CBBC Week Four: The Joy Luck Club, Part IV

Past discussions:
Week One: Part I
Week Two: Part II
Week Three: Part III

Welcome to Week Four of Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) for The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. This week we'll be discussion Part IV. 

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What happened in these chapters?

We begin with a nonsense parable.

Then it's back to An-mei (her mother cut off part of her arm!) and she tells a story about how her mother was the fourth wife of a rich man after being widowed. The second wife gave An-mei a pearl necklace, but it was fake. The second wife was unable to have a child, so when An-mei's mother did give birth, the second wife took the child and raised it as her own. And Rose gets ignored for the rest of the book.

We next switch to Ying-Ying and hear her side of the story about breaking the vase. She does a flashback in which we learn about her past with an arranged marriage to a man who abused and cheated on her. Many years later she married an American and it wasn't until many years later that she told him about her life in China. (Poor Ying-Ying.)

Waverly Tells Lindo that she will blend in so well with the Chinese on her honeymoon that she won’t be allowed to return to America. When Lindo replies that the Chinese will know Waverly is American before she even opens her mouth, Waverly is disappointed. Lindo remembers her early days in the United States, working in a fortune cookie company and meeting Waverly's father and having two sons - Winston (wins ton) and Vincent (win cent). There's a thing about how both Lindo and Waverly have crooked noses and Lindo urges Waverly to get it fixed, but Waverly likes how it makes them look devious.

We finish with June going to China with her father. He reunites with family. She learns about how her mother stuffed her half-sisters shirts with jewelry and money and wrote their names on the back of photos with a message asking their rescuer to care for the babies and bring them to her address when safe again. Unfortunately, their rescuers were never able to find her mother. She meets her half-sisters and they greet her joyfully.

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Hat mentions (why hats?):

small brown felt hat ("Magpies")

tucked into this hat ("Magpies")

foreign men in hats ("Magpies")

I see cat. I see rat. I see hat. ("Double Face")

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Lines of note:

Wearing those clothes, I felt as if I had grown new hands and feet and I would now have to learn to walk in a new way. ("Magpies")

"She makes clouds with one hand, rain with the other." ("Magpies")

I was far more pretty than my daughter, who has country feet and a large nose like her father's. ("Waiting Between the Trees")

When my daughter looks at me, she sees a small old lady. That is because she sees only with her outside eyes. She has no chuming, no inside knowing of things. If she had chuming, she would see a tiger lady. And she would have careful fear. ("Waiting Between the Trees")

She learned these things, but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character. How to obey parents and listen to your mother's mind. How not to show your own thoughts, to put your feelings behind your face so you can take advantage of hidden opportunities. Why easy things are not worth pursuing. How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best. ("Double Face")

I walked up this hill and then I saw a tall building. This was Old St. Mary's. Under the church sing, in  handwritten Chinese characters, someone had added: "A Chinese Ceremony to Save Ghosts from Spiritual Unrest 7 A.M. and 8:30 A.M." I memorized this information in case the authorities asked me where I worshipped my religion. And then I saw another sign across the street. It was painted on the outside of a short building. And I thought to myself, This is where American people worship. ("Double Face")

...I think about all the different ways we leave people in this world. Cheerily waving good-bye to some at airports, knowing we'll never see each other again. Leaving others on the side of the road, hoping that we will.  ("A Pair of Tickets")

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Things I looked up:

famous Shantung sing-song girl ("Magpies") - Sing-song girls, also known as flower girls, is an English-language term for the high class prostitutes in China during the 19th century

The whole watermelon scene in "Waiting Between the Trees." - Turns out kai gwa is a euphemism for taking her virginity. Once I figured this out, it made more sense and the whole scene was even worse to read. 

soups served out of a carved winter melon ("A Pair of Tickets") - Is this a thing?

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Questions to ponder:

1) Please explain the parable to me.

2) The novel begins with the mothers, includes two parts on the daughters, and returns to the mothers in the last part. Why do you think it's structured this way? Why do you think the book has Suyuan die so that her part of the story is told from June's perspective?

3) There are so many heartbreaking birth/childhood stories in this book - Ying-Ying's dead baby, Bing's death, Suyuan's abandoned daughters, An-mei's stolen child - what purpose does this serve in the theme of the mother and daughter relationships? 

4) How much of the communication breakdowns between the women and their daughters was because of culture? How much was generational?

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Last week's homework:

What was your theme last week? Did you pick it up when you were reading?

My theme was color and I think the biggest example of it was white, particularly in "Magpies."

