Book Tour: Hector´s Perfect Cake by Lily Clarke

Instead of putting a lot of pressure on our children to be perfect, we rather teach them how to accept failure creatively.

We, as adults, we have so much to learn from children books. I mean not only when reading in a new language, but learning the lessons from the short yet meaningful stories. 

Hector´s Perfect Cake, written and beautifully illustrated by Lily Clarke, is my latest example in this respect. The funny Hector is decided to impres his Granny with a perfect birthday cake. Suddenly, he realised he is out of peanut butter. After a race against time, he was lucky enough to get one precious jar but...the destiny wanted it otherwise and as he stumble over in a puddle, he should face the reality: the cake will not be perfect, after all. However, he goes on and surprisingly, his Granny is happier than ever with the cake. The other guests find it good too. Therefore, his mission was perfectly accomplished, without the peanut butter. 

I love the message of the book as myself I am far from being a perfectionist. Actually, I enjoy sometimes learning from my mistakes which I´ve found more inspiring then my random perfect works. Taking life as it is and teaching children to do their best, without struggling to be The Best helps so much for their further development. Life is too short to waste your time and your life looking to have everything perfect. 

The message of Hector´s Perfect Cake is easy yet meaningful and the illustrations are enjoyable and relatable to preschool children. My son is in love with both Hector and his story, and fully agrees that a cake is good, even without the peanut butter.

Lily Clarke graduated Physics and is currently an innovative consultant in Cambridge. This is her first book but hopefully not the last one as she shows a lot a talent, both as a children writer and illustrator.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of a Book Blog Tour, but the opinions are, as usual, my own.

Book Review: Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan

When I say that I am looking for an easy read, it does not mean that I can easily tolerate a read which is not good written or has a captivating story. I don´t always understand myself though how come that I keep reading until the very end a bad book...

I enjoyed previous books by Kevin Kwan - although not equally - for more than the literary reason. I am interested in representation of non-white, minorities in literary realm therefore I was following several directions in the book. 

Sex and Vanity is following a slightly different path: mixed families - Asian and European - in America, their struggle to play the white card and their fantastic alliances into big WASP-ish families and their familiarities with royal highnesses from all over the world. There is a kind of accepted craziness of the characters´ and their everyday life, including the puppy yoga (a yoga session in a room filled with puppies. ´They´ll be frolicking ariund your mat and licking you in the face while you´re in downward dog´. Great, it seems there were so many things that changed since I visited America the last time that I don´t regret for not getting to know). 

First, we meet Lucie Churchill - mother of Asian origin, father from that Churchill family - who´s flirting at a high-class wedding in Capri with a cute guy, George, from a rich - but just rich - Asian family with houses all over the world and a mother with no fashion sense, yet a generous person. A couple of years later, Lucie is about to get married with an outrageously rich social media obsessed guy. She meets George again randomly and she starts to have doubts about her feelings towards her fiancé. 

The story is not bad, and I´ve read more than one kind of story, but didn´t like the writing at all. The developments of different part of the stories are just not matching up together, the dialogues are bland and very boring - I mean, nothing against talking about jewellery or nice dresses, but do it with style, not like a vilain with a close to minus IQ - the characters are not developed. There are also some anti-semitic references about the ´visitors´ and there is a character, a ´Prussian Jew´ Mordecai who is a ´von´ and ridiculous. No idea what such appearances were really necessary.

Overall, not the kind of book I was expecting to spend my late Saturday evening with. 

Rating: 2 stars

Crazy Rich Asians. The Movie

I do not refuse myself the pleasure of watching a movie made after books I liked. The diversity of genres I love gives me the freedom to enjoy once in a while a very relaxed weekend evening watching a movie that may not be oustandingly artistic or deeply philosophic but still worth my time.

I made no secret in enjoying the books from Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan (right now I am reading his latest book which is not placed in Singapore, Sex and Vanity and hopefully will be able to publish a review within the next hours). It is a world of glamour with Cinderella settings which may not reflect your everyday life Singapore - Sarong Party Girls by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan sounds more realistic  - but it makes justice to the Asian-based characters who are no more those stereotypical self-made immigrants in America out of the boats. 

