shutdown weekends

call me anti-social but most of the time on weekends, all i want to do is just spend time at home with the family. which involves watching loads of TV, driving with my family in tow, having long chats with my mom (maybe sneaking a bit of "errand-running" a.k.a. "shopping with a purpose" from time to time), eating at home... recently though, i've been trying to make good on a resolution i made earlier in the year - to read more. i had this feeling some time ago that work was making me stupid. in an existentialist way. yes i've been reading but the sort you do for work doesn't give you the buzz. you know, that wonderful feeling of stimulation when you read a book and pause to ponder something beyond P&L (though in my job, i thankfully don't have to think of P&L).

the past two weekend have thus been spent devouring books (1 reasonably thick one last weekend and 2 in the past two days) that i picked up at the MPH warehouse sale on Labour Day. bought at the bargain price of $7 each, they've each been a joy to read, and while some are not exactly academic material, they really did give me that thrill.


Book Review

to appeal to the nerd/intellectual in you, i would heartily recommend this collection of short stories by Chinese writer Li Yiyun. the book is a collection of very touching stories, of Chinese people trying to cope in a post-Mao China/Chinese society. while my mom stopped at the first story as she found it too depressing, it really is a rewarding book if you can get past the rather sad storylines/premises.

What Would Barbra Do, on the other hand, is utterly funny. perhaps the reason why i really enjoyed it was because i adore musicals. Emma Brockes has loads of funny anecdotes from her interaction with musical-lovers and musical -haters, and even has a chapter attempting to explain why men hate musicals (and suggestion of musicals that might change their minds!).
what sold me to buy the book was the synopsis:

Film musicals: you either love them or they make you want to kill yourself slowly with plastic cutlery. Nothing has the power to lift your heart or turn your stomach like Howard Keel in fake sideburns singing "Bless Your Beautiful Hide" or Julie Andrews singing...well, just about anything. There are few situations where the question: What would Barbra do? doesn't have relevance in a world which is much better lived to a soundtrack of show-tunes. This is a book for people who know that: people don't tend to die in musicals, but those who do deserve it; true love waits long enough for an element of mistaken identity to be introduced (especially if one of the couple is a Nazi); and, women carry the show. Talented women wind up alone...But they have the consolation of the torch song, which in Hollywood musicals is more fulfilling than a husband.



Now the last book on my review is in a word, FABULOUS. if every woman in the world read this book, ahhh, life would just be DIVINE. we'd be having lovely formal dinners, people will actually write thank you cards for gifts received, we'd all be CIVIL to each other... oh what a world it would be. :)