The Valley of Amazement (4), Amy Tan

This is another audiobook that I listened to to fall asleep after a long, stressful day of grad school. That being said, I don't know that I have a lot of profound thoughts about this book. This book is a beautiful tapestry of life in Shanghai courtesan houses, a remote Chinese mountain village, and nineteenth-century San Francisco. It is a tale of mothers and daughters, of loss, and ultimately, of love. It's a little sexy, a little tear jerk-y, a little

Yep. Go read it if you're into pretty, expansive historical fiction. It was one of those books I listened to over the course of a couple months, falling asleep pretty easily a half hour at a time...until I got to the end and was like "ugh why does the narrator sound so annoying if I try to speed it up? I need to know what happens!"

But it's definitely one of those books that if you want to throw across the room. Like the time Umbridge locked up Harry Potter's broomstick in Order of the Pheonix.

Oh the feels...

...How did I link Amy Tan with Harry Potter? Because Harry Potter is the most universal way to describe feelings and if you don't know what I'm talking about...

Speaking of which, our landlord came over to sign some paperwork because we're getting another roommate, who also came with a cat, so now my house has TWO CATS. The point of this segue is that my cat is named Hermione, which the landlord thought was cool, he was all, "I could be friends with you guys." Which, if he was not my landlord I would totally be cool with. I then muttered, "her name is actually Princess Hermione Everdeen...so...you can see how seriously I take my life," or something like that. To which he replied, "I love all those movies." And I smiled back, because I am a good person. But inside I was screaming, "THEY ARE BOOKS, SIR! BOOKS!"

Hermione trying to hide.
At 1 year old, Hermione is not taking after her namesake. Maybe by 11?

And at this point I would like to add that I somehow have friends, but I'm aware you probably think this is a lie. In this post I have talked more about Harry Potter and my cat than the actual, beautiful, book I read.

Most of my friends DO like Harry Potter. And cats.

I swear my friends are real, human people. I swear.