Blog, Page 381

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

January 19, 2010 by Serena

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See examines the relationship between sisters, May and Pearl, their immigration story from Shanghai, China, to Los Angeles, Calif., and the political changes between the 1930s and 1950s. Pearl was born under the sign of the Dragon, and May was born under the sign of the Sheep. Do these signs define who they are? Will they guide their fate?

“Mama insists May and I couldn’t change who we are even if we tried. May is supposed to be as complacent and content as the Sheep in whose year she was born. The Sheep is the most feminine of the signs, Mama says. It’s fashionable, artistic, and compassionate. The Sheep needs someone to take care of her. . . I have a Dragon’s striving desire, which can never be properly filled. ‘There’s nowhere you can’t go with your big flapping feet,’ Mama frequently tells me. However, a Dragon, the most powerful of the signs also has its drawbacks. ‘A Dragon is loyal, demanding, responsible, a tamer of fates,’ Mama told me. . . ” (Page 9 of the hardcover)

Considering themselves modern Chinese ladies in Shanghai and shunning the old ways of their ancestors, Pearl and May become painted, beauties on calendars that sell products ranging from tobacco to other household goods. Pearl has a crush on the painter who makes the calendars, and despite being the older sister, often loses sight of her sister’s actions and whereabouts. Soon, their world is blown apart when the secrets of their father’s gambling are revealed and they are sold into arranged marriages with Chinese-Americans. Still, these young sisters dream of escape and willfully defy their parents’ wishes, only for the fates to step in and force them to honor their original plans to meet their husbands in America.

The ravages of war hit home in Shanghai as the Japanese invade China, and the Communists flee to the hills of China. Lisa See deftly interweaves the political backdrop of China and the world at large behind the more present plight of the Chin sisters. Through a series of twists and turns that mirror the rise and fall of political powers across the globe, Pearl and May face adversity together, but both emerge vastly changed. Reminiscent of Amy Tan‘s writing about mothers and daughters, particularly the clashes of old and new cultures, See grabs hold of the sisterly relationship to shed light the joys, sorrows, painful moments, and sacrifices that only sisters can share and feel deep down to their core. Larger issues of discrimination and political dissension also are prevalent themes.

Overall, Shanghai Girls is a deep novel that will lend itself to animated discussion among book clubs. Readers will enjoy unraveling the family secrets of the Chin women and their new families, and be exposed to the intricate and complex political and social dynamics of some of the most turbulent times in world history. Not only have these women grown through adversity and sacrifice, but they are sent on a journey to discover what it means to be family.

How I’ve missed reading Lisa See before, I have no idea. But she’s an author I hope to read more of in the future.

To Enter to win 2 copies of Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (U.S./Canada only):

1. Leave a comment on this review about what intrigues you about this novel.
2. Leave a comment on my interview with Lisa See.
3. Blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. the giveaway.

Deadline is Jan. 26, 2010, at 11:59PM EST

About the Author:

Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of Peony in Love, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Flower Net (an Edgar Award nominee), The Interior, and Dragon Bones, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain. The Organization of Chinese American Women named her the 2001 National Woman of the Year. She lives in Los Angeles, California. Please check out her Website. Read an excerpt of Shanghai Girls, here, and for book clubs, there are discussion questions.

I also interviewed Lisa See, here.

This is my 4th book for the 2010 New Authors Challenge.

If you are interested in the rest of the tour stops for Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, I encourage you to check out the TLC Book Tour site.

FTC Disclosure: I received my free copy of Shanghai Girls by Lisa See from Random House and TLC Book Tours for review. Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though I appreciated.

Filed Under: giveaway, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, random house, Read in 2010, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: Lisa See, Shanghai Girls

Mailbox Monday #65

January 18, 2010 by Serena

Marcia at The Printed Page and Kristi of The Story Siren both sponsor memes in which bloggers share what books they’ve received in the past week. I’m going to continue calling these Mailbox Mondays, but The Story Siren also has In My Mailbox.

This mailbox is another full one and I have no idea how that happened.

