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Cass M

Cass M

I am a fairly new international expat. I moved to Shanghai, China in Dec. of 2006 to join a group of Americans opening a program for children with disabilities in Shanghai. I am currently the principal of the program. We love living overseas and are not sure when or if we will reurn to the U.S on a permanent basis. Reading has always been my... more »
  • Shanghai, China
  • member since September 20 2008

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Cass M’s last login was 7 days ago. show recent activity »

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Public Notes

  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Hi Cass, and thanks for your news. I'm glad to hear you have it safe, warm and peaceful, even if not quite as exotic as your former place of living. The scale of your city is still huge to me: we have 23.000 people in the whole area, and about 7.000 in our small center, and you have 2 million! Well, to tell you the truth, the reason I want to go to London now and then is to explore a big city, ride in the Underground, sit in a street cafe, look at all those people. Still, the daily life is good here and it's always lovely to come back home.
    We've had the Christmas holidays for a week now and I've read two books already, both thrillers to clean my brain of school stuff. Next I'm going to read something more like real literature that is touching and deeper than just an exciting plot. Have you read Amy Tan? I have her 'Saving Fish from Drowning' still waiting in my bookcase - I might try that? School starts again on January 7th, so there's plenty of time.
    Pirjo

    posted 7 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Hi Cass,
    If I walk to school like I do in wintertime, it takes me around eight minutes! This is a very small community, 7300 people, and we chose this house because it's near the schools and the supermarket. There's a lake nearby also, and we have a small rowing boat to use for fishing and rowing. It's quite idyllic, actually, and we appreciate the lifestyle here. In ten minutes you get to a place where you can pick blueberries and mushrooms... Also, houses with big plots and gardens are quite cheap here, so you can have a life of luxury with a teacher's salary! Yesterday my son Eetu, 11, made a snow dragon out of the first snow of the year and lit a candle in it - it's still burning in the darkening evening in the garden. If that's not luxury, what is?
    I happened to buy a book that takes place in Tibet in Amazon.uk called The Skull Mantra and noticed afterwards that you also have the book! Was it good? It sounds very exotic to me, and the first ever detective story that takes place in Tibet in my bookcase! Can't start it in the next two weeks as I have a lot of tests to mark again, but after that, I'll have a try. Wish you are well and don't fret about those books you had to leave behind!
    Pirjo

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Dear Cass, so happy to hear that you found a place for home. I've heard it said that the climate in Minnesota is very much like Finland: that's why many Finnish immigrants settled there a hundred years ago! I know about the cold weather and all that! If I could choose now, I'd definitely live in a warm climate and not in this dark country with long cold winter months...
    I don't drive myself, neither does my husband, so we don't have a car. This is quite rare in Finland, too. But from what I know of the US, cars are a necessary item there, so do you have any option but to get a car and start driving? I'm so happy I don't have to: I have a bike and even a kicking sleigh for winter! I walk with pleasure, and for longer journeys use the bus or the train, or a taxi if I have heavy shopping to do.
    I really enjoy being your friend - take care out there!

    Pirjo

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Oh Cass,

    I do hope you'll find a home to yourselves and can go back to your roots. Inform me when you have found something suitable. I'm sure you will also find a need to readapt to your home country as you've been away for so long - China, even the present one, is still so much different...

    Pirjo

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Patricia Ryan Madson

    Patricia Ryan Madson says

    If you are asking about the book, Improv Wisdom, then my answer is an unqualified YES! Lots of ideas for your journey.
    Best wishes,
    Patricia Madson

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Janice C

    Janice C says

    No, Cass ~~ Ettrick is up north of La Crosse & south of Winona ~~ used to throw the I Ching back in the 60s ~~ all the hippies did ~~ still have my copy ~~ in my on again / off again study of comparative religions, I read it once in awhile but haven't used the coins for many years ~ nice to hear from you

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Cass,
    Thank you for inviting me as a friend - I gladly accepted!
    I duly understand your decision to move back home after years of moving about and living in different cultures. It takes plenty of energy to adapt to new things again and again, and one could use that energy to other purposes, too, even though I'm sure that you also get a lot to yourself by helping the others.

    Sometimes you've had a book for a long time but keep putting off reading it, for some reason. Then, out of duty, you start reading and realize that the book is really good and you enjoy every page! And wonder why you didn't try it before... It has happened to me many times.

    We have had a lovely fall here this year: warm and sunny. I've cooked juice from black and redcurrants and gooseberries with raspberries; and the apples are still waiting. Nights are a bit frosty sometimes but afternoons are clear and beautiful. The autumn colors are just beginning to appear. I've always loved the fall - I feel very active and living. Also the darkening evenings are very much suitable for a good read deep in the sofa!

    Wish you a good return home,

    Pirjo

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Dianne L

    Dianne L says

    I got Mistress of the Art of Death for Christmas last year and still haven't gotten to it. I've never heard of The Snake Stone but I'll check it out. Thanks.

