Wild Swans

My vacation read this week was Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chang. I guess my take-home for this was that I just really had no idea. I had some vague notion of what happened under Mao, but really I had no idea what daily life must have been like (imagine having to spend your time ripping up the bourgeois grass from the yard, which would be one of the more innocuous things you might have to worry about during that time). Wild Swans is unique in that it takes you through three generations of women in China. Go read it.

I also intend to read Mao: The Untold Story by the same author together with her husband, but I'm holding out for the Kindle edition (hint hint). Wild Swans isn't available in a Kindle edition, so I was readin' it old-school. I picked it up at my favorite bookstore in all the world, Leelanau Books.


Now, back to Greenspan's book...

Oops, One More Uber-Tune

Inevitably, I forgot an uber-tune. I have to add The Wings, by Gustavo Santaolalla, to the list. You'll find it on the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack.

Uber-Tunes

Sometimes I'll hear a song and it will really grab me. I'll listen to it on my iPod over and over again for a long time, and keep coming back to it over and over again. These songs are different from the songs that I just like; I obsess over these songs. Sometimes I know it's because I can sing them well; they're in the sweet spot of my vocal range and I can really belt it out (Afterglow and The Crane Wife 3 are like that). Others I'm not so sure about, but there's just something about them.

Anyway, I was thinking about these songs and I thought I'd make a list of them, and here's my list. I'm sure I've missed a couple, but maybe you'll find something you like in here.

Afterglow, by INXS
Face Down, by Katie Todd Band
Gravity, by Embrace
Hallelujah, by Jeff Buckley
Hear Me Out, by Frou Frou
Hide And Seek, by Imogen Heap
If You Were Here, by Cary Brothers
In The Sun, by Joseph Arthur
Intro - Svefn-g-Englar, by Sigur Ros
London Rain (Nothing Heals Me Like You Do), by Heather Nova
Such Great Heights, by Iron & Wine
The Crane Wife 3, by The Decemberists
Thinking About Tomorrow, by Beth Orton
World Spins Madly On, by The Weepies

Thanks, Mr. Roam

I sort of criticized Dan Roam, the author of the excellent The Back of the Napkin, because he didn't email me back when I suggested that he make available on his website some cool laminated versions of some of his visual aids. Well, he has redeemed himself by making just the things I wanted available, for free; not laminated, but nice PDFs. Enjoy! And read the book.

Sorry, Dan, and thanks!

The Funniest Blog in the Whole Wide World

The funniest blog in the whole wide world is that of The Bloggess, a sample of which is waiting to delight you at the other end of that link. It is not necessarily for the kids to read, but I find it so, so funny.

Down River

Down River, by John Hart... excellent! I just couldn't put it down, read it in about a day. Go get it.

There Are Some Very Confused People Out There

Sam Harris has written an amusing article. An excellent quote therefrom: "Rarely does one discover nonsense in such a pristine state." You can tell he's delighted and mortified at the same time by some of what he's found (as am I).

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Just finished Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Best novel I've read in a long time; I highly recommend it. I must've missed out on some of it, because there's some Spanish in it that I couldn't read (being as shamefully monolingual as most of my fellow Americans), but I could figure most of that out and I do think it added to the narrative in a subtext kind of way. Not only was it a great read, but I also learned a lot about the Dominican Republic under Trujillo, and it prompted me to do a little homework about that on Wikipedia. So, go read it, and enjoy.