1. The Radiation Sonnets by Jane Yolen
2. The Woman I Kept to Myself by Julia Alvarez
3. The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar
4. Gargoyle 54
5. Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger by Lee Smith
6. Christening the Dancer by John Amen, a gift from the poet.
7. An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
8. Watermark by Vanitha Sankaran
9. Tainted by Brooke Morgan
10. Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie
11. Stettin Station by David Downing

12. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
13. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
14. The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel

What did you get in your mailbox?

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title links bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

Filed Under: mailbox monday

28th Virtual Poetry Circle

January 16, 2010 by Serena

It’s the 28th Virtual Poetry Circle, and it’s time to revisit a contemporary poet, but before we do that, I wanted to thank everyone who has participated in this project thus far. Feel free to spread the word.

Additionally, you should start noticing some small changes here on the blog, including possible article suggests at the end of my posts (Thanks Bloggiesta for calling this widget to my attention) and some share buttons, which I’m not overly thrilled with, but they’ll do for now.

I would also love to get a new three-column template that meshes better with my header, so if anyone would like to volunteer, please email me.

OK, Here’s a poem up for reactions, interaction, and–dare I say it–analysis:

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s books suggested. Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

Today’s poem is from Diana Raab‘s latest collection, The Guilt Gene:

The Guilt Gene (Page 21)

The day before my birth
on the second Sunday in May

when the moon was full
and the stars already

twinkled in my father’s eyes,
a little fella appeared from

a dark corner of my womb-yard,
poked his head out

from between the bushes
and demanded that I ask for

forgiveness before I even knew
what the word meant.

Let me know your thoughts, ideas, feelings, impressions. Let’s have
a great discussion…pick a line, pick an image, pick a sentence.

I’ve you missed the other Virtual Poetry Circles, check them out here. It’s never too late to join the discussion.

Filed Under: virtual poetry circle

Winner of The Bum Magnet

January 16, 2010 by Serena

Out of a mere 12 entrants, Random.org selected 1 winner of K.L. Brady’s The Bum Magnet.

Heidi of Sweepstakes & Contest List Directory

Thanks to everyone who entered. Check out the other giveaways here and on other blogs in the right sidebar.

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on links and book covers lead to my Amazon Affiliate page; no purchase necessary.

Filed Under: winners

Interview With Lisa See, Author of Shanghai Girls

January 15, 2010 by Serena

My review of Shanghai Girls is slated for Jan. 19, 2010, and I had arranged a D.C. Literature Examiner interview with author Lisa See.

However, due to crazy changes going on at my part-time gig, I will be unable to post the interview with Lisa over there. I thought it was only fitting to share what she had to say with my blog readers. I think this is a good deal, don’t you?

Please welcome Lisa See.

Forgotten history plays a large role in your novels. How do you come upon these forgotten stories? And what about them inspires you to write novels based on those stories?

I think my interest in forgotten history and stories goes back to my own family. I come from a large Chinese American family. We had lots and lots of secrets, and most of them were tied to the larger history of the Chinese in America that no one wanted to talk about or write about. What has struck me is that so much women’s history and stories have been lost, forgotten, or deliberately covered up. We’re taught that in the past there were no women writers, no women artists, no women chefs . . . . I could go on and on. But of course women did these things!

It’s been a great honor and privilege for me to look for those stories, find them, and then use them in my novels. How do I find them? All kinds of ways. I discovered nu shu – the women’s secret writing – when I was reviewing a book on footbinding for the Los Angeles Times. Sometimes I find things when I’m doing research for something else.

That happened with Peony in Love. I was doing research on death rituals in 17^th century China and came upon ghost brides and ghost marriages. I thought: Oh, I’ve got to use this. It’s been happening a lot now as I’m writing the sequel to Shanghai Girls. I can be looking up something about the weather or shipping schedules when all of a sudden I come across some truly surprising detail. I know a lot of writers hire researchers. I could never do that. They wouldn’t know what to look for. And I want to experience wow! cool! moments myself.

