About Lisa

Welcome to my site. Since this is my first published work, I’m afraid I don’t have that much in terms of impressive material. I could dazzle you with the poetry I wrote when I was ten or eleven but you’d probably read it and think ‘that’s not writing that puberty.’ Japan Took The J.A.P. Out of Me is a humorous take on marriage, life and work as a complete and total outsider. I really did move to Nagoya, Japan six days after getting married and what the book doesn’t tell you is that my husband and I not only hadn’t lived together before getting married, but were separated for practically our entire engagement as he was on a Fullbright teaching exchange program in the Czech Republic. It would take much longer than a paragraph to explain all the ways that this experience changed me but in the book I choose to focus on domesticity and the trials and tribulations of learning to be a wife and what that actually “means” in the eyes of society as well as my own mind. I wrote specifically with a humorous interpretation for the story because laughter is my number one most favorite thing in the universe and I have a real affinity for those who can find humor in difficult situations. I hope this book provides you with some good laughs and maybe a few moments of “I can so relate to ….”. As we know, we’ve all been there, done that; so why not laugh about it? Enjoy!

I don't actually go by Lisa Fineberg Cook normally, but Lisa Cook by itself gives no real indication that I am in fact, Jewish so I threw in my maiden name to avoid being accused of being an imposter J.A.P. I love swimming and am the owner of a swim school in Los Angeles called KidSwim Inc., now in its ninth year. I do love writing and have dabbled in it since I was about ten years old. I love spending time with my children and watching movies with my husband – especially bad movies that we can make fun of. I do not enjoy spending money to have my car fixed or on poorly executed manicures. I have high hopes of living overseas again preferably Spain as I am a giant Almadovar fan, and then eventually moving to a very eco-conscious city like Portland, Oregon where I can compost my coffee grounds and eggshells – two things I have almost everyday for breakfast.