The 2-hour movie that I watched on Amazon Prime is directed by Jon M. Chu and is considered the first modern story with an all-Asian cast in 25 years. Initially offered as a deal by Netflix, it was produced by Warner Bros, with main settings in Singapore. However, there are Asians and Asians and there were critical opinions about some actors from the distribution, as not representing fully the base of the books., For instane, the British Malaysian actor Herny Golding was distributed as Nick, and the Japanese-British-Argentinian Sonoya Mizuno as Araminta Lee. From the point of view of the diversity features and the distribution, the movie makes a difference and hopefully it is not just a beginning.

From the artistic point of view, there were some good and bad parts. The women play usually good, especially the Mafia-like aunties. Nick´s sister, Astrid is a complex character, as in the book and by far my favorite. Rachel Chu, Nick´s ´commoner´ fiancée, the university teacher, was my least, and not because I don´t believe too much in Cinderella stories (I wonder if there are man equivalent´s of the story, but in my experience, those are not going too well either): she is weak, lacking self-awareness and naive. However, the scene of the Mahjong game with Nick´s mother recovered some of her honour, although not completely.

Last but not least, the fashion selection is exquisite. It was worth watching the movie for the fine selection of outfits signed by designers like Missoni - oh, that Missoni dress - Elie Saab - my favorite no matter what or Alexander McQueen. A special note to the jewellery too and the stylish men. 

No regrets for watching Crazy Rich Asians, the movie. Life should not always be highly complicated, dramatic and torned between contradictory intellectual positions. Even if I don´t believe in Cinderella stories anyway...

Rating: 3 stars

A Life Filled with Love Tastes Much Better

I am so grateful for my flexible schedule that allows me to take a 1h30 break from work when I need to divert my attention to some exquisite emotional stories.

I am becoming a trustworthy follower of MUBI movie recommendations lately and I couldn´t be happier. I am able to use this service as part of my scribd.com subscription and I couldn´t be happier about it. Both services helped me tremendously this year to expand my sources of inspiration far away in the world, in a year where international travel was out of sight. 

I may be familiar with some Singaporean literary voices and delighted about it, but I had no idea what to expect from Eric Khoo, considered the main engine behgind the revival of Singapore film industry. Ramen Shop (Ramen Teh) is my first movie by Khoo and also my first on a Singapore topic.

The film was presented to the Berlinale and is a Japanese/Singapore co-production. 

Masato, a young man living in Japan whose father suddenly died, returns to Singapore where he lived until 10 to trace his family story. The story has a conflictual potential from the beginning, as her father was killed during the Japanese occupation - a topic still elegantly dismissed - therefore her mother will decide to cut any contact with her after they getting married. 

But a life filled with love tastes much better and Masato decided to get his Singaporean family back. From his uncle, he learns to prepare Bak Kuk Teh and will finally, after such a terrible emotional struggle, wins her back.

Ramen Shop is such an emotional movie, with crescendos built up through the long exposure of the images. When it comes to food, the impressions are exquisite and I felt more than once being transposed into the foodie story, feeling the smells and tasting the broth. In this movie, memories do have a taste and a smell, similarly but more intense than Proust´s Madeleines. There is such an elegant game of emotions in this movie, when love is shared and tasted but never explicitly showed. 

The actors do have such a genuine direct play, especially the grandmother that may bring to tear even the most insensitive hearts. 

Overall, is such a good movie and I can wait to read and discover more about Singapore through - at least for now - my next home-based cultural adventures.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Neujahr or Parenting is not Easy...

A family with two children from Göttingen is spending the New Year of 2017/2018 in the popular German destination of Lanzarote in the Canary Island. It is a classical family: mother, father, two little children. Both parents are working, from home, she is highly paid, there is no financial pressure. Children are in child care during the day. Everything seems to be just fine. Perfectly fine. 

However, the pressure towards being fine is having its price for the husband, Henning. He shows signs of burn-out, both psychological and physical. He has panic attacks and needs air - both practically and symbolically. Once in Lanzarote, he remembers an episode he experienced many many years ago, when on vacation with his own parents and her sister. An episode that has to do with a different kind of parenting and family pressure. Maybe after that he will see things differently. 

Juli Zeh is a very popular author in Germany that I´ve long heard about but only now had the chance to get familiar with, through the audiobook of Neujahr. The topic of the book may be boring - I am not a big fan of parenting, I mean I am doing parenting every day but don´t feel like spending my literary time reading and thinking about it - but it´s a new angle and way of seeing that she outlines in the book therefore it ended up by captivating my attention. 

