Three young Chinese women find themselves brought together in the earliest days of the city we know as Los Angeles. Petal, Moon, and Dove are the central characters in Lisa See’s Daughters of the Sun and Moon. In 1870, Dove arrives as the second wife of an older Chinese merchant, while Petal’s desperate family has sold her to be trafficked to America as a sex worker. Soon after ... Read More...
The Top of the World by Ethan Joella
When Maggie’s older brother, Chip disappears for the summer after the end of his senior year in high school it’s a big deal. Because it’s probably the last summer he’ll ever have and she and her parents are left alone and wondering if they’ll ever see him again. They do, but he never says anything about his time away. A year later Maggie seeks some kind of closure around his ... Read More...
The Satisfaction Cafe
Joan is a Taiwanese woman in America in The Satisfaction Café. Her first marriage, through no fault of her own goes horribly wrong, leaving her destitute and living hand to mouth. She then meets and marries a wealthy, older man. They have their own children before he dies, leaving her very wealthy, but insecure, as the adult children from her husband’s first marriage vigorously ... Read More...
July Reading Wrap-Up
My surprise over the disappearance of July probably comes as no surprise as I seem to lament how quickly the months go on a regular basis now. It's a disconnect from the feeling that we’re years into this president’s term based on the chaos and toxicity. The only thing keeping my poor psyche from exploding is how beautiful July’s weather was—cool, cloudy mornings turning to ... Read More...
My 9 Favorite Books in 2024
As I started reviewing my reading year there was one stat that jumped off the chart at me. Of the 13 five-star books I read this year my favorite 9 were backlist (published before 2024). I’m sure publishing analysts could provide an easy explanation (fewer books published in an election year) or a psychologist something more detailed (possibly around escape and avoidance) but ... Read More...
The Same Bright Stars by Ethan Joella
As evidenced by Wednesday’s review I’m always up for dark dark fiction if there’s humor somewhere in the horror. At the same time, I appreciate a gentler approach—slice-of-life novels if you will. Ethan Joella’s The Same Bright Stars fits in this quieter space perfectly. Jack Schmidt has been in the restaurant business since he was a little boy. Now in his early 50s he’s begun ... Read More...
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