The Manor of Dreams

The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li, 352 pages

After years of solitude in her secluded mansion, Oscar-winning Chinese American actress Vivian Yin has died. Her daughters and granddaughter have arrived at their matriarch's home for the reading of the will — and so has the daughter of Vivian's longtime housekeeper, to whom the actress leaves the house. Upset at this unexpected turn of events, Vivian's daughters are determined to keep the house that they believe should be theirs, and all interested parties refuse to leave until the others do. But after just a few days in the house, odd things are happening — strange noises and visions, unexplained injuries and anger, and perhaps most disturbing, plants and soil seem to be growing into the house at a rapid pace, grabbing at the temporary residents and then disappearing again.

Based on the description of this book, it felt like it should be a spooky gothic horror novel, full of generational trauma and atmospheric creepiness. Unfortunately, while it had a lot of the ingredients, it didn't seem to be fully mixed and baked. With rare exceptions, the five modern characters were kinda bland and hard to distinguish, though the flashbacks to Vivian's youth were more vibrant and compelling. It was also lacking in the uneasy atmosphere that's necessary in horror novels, especially gothic haunted house tales. So the idea and the individual elements were good, but the execution was just OK.

*This book will be published May 6, 2025.

Pride and Preston Lin

Pride and Preston Lin by Christina Hwang Dudley, 288 pages

Snarky English major Lissie is the middle of three sisters who were taken in by their aunt and uncle after Lissie's parents died. While Lissie's younger sister focuses on being a tween and improving her times on the swim team, Lissie and their eldest sister help out by waiting tables at their relatives' Chinese restaurant. Or a least they do until Lissie accidentally serves a dish that triggers an allergic reaction in a customer and another member of the party, the haughty Preston Lin, writes a scathing article about the restaurant in the local student newspaper. Suddenly, Lissie finds herself unemployed, but still trying to defend the restaurant online while helping shepherd her younger sister to swim practice.

As can be assumed from the title, this is a modern, Chinese American twist on Jane Austen's classic Pride & Prejudice. While I'm all for retellings of classics, I feel like so many of the romance novels I've read recently focus specifically on P&P, and this one doesn't really have anything to lift it above any of the others. Perhaps that's because the play Lissie's writing is ALSO a P&P retelling, which feels a bit too on-the-nose. OK, but not great.

*This book will be published March 19, 2024.

Portrait of Thief

 Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li, 384 pages.

Will Chen is a senior at Harvard, a Chinese American, an art history major, and (after witnessing a break-in at the museum he works at and a subsequent job offer) a thief of stolen art. When he's offered a job by a Chinese billionaire to steal a series of statues that were looted from the old summer Palace in Beijing from five western museums he quickly gathers a team to plan some heists. The members of the team have skills that are almost relevant to pulling heists (software engineer is almost like hacker, and street racing is close enough to get away driving) and they quickly find themselves in over their heads. 

I was really excited when I first read about this book, because art heists for repatriation sounds super fun. And the book is super fun, although it might be a little generous to call the art theft in this book heists. What I wasn't expecting, but quite enjoyed, was how much of many of our thieves motivation comes from the existential terror of being in your early twenties and having no idea what to do with your life, a problem made even more complex by the variety of ways that all of our characters interact with their own Chinese identities. This book is very fun, and definitely worth the read, but I wouldn't read it if you're wanting a heist story, and I would try not to take the details of the action too seriously.

Sex and Vanity

Sex and Vanity / Kevin Kwan, 315 pgs.

Loved this homage to E. M. Forster's "A Room with a View" where Lucie Churchill falls for George Zao but thinks it is a fluke.  They meet at a wedding in Capri but their relationship ends badly with a snooping drone film.  Fast forward five years when Lucie is engaged to be married when she runs into George again.  Clearly she is attracted to him but she is about to be married! This can't happen.  Of course your heart doesn't always listen to your brain.  Kwan shows us a little slice of a life I won't be able to witness in person - the private lives of the VERY rich ;-)

Don't miss Kevin Kwan's guest spot on the KPL podcast to hear about what comes next for him and get some good reading recommendations.

Sex and Vanity

Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan, 315 pages

In 2013, Lucie Churchill attended the swanky wedding of her friend Isabel on the island of Capri, with her older cousin Charlotte in tow as a chaperone. Unfortunately, Charlotte's presence didn't prevent Lucie from falling for, and being caught in a compromising situation with, the enigmatic and ridiculously handsome George Zao. Five years later, Lucie has moved on with a different uber-rich young man when George comes back into her life.

OK, that sounds like an incredibly blah plot, but that's why Kevin Kwan's the writer here and I'm not. Much like his blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians books, Kwan and his snarky asides open up the world of the billionaire set and the social expectations of them, with layered characters and very real frustrations. Lucie's half-Chinese heritage is examined through the eyes of her family and friends, and through the prejudices she feels on a regular basis, while Kwan does an excellent job of presenting it without detracting from the story as a whole. I loved this book, and my only complaint is that it wrapped up too quickly. I need more Kevin Kwan!!

