Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.
Happy Wednesday! What did you get from your library this week?
A Chinese American family grapples with the dark undercurrents in a small town after the patriarch is found dead.
Kween – Vichet Chum
A YA story by a Cambodian-American author. As it’s AAPI heritage month in the US, I wanted to try to read more books by Southeast Asian-American authors, who tend to be overlooked.
The Art of Prophecy – Wesley Chu
First of all, I was attracted to that great cover. Then I realised it had to do with wuxia and a wrong prophecy, and was even more excited to borrow it.
A truly fascinating account of Chinese-American history as traced through the writer’s family, through five generations. Mott Street is titled after a street in New York City’s Chinatown, where many of Chin’s family lived.
Chin brings these stories to light by imagining what some of the scenarios might have been like, with fictionalised scenes that help to fill in some gaps. It takes a bit of getting used to but does help me create in my mind these scenes.
“But when you’re Chinese in America, with roots that stretch back to the Exclusion era, it is the historical record that is a fabulist fabrication, and the oral stories, passed down from generation to generation, like rare, evolving heirlooms, that ultimately hold the keys to the truth.”
I was in awe with the amount of research that Ava Chin dug up about her family. She traces five generations of her Chinese American family, even unearthing their official documents, unofficial documents, collecting oral histories that have been passed down through the generations.
She manages to track down their Chinese Exclusion files on both sides of her family, kept at the National Archives and Records Administration. The government kept extensive files on Chinese immigrants, with meticulous details from their interviews, trying to determine if they were indeed who they said they were. According to the writer, questions even included details like the distance from the village drinking well to the house, descriptions of the house, which family members were alive and were dead. All in a bid to restrict the numbers of Chinese immigrating into the US.
“They call it exclusion,” wrote Chan Kiu Sing, a Methodist minister from Los Angeles, just after Chinese Exclusion was made permanent, “but it is not exclusion, it is extermination.”
The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882. In 1943, 105 (!) Chinese immigrants were allowed to enter each year. But it was only in 1965 with the passing of the Immigration Act that this 105 quota was removed.
I enjoyed this audiobook, which the author herself narrates, but also borrowed the ebook which does show some of the documents and photos that the writer uncovered. Earlier this year, I read Ghosts of Gold Mountain by Gordon H Chang, another extensively researched history of the Chinese who worked on the transcontinental railroad, and would highly recommend it if you’re interested in more Chinese-American history.
Did you get to see the aurora borealis? The first night, I was asleep, the second night I tried to see it in the backyard but that day there were hardly any sightings in my area. So I didn’t bother last night either. Oh well!
We haven’t had Indian food for a while, so here’s my favourite, dal makhani, as well as saag paneer. Tandoori chicken and garlic naan.
Some flowers for Mother’s Day
Pear cake, as I wanted to use up the pears that we had (recipe here)
Made Hong Kong pai bao (recipe here), because I don’t like to turn on the oven for just one thing. This is a very soft bread sweetened with condensed milk.
Currently…
Reading:
Stars in Your Eyes – Kacen Callender
The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee – Ellen Oh
Watching:
The kdrama Chicken Nugget. The younger kid was sitting next to me when I browsing Netflix and saw this series, he wanted to check it out. It’s a very strange show, where a young woman enters this unknown machine and turns into a chicken nugget (she happens to say the words “chicken nugget” when she’s in the machine).
Listening:
Kween – Vichet Chum
A book by a Cambodian-American author.
Eating and Drinking:
I had a slice of pear cake
Cooking:
Yesterday I made a kind of mapo pork belly eggplant, but really it wasn’t mapo at all, I just don’t know what to call it. I fried up some sliced up pork belly, removed from heat, then fried some cubed eggplant and zucchini, also cooked down some minced ginger and garlic. Authentic mapo tofu relies on doubanjiang or spicy bean sauce, Sichuan peppercorns etc to give the flavour. I had none of those but wanted to make something with a sauce that’s somewhat reminiscent of mapo tofu (while also not using tofu as I only had firm tofu). I ended up using Korean ssamjang, which is a paste of fermented soy beans, garlic, chilli paste etc. Added some chicken broth, sesame oil, sugar to taste. Let simmer with all the ingredients for a bit for the flavours to meld. Served it with rice.
Last week:
I read:
Eli Over Easy – Phil Stamper
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop – Hwang Bo-reum
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.
Happy Wednesday! What did you get from your library this week?
Here’s my latest library loot:
The Cemetery of Untold Stories – Julia Alvarez
A woman inherits land in the Dominican Republic, and turns it into a graveyard for her manuscript drafts and the characters who still haunt her.
Confrontations – Simone Atangana Bekono, translated from the Dutch by Suzanne Heukensfeldt Jansen
I hadn’t heard of this book or author before, so I was glad to have chanced upon it on the New Arrivals shelves. I started reading this one already, and it’s a well-told story about a young woman in juvenile detention. She is in for six months for a violent crime.