And when I opened that box, all my shame, my fears, they fell away. Inside was a new starch-white dress. It had ruffles at the collar and along the sleeves and six tiers of ruffles for a skirt. The box also contained white stocking, white leather shoes, and an enormous white hair bow, already shaped and ready to be fastened on with two loose ties. 

Later on in the chapter: I looked down at my own white dress covered with grass stains and I felt ashamed.

The white stands for the symbolism of the child An-mei here. She has no idea what she's stepping into by going to her mother's home. Her mother as the fourth wife, bringing shame on to her family. And then the grass stain is her mother's shame. 

There are also the white pearls that the second wife gives An-mei, which we soon learn are fake glass. 

It was interesting to see the parallels here between An-mei and her mother as the story progressed. 

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Upcoming CBBC schedule:

November 10: Wrap up!

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

One of the prompts for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge this year is to read a book about a running club. There is no way I'm going to finish that challenge this year, but I'm still plodding around, thinking maybe I can do most of it. I decided I'd read Haruki Murakami's memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running for this, although if I'm being 100% accurate, it's not really about a running club. Close enough for me. 

I know that this is a beloved memoir and everything I am about to say is going to be blasphemy to a lot of you. 

I didn't like this.

It talks a lot about body image and body shaming. It talks a lot about running.

What, you ask me, did you expect? 

I guess I expected this to be about writing with a little bit about running. Instead it was about running with a little bit about writing. If that's your jam, go ahead and read it. It was not my jam, although I listened to the audiobook and the narrator made it all go down easy. 

3/5 stars

Lines of note:

In every interview I'm asked what's the most important quality a novelist has to have? It's pretty obvious - talent. No matter how much enthusiasm and effort you put into writing, if you totally lack literary talent, you can forget about being a novelist. This is more of a prerequisite than a necessary quality. If you don't have any fuel, even the best car won't run. (timestamp 1:53:18)

What a pep talk. *eyeroll*

Most of what I know about writing I've learned through running every day. These are practical, physical lessons. How much can I push myself? How much rest is appropriate and how much is too much? How far can I take something and still keep it decent and consistent? When does it become narrowminded and inflexible? How much should I be aware of the world outside and how much should I focus on my inner world? To what extent should I be confident in my abilities and when should I start doubting myself? (timestamp 2:01:49)

This was an interesting passage and I wish he'd talked a lot more about these parallels. Unfortunately, this was the meat of it. 

Once when I had a chance to talk with a sales rep from Mizuno he admitted, "our shoes are kind of plain and don't stand out. We stand by our quality but they aren't that attractive." I know what he's trying to say - they have no gimmicks, no sense of style, no catchy slogan, so to the average consumer they have little appeal - the Subaru of the shoe world, in other words. (timestamp 2:16:51)

I have to admit having laughed pretty hard at this. One of the cars that is on our list of potential cars is a Subaru. No one over here is IN LOVE with it, though. It's fine. 

Still the most significant fallout from running the ultramarathon wasn't physical, but mental. What I ended up with was a sense of lethargy and before I knew it, I felt covered by a thin film, something I've since dubbed runner's blues, although the actual feeling of it was closer to a milky white. (timestamp 2:53:18)

WTF does this mean? Milky white? 

Hat mentions (why hats?): 

..take off my hat, which I had on to keep the sun off me. I'd worn the hat to keep my head warm... (timestamp 2:38:41)

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Anyone else read this? Think less of Murakami now that they've read it? I've obliquely mentioned our car search a couple of times in this space - would anyone be interested in a full-length post on our endless search? 

The Hallmarked Man (Cormoran Strike #8) by Robert Galbraith

The Cormoran Strike series

The Cuckoo's Calling
The Silkworm
Career of Evil
Lethal White
Troubled Blood

The Ink Black Heart

The Running Grave

This is the eighth installment of the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith, JK Rowling's pseudonym. In The Hallmarked Man, Robin and Strike attempt to identify a body that was found murdered and dismembered in a silver shop's vault. 

Look, I said this about The Running Grave and I'm going to say this about this one, too. This was a slog. It took me weeks and weeks to read it because it was brutally boring, particularly the middle part. There's no reason for this to be over nine hundred pages unless you like to hear about Strike drinking, vaping, and Robin not dealing with her PTSD.

I thought the Ink Black Heart was brilliant, but it feels like these are just being phoned in now. I don't know if I'll be returning to this series unless someone tells me that something changes in subsequent books. 2.5/5 stars

Lines of note:

...thinking about Robin's defunct Land Rover, now destined for the scrapyard. While not as attached to the car as Robin was, it seemed to somehow mark the end of an era...(page 222)

Have I talked about how we are test driving cars and have been for months now? Part of is that while we both know that our Hyundai is past its prime, but we're unwilling to acknowledge it in the tangible way of trading it in. Our Hyundai was the first major purchase we made together and the thought of sending it to the scrap heap makes me sad.

