My cousin Andrea sent my a huge books of books! Mostly fantasy novels, because those are her favorite. I really like a lot of fantasy novel, as long as they’re light on the Renn faire accent. She also sent me some Stephen King, Shakespeare, and Hairy Rotter and the Unauthorised Parody.
It was perfect.
After borrowing every book available at BET (Jarhead? Shogun? Mao biography? Sure!), I’d have been happy with anything in English.
And then Zorro needed to run an errand that promised to involve lots of waiting, and I said something like “Sure, I’ll come with you! I have a new Stephen King book and I can’t read it at home by myself!” (This may be a little hyperbole)
I started reading in the airport, and I wasn’t even bothered by the early-morning fog that was the first of many delays. I was reading a new book! Also, we met a Little Emperor who discovered the only thing more fun than touching the lao wai‘s hair is kicking her friend in the shins. (No hyperbole this time. Mom, you would have fainted.)
There was one slight problem with this amazing book. Whenever one of the characters stopped into the Excellent Cafe or grabbed a milkshake, I got envious. And that’s why fantasy novels are even better in China. I can’t get nostalgically hungry over moonfruit and roast phoenix.
