Todays rainy day read while waiting for children

These stories are disturbing, with characters who are full of greed, rage, despair. They are often nameless: “the daughter”, “the youth”. A family creates cursed objects; a trapped fox bleeds gold; a woman is pregnant after taking birth control pills. One reads like an urban ghost story, another a fairy tale, this one a science fiction one, that one a fable. It‘s impressive. It‘s grotesque. It‘s dark. It‘s mesmerizing. I couldn‘t stop reading it.

This version of Anne is delightful. She‘s a queer half-Japanese teen with two mums. She loves disco, vintage clothes, and roller skating. Her family just moved to the small town of Greenville, where she just can‘t seem to stay out of trouble. Tamaki captures the spirit of Anne really well. She‘s unique, quirky, and has a quick temper, which causes problems. The issues that Anne faces are a lot more difficult, such as racism and homophobia.

I used to watch Will and Grace and she played kooky neighbour Val. She seems like that in her audiobook too, vivacious and full of energy. Her family was in a car accident when she was 4, and her mother and sister died. She and her younger sis were raised by their dad, and while he tried his best, his parenting style is best described as very permissive. Like when she and her friend snuck on a plane to New York City from Cleveland. They were 12!

Tung‘s book is full of little nuggets that may seem simple but are reassuring and encouraging. Like learning to accept yourself and embrace your awkwardness. And to be kind to others and to yourself.

Having breakfast (coffee and homemade fa gao 发糕) with Vladimir and feeling the need to cover up this rather naughty cover

My first DNF for the year. I‘ve been stuck at 46% for some time now (skipping pages) and just can‘t pick it up again. I‘m disappointed as I‘ve previously enjoyed his books like The Thief. While a fascinating topic (cults), there were too many pages of tedious lectures by the male characters.

A charming story about an unwanted cat at the pet store, who‘s finally bought by an older man, a widower. He‘s never owned a cat before, and the cat has never had an owner before, so they‘re both new to this. Love how Kanda and Fukumaru just adore each other. And we get to hear Fukumaru‘s very cute thoughts, “all I wanted was for someone to look meowy way”.

A truly heartwarming story about relationship between a man and his cat.

This book surprised me. I thought it was possibly a mystery/thriller. But this is instead a story about a family‘s struggle with grief after the death of older daughter Kathy. It‘s set over 15 years, told to Kathy by Sally, before, during, & after.
There‘s a melancholic tone throughout, it‘s a story about pain and loss after all. Yet Sally‘s voice manages to be refreshing, somehow humorous, and heartbreakingly honest.

When my drink and book match - it‘s a peach kombucha from Teazen

A bold unflinching look at racism in the classical music world. An interesting premise and a promising start. This book opened my eyes to racism in the classical music world. But an unbalanced story, a ho-hum mystery, and flat characters just made this book a disappointment for me

Don‘t go into this book expecting bountiful action and epic battles. There is some court intrigue but ultimately it is a riveting but gentle book, with an awkward, flawed, and completely likeable half-goblin fourth son who so happens to find himself now Emperor. A coming of age epic fantasy.

On the last day of 2022, here are the rest of the books that stuck to me, whether because of unforgettable characters, setting, plot, beautiful writing or a combination of all. I had a wonderful year of reading. I hope you did too. Happy new year!

As 2022 comes to an end, I wanted to take a look at some of my favorite reads of the year. I managed to read 29 nonfiction books this year, and these were my favorites (in no particular order):

We Were Dreamers by Simu Liu
Savor by Fatima Ali
Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang
Winter Pasture by Li Juan
Made in China by Anna Qu
Diagnosis by Lisa Sanders
You Can‘t Be Serious by Kal Penn
The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson
Dopesick by Beth Macy

Bookstore browsing

This is the second book in the series and every bit as fun to read as the first. Lila has been asked to be a judge for the local beauty pageant. But there‘s been a murder and she‘s sucked into it. It‘s that kind of cozy mystery which doesn‘t stress the reader too much and you know it will all turn out ok in the end. Just be prepared to be hungry as Lila experiments with delicious desserts for their upcoming cafe.

The 9yo on learning that I‘m reading a series set in space and has aliens: “maybe they look like shrimpy”.

Beautiful but brutal. Tells the tale of a young girl kidnapped in China and smuggled to the US in the late 1800s. A Bildungsroman but also a story of the anti-Chinese violence of the time. Thoroughly researched and beautifully written. I struggled a bit with her (alter ego? Guiding spirit?) Lin Daiyu, Dream of the Red Chamber heroine, that she‘s named after. Lin Daiyu helps her through traumas, of which there are many.

Excited to read this!

First day of summer break (yes last day of school was weirdly a Monday). And it‘s a nice day for a swim and a read by the pool!

Negronis chasing me around, book after book. (See previous post)

Before the first chapter begins, he‘s already making me want a Negroni

When there‘s a new Jasmine Guillory book out, it‘s time to drop everything and read!

Yesterday, making chocolate chip cookies and listening to this audiobook.

What a book! A girl and her mom head home to Last Chance, Minnesota, where her grandparents live and run a Chinese restaurant. She learns how to play poker from her sick grandpa, writes new fortunes for the fortune cookies, and hears the story about her g-g-grandfather‘s journey to the US (effectively lessons on Chinese emigrants‘ history, told as story within story!). Heartfelt and charming, this book needs to be read by more people.

Made chocolate swirl milk bread - an adaptation of the recipes of Mother Of All Milk Bread plus chocolate milk bread plus marble loaf in this fantastic book. Love all the details and recipes (so many to try out - red bean swirl buns, brown sugar shao bing, mo) as well as the stories that she shares about her journey to baking and the features of some Asian bakeries in the US.