Shanghai Girls is about two sisters who go to America for arranged marriages. Do you find sisterly relationships more complex than other relationships and why?

Oh my gosh, yes! The sibling relationship is typically the longest relationship we’ll have in our lives. Typically, your parents will die before you do, you won’t meet your mate until you’re an adult, and your children won’t come along until after that.

A sister, on the other hand, has known you from birth and will know you until one of you dies—hopefully not for a very, very long time. A sister should stand by you, support, you, and love you no matter what. Yet she is also the person who knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt you the most. (And you know where to drive the knife to hurt her the most too.)

I have a lot of personal experience with sisters. I’m one of four sisters: I have a former step-sister that I’ve known since we were three and four, a half sister who’s my mom’s daughter, and a half-sister who’s my father’s daughter. But it wasn’t enough to rely on my own experience when I was writing Shanghai Girls. For two years, I asked everyone I knew and everyone I met about their relationships with their sisters. I had women tell me they hadn’t spoken to their sisters in two, five, ten, forty years!

I asked the one who hadn’t spoken to her sister in forty years if she even felt like she had a sister anymore. She answered, “Yes, because sisters are for life.” I think this is true—for good or bad. And it’s this sense that sisters are for life that distinguishes the relationship and makes it different from all others. We may have friends “who are just like sisters,” but they aren’t necessarily for life.

Please share a few of your obsessions.(i.e. a love of chocolate, animals, crosswords)?

Your examples made me laugh. I love chocolate, but I can’t eat it because I have migraines. I love animals, but I can’t have them either. When I was young, I had twenty cats, ducks, chickens, a goat, and a coyote mix, but I haven’t had any animals in years because my son Alexander has terrible allergies. (We tried fish and iguanas, but they aren’t great for cuddling or petting.)

I’m mad for crossword puzzles, and this is something I get to do! I start every Sunday morning by doing the crossword puzzle. Then my mom and I talk on the phone to help each other with our one or two missing letters. Of course, I have other obsessions, thankfully. I love going to movies. I love Dexter. (Last season was the best television I think I’ve ever seen.) I love gardens. I love to walk. And I might as well admit it, since I’ve been thinking about it since I first read your question. My husband and I are going to celebrate our thirtieth anniversary this year, and I am still utterly and happily obsessed with him.

(All I have to add is congrats on 30 years to Lisa and her husband!)

When writing poetry, prose, essays, and other works do you listen to music, do you have a particular playlist for each genre you work in or does the playlist stay the same? What are the top 5 songs on that playlist? If you don’t listen to music while writing, do you have any other routines or habits?

I really like the way you asked this question, because usually people only ask what I listen to when I’m writing my novels. You’re so right to know – or guess – that people would listen to different types of music for different types of writing.

Right now as I’m writing this, I’m listening to Bob Dylan. I’m a huge Dylan fan, but I could never ever listen to him when I’m writing a novel. So when I’m doing this kind of writing – e-mail, interviews, essays – I listen to Dylan, Mary J. Blige, music from the Theme Time Radio Hour.

For writing novels, my playlist is very small: I listen to Puccini without Words, Mali to Memphis, Township Jazz ‘n’ Jive, Mozart Sonatas played by Mitsuko Uchida, and a collection of Yo-yo Ma’s cello concertos.

Which books have you been reading lately, and are there any you would recommend in particular? Which books do you think should be read by more readers?

When I’m writing, I’m very careful about what I read. I read very few novels because I don’t want someone else’s voice to creep into my head. The only fiction I’ll read when I’m writing will be things like short stories, poetry, plays, operas, or the rare novel written in the time period that I’m writing about. That puts me in the Yangtze delta in 17^th century China or in Shanghai in 1937. It helps me with the images and ways that people spoke in those times and places.

Otherwise, I read a lot of obscure non-fiction about the subject that I’m writing about. By obscure, I mean published and unpublished dissertations that even the writers’ mothers didn’t read. Right now I have some books out from the UCLA library. I’m the first person to check out some of those books in ten or twenty years!

