In reading the two books I will discuss, the threat of censorship was with me on every page. As I read, I was thinking of historical fiction as a source of understanding and new knowledge.What we might learn from the adage...walk a mile in my shoes. Personal stories that shed light on who we were, what we've done, and perhaps, why we are in the state we're in now.
I don't typically read dystopian novels. Too dark for me. The very meaning of dystopia warns me away. It is an imaginary place in which everything is as bad as possible (Oxford dictionary). In the dystopian fiction world, societies are generally characterized by class divides, environmental devastation, and loss of individuality. Set in a near future, they are allegories to generate a sense of urgency to change our ways. Today is my first foray into this world. I read two dystopian novels this week set in an imaginable future that described a degraded world for all of us, but Asian Americans in particular. As the Chinese New Year began, with its horrific violence, it seemed fitting to immerse myself in these worlds. We have a long history of Asian American discrimination in our country, now exacerbated by the pandemic. Both books have Asian American protagonists.
A book like this is why fiction can have an impact on how we view and think about subjects we may know about, but never personally encounter. And it is a great discussion starter.
This list is not a best of 2022 because not all the books were written this year. It is a list of my best reads during the past year.
If you think about the families in this story, the plot and its twists, or even the unlikely title for this book, you might wonder how in the world it fits together. And yet it does. Remarkably well. It is a story of unlikely attractions, where they lead, their consequences and how they shape lives. … Continue reading The Loved Ones: Healing an Inheritance of Grief
There have been many generational family sagas written lately about how choices and experience made in one generation impacts the next. Most, however, are told in the same tired way. There are two storylines—one past, one current— and they alternate chapters with the endpoint moving toward an intersection of the two. Invariably, I savor the … Continue reading HOW TO MAKE A LIFE
A gripping literary thriller about a classical violinist's search to find his stolen Stradivarius as he prepares for the biggest opportunity of his life.
One of the few upsides of quarantine living was the time for more reading. I’m sure many of you surpassed your reading goals quite by accident, others because as with everything else, reading has also become a competitive sport as has cooking, design, fashion, and other arts. I'm just hoping I never see a reality … Continue reading My 2020 Good Reads List
THE IMMORTALISTS BY CHLOE BENJAMIN The central question of this ambitious novel is this: if you were told the exact day you were to die, how would that influence the way you lived? Intertwined in this, of course, is all the complicating subtext of what drives your life in all its facets—overarching to the mundane. Would … Continue reading Would You Want to Know How Long You Have to Live?
This week’s blog is a hard one for me to write. I’m breaking all the rules I set for myself. First, I was going to stay away from best selling books. There are so many books worth reading that could use light beamed their way, I prefer to concentrate my efforts there. Second, as I’ve said … Continue reading Mary Trumps Them All Too Much and Never Enough
Reader’s Cafe 