A topic about Asian diaspora for Asian heritage month had me thinking about how Singaporeans are Asian diaspora too, although Singapore is located in Asia. For instance, my great-grandparents migrated from China to Singapore and while I may still have distant relatives in China, I haven‘t been there and have no plans to. Anyway, just highlighting some Singapore lit from shelves today.

A topic about Asian diaspora for Asian heritage month had me thinking about how Singaporeans are Asian diaspora too, although Singapore is located in Asia. For instance, my great-grandparents migrated from China to Singapore and while I may still have distant relatives in China, I haven‘t been there and have no plans to. Anyway, just highlighting some Singapore lit from shelves today.

Some books by Asian diaspora as we head towards AAPI Heritage Month. I realize that I don‘t own any books by Pacific Islanders so I hope to remedy that!

While I didn‘t like her previous book, this pandemic time travel novel held onto me and didn‘t let me go. I loved this: “Pandemics don‘t approach like wars, with the distant thud of artillery growing louder every day and flashes of bombs on the horizon. They arrive in retrospect, essentially. It‘s disorientating. The pandemic is far away and then it‘s all around you, with seemingly no intermediate step.”

On a walk this morning while listening to this audiobook, a bee buzzed past and I stopped to watch

It‘s said that when you read a spicy book like A Lot Like Adios, the steaminess of it burns off enough calories so that you can indeed have Black Forest cake for breakfast.

Why read a story like this one? To never forget. Not just the horrors faced by those who fought during the war but also those who were not soldiers yet fought their own wars. How terrifying it must have been to be taken at such a young age, to be abused in this way. These are stories that need to be told and read and remembered. Your heart will break over and over when you read this powerful and necessary graphic memoir.

Why read a story like this one? To never forget. Not just the horrors faced by those who fought during the war but also those who were not soldiers yet fought their own wars. How terrifying it must have been to be taken at such a young age, to be abused in this way. These are stories that need to be told and read and remembered. Your heart will break over and over when you read this powerful and necessary graphic memoir.

Rosa is a student at a ballet academy, where her father is ballet master. She‘s obsessed with Prince, who happens to be training upstairs for a performance. And the ballet students get a chance to audition for the very concert that Prince is headlining.

I loved Rosa and following along with her struggles as she tries to figure out her own path. This was an incredible debut. Loved all the 80s vibes and all the diverse characters.

Ah the things that one does for a book photo. Like picking out doughnut flavors, buying doughnuts, and eating doughnuts, all because of a book about a baker and a meet-cute where a movie star causes some matcha tiramisu doughnuts to fall on the floor. Alas, we didn‘t have matcha tiramisu doughnuts. So regular doughnuts will have to do.

Lunch of leftover pork meatballs and watercress soup, fried tofu, instant noodles tossed in soy sauce and sesame oil. And this beautiful and sad graphic novel about families separated during the Korean War.

Good things come in small packages. Like dim sum. Siu Mai and Har Gow are perfect one or two bite dumplings, any bigger and they just seem a bit too much. And in Ghost Forest, the scenes and vignettes, are often just a few paragraphs long. But they convey so much. Ghost Forest is a quiet and soft read but it managed to wring out all these emotions from me via its spare prose and blank space.

Book and breakfast: pulut hitam (black glutinous rice) with a drizzle of coconut milk. And this book about a fictional interracial Afro-punk band. I‘m still waiting for my hold on the audiobook to come in but thought I‘d start reading the ebook first. What are some books about music and musicians that you‘ve loved?

I probably had too high expectations of this one, about a boy who doesn‘t quite feel emotions. He has a disorder called alexithymia because of underdeveloped amygdalae.
But while I enjoyed the first part of the book, the ending seemed too…easy. Also, the main character just never quite drew me into his story.

Overall, an interesting read but I just wanted more.

Some books I borrowed for #koreanmarch

Library day!

I kept thinking of the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, as I read this book. Except that instead of a procedure to erase memories, there is a drug in which you can store your memories. One that holds not just memories but also all your feelings about those moments. Initially an Alzheimer‘s treatment, it‘s now being abused as people take it to get high. Quite fascinating.

Worked on these crewmates while listening to this audiobook. A very impressive list of voices make up this oral biography of Anthony Bourdain.

Not an easy nonfiction read. A son‘s search for answers about his father‘s abduction & imprisonment by the Libyan govt. But I wondered, why do women not seem to exist in this book? His mother was his sole parent for most of his life and he even travels to Libya with her, but we never learn about her thoughts on her husband‘s disappearance.

I read more than I thought I did last month!

Today‘s read: Fiona and Jane, stories about two young Taiwanese-American women who have been best friends since second grade

Today‘s snack: sesame balls with red bean filling

Today‘s drink: lemongrass tea

This book was just magical to read. The world building was fabulous and I always appreciate when writers include food and drink into a story, as it helps to complete a reader‘s journey into a fantasy story. It was a lush and immersive experience. There is a romance in this story but I didn‘t feel be very invested in it. I was surprised by a plot twist and do hope that the second book explores more about one of the characters involved.

This worked well for me as an audiobook. It might have been a bit repetitive as a print read since it‘s told from three perspectives, but as I can be a bit distracted when it comes to fictional audiobooks, it didn‘t come off that way to me. I loved the very distinct voices by the three narrators. The audiobook was very compelling and kept me hanging on. I tend not to do well with fiction audiobooks but I enjoyed this one greatly.

This novella is quite different from The Black Tides of Heaven, reflecting the differences in personality between the twins Mokoya and Akeha. I found that I enjoyed this one more, perhaps because I was already familiar with the world building and the characters, whom we first meet as children in Black Tides. Just behold this magnificent cover. I can't wait to read the rest of the series