Monthly Archives: January 2009
Ways to Celebrate the Year of the Ox
When I was a kid, for Lunar New Year we went and bowed to our parents and received red envelopes full of money to go and celebrate. We also made this soup, which you’re supposed to make and eat for … Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
January 22, 2009
Before I leave to go back to Paris for more research, I have a lunch with my friend Sabina Murray, in which she describes what I think is the perfect method for doing research for fiction: “I read everything I … Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Books You Have Waited For Late At Night When You Had Nothing To Read
Miles From Nowhere, Nami Mun, Riverhead – Nami Mun’s novel in stories, Miles From Here, the life of a Korean American runaway in the Bronx , is the book I hoped existed after I finished reading Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son … Continue reading
Filed under books, fiction, Korean America, Korean life, writers, writing
January 6, 2009
At the MLA, I meet a man who’s just delivered a paper on my first novel. We met 30 minutes after he finished. I didn’t attend because I didn’t want him to be nervous, and later was told he was … Continue reading
Filed under author's own, books, Koreanish
Honoré de Balzac Used Coffee to Write La Comédie Humaine and That’s Good Enough For Me
Scene: My office, yesterday afternoon. I’m making tea for my friend and collaborator Teddy after a short lunch at Veracruzana. Teddy [looking out window]: Uh oh. Someone spelled “CRYSTAL” out there on the soccer field. Amherst! Me: I guess it’s … Continue reading
Filed under dialogues