When I’m done writing a novel, I take about three months to treat myself with all the books I’ve missed or longed to read. I loved Astrid and Veronika¸ and I’ve recommended it to a lot of book clubs. But there are other books that I absolutely love: Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner, The Age of Dreaming by Nina Revoyr, and The Handyman, by my mom, Carolyn See.

I want to thank Lisa See for graciously agreeing to an interview.

Don’t forget to check back on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010, for my review of Shanghai Girls and a giveaway.

Please visit today’s tour host, The Book Faery Reviews, and click on TLC Book Tour logo for other tour information.

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on the title and image links will bring you to an Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase required, though appreciated.

Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: Lisa See

Interview with Michael Landon, Jr., Author of The Silent Gift

January 14, 2010 by Serena

Sometimes, I have an opportunity to interview an author, even though I don’t have time to read their novel. In this case, I’ve interviewed a Christian fiction author, Michael Landon, Jr. If this name sounds familiar, it should. His father was the same Michael Landon of Highway to Heaven and Little House on the Prairie fame.

Check out my interview on D.C. Literature Examiner, here and here.

Filed Under: examiner.com, Interviews Tagged With: Jr., Michael Landon

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

January 13, 2010 by Serena

“Sadly, this action prevented her from saving the second musket man, who had been pulled from his perch. He screamed as the dreadfuls held him down and began to tear organs from his living belly and feast upon them.” (Page 117)

Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a mash-up of Jane Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice, and a zombie conflict. Grahame-Smith effectively weaves in the zombie attacks and how the Bennet clan dispatches them with skill. A majority of this novel is Austen’s words, but the dialogue and descriptions that are modified to accommodate zombies are done with aplomb.

“‘My dear Miss Elizabeth, I have the highest opinion in the world in your excellent judgment in all matters within the scope of your understanding, particularly in the slaying of Satan’s armies, but permit me to say, that there must be a wide difference between the established forms of ceremony amongst the laity, and those which regulate the clergy. After all you may wield God’s sword, but I wield His wisdom. And it is wisdom, dear cousin, which will ultimately rid us of our present difficulties with the undead.'” (Page 77)

Fun and entertaining on a base level, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is an exercise in revision and an examination of Austen’s characters in a new light. Many readers will disagree with Grahame-Smith’s portrayal of Lizzy as a cutthroat assassin who is quickly turned by her own emotions or strict sense of duty and honor, particularly since she often talks of dispatching her peers for slighting her family, imagines beheading her own sister Lydia simply because she prattles on, and other unmentionable actions.

“‘Jane, no one who has ever seen you together can doubt his affection. Miss Bingley, I am sure, cannot. She may not be a warrior, but she has cunning enough. Dearest sister, I implore you — this unhappiness is best remedied by the hasty application of a cutlass to her throat.'” (Page 95)

However, one of the most perceptive and playfully done sequences in the novel is the sparring match between Mr. Darcy and Lizzy. Some readers could find this sequence too forceful, but others may view the physical combat between the characters as just a manifestation of their verbal tete-a-tete in the original novel. The elements of zombies and ninjas provide additional circumstances that further delineate the class differences Austen sought to examine in her novels, enabling readers to further investigate the social conventions and prejudices inherent in this society.

There are other instances, however, in which these revised scenes do not work as well, and many of the social conventions of the time are overlooked in favor of ensuring the Bennet sisters, who are of little means, were shipped to the Orient for training in the deadly arts — even if it was with the inferior Chinese Shaolin monks –and were prepared for combat, which is inevitable in a nation nearly overrun by the undead. In Austen’s novel, it would be unconventional for Lizzy to converse so openly with Wickham about Darcy, and it would be outside convention for Darcy to write her a letter to explain himself. Here, convention is defied even more so in that the Bennet women are trained to kill — even if it is only zombies — and Lizzy openly displays her talents and shuns marriage.

Austen purists will NOT enjoy this novel unless they loosen their reverence for the author’s work. Overall, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a creative revision with an edge that modern readers may enjoy for its drama and action-packed zombie slayings. There is a lot more to this rendition than simple entertainment.

