Karen Brichoux’s Followers (13)

Karen Brichoux

Website

http://karenbrichoux.com

Genre

Literature & Fiction

Influences

Graham Swift, Neil Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, C.S. Friedman, George Orwe ...more

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The daughter of American missionaries, I was born and raised in Southeast Asia. Most of my childhood was spent reading or forcing the long-suffering family pets to act out the plots of books I'd recently read.

In college, everything interested me, and I could never answer the question “What do you want to be?” without a measure of sarcasm over the idea that “being” something was somehow equated with “doing” something. Still, guidance tests had revealed a natural predilection for verbal and mechanical skills, which had caused my high school counselor to suggest English literature or, if that didn’t interest me, perhaps becoming a car mechanic. Oddly, no one suggested mechanical engineering, probably because I had managed to fail Algebra I the The daughter of American missionaries, I was born and raised in Southeast Asia. Most of my childhood was spent reading or forcing the long-suffering family pets to act out the plots of books I'd recently read.

In college, everything interested me, and I could never answer the question “What do you want to be?” without a measure of sarcasm over the idea that “being” something was somehow equated with “doing” something. Still, guidance tests had revealed a natural predilection for verbal and mechanical skills, which had caused my high school counselor to suggest English literature or, if that didn’t interest me, perhaps becoming a car mechanic. Oddly, no one suggested mechanical engineering, probably because I had managed to fail Algebra I the first time I took it.

After stints as a secondary education major, a theater major, and a humanities major, I graduated with a degree in English literature. Still interested in everything, I went on to graduate school for an MA in European history, where I focused on the social, political, and religious history of twelfth- and thirteenth-century France.

While working toward a PhD in European history with a concentration in nineteenth-century social/political history combined with political, labor, and feminist theory, I began the painful process of re-examining what really interested me (beyond the label “everything”). I had been writing stories all my life, but I’d always pictured authors as reclusive, frightened, bitter people. Realizing that the description also applied to PhD students, I abandoned my prejudice against being an author and wrote my first book. I naively assumed that awards and editor requests meant I was going to be published by tomorrow or, at worst, the day after. I left graduate school and began writing full time, even when it became obvious I was not going to be a published author tomorrow or even next week. Three years later, Coffee & Kung Fu was published by Penguin Press.

Writing is, in many ways, a reversion to childhood. I still spend most of my time reading and living in the world of my imagination, but the family pets are happy to report that I no longer enlist their services in acting out plots.
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Average rating: 3.36 · 926 ratings · 128 reviews · 5 distinct works • Similar authors

	Coffee And Kung Fu by Karen Brichoux, Lisa Lelas 3.37 avg rating — 664 ratings — published 2003 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Separation Anxiety 3.44 avg rating — 135 ratings — published 2004 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Girl She Left Behind 3.21 avg rating — 85 ratings — published 2005 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Falling Into the World 3.10 avg rating — 41 ratings — published 2006 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Coffee and Kung fu really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Karen Brichoux…

Quotes by Karen Brichoux (?)

“The moment isn't a piece of time; it's a question. The moment comes when you look up and see your life stretching out for seventy more years. And there, in front of you, like a giant roadblock, is the question: Is this life good enough for the next seventy years? But maybe that's the easy question. The next logical question--Can I live like this?--is the killer. Because it isn't a yes or no kind of question. It's a do or die kind of question.

I avoid moments.”
― Karen Brichoux, Coffee And Kung Fu

7 likes

“She’s had the moment. A moment isn’t a piece of time, it’s a question. A realization. A trauma. The moment comes when you look up and see your life stretching out for seventy more years….Is this life good enough for the next seventy years?”
― Karen Brichoux, Coffee And Kung Fu

4 likes

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Karen Brichoux’s Followers (13)

Karen Brichoux

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Karen Brichoux’s books