Indeed, the parenting projections nowadays, particularly in Germany, where the social state allows a higher flexibility  - at least in some part of the country - may be very hard on parents. The expectations are high, from kindergarten onwards and parents with more than one child and a heavy job would end up sooner or later by feeling the burn-out. You are requested to be present in the life of your children, but also to outperform at work. The babysitting culture is not encouraged and therefore some traditional local parents will insist to do it all on their own. Things changed from the sociological points of view in terms of parenting and the expectations too. Parents staying at home for having more time to play with their children was unthinkable one generation ago. Children used to play with other children, not with parents, when nowadays, in Germany at least, parents do have enough time to take once in a while a day off to spend full time with their children. I don´t know what is good and what not, but I only notice that things are very different from the time when I grew up. 

Hence, the pressure that the poor Henning - he is the main voice of the story - feels heavier and heavier every day. The feeling of running in a circle, like a headless hamster, is real and I´ve appreciated the book for creating the right ambiance. It´s also outstanding that, such a casual topic was so good written. 

At least for the German language skills, I would keep reading more by Juli Zeh. I´m glad I was curious enough to listen the book until the very end. There may be sometimes perks of getting out of the literary comfort zone.

Rating: 3 stars

Animation Movie Review: Teheran Tabu

Tehran, city of sin...at least if you are a woman...

Teheran Tabu, an animated movie by the Germany-based Iranian film director Ali Soozandeh left me with such a sour taste. Through very realistic characters, the movie shows the cruelty of double standards. 

Here is the cleric who takes girlfriends, or the corrupt officials and the women in need of virginity surgery for various reasons. There are hungry men and clumsy men and men of sin behind the turban of the faith. Victims are always the women whose existence depends on those volatile men. No matter in how much sin they are swimming, they can do anything they want. Women may have the absolute freedom in death only. There is no other hope.

It moved me near tears, this movie. The only way to survive in this Absurdistan is the kind women solidarity and mutual help. No matter what circumstances. Accepting each other and refusing to judge each other.

Besides the inspired illustrations, I also enjoyed the music background, modern rhythms with local creative touch.

Rating: 4 stars

Movie Review: E-Horror Stories from the Dark Web

Saturday movie evening: completely randomly chosing on Amazon Prime a movie about a topic I am usually passionate about: dark web and hacking stories. Because the Internet changed so much everything, including what we mean when we think about horror stories, for instance.

Unknown User: Dark Web is a suspenseful movie which starts like a random game. One guy brings home from the bar where is working a computer to have a professional tool for an app that may help him better communicate with his deaf girlfriend. The computer was left a couple of month ago and no one reclaim it so he considered it worth taking it at home.

While working up his way to the computer and installing his own features, he finds a folder with the darkest of the dark web. He shares the information with his friends during a group-Skype call and the frightening details are revealed little by little once he is exploring the Facebook account of the presumed owner of the computer. Suddenly, the guy himself is hacking into the computer and live, one by one, the friends are killed. The e-horror story unfolding is, actually, part of a live game enjoyed on the dark web. 

The movie is mostly static, taking place in the front of the screens. I haven´t noticed any outstanding playing on behalf of the actors, but the script is really entertaining and with fantastic twists. Was worth watching it, although some scenes are highly violent and with sensitive content.

Rating: 3 stars

A Mystery Like No Other

This year was maybe not as I expected to be, not at all, but I least I am happy to have the chance to read more than I ever planned and discover interesting voices from all over the world.

The multi-awarded Turkish author Zülfü Livaneli is my newest interesting read. I´ve met this famous author - at least in his home country - through a German translation of his novel Schwarze Liebe, Schwarzes Meer and instantly fell in love with his storytelling art. 

Basically, it´s a mystery novel, as the story revolves around the search for the killer of a controversial localite lady, murdered after a lavish party. The events are taking place in a remote village near the Black Sea Coast, and the main storyteller is a recluse retired architect. He was apparently close to the victim, but how close it´s left to the mystery surrounding his life and the facts he is talking about. His main account is shared with a young journalist lady from Istanbul that was dispatched to research the case. 

The surprises are to come at the end, when it seems that the facts he was talking about - that included some suspense political adventures for love in Chechnya, USSR and the then Soviet Republic of Belarus, including about a twin brother, were actually the result of his imagination - and of a mental disorder. However,  the end of the book doesn´t bring the solution to the murder and all we assumed we know is, in fact, just dust in the wind. 

