Story Lover

by Gene Luen Yang

I love the play on words. American. Born. Chinese. Maybe I’m Korean born American. Or Korean raised American. Korean transplant American. Banana. No idea, but this morph that we do to fit in with what is being reflected around us is pretty fascinating and saddening. I think we all do it to some degree or another. And it isn’t till now, long after the childhood taunts, that I am really intrigued by the invisible borders between race and culture. Perhaps after a certain amount of time, we have to embrace who we are and what it is that makes us unique. As Helen said, you can only really run from your strengths for so long.

by Sherman Alexie

I always feel like I have a responsibility to leave a library book in a condition that reflects how I felt about it. I’m always intrigued when I get a book that has dog ears dispersed amongst its pages or has a little post-it note still stuck on one of the pages. I wonder, is this significant or random? Sometimes I’ll leave a post-it on a meaningful page, like a modern x marks the spot. But most of all, I get sad when I can tell I’m the first person to read a book. It’s odd, since when I buy a book I almost demand that its pure, that I’m discovering it for the first time. But I feel almost the opposite when I borrow a book from the library, I feel almost as if it hasn’t been loved yet. And when books by my favorite authors are seemingly missing love, I worry for the careers of my beloved authors, for their souls. But, thankfully, I know this book just came out, that I am the first because I’ve placed a hold on it, and thus I feel like I need to communicate my love for its content to its next reader.

And how I love Sherman Alexie. May he have a long life. I breeze through the pages like an autumn wind. And his words leave cracks in my heart, in my soul. Their sentiment tear up my eyes. His short stories speak right to the heart of life and I think in the short story, War Dances, he’s telling the story of the grown up Junior from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Not sure though. And man, Ode for Pay Phones! He makes the modern day defeats beautiful. He makes the modern day beauties holy.

And just a curiosity. Why are both of the shoes right-footed? Or in the case of the right cover, left-footed? And why is there such a subtle difference between the two covers? If you’re going to go through the effort of designing and publishing two different covers, why make it so subtle?

“Nothing happened, of course. Nothing ever really happens, you know.” -Breaking and Entering

“We are tested, all of us. We are constantly and consistently given the choice. Good or evil. Light or darkness. Love or hate. Some of those decisions are huge and tragic. Think of those nineteen men and you must curse them. But you must also curse their mothers and fathers. Curse their brothers and sisters. Curse their teachers and priests. Curse everybody who failed them.” -The Senator’s Son

“We who shared the most important moment of our lives no longer have any part in the lives of the others.” -The Senator’s Son

“Despite all the talk of diversity and division – of red and blue states, of black and white and brown people, of rich and poor, gay and straight – Paul believed that Americans were shockingly similar. How can we be so different thought Pual, if we all know the lyrics to the same one thousand songs?” -The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless

“Could I have run that fast and won the right to live?” -Fearful Symmetry

“But O, the last track was the vessel that contained the most devotion and pain and made promises that you couldn’t take back.” -Ode to Mix Tapes

“And she’d rather be forgotten than inaccurately remembered.” -Salt

“Jesus, I don’t want to die today or tomorrow, but I don’t want to live forever.” -Salt