching Dexter) and iPad/iPhone games (Battleheart! Dungeon Raid!)..
Books read:
1) Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother - Amy Chua. Bought this on a whim on iBooks and pretty much blazed through it in two days. It's also the book which has gotten a lot of questions and raised eyebrows when I told people that I was reading it. But I must say that it is actually quite a good book if you take into account that Amy Chua is not a parenting-expert (and shouldn't be), and she gets her comeuppance in the form of her second daughter at the end of the book.
But after reading the book, I just felt really really exhausted. Amy Chua is driven in her desire for her kids to excel, especially when it comes to playing the piano and violin. And just the way she describes her full-time activity of ferrying her kids around to music classes, sending them for auditions and sitting with them for hours each day making sure that they practise the violin - IN ADDITION TO HER FULL TIME JOB AS A LAW LECTURER - it makes me feel like I want to crawl into bed and just lie there because I'm so tired out from her schedule. (She even makes her children practise their piano and violin on vacation as well. How does she get around the problem of finding a piano? She just calls the hotel in advance to ask if she can borrow their lounge piano during off-peak hours. Remember, a day you don't spend practising is a day you are slacking!)
I guess one thing I was surprised to read in the memoir was that Chua wasn't initially successful at her start of her career. She didn't really like what she did in college, stumbled badly during her first interview with Yale. Her parents didn't even initially approve of her serious relationship with her then-boyfriend, as he was a Jew, and studied ACTING in Julliard.
Should you read the book? I don't know. But if you don't want to, watching this reality-style documentary of musical child prodigies in China is pretty much the same thing as reading the book. And it's over in one hour too.
2) The Imperfectionists - Tom Rachman
Bought this book in Paris when we re-visited Shakespeare and Company, which is actually one of my favourite places in Paris. It's also a sense of relief when you walk in sometimes, and realise that you can actually read and understand *everything* in the store because it's in English, and not have to do this brain acrobatics trying to translate your half-baked French into English.
It's a pretty decent book. Split pretty evenly into 11 stories, each about a different person - but all of them revolving around a flailing newspaper in Rome. But ultimately, the book fluctuates between being very engaging and very boring. It's like they got different editors for the different short stories.
I think what colours my perception is that I totally forgot that I had this e-book saved on my iPad when I bought it. Darn, could have saved some money! Damn.
Movies: Avatar, the last Airbender - Watched it in honour of Joie/Dave/my tradition of watching movies that have a single-digit rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And OMG, this movie is TERRIBLE. Cardboard boxes can probably act better than the guys on the show, the script is stiff, and there is no damn bloody plot to this thing. Out of the six of us watching this movie, more than half of us ended up falling asleep during the movie, and none of us made it through the entire thing. It is THAT BAD.
Snooze-o-meter: 10/5 Avoid at all costs
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