This is my 3rd book for the 2010 New Authors Challenge, though should I consider it a new author if a majority of the book is written by Jane Austen, who is an old favorite.

This is my 2nd book for the Jane Austen Challenge 2010!

FTC Disclosure: I received a free copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies from FSB Associates for review. Clicking on titles or images can bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

Filed Under: fiction, FSB Associates, Jane Austen Challenge 2010, New Authors Challenge, Quirk Classics, Read in 2010, review copy Tagged With: jane austen, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Seth Grahame-Smith

Winners of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World

January 13, 2010 by Serena

Out of more than 30 entrants, Random.org selected two winners of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World by Abigail Reynolds.

1. Staci of Life in the Thumb
2. Laura of Calico Critic

Congrats to the winners.

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

Filed Under: winners

Ravens by George Dawes Green (audio)

January 12, 2010 by Serena

Ravens by George Dawes Green on audio, which I received from a giveaway on Peeking Between the Pages, is action-packed, engaging, and unique. Readers are first introduced to Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko, two young gentlemen fed up with the “system” and anxious to leave Ohio for the great unknown and make their mark. Unfortunately, Shaw has a dark side and Romeo can lose control of his emotions.

The young men are traveling south and end up in Brunswick, Georgia, where they learn the identity of the state lottery winners — the Boatwrights. Shaw concocts a plan to garner the men at least half if not more of the $318 million prize.

The narrators shift between the Boatwrights, the local police officer, Romeo, and Shaw, with Maggi-Meg Reed’s Southern accent pretty close to the real thing and Robert Petkoff slightly dramatic in his portrayal. However, each character’s voice was easily discernible, making it easy to follow the shifting narration. Listeners will be drawn into the plight of the Boatwrights and may even sympathize with Romeo, but Shaw is another story. The tension is palatable, and readers will be kept guessing as to how the extortion situation will be resolved.

Ravens on audio made the commute fly by, and those that love mysteries and thrillers will find this a satisfactory listen. My husband and I often became absorbed in the story and had to wait for a chapter to end outside my office building in the mornings before I got out of the car. He loved the ending the best, though it is graphic, because it resolves the situation in a satisfactory way.

This is my 2nd book for the 2010 New Authors Challenge.

I’m considering this for my 1st book in the psychological thriller category for the 2010 Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge.

FTC Disclosure: I received my free copy of the Ravens audiobook from a fellow blogger. Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

Filed Under: 2010 Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge, audiobooks, fiction, giveaway win, Hachette Books, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2010, reviews Tagged With: George Dawes Green, Ravens

Mailbox Monday #64

January 11, 2010 by Serena

Here’s what arrived in my mailbox thanks to the library sale (LS), a trip to Wonder Book (WB), a trip to Barnes & Noble (BN) to spend my holiday gift cards, and some publishers:

Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley (LS)
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers (BN)
When I Was a Young Man by Bob Kerrey (WB)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (LS)
The Kommandant’s Girl by Pam Jenoff (BN)
The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason (LS)
In a Perfect World by Laura Kasischkke (LS)

Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman (LS)
Without a Backward Glance by Kate Veitch (WB)
Love & Friendship by Jane Austen (BN)
Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor (Library Thing)
The Children’s War by Monique Charlesworth (LS)
Questions of Fire by Gregg Mosson (poet)
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (BN)
The Father of All Things by Tom Bissell (WB)

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris (WB)
Fortune’s Rocks by Anita Shreve (LS)
The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville (LS)
Worst Case by James Patterson (Hachette)
When Angels Fooled the World by Charles Fenyvesi (Dryad Press)
They’ll Have to Catch Me First by Irene Awret (Dryad Press)

You’ll note there are two copies of When I Was a Young Man by Bob Kerrey; one of these copies will be for the end of year giveaway for the 2010 Vietnam War Reading Challenge. Also, I realized today that I already have From Dead to Worse in paperback, so once I finish the Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge, look forward to a giveaway for that hardcover copy!