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Kristen R

    Kristen R says

    Thanks for the suggestion Cass! I will check that out!

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Alma Alexander

    Alma Alexander says

    Thanks, Cass, I appreciate it!

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Hi Cass!
    Already a month since we came back from Cyprus, but I've been cleaning the house and playing Granny so haven't had a chance to write.

    My grandchildren have been here twice, with their parents of course, but those were busy days, I tell you! A lively small boy and a baby learning to sit and crawl keep a household very much on their toes, I noticed. My own children are already so big that they manage on their own for many hours, so keeping alert all the time is really demanding. At night I was so tired that I just collapsed into my bed and didn't even dream of reading anything...

    Well, the beach holiday was lovely: it was hot, around 30C and the sea was warm. There was enough time to read many books during the week, and it was heavenly to eat food that someone else made and served! We didn't have the energy to see any sights but the local atmosphere was present on the beach, too. When we came back home it was 9 degrees centigrade and we were freezing. Later it turned into summer here, too, so we have had dinners out in the garden and fishing trips on our local lake.

    Today I got a big parcel from British Amazon: 19 books I had ordered. It's such a pleasure to look at your home library and know that there are books unread, waiting for the moment you feel like reading a certain kind of book. Sometimes I want a mystery book, sometimes a light chick lit one, but then after those I have a need for real literature and grab a classic like Dickens or read some modern comtemporary novel, like the latest Booker prize winner. It's always thrilling to dive into a brand new book and start exploring. I'm so happy all my kids like reading, too! Even the trips are so easy, when everyone reads on the train or plane.

    I should do a big reorganizing in our bookcase: there are too many books and too few shelves. We don't always agree on which books to give away and usually end up with the same books still there on the crowded shelves! I try to preach on Feng Shui and the need of space for new books but most books have a history and they are important to some one in the family. Perhaps I should give up and buy more bookcases? But then we'd need more rooms and walls, too...

    At the moment I'm reading a very good book about a painter who had manic and depressive periods in her life and whose family suffered her ups and downs each in their own way. So I'm going to go back to reading and wish you a successful packing. Which part of Thailand are you moving to, by the way?

    Take care!

    Pirjo

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Anthony C

    Anthony C says

    Hi,
    Thanks for getting in touch.
    kindest regards,
    Tony

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Hi Cass,

    Nice to hear your trip was such a pleasant one and you had time together with your children. Luckily these days one can communicate quite easily with email and skype and whatever, compared to snail mail and long-distance telephone calls! Even my mother, who's 77, can send text messages just like that. But seeing and talking to your loved ones face to face is not easily replaceable, isn't it?

    Moving is an art form, especially if you have lots of books which you want to keep. Last time we moved was 21 years ago, and it was only for less than a kilometer, but the books took a long time to carry. There are certain books you need to take with you, and deciding which ones to take and which ones to recycle is so hard - there are feelings and memories attached there!

    Are you and your husband going to teach in Thailand, too? Are you going to the coast? I've never been there, but lots of my countrymen spend their winter holidays in Thailand as it's so warm. It's a long flight from Finland, too.

    Yes, this is the last week of school, and next week we'll spend seven days in Cyprus, lying on the beach and enjoying the sea and the sun, hopefully! We have a vacation all the way till August 12th, so lots of time to read books and relax. I'm going to reread all the Jean Auell stone-age books about heroic Ayla and her pet wolf and horse - have you read The Clan of the Cave Bear? It's very good entertainment and also picks your brain now and again.

    Hope to hear from you,

    Pirjo

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Oh, actually my grandchildren live in southern Finland, near Helsinki, but they have rather international names as their mother and father both like English culture and the language, just like me. I try to go to London as often as possible because it's a kind of wonderland to me: so full of books and English speaking people. I'm a teacher of English and an Anglophile, so perhaps that explains my eagerness. It's only less than three hours by plane, so easy access, too.

    I started Ulysses with the purpose of reading it all the way to the end, but it turned out to be more difficult than I expected. I was on holiday, so there was time, but the language was sometimes very hard to understand and I didn't get what I wanted out of it, so I gave up, but not finally. I'll start again after I've retired from my teaching job and take it as a challenge. There is a Finnish translation available, but it was made by a Finnish poet who took a lot of liberties in his work and made the translation more of his own work and not Joyce's, so I don't want to read that. Besides, I just read all my fiction in English these days - it's my hobby and passion all the same.

    You really do have a long way to meet your kids, and also to buy books! Doesn't even the Amazon in Britain deliver books in China? Or the French one, they also have English books on their site? When you go home in May, perhaps you can mail a big box of books to your China home, so there'll be reading for a whole year! I have a two-week break in test marking at the moment, until after Easter, so I'll just go to my bookcase and pick another one - I got a big shipment, 16 books, from English Amazon two weeks ago... But there's already a new shopping basket brewing: Ariana Franklin for example!

