Review from Book Addiction

From Book Addiction:

The book is best described as a novel in stories.  It is definitely a concrete novel, it follows a mostly linear timeline and there’s a clear beginning, middle, and end to it.  But each chapter is absolutely a short story in and of itself.  You could read any one of the chapters, and even though you may not be intimately acquainted with the characters, you would get enough of a sense of them to fully understand and appreciate what that chapter offers.

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If my novel were a house, this reviewer figured out the blueprint.  As a writer, there’s no higher compliment than to be understood.  She made my day.

6/10: Beatrice & 6/14: BooksNJ2009

I’ll be doing two events this week:

Wednesday, June 10: The Biggest Beatrice Reading Yet

june10-beatrice

If you were at last week’s “Beatrice at the Merc” season finale, you know how awesome the combination of debut novelists and the singer/songwriters of the Bushwick Book Club can be—but if you missed it, I’ve got good news: Next Wednesday, June 10, I’m going back to the Slipper Room (167 Orchard St.) with four writers—Judy Blundell, Matthew Aaron Goodman, Theresa Rebeck, and Sung J. Woo—and five musicians—Franz Nicolay, Susan Hwang, Dibson Hoffweiler, Tom Curtin, and Phoebe Kreutz—and we’re going to put on another no cover/cash bar extravaganza. (Doors open 7 p.m.)

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Sunday, June 14: BooksNJ

booksnj2009logo

BooksNJ2009 brings together writers and readers

90 authors, illustrators, and poets up close and personal
talking about their books and their craft

Readings
Panels
Crafts for kids
Storytelling

The event is free and open to everyone.

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I’ll be doing a panel called The Immigrant Experience with Wendy Lee and Ed Lin.

6/6: Cornell Reunion Author Signing

The last time I was back at my alma mater was 2001, and of course, what I said is what everybody says — boy, have things changed.  And now, another eight years after that witness of change, the repetition of that well-worn phrase is once again apt.  They must’ve added another dozen buildings, and parts of Cornell are almost unrecognizable.

I returned for the reunion and the author signing.  The best part of the event was seeing old friends and also meeting the spectacularly talented J. Robert Lennon.

5/28: Drinks with Tony

pirate_cat_sungYesterday I drank with Tony — that is, I was at Pirate Cat Radio in the Mission District of San Francisco doing an interview.  Up first is Andy Raskin talking about his book The Ramen King and I, and then it’s me, and then we wrap up the show with Rebekah Anderson of Debut Lit, the great folks who put together my west coast launch.

Listen to the podcast (about two hours long, so sit back and enjoy!)

Star Trek Through the Years

A post I wrote about Star Trek on The Nervous Breakdown:

For the last two weeks, I had intended to write up a little review of the new Star Trek film, but then I got thinking about what this franchise has meant to me. Don’t worry — I’m not some loon who knows the stardate of when Kirk took his first swig of Romulan Ale, and I certainly can’t translate Shakespeare into Klingon. However, I’m not a casual fan, either. I’ve seen enough Star Trek to know what the prime directive means or that Uhura’s name comes from the Swahili word for freedom.

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San Francisco Week

hiveLater this week I’ll be in San Francisco, for the west coast launch at The Hive.  The essentials:

Saturday, May 30
Doors open at 7 pm; reading at 7:30 pm
The Hive, San Francisco
Pacific Avenue at Hyde (21+)

I’ll be reading with Andy Raskin, author of The Ramen King and I.  Check out the quick entry in the Chronicle’s weekly Literary Guide.

In addition, we’ll be drinking with Tony on Thursday:

Thursday, May 28
4pm – 6pm
Pacific Time
87.9fm, San Francisco
Streamed at Pirate Cat Radio
Hosted by Tony DuShane

hyphen-logoHyphen Magazine, based in San Francisco, interviewed me via email a little while ago, and now it’s up: The WRITE Questions with Sung Woo.

One thing I’ll definitely do in this great city: stand in line with everybody else at Tartine Bakery.  We did it last time we were there, and I can’t wait to go back.

Book Notes at Largehearted Boy

lhbNobody weaves literature and music together like Largehearted Boy:

Like many readers today I am drawn to immigrant fiction, but too often the books rely on tired cliches and/or uninspired storytelling. Thankfully, that is not the case with Sung J. Woo’s exceptional debut novel, Everything Asian. Woo’s interconnected stories capture the reality of the immigrant experience while also exploring the Kims’ dysfunctional family, often through the honest eyes of young son David. Woo’s portrait of 80’s suburban New Jersey strip mall culture (told from South Korean immigrants’ perspective) is one of the year’s most surprising novels, the rare book that left me yearning for a sequel.

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