The book has many interesting observations and thoughts about love and life, especially about love which I deeply enjoyed. On the other hand, the story is evolving at a great extent around the storyteller and his adventures, but misses more than once the connection with the crime and the victim. 

However, I really enjoyed the philosophical and literary creativity of the book and would search out for more books about this very interesting author, probably in German too.

Rating: 3 stars 

Story of a Pizza Girl

There are books you cannot fall in love with at all - neither the characters or the writing is appealing - but it reveals some new facts about your surrounding reality. And this may be enough at a certain point.

Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier - that I had access to in audio format, read by Jenna Yi, with a good soothing voice - was considered a must-read of this summer with exciting reviews coming up in the last months. As usual, my curiosity easily beats my emergency TBR (with more than 20 books as for now, to finish until the end of the month), therefore I spent half of yesterday early morning and late night listening to the book.

Let´s start with the good news. It´s good written, with everyday life kind of accounts from a 18 yo pizza girl, 11 weeks pregnant and randomly attracted by a customer lady who orders pizza with pickles for her son. There is an absurd surrealism of the everyday life that literature can catch through writing. And the unnamed character of the Pizza Girl is a good representative of this relatively new literary trend featuring anti-heroes, especially women. 

The nonchalance of being of this girl reminded me of other women authors I´ve read lately like Sayaka Murata or Ottessa Moshfegh. Or maybe Ruth from Good bye, Vitamin too. Those characters are deeply anchored in the present, they live the moment at its fullest but easily become the victims of their lack of involvement in their own lives. 

The Pizza Girl is caught between need and want, confusing love with feelings that she cannot control, taking over her life. Her monotonous storytelling sings the song of her life which she seems to take as it is, walking with the flow of emotions and incertainties. 

And this is why although I may like the writing, I feel no personal - emotional and intellectual - connection with the character. I am grateful that through my recent reading I´ve come out to know such characters and their flow of thinking, but personally, I don´t feel attracted for this emotional train de vie. But I am glad that my literary encounters help me to know and discover my limitations as well.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Little Buddha is Searching for Love

There are so easy and normal things in life, like love who are so much analysed and searched and researched about. And even more dreamed and talked about. Somehow, things may be easier.

Der kleine Buddha und die Sache mit der Liebe, by Claus Mikosch - that I had access in the audio format, read by Heidrun Warmuth -, part of a series featuring the adventures of the little Buddha is a short story about searching for love. Comically, the little Buddha does not know himself what love does it mean, but once asked by a lonely man about it, he starts a journey searching for it. 

There is anything new about love that one will find out in this book, just some wise reminders that there is not only one definition about love and once found it is not necessarily there to stay. One may find a person to love and loved by, but there is no ownership of a person. Sometimes one may look for love his/her whole life, while forgetting to love oneself. Some are too weak to live other person free. People who expect other people to make them happy when they are deeply at war with themselves. Hence, the worned out classical line ´love yourself first´ which I find so normal and natural but apparently not everyone does it. 

Maybe it is good sometimes to wait and figure out what you are looking for before searching for love. Or start your journey and enjoy the ride. Or, love your life and the blessings of the day and keep living. Love is beautiful and to love someone is a great feeling but sometimes it is not enough to make you, and the other person happy. Life facts...

The writing is fine, with some easygoing construction and a good German hearing experience for those chosing the audiobook version.

Rating: 3 stars

Book Review: To Be a Man by Nicole Krauss

I am not a big reader of short stories. I have often attention span and therefore I prefer to focus on novels and long stories. 

I was impatiently waiting for Nicole Krauss short stories debut: To be a Man. She is one of my favorite American authors and I am fascinated by her storytelling. No matter what, her stories cannot go wrong.

I had the book in audio format, in the reading of the author and this added an extra layer of excitement to my reading experience. To Be a Man includes ten stories, mostly with a Jewish background, unfolding in different part of the world but with references to Israel and America. 

There are stories told by women about men: husbands, lovers, brothers, fathers, rabbis, children. The man, as a subject of study and analysis and introspection, which doesn´t happen too often literarily. For me, a very interesting topic to think and write about. There are stories of trauma, distorted or reshaped memories, stories of longing for a ´home´ and soul searching. Average topics of everyday life told in diamond-crafted stories that each and everyone can easily turn into a novel in itself. Which is a big achievement of the author but leaves the reader in a limbo of expectations and broken hopes.