Stars in Your Eyes – Kacen Callender
I enjoyed Callender’s Felix Ever After and was happy to find this on the fiction shelves. It’s a fake-dating story with two actors, one who is Hollywood’s bad boy and the other is an up-and-coming newbie.
I also borrowed some books for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month:
The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee – Ellen Oh
A Korean American teenage artist gets sucked into the world of her own web comic. Sounds cute!
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop – Hwang Bo-reum, translated from the Korean by Shanna Tan
It’s one of those heartwarming stories set in a bookstore, so it’s definitely going to be popular with booklovers! I was interested in this also because the translator is Singaporean.
This book just was so hard to get through, despite its short chapters (more like vignettes that skip back and forth throughout the timeline) and 224 pages. It’s a story about suicide, the loss of a twin, coming to terms with death and grief. It’s not a book that anyone can say that they enjoy, since it is such a heavy topic, but it was simply told, and there was beauty in simplicity. It’s a hard read though, and won’t be for everyone.
What I’d Rather Not Talk About is shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.
My mum flew back to Singapore on Saturday morning! She had stayed with us for about a month, and it was so nice to have her here. The kids were sad and teary about her leaving so after the airport, we took them to have burgers at Gott’s, which we hadn’t been to in years.
I had the bacon cheeseburger and the kids wanted a chocolate milkshake and onion rings. It was a strangely rainy day for May! It rained all the way to the airport, and it still rained all the way when we reached home.
The lovely indie bookstore Books Inc is next to Gott’s, so we had a nice wander around.
The day before my mum flew off, we took her to try the Korean beef soup place. I had the kalbi tang (beef rib soup) which was delicious. Unfortunately, this eatery doesn’t have the best side dishes though.
One of the dishes my mum cooked last week – Singapore-style chicken curry. So good, although a bit spicy for the kids!
Another Singapore dish is kong bah or pork stew. We used the storebought buns to put the pieces of tender meat in.
And hotpot!
Currently…
Reading:
Watching:
Listening:
Eating and Drinking:
Half a strawberry and half a chocolate cereal mochi doughnut
Cooking:
We have some leftovers today for dinner. But I may make a baked pasta dish for tomorrow.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.
Happy Wednesday! What did you get from your library this week?
My younger son turned 11 last week and for his actual birthday itself, he wanted a Black Forest cake. As some of you may know, I’ve been making black forest cakes for a few years now, as it’s my husband’s favourite cake – and I guess now the boys have decided that it’s their favourite too 😛
The birthday boy was disappointed that his birthday was on a weekday, with regular school plus a state test too! But he perked up when we took him out for birthday dinner where he ordered this salmon and ikura bowl and devoured it.
On Saturday, he had friends over for his birthday party, with lots of video games, nerf guns, playground tag and more, and he wanted an ice-cream cake. I’ve never made an ice-cream cake before, so it was something new for me!
Back at the track again on Sunday.
On Sunday, we went to our favourite Korean place for dinner.
Currently…
Reading:
What I’d Rather Not Think About – Jente Posthuma
Watching:
Hope on the Street
Listening:
Mott Street – Ava Chin
Eating and Drinking:
A coffee and an Oreo
Cooking:
Today we have leftovers, but tomorrow, a Singapore-style curry chicken.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.
Happy Wednesday! What did you get from your library this week?
Here’s my latest library loot:
Cat + Gamer Vol 1 – Wataru Nadatani
I couldn’t help it! The cover is too cute.
What I’d Rather Not Think About – Jente Posthuma, translated by Sarah Timmer Harvey
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. The narrator is a twin whose brother has recently taken his own life.
Mott Street – Ava Chin
It’s fascinating that the writer was able to trace her ancestors and learn that many of them lived in a building in New York’s Chinatown. I was particularly interested to read this as it involves the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Oof last week was a tough one for me, as I was sick all week with some kind of cough/cold/chills situation that still lingers today.
The older boy’s middle school band performed at a music festival, where they bands are graded. They also did a sight-reading test, which I didn’t realise that bands do. They did great, receiving top scores for their performances.
Sunday was again track meet day, but as I was still not feeling 100%, I stayed mostly under the shady trees. It was pretty hot out there!
My son wanted a photo of his burger. We went out for dinner on Sunday and the younger boy got to pick the place as his birthday is coming up. Of course it involved burgers. But I did suggest a diner that allowed for the rest of us to eat other things too
Currently…
Reading:
Mater 2-10 – Hwang Sok-yong
Watching:
Weirdly I started watching Grey’s Anatomy, which I had not watched for a long time.
Listening:
Mott Street – Ava Chin
Eating and Drinking:
Toast and tea
Cooking:
Tonight we have leftovers from dinner out yesterday, but was thinking of cooking some chicken curry this week.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
Real Life Reading 