Do Buy:
Korean design

The MoMA store has a new collection of objects designed by Korean designers! Here's their description of their new feature:

Our new product collection highlights products usually found only in South Korea. Products from young, emerging Korean designers have been selected across a range of categories. The selection reflects Korea's cultural interest in color and nature and puts a modern spin on traditional Korean design and crafting.

I for one am in love with the Korean Meal Business Card Holder and the Tea Mug, which has a little notch in it for the dangling string.

Do Buy:
Glory Chen shoes

I stumbled into Glory Chen on Maiden Lane this weekend and wound up buying a beautiful pair of brown pumps. I'll upload a photo later, but for now, I am showcasing this amazing pair of boots - also Glory Chen. They're on sale at www.endless.com for only $198 from $449.95! They're a steal. Her shoes are gorgeously designed and insanely comfortable. Glory Chen store is located at 134 Maiden Lane in San Francisco's Union Square.

Do Read:
The Piano Teacher by Janice Lee

This is one of those first novels that make me despair of ever getting anything serious accomplished before 40 (used to be 30, but i'm learning not to be so hard on myself). Like White Teeth and Interpreter of Maladies, The Piano Teacher immerses the reader in another culture, both familiar and exquisitely foreign. I've had a long fascination for Hong Kong, which Janice Lee has validated with her descriptions of a sultry, sophisticated city, beset by war. This is a book that makes you think of Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, lifting you into the life of the privileged British gentry and their imprisonment in internment camps. But the story is feminine, sensuous and melancholy. The heroines are lovely and lovingly painted, with complexity and empathy.

The story moves briskly and the main characters are beguiling. This is the most interesting novel i've read in months. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.