Book report

Time to recap the last several books I read (or listened to). A good crop this time:


Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli -- I’d been looking forward to a book like this. It is an account of an American who received a rare chance – an offer to live and work in Bhutan for an extended period of time. Bhutan is a little-known Asian country that has a reputation like Shangri-la among those who do know of it. Somewhat isolated, but also somewhat of a paradise. The country has a Gross National Happiness Measure instead of GNP, free health care, genuine Buddhist spirituality, and dedication to environmental conservation. Napoli is intrigued. Her book tells us that Bhutan, while clearly not a utopia (the food is terrible, there are unscrupulous clergy, and the monarchy doesn’t grant true freedom of the press), it is also a truly happy place and she shares with us the insights she learned while there. I definitely acknowledge that Bhutan isn’t paradise but it is good to know that places like this do exist – even though its entire population is smaller than LA’s public school enrollment! Also, I like that Napoli shares enough about herself to keep the book interesting but doesn’t weigh us down with tons of irrelevant details of her life. Grade: B+

The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass – My preferences for novels lean heavily towards historical fiction, and if it’s not historical fiction, it had better have a hard-driving plot. This one takes place in contemporary times, and although it does have a plot, it’s not that fast-moving – but I still enjoyed it a lot. I listened to it on an audio book and it really brightened my commute. It is about a widower (as the title suggests), his adult daughters, his Guatemalan gardener friend, his girlfriend, his grandson, the gay teacher who teaches his girlfriend’s son, and on and on. I loved the interplay of the characters’ lives. I loved that all the characters felt fully-formed and realistic. I really got a sense of the lives of these fictional people. I enjoyed our opinionated but loveable narrator, and there were a few laugh-out-loud moments at his antics. Also, the voice actor did a great job. Grade: B+

More behind the cut.

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What's going on with me - good and bad

Happy Things

- Will be celebrating a friend’s birthday this weekend. We’re going to see acrobats and then eat at an Indian restaurant.

- I love my friends. Doris and I are so lucky that we have two friends, Ann and Laurie, who we’ve known for ages. (I went to high school with Ann and Laurie, actually grade school with Ann).

- We did hire Cindy for the Admin job that opened in our department and she's wonderful.

Sad Things

- I need a mortgage statement from my bank that the IRS is requiring me to get. I called Chase (the bank), they said it would take 7-10 days, and they sent the wrong statement. Called again. They apologized. It’s been more than 10 days and still haven’t gotten the statement. Am I going to have to call those losers a third time??

- This one really isn’t that sad, but there’s this person who writes these amazing Azazel/Riptide fics (Yay!) I leave her all this great feedback, including sometimes specifics on what I love so much, but she never responds. Maybe she just wants to write and that’s it and doesn’t want to interact with other fans, which is totally cool. It would just be so nice to hear a bit back from her, even if it’s just ‘thanks for the reviews’. It would be a dream if she’d review one of my fics.

Not the end of the world, just sayin’.

(Actually, now that I think about it...I think I’ve encountered someone like this in every fandom! The cool girl who you wish would hang out with you.) (Though I must add that I consider the AzRi fans who do hang with me to be very cool as well).