(no subject)

Good things about my job:

Someone must have taken some class on the history of Asian-Americans, because they just sold their books to us. The boss was going to turn a few away because they had been slightly highlighted, then noticed I was very interested in one book on Chinese prostitution in early San Francisco, and drew my attention to those. Ha, five dollars! Then employee discount ^_^.

I feel kind of bad that I was an East Asian Studies major and know almost nothing about this stretch of history -- mostly I did Japanese pop culture and ancient Chinese history (and pre-modern Japanese history, 1600-on). Plus, prostitution.

Sexual history/politics really interests me. And it'll be nice to know about this in addition to Japanese hostesses and the geisha and Yoshiwara.

Now I need to find something on Chinese prostitutes/courtesans in pre-modern China!

Chance, Megan - The Portrait

Which I just got in the mail from Half.com, whoo! Also in the mail was a note that my Amazon order (newest Kinsale, Dirda's Readings, something else -- Carla Kelly maybe?) was there, except I am still irked because it's at the apartment manager's office and her hours do not always coincide with my not-at-work hours. GRR. Want book now damnit.

But had this. Of course, this can also be construed as a bad thing, considering that I started reading at 2, promised myself I'd only read a chapter, and promptly ended up finishing at six in the morning. Had to get up at ten for work. Ugh. Nearly overslept -- did that thing where I turned off my alarm clock without waking up =(.

Half of Megan Chance's books seem to do this to me -- I read The Gentleman Caller, Fall From Grace, and A Candle in the Dark in precisely this manner (those are my favorites of hers). So this one definitely goes up there with them.

It's got many of Chance's trademarks (or what I have pinned down as some): dealing with real life issues and not romanticizing them at all.. in this case, with a manic-depressive hero. Much like her treatment of outlaws in Fall From Grace or alcoholism in Candle in the Dark, she refuses to use the disease to make the hero somehow sexier or more mysterious. And I like how he is missing a hand, and how it's not one of those romance hero "I'm ugly and my face is scarred and no one will ever love me for I do not deserve their love" things when the scarring is really not that bad, etc. Further kudos go toward making the hero's angsty decision to drive the heroine away because he is not worthy (blah de blah) a truly viable option. Chance doesn't hesitate to show that if Imogene remains with Jonas (the manic-depressive artist), it is really for better and for worse, and more often than not, for worse. Pragmatically speaking, Imogene would be ten times better off without him, even in the wake of a scandal.

Like melymbrosia, I'm in doubt of the happy ending, and in my imagination, love conquers all turns into bitterness, or weariness, or despair.

One of the most frustrating things is knowing what helps these days, but it's a good frustration, and I'm glad the author doesn't cheat and have him accidentally ingest something with lithium and discover he can be cured. Too many romances cheat -- I think that's why Romeo and Juliet or Casablanca or even Gone With the Wind remain classics. They don't suddenly throw in a deus ex machina and have the happily ever after, and I wish more often that romances would figure that out. Well, the angsty ones. Because I want my sap and comedy as much as the next person ;).

Anyhow, getting distracted again. The book has also got the problematic parent-child relationship, and I thought that this could almost be Corinne from The Gentleman Caller's story, if Corinne and Rosalie had switched personalities.

I particularly liked the paleness of Imogene, her faded quality that was more strength and will than anything else. It reminds me of the title "Sarah, Plain and Tall" and of how "plain and tall" can sometimes be better than being beautiful.