Thursday, February 28, 2008

Fortune Cookie Chronicles


People don't seem to have very good opinions about author blurbs. I, personally, love them. Some of the best and most unexpected books I've read in the past year, I've been drawn to by seeing that one or more of the blurbs on the jacket was from an author I enjoy. Same with this one. Granted, I was almost through the book before I glanced at them, but when I saw that the two Blurbs on the back were from Sasha Issenberg and Mary Roach, my feelings about blurbs were validated yet again.

Wow, I digressed before I ever got to the book I'm talking about. Oh well. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is another great example of the kind of non-fiction I love to read: an in depth look into a specific subject, so in-depth that it ranges all over other subjects as well, with enough of the author's personality thrown in to make it interesting and humorous. Jennifer 8. Lee covers the phenomenon of Chinese food in America from a global and historical viewpoint, touching on subjects as wide ranging as Powerball lotteries (lucky numbers on fortune cookies), takeout box manufacturing, immigration policies and the birthplace of General Tso. Excellent book; glad I picked it up.

Book 11

3 comments:

SnowLeopard said...

I think you must be a walking encyclopedia by now, with all the non-fiction you like to read! :) Did she happen to mention why the 8 in the middle of her name?

Turi Becker said...

Apparently it denotes something (prosperity?) in Chinese culture. It said on the book jacket, but I don't have it handy right now...

Anonymous said...

You are one smart cookie