Controversial hotpot, giant carrots, and a tofu-eating cat!

A light (har har) missive from the Taiwan Lantern Festival. Plus, this week: book club on American Pastoral and an outing to see City of Sadness.

Hello, readers! 

Albert and Michelle here. It’s the final day of the annual Lantern Festival, one of Albert’s beloved childhood rituals. Roughly a million visitors from across Taiwan have traveled to see the lanterns. Today’s missive celebrates this whimsical festival.

Our child’s favorite: a cat eating stinky tofu.

It’s the Year of the Rabbit, and we’ve seen rabbits in countless scenarios: gazing at a giant carrot, wielding a machine gun, holding a gavel, and, most infamously, boiling in a hotpot. (That bunny has since been removed. The designers insist the bunny was taking a hot bath, not being put in a stew.) We’ve especially loved the Alice in Wonderland takes, including a centerpiece featuring an evil Queen perched above an enormous teacup. As fans of Alice may know, all of her adventures begin when she decides to follow the White Rabbit. (“Nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself ‘Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!’”)

There are plenty …