It was hard to tell whether they disliked each other or were bosom friends; they belonged to the category of Englishman whose love and hated bore almost identical faces. (page 406)

This is what I imagine it's like when I'm with Bestest Friend. Do they love or hate each other?

"I'd imagine it's occurred to you that we've got an unusual number of sex offenders congregating around this crime?" Strike asked Robin...

"You probably won't like my answer to that," said Robin.

"Which is?"
"That men perennially underestimate how many of their fellow men are perverts and predators. You know what they say: 'all women know a rape victim, no man knows a rapist.'" (page 536)

Even the men who think they understand will never know the constant vigilance that is a woman walking around the world. 

Things I looked up:

MOT (page 87 and then again and again) - Acronym for Ministry of Transport, an annual test of vehicle safety, roadworthiness aspects, and exhaust emissions required in the United Kingdom for most vehicles over three years old

shufti (page 104) - a look or reconnoiter, especially a quick one

Dettol (page 104) - a British brand line of products used for disinfection and as an antiseptic

Songye (page 200) -  a Bantu ethnic group from the central Democratic Republic of the Congo. They speak the Songe language

Luba (page 200) - a Bantu ethno-linguistic group indigenous to the south-central region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

joss sticks (page 470 and then more often) - a thin stick consisting of a substance that burns slowly and with a fragrant smell, used as incense 

Gravensteen (page 690) - a medieval castle in the city of Ghent, East Flanders in Belgium. The current castle dates from 1180 and was the residence of the Counts of Flanders until 1353. It was subsequently re-purposed as a court, prison, mint, and even as a cotton factory

Rodolphe Lemoine (page 701) - alías Baron de Koening, Rodolphe Lemoine, Fritz Kolmann, Alberto Colman, Federico Stagni or Von Rosdbel, codename REX, was a spy, con man and hitman in service indistinctly to France and Germany who starred in the time of gunfighting in Barcelona in the period immediately after World War I and played a key role in the decipherment of Enigma

Sidney Reilly (page 701) - a Russian-born secret agent employed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and later by the Foreign Section of the British Secret Service Bureau

Laurel Rose Willson (page 701) - an American con artist and author. She authored books as Lauren Stratford alleging Satanic ritual abuse, and later assumed the guise of a Holocaust survivor as Laura Grabowski. 

ashlar (page 787) - masonry made of large square-cut stones, typically used as a facing on walls of brick or stone

Hat mentions (why hats?):

his ancient fishing hat (page 4)

white chef's coat and hat (page 32)

Ted's two old hats (page 38)

"Wiv 'is beard an' 'is glasses. . . if 'e'd 'ad an 'at, hahaha..." (page 135)

drop-of-the-hat trip to Marrakesh (page 283)

beanie hat (page 402, 591) - I would say hat or beanie, but never both. Here it is used TWICE in that way. 

pale pink hat (page 541)

"He was wearing a hat." (page 553)

top hat (page 685, 686)

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Have you read any of JK Rowling's non-Harry Potter books? Did you know what Gravensteen is?

Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke

Sarah from the podcast Sarah's Bookshelves talked about Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke in her "Summer Circle Back" episode and I was sold. I am not always on the same page as Sarah about all books, but thought I'd give this one a try. 

Katherine Cole was found fleeing the scene of an exclusive private club after four powerful men were poisoned. She's on trial for their murders. But did she do it?

We follow five men in Katherine's life - her childhood friend, her lover, her father, a journalist, and her lawyer - as we investigate what really happened that evening. And what we learn is that no one knows the true Katherine.

I think this is a clever twist on how women are silenced in this world. This story could have been told from her perspective or her mother's perspective, but Cloke made the decision to use men as the device for framing Katherine's life. And it's an interesting way to do it, to be honest. They all have their own biases and frames about what happened and how she would act. 

It's super fast-paced and each of the POVs was distinct, so it was easy to switch from one voice to the next. 

I'd love to discuss the ending with people, too!

4.5/5 stars - A good, interesting mystery if you're into the more psychological side of things than the detective looking for clues.

