Real Americans

Plus, can't stop (fantasy) shopping for Spring Break

You know, something has started to irk me since opening the bookstore. What is with with book club stamps cluttering up all of the gorgeous book covers?! Oprah, Jenna, Reese… Someone special ordered a copy of Mary Oliver’s Devotions recently and when it arrived it had a big purple “Read with Jenna” stamp on it. Really?? As if Jenna Bush is somehow that person that makes a classic, gorgeous work palatable? I find it so off-putting. Is it just me?

Maybe because I’m looking at book covers all day it’s more obvious. And don’t get me wrong, I’m all for book clubs! And anything that gets more people reading! I think it’s terrific that celebrities are throwing their weight behind books and authors. But I also think of books as beautiful objects that I will have filling my home for, hopefully, decades to come. There’s a trendiness to the celebrity seal of approval that is at odds with my belief that books are collectibles. As a bookstore owner I should know this, but I wonder if I can order the original editions from the publishers? Stay tuned, I’m going to investigate.

• We’re heading to Hawaii for spring break and I am so ready to float in a pool with a pineapple drink. I think this is the year I lean into my Baywatch fantasies with a cherry red bathing suit.

• And I’m eyeing this Janessa Leone packable hat to stay shady and cool.

• I recently made the trek to Mill Valley to meet with a women’s hormone specialist at Be Well Natural Medicine. It’s time to address all of these insane perimenopause symptoms and I really loved my first conversation. She’s starting me on low doses of progesterone and estrogen to see how I handle things and she also suggested I start taking creatine to help with the inevitable muscle loss that comes from aging. Immediately ordered this because it also supports brain health. I love a twofer!

• The prettiest calla lily earrings. All of the heart eyes.

• This peptide lipstick/balm from Soshe. Super hydrating and a little lick of color. I have it in “With Love.”

• Can’t get this Lola Young ear worm out of my hand and I don’t mind one single bit.

• This dress!! Oh my god, I want it so badly. Apiece Apart is one of my all time favorite brands and I wait impatiently for their sales. This dress is new, so I don’t think it will be going on sale anytime soon, but it’s perfection. That excellent shade of Great Expectations green. The cut. The gorgeousness. Need!

• Banana Republic is on fire right now. This oversized cotton v-neck sweater. This La Ligne-esque roll-neck sweater. An adorable tie-waist poplin dress to wear all summer long. A simple square neck tank to wear under everything. And a supremely comfy, super chic jumpsuit in the exact same green as the bookstore!

• My love for the Vera Bradley of my youth (thank you, Mom) continues. Meet my new weekender.

• This red linen set from Gap. And this buttery yellow cotton sweater looks an awful lot like the Alex Mill one I linked to a few weeks ago. Ooh, and some linen barrel pants.

• Sexy silk pants in a completely delicious shade of brown. God, so good.

• The Åre Murders — Andrew and I inhaled this Swedish crime drama. And not to give too much away, but the focus on human emotions (wrestling with guilt when the job calls for hard things) was so refreshing! You never see that in American cop shows where the officer grapples with his/her complicity in the aftermath of a shooting.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong

Gorgeous book cover and then there’s that Read with Jenna sticker!! Also, am I the only one thinking about how weird and wrinkly my fingers look?

To be honest, I think it took me ages to pick this up because of that darn Read with Jenna sticker!! Even though friends told me it was wonderful. But then the treasured

Catherine Newman

mentioned it in her newsletter, writing HOLY MOLY in all caps and saying it was “page-turningly good.” I had an extra copy at the bookstore so I brought it home and am so glad I did!

I completely agree with Catherine Newman about the page-turnability. More than once my book light ran out of batteries before I was ready to stop reading for the night. The first hundred pages felt breezy and light, but then the story grows more and more layered.

I absolutely do not want to spoil anything, because part of the immense pleasure of this book was uncovering secrets and understanding character motives, but it’s about three generations of a Chinese (and Chinese American) family.

Rachel Khong brilliantly explores the lengths we are willing to go to protect our loved ones. The weight of heritage and what we choose to carry with us. How ancestry defines our sense of self. The conflict of the individual vs society. It is also a beautiful love story.

Like so many of the men who come into the bookstore with their relentless hunger for WWII stories, I have always been captivated by Communist China. Broken into three sections, it was the last section that takes place in China under the rule of Mao that had me rapt. Highly recommend.

1. It’s tricky to talk about this book because the real pleasure is in uncovering the layered secrets, but there is a character who works at an oyster farm on an island off the coast of Washington. How terrific is this half dozen plate (and it’s under $40!!)?

2. My favorite hot sauce, excellent on oysters (or hard boiled eggs). I get mine at Thrive Market.

3. There’s a lot of talk about an orchid in the book, but I don’t particularly love orchids. Too fussy, too early 2000s with my stepmom blaring the soundtrack to the Titanic. But I love these paper flowers from The Green Vase, especially this mini potted geranium.

4. Heritage and genetics play a big role. I’ve never done genetic testing before, but am kind of curious. Enter, 23andMe.

5. A very 90s minimalist slip dress. Exactly what I picture when I think of the dress Mathew gives her. Or, if you’re a size L, this icy blue number would be gorgeous at all of those fancy fundraisers.

6. Mei heads to university in Beijing where she discovers cotton floral print dresses and the power of clothes to transform — before such frivolities are considered capitalist under Mao. This Doen version is so pretty in that cornflower blue.

7. Real Americans by Rachel Khong

8. I love Dr. Anna Gold and if I lived in Berkeley (and had all of the money) I would see her regularly for facial acupuncture, a natural alternative to Botox. Her tinctures are also terrific and remind me of the Chinese remedies that Mei, the mother character, whips up post-childbirth.

9. I upgraded my husband’s sweats game for Christmas with a hoodie and pants from Richer Poorer and they are so, so soft. I really want some for myself. Also perfect for the college kids in this book.

10. An object of desire wears lip gloss with flecks of gold. I can’t bring myself to go that far, but I am very into this hydrating lip oil with SPF.

11. Mei also discovers the allure of a little winged eyeliner. Love this new MAKE formula.

Hope you’re reading something good!!