You've Changed: Fake Accents, Feminism, and Other Comedies from Myanmar | 
1. Favorite fruits: concord grapes in season, Rainer cherries,various varieties of apples-in season now! I could go on & on- love all fruit!
2. Tagged memoir is by a Myanmar writer, about identity, migration, intergenerational expectations & rice! She eats with friends, her aunts, her parents, family. Highly recommend.
Tagging all Littens!
#12booksof2022 #June #July
You‘ve Change is a memoir/essays written with humor, passion, grace,by Pyae Moe Thet War.Born in Myanmar,& educated in English schools,she struggles with pathos & laughter to integrate two very disparate worlds.
Her Hidden Genius is historical fiction at its best. Rosiland Franklin used an xray process that resulted in her discovery of the double helix.But in 1962 when the Pulitzer Prize was awarded,her work was hidden.
#alphabetgame #U
I learned so much about this author who is caught between 2 worlds:Myanmar culture & western culture. Her writing is beautiful & honest.The situations she finds herself in are heartfelt & comical.She writes of simple daily happenings like doing laundry & how both cultures approach this task.Her essays also contain bigger truths such as identity, racism, family, friendship. Highly recommended! These essays stayed with me for ages.
These are the books I read & finished for ##joysofjune #readathon @Andrew65 thanks so much for sponsoring this readathon -I really enjoy checking in with people and seeing what everyone is reading! Really appreciate your organizing these!
pick“Fake Accents,Feminism, and Other Comedies from Myanmar”-The subtitle of this book of linked essays says it all.I read each essay one at time;I could savor each one that way.So much packed in here-essays around daily life such as doing laundry,baking,swimming,tongue twisters,Myanglish.She digs in deep with humor so each essay speaks to Myanmar culture & social mores,a Buddhist upbringing,identity when straddling the East & West,immigration,racism.
I might as well quote the whole book…!
#marriage #immigration #systemicracism #visa #manmadeline
For Pyae Mor Thet War, the massive amounts of paperwork & factual proof needed to marry in the UK was a huge insurmountable hurdle, taking years & money. #marriage #identity #racism #immigration
1)🧑🏽💻🧇🍚🫖🥡🧂🩹🛀🏾📕👁🎓👑🍰🥣🏊🏼♂️
2) Northern Spy needs a sequel.
3) 4 stars for Death Brings a Shadow, by Rosemary Simpson.
Anyone join in the fun! #wonderoudwednesday
I read the author‘s essay, “HTAMIN SAR CHIN TAE”, this morning. She talks about how rice is “ seeped” in Mynmar‘s language, a meal MUST include big plates of rice. This essay includes themes of family, love, comfort, straddling Mynmar‘s culture & Western culture, fat shaming, food as love. The author states:”To be Mynmar means to love rice.During the 2021 coup, people ran out to get rice, salt& oil-staples they could not live without.
#porchlife
In The essay I read today,”A Baking Essay I Need To Write,” Payae Moe Thet War talks about her love & expertise at baking,something that is non existent in Myanmar‘s cuisine.Myanmar‘s cooks focus on “winging things and tasting…”,while baking takes precision & access to dairy (which doesn‘t keep in Myanmar due to inconsistent electricity hence lack of refrigerators). Aluminum pots & a stove top is all that is needed. I am so loving this book!!!!
#bookreport
Finished all these this week, except for You‘ve Changed. Reading a chapter a week. I am in quarantine so I read, read, read. 📚📚📚
I have been reading one essay at a time,and thoroughly enjoying each one.Her commentaries on her country (Myanmar),her culture, western influences,women, family, laundry(the Myanmar way) are funny, startling, informative,engaging, thought provoking…
pickYou‘ve Changed is an essay collection by a woman from Myanmar noodling on race, family, language, and more. It‘s completely delightful, balancing a typically lighthearted tone with meaty topics. Pyae comes across as thoughtful and authentic, and the editing is deft, as I feel she really shines through. Loved it.
#MarvelousMay #readathon #report #May14toMay15
Lost Among the Living-78 pp; People of the Book-66pp-I had to stop when in the middle of the Inquisition ch- although I knew all about its history, it was so well written that I felt like I was right there in that century & I felt nauseous… A Death in Seascape House- 3 ch. #audio; You‘ve Changed-20 pp; Fool Me Once-368 pp-the whole book.
Back to Work tomorrow…
The first essay,A Me by Any Other Name,is thought provoking.It is a lesson in the common repetition of names in Myanmar culture.The author herself is Pyae Pyae,while her given name is Pyae Moe Thet War. Moe has a connection to her Dad;Thet to her mom.War is from a palm reader,who got the name in the stars.It also explores the pressures she endured in HS to change her name to a Western,English name.She refused, wanting to preserve her culture.
