May 2, Friday evening -- Reading Henry James

In the Mission District, waiting for friends, at that magical time on a Friday when work is done but the fun has yet to begin. If you can find that moment of calm, it's a lucky thing--there is the disco nap and, perhaps equally refreshing, there is Henry James.

Reading The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James. She likes the classics. She's also currently reading War and Peace, by Tolstoy. She's at the part where young Rostov goes off to war and, upset after his first battle wonders something to the extent of--I'm a nice person, why would anyone want to kill me?

Her favorite author--Anthony Trollope. Her favorite book of all time is The Eustace Diamonds, by Trollope. She likes how he writes, how he's long winded and sarcastic. She also loved Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert.

She studied rhetoric and architecture in college. She's currently working in the field of architecture, though, is considering moving into something more literary. The crossover between rhetoric and architecture? They're both very intense. She likes the process and the feeling when something clicks.

Architecture books she recommends: El Croquis books, which document individual architects. Her favorite architects: Steven Holl, who is American and Tadao Ando, who is Japanese.

When she was young, when she lived in China before moving to the U.S. at age seven, she doesn't remember any books, but she does remember watching a cartoon. In it was a cat with magical powers. When she got older, before she turned to the classics, she loved The Baby-sitter's Club series by Ann Martin and Sweet Valley High series, by Francine Pascal.

Her own book--it'd be about people living mundane lives, but yet, somehow, in each and every step they learn something.

Did you read anything good on Friday after work? (assuming you were among those who did have to work on Friday....and were fortunate to be able to stop working.)