    Happy reading,

    Pirjo

    posted 9 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Hi Cass. Yes, this is a grandchild, my second one actually! Sofia Matilda is now two months old and she's got a big brother Noel who is two. It's so awesome to get more people to love in the family.
    London was great once again: spring was there, crocuses blooming and robins and blackbirds singing. But no bookshops this time, only one Elizabeth George, the latest called Careless in red, bought at the airport for the return trip. When you travel with the family, you have to compromise.. My youngest is only eleven, so we visited parks and museums but didn't do much shopping.
    Well, there's always Amazon to turn to! Next time I make an order I'm going to buy the Franklin you mentioned - it sounds really interesting. I have always liked Ellis Peters's Brother Gadfael books even if I'm not religious at all, I just like the atmosphere.
    You asked about Ruth Rendell. I really like her Inspector Wexford books but she also writes prychological thrillers which are very good. One called something like The Chinese Flute (at least I think it was that?) might interest you as it takes place in China, too. She also uses a pseudonym Barbara Vine to write thrillers which are pretty interesting, too.
    In Finland teachers in secondary schools have a holiday in summer when the schools are closed, usually from the beginning of June till the second week in August. So that's the time when I do my serious reading: it's a fantastic way to relax and unwind after all those human encounters during the school year. Last year I tried to read Ulysses and the year before that I spent a month with War and Peace! What pure heaven, lying in the garden and reading a good book!

    posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Cass,
    Thanks for the new names - I haven't read any of them. I'm going to London in two weeks so I'll go and try to catch one or two of them there!
    At the moment passionate reading is not very easy to do as I'm in the middle of a test period at school; piles of tests to mark on my desk, so I'll just have to do with a book with no plot. Luckily there are interesting travel books, nature books or books about food that one can read in times like this. They don't lure you into spending half the night with them when you should be working or sleeping...
    I get most of my books from Amazon in London, and as soon as I have the books at home I usually add them to my bookshelf in Shelfari, as books that I own. Then, later I transfer a book I'm reading into that category, and finally on the shelf where all the 'I've read' books are. That way I can keep track of all the books I have waiting to be read, as my real-life bookcase is so full of books that it's sometimes difficult to find anything from there! In my family everybody reads a lot!

    posted 11 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Hi Cass. My list might be like this, in no special order: Robert Van Gulik, Ruth Rendell, Sara Paretsky, Donna Leon, Jonathan Kellerman, Minette Walters, Carl Hiaasen, P.D. James, Kathy Reichs and perhaps Jeffery Deaver - or then again, the last might also be Nelson DeMille, David Baldacci or one of their kind, as I sometimes find myself gorging on these quite male type of thrillers with lots of international intrigue, guns and explosions!?
    Mainly, however, I like my mysteries to have something else besides a gripping plot that keeps me awake till the small hours: interesting places, original personalities, touching human problems and good language. Witty dialogue or a great sense of humour, like Carl Hiaasen has, gets an extra bonus on my list.
    I started at an early age with Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh and such, simple whodunits, but lately I really appreciate an original and even exotic mystery, so I also read Sujata Massey, Alexander McCall Smith and Qiu Xiaolong, whose first is so far the only one I've read. I also like Ellis Peters very much because of the Middle Age background to Brother Gadfael.
    I'm really relieved that you also forget your reading, because my husband seems to remember books that he's read ten years ago, even some little details and the whole plot! But I tell myself it's because he's a teacher of mother tongue and literature, so he just has to! I like Shelfari and try to add all my books here, to help me to come back to them.

    posted 11 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pirjo S

    Pirjo S says

    Oh Cass, you posed me a tricky task! It seems very difficult to name ten favourites, as I'm definately a person who forgets most of the books I read in a month or two!! But would it be OK if I told you ten of my favourite mystery writers?

    posted 11 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Peter C

    Peter C says

    The impetus for writing HUNTING actually came in the early 1990s. (HUNTING is the sequel. The firt Molly novel TRACES OF A LIFE hasn't been published yet). I read an article in the Boston Globe in which a prelate of the Catholic Church wrote that he could deny someone access to God if they belonged to an organization he disapproved of. That is, pro-choice organizations. I wanted to write an answer. The main character is a woman conflicted between her intellect and her loyalty to her faith. The main question for any person searching for 'the truth' is what i right in faith? My answer is: anything. There is no one right religion. When I read I tend to read historical fiction more than mysteries. My wife reads PD James and Patricia Cornwell.I have read historical mysteries. I think THE DANTE CLUB was one. Umberto Eco. THE ALIENIST. If you ever delve into Sci-Fi mysteries, Isaac Asimov has several with a robot detective.

    posted 11 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Danielle G

    Danielle G says

    You should read Dragon Fly in Amber but only if you have read the first book in ther series. Dragon Fly in Amber is the second. It is a wonderful historical ficton novel about the romance between Claire and Jamie standing tests throught time. The Third and part of the fourth get a little boring with all the discriptions of things but are still really good.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )


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