My waiting for getting my hands - in this case, my ears - on the book was fully intellectually rewarding.

Rating: 4 stars

Book Review: Hijab and Red Lipstick by Yousra Imran

Sometimes, I have difficulties in explaining to, otherwise honest feminists, that yes, wearing a very red lipstick is more than a policy of making my body/face pleasant, but equally a sign of genuine feminist attitude against and not favorable to the patriarchy.

Hijab and Red Lipstick by Yousra Imran is not an easy read about girls wearing hijab and playing with the rules set by their male guardians - father and brothers and other male relatives. Actually, it has to do with hijab too, but it´s more than that and it´s the merit of the writer to bring up the complexity of the women religiosity in Islam. 

Sara is born in a British-Egyptian family. Her mother is a convert to Islam, her father a practicant Muslim of Egyptian origin. Together with her sister and two brothers, she is moving from NW London to the Emirates where her father was offered better professional and financial opportunities. In practical terms, for Sara and her family, it means a stricter control and a more religious pressure to conform, as his father was following a strict Wahhabi-oriented version of Islam. 

She is trapped in a world of extreme violence and abuse - physical and verbal, from her father, brothers and random guys she is dating. Rape, constant hiting on behalf of her father, verbal abuse from her brothers and father, Sara is living a double life, when she has to lie when she wants to go out on a party and where meeting a man is a family affair. 

In this world there are double standards operating, when it comes to girls and boys: ´A young man can clean up his act and become a good Muslim and find a wife, even if he messes around for a bit. But if a young Arab woman gets caugh dating, her reputation will be ruined forever´. 

When Sara will be raped by a man who apparently belongs to the royal family his parents are reacting in a completely awkward and non-emotional way. They don´t offer any emotional support and are not even trying to defend her, as in fact she may be the cause of what happened to her...

However, guys can be trapped as well in abusive parental relationships and they are too under the pressure of following the rules their parents, especially their fathers, do request them to obey. However, there is not happening because there is an universal religious obligation but because in many cases, there is a mixture of tradition AND religion that distracts and detour the everyday religious practice. In the end, after many misadventures and hardships, Sara will find herself and reconcile with her religious and feminine identity: ´I´m not a better Muslim woman because of my hijab and I´m no worse of a Muslim woman because of it. I´ll continue to wear my hijab with red lipstick. I´m finally free´.

Although I´ve find some parts of the book unbearable - because of the situations presented - I enjoyed the book which I´ve read in one long sitting. There is so much to learn about different manifestations of Muslim identities and I am glad there are so many diverse voices that are telling interesting stories lately.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

When Good Reading is not Enough: From a Low and Quiet Sea

Once in a while, it happens to read books that are so beautifully written but with stories I do not relate to at all. Or without a clear story in the mesmerizing, attention-catching sense of the word.

The prose of From a Low and Quiet Sea is like no other I´ve read in the last months. Crafted sentences with chains of words generating dramatic worlds in their own right. For me, it was my first encounter with Donal Ryan and I was definitely sorry for not discovering his beautiful writing earlier.

The book is relatively short, less than 200 pages, with an equally easy narrative structure. It includes three relatively independent stories, featuring three men: Farouk, a medical doctor and a refugee from Syria, Lampy, an Irishman working in a nursing home as a driver and John, another Irishman, of an advanced age reviewing his past deeds. Characters from the stories are reunited in the last story closing the book.

The opening story, featuring the drama of Farouk trying to figure out the fate of his wife and daughter, dead by drowing during crossing the sea, is one of the strongest and coherent of all. His struggle to accept the denial as a reality is extraordinary told with a strength that cannot be forget easily. After this strong start, I´ve felt that the intensity and relevance of the other stories relatively limited. The exceptional structure of the characters and of the phrasing remains but the stories do not move anyway. They are like moments of lecture turning round and around with no chance in sight to create a story, just monologous snapshots of everyday life. As for the ending, although it was a good idea to create a connection between the stories, it did not equate the opening. Unfortunately, because it´s such a great writing. Or mabye it is me, that I am hungry for stories well told, so hungry that sometimes I may tolerate a mediocre writing for the sake of it.

Rating: 3 stars