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Line of note:

It was a superpower you had, choosing what to worry about. It felt like most of the time, you chose nothing. Worries came for me instead, dug themselves into my brain. (page 195)

Things I looked up:

"Great 8" animals of the Great Barrier Reef (page 12) - Giant clam, manta ray, Maori wrasse, clownfish, sharks, whales, turtles, potato cod

cockscomb plant whose flowers looked like brains (page 12) - Cockscomb cultivars have coral or brain-looking blooms that are often large and heavy so they must often be staked. They grow between 12 and 36 inches tall.

Celosia King Coral. Photo credit: Burpee

Hat mentions (why hats?):

tinfoil hat brigade

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Have you ever read a book by Nicci Cloke or her pseudonym Phoebe Locke? Do you like a good psychological thriller?

CBWC October 2025 - Week Four

 It's Cool Blogger Walking Club (CBWC) time. Hosted by Elisabeth, we're trying for ten minutes of intentional movement every day. 

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Can you spot the canine?

Tuesday, October 21
We decorated our house for Halloween. This is the time of year when the fact that we are derelict in our landscaping duties serves us well because the house looks creepy as you know what. Hannah and I went for several walks, including one before bed.

Wednesday, October 22
Dr. BB is sick (negative COVID and flu tests, but absolutely miserable) and H and I have been taking LOOOOONG walks so we're out of his blast radius. 

Thursday, October 23
More long walks for me and the dog. Isn't this a pretty autumnal scene?

Friday, October 24 

I had a bit of a later start to day and was able to walk the dog just as the sun was popping up. Don't we live in a gorgeous place?

Saturday, October 25

I had a series of vaccines yesterday and felt like hot garbage all day with a temperature, body aches, and a splitting headache. Poor Hannah only got two walks around the block. However, it was a rainy day, so Hannah didn't really mind spending her day inside. 

Sunday, October 26

What a beautiful place I live in. Hannah and I had a couple of slow walks today, soaking in autumn. 

Do you see the grey collar? It's a Seresto collar, which is a very effective flea and tick treatment. If you have a dog, I highly recommend it. We leave it on her all the time, even when she's getting baths!

Monday, October 27

Me and my girl had a couple of long walks. After work she was raring to go, so it was a long and quick walk. I fear for her old bones in the next couple of days, but that's what she wanted!

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Do you have beautiful fall colors where you are? Do you decorate you house for Halloween?

CBBC Week Three: The Joy Luck Club, Part III

Past discussions:
Week One, Part I
Week Two, Part II

Welcome to Week Three of Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) for The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. This week we'll be discussion Part III. 

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What happened in these chapters?

We begin with another parable in which a mother visits her daughter's new home, but doesn't like that there is a mirror at the foot of the bed because happiness will deflect away. The mother has a second mirror and the mirrors now reflect at each other bringing "peach-blossom luck" and both women see the daughter's future child in the mirror.

Lena and her husband Harold split all of their expenses equally. Harold started his own business with Lena's support, but Harold does not promote her because he doesn't want to look like he's favoring his wife. When Ying-ying comes to visit, she notes the list of expenses that Lena and Harold keep on their fridge and Ying-ying says Lena should not pay for the ice cream since Lena will never eat it. Ying-ying knocks over a vase that was on a wobbly table Harold had made in his student days.

Waverly is meeting Lindo for lunch and she remembers how after their fight in the street, Lindo no longer polished Waverly's trophies or cut out the notices in the papers about her victories. Waverly's confidence ebbs and she gives up chess. Waverly's first marriage ends in divorce and now she's going to marry a man named Rich, who she thinks her mother hates.  It turns out this is a misunderstanding and there is some consideration of Waverly postponing her wedding so they can do their honeymoon in China. Maybe Lindo will go with them?

Rose finds divorce papers and a ten thousand dollar check in the mail from Ted. She ignores the papers for weeks until Ted calls to find out what's going on. He tells Rose that he wants the house because he now plans to marry someone else. Rose laughs and tells him to come to the house to pick up his papers. When he arrives, Rose gives him the papers still unsigned and announces that she will not be leaving the house. She refuses to allow him to uproot her and throw her away.

A few months before her death, Suyuan cooked a crab dinner for ten people to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Suyuan and June went to Chinatown to buy crabs. While the two women were choosing crabs, the leg of one of the crabs became detached, and the grocer demanded that Suyuan pay for the creature. Suyuan bought eleven instead of ten, stating that the damaged crab would be extra. The people at the party all pick the best crabs until there are only two left - Jing-mei tried to take the defective crab, but Suyuan insisted she take the better one. Suyuan then sniffed her crab, and took it into the kitchen to throw it away.

Waverly is terrible to June telling her she's going to get AIDS from her gay hairstylist and that work she did for Waverly's company is not good enough to use. Suyuan gave June a jade pendant, telling her that it was her “life’s importance.” She advised June not to listen to Waverly, whose words always “move sideways” like a crab, and explained that June could and should move in a different direction. 

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Diane's used copy of the book that she snagged at a library sale for $1!

Last week's homework:

Was anyone able to strike up a conversation with an immigrant about cultural relationships in their family? What did you learn?

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Lines of note:

I had been talking to too many people, my friends, everybody it seems, except Ted. To each person I told a different story. Yet each version was true, I was certain of it, at least the moment that I told it. ("Without Wood")

I guess this is one justification for lying.

My mother once told me why I was so confused all the time. She said I was without wood. Born without wood so that I listened to too many people. ("Without Wood")

I know someone like this. She always calls lots of people to find out their opinions on things before making up her own mind. It's kind of crazy that she doesn't have opinions on her own life. 

Over the years, I learned to choose from the best opinions. Chinese people had Chinese opinions. American people had American opinions. And in almost every case, the American version was much better. 

It was only later that I discovered there was a serious flow with the American version. There were too many choices, so it was easy to get confused and pick the wrong thing. ("Without Wood")

I've talked about it many times on this blog how dumbfounded I am by the selection of PopTarts, cereal, and coffee creamer at the store. And don't get me started on the car shopping thing.

Then, one by one, she grabbed the crabs by their back, hoisted them out of the sink and shook them dry and awake. The crabs flexed their legs in midair between sink and stove. She stacked the crabs in a multileveled steamer that sat over two burners on the stove, put a lid on top, and lit the burners. ("Best Quality")

Gross. 

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Things I looked up:

"A psyche-atricks will only make you hulihudu, make you see heimongmong." ("Without Wood") 

Hulihudu is a Chinese word that means confused, vague, or muddle-headed; describes a state of being lost. Heimongmong a Chinese term that translates to "dark fog," representing a state of confusion, vagueness, and a lack of clarity, often associated with a feeling of being lost (emotional fog). 

Hymn number 335 ("Without Wood") - I don't know. Seems like #335 can be a lot of different hymns based on sect and hymnal used. *shrug* 

Steuben crystal strawberry ("Without Wood") - Exactly what it sounds like!

For the low, low price of $1400 on Ruby Lane.

Color of jade having to do with quality ("Best Quality") - High-quality jade color is judged by intensity, evenness, and saturation, with the most valuable being a deep, vibrant, and consistently distributed green, known as Imperial Jade. Other factors include high translucency, which allows light to penetrate, and a pure, even texture. There are colors of jade other than green that can also be valuable. 

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Questions to ponder:

1) What's with the parables at the beginning of each section? Do you find them useful as framing devices?

2) Why is Tan so insistent on graphic depictions of food preparation? 

3) Why is Waverly so terrible? That's a real question. She seems like she has a good life - a child she's happy to have, a new significant other, loving parents, a good career, no money worries - and yet she's terrible to everyone in her life. Why?

4) How do you think this is going to wrap up? Is June going to meet her Chinese siblings? Is Waverly going to get knocked down a peg? Is Rose going to be able to stay in her house?

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Homework for you:

Pick a theme before you read the next passages - weather, color, food, animals, etc. - and note it when you find in in the book. What is the importance of that theme in context of the book?

I'm going to pick color as my theme and when it comes up, I'm going to analyze it!

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Upcoming CBBC schedule:

November 3: Part IV - Queen Mother of the Western Skies

November 10: Wrap up!

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

We read Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro as our most recent pick for my IRL book club. 

Klara is an Artificial Friend (AF) who is chosen to be the companion of a sick teenager named Josie. We follow Klara from her time waiting to be chosen in a store all the way until Josie goes to college. Along the way, there are questions of what it means to be human and what will parents do to protect their own children. Are there limits to what you will do to protect one person at the risk of other people? 

As a book club, we did not LOVE this book. As a book club, we had a great discussion about it. It's not entirely clear to any of us what message Ishiguro is trying to make here and maybe that's a good thing. It's not didactic and it leaves it up to the reader to do the interpretation. I sort of appreciate that about the book, even if I did shut the book thinking that maybe I wasn't a smart enough reader for it. 

You'll note that I don't have any lines of note. It's because the writing is spare and not in a beautiful way. It's as if the author is purposefully creating distance between the reader and the story. Sometimes I think that works because of course we'd want to be distance from an artificial being, but it also sort of made me question how important the author took his own work. 

Anyway, super thought-provoking, but I'm not sure how often I'll be recommending this one. 3/5 stars

Hat mention (why hats?): 

under umbrellas and dripping hats (page 20)