Interior Chinatown

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu, 270 pages

A lifelong occupant of Chinatown, Willis Wu has played bit parts in the scenes taking place around him. He's been Generic Asian Kid, Generic Asian Man, and even worked his way up to Ethnic Guest Star, though he's always fallen short of his true goal: Kung Fu Guy.

In this sharp and clever book, Yu uses a film script format to skewer Hollywood stereotypes and lay bare the everyday discrimination faced by Asian Americans. And it's ridiculously witty to boot. Consider this an early front-runner in my Best-of-2020 list.

Crazy Rich Asians

Crazy Rich Asians / Kevin Kwan, read by Lynn Chen, 527 pgs.

Nick and Rachel are two professors in love.  He invites her to meet his family in Singapore but does not prepare her for the realities of his family.  They are old money.  Lots of money.  The lifestyle they lead is so out of bounds of what Rachel knows, she is thrown for a loop.  And Nick is seen as a very eligible bachelor so there is scheming and gossip and craziness following them everywhere.  I thought this was going to be a light read, a fun romance but it was really so much more.  Aside from the scheming and fun description of excess, I enjoyed that there were a lot of characters with different perspectives and that the "romance" part was not always the center of the story.  Don't get me wrong, the focus on BUYING and having expensive things is a little nuts but there is more to it than that.  Would have liked more focus on Rachel's field but  this does depict her on vacation. Lynn Chen did a great job with the audio.

Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune

Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim, 299 pages

Natalie Tan is a nomadic chef, traveling the world instead of staying at home with her agoraphobic mother. But when her mother dies unexpectedly, Natalie finds herself traveling home to San Francisco's Chinatown, and attempting to reopen the restaurant that her grandmother once ran. Despite her intentions to stay out of neighborhood life, when the local seer passes along Natalie's grandmother's cookbook with some very specific instructions, Natalie becomes intertwined with the lives of the people around her. Sprinkled with bits of magic and mouthwatering food descriptions, this was a wonderful summer read. Pairs well with dumplings and tea.

How to American

How to American: An immigrant's guide to disappointing your parents / Jimmy O. Yang,  Read by the author, 236 pgs.

Jimmy O. Yang is an immigrant from Hong Kong, a stand up comic, and actor and a fan of the BET network which taught him English.  He moved to Los Angeles at age 13, started school without knowing a whole lot of conversational language and disappointed his parents by not becoming a scientist, doctor or investment banker.

This delightful memoir is a success story with a few stumbles but very fun to listen to.  Fans of Silicon Valley will enjoy hearing the origin story of Jian Yang.

This book is funny, smart and cool in a way that hearing a nerdy guy admit he hasn't been a big a hit with the ladies can make you recognize what a good person he is.  The audio version is wonderful.

Chemistry

Chemistry / Weike Wang, 211 pgs.

A Chinese-American grad student has a bit of a breakdown and smashes a bunch of beakers in the lab.  She is put on "medical" leave and her live-in boyfriend tries to get her life back together.  Of course there are issues.  Realizing she has no good reference point for what love is.  Her parents were not good examples as husband and wife nor as parents.  She finally discovers something about love when she adopts and dog and then more when her best friend has a baby and she becomes devoted.  This may be the worst summary I've added to this blog because the book is about so much more.  I absolutely loved the way Wang takes us through the doubt that plagues our grad student.  What does she want?  How will she figure it out?  You even learn a little chemistry. Wonderful debut.

Zen and the Art of Faking It

Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick  264 pp.

Eighth grader San Lee starts the school year at another school yet again. His dad is in jail for fraud and his mother is struggling to keep them housed & fed while paying off his father's legal bills. San hasn't decide how he wants to re-invent himself once again for the new school. When he answers too many questions in World History about Buddhism because he'd learned about it at a previous school, he unintentionally finds his new persona as a Zen Master. What starts out as a way to impress his new found crush, a girl who goes by the name of Woody, San finds himself deeper and deeper in a role that he can't quite fulfill while trying to avoid getting beat up by Woody's stepbrother or losing Woody's friendship. But along the way, Zen changes his life without San realizing it. This was entertaining and the parts about Buddhism were accurate. Unfortunately the cd version I listened to  had lots of skips in it.

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, 233 pages.

A very well-drawn, and thoughtful graphic novel centered around a young Chinese-American boy as he goes through middle school on into high school. The novel juxtaposes the tale of the Monkey King and his attempts to become different, more than what he was, with that of the young man, Jin Wang (or Danny, as he renames himself). Embarrassed by everything about himself and seeking to change, Jin Wang seeks to assimilate as much as possible. Later, as Danny, he is constantly humiliated by visits from his imaginary cousin, Chin-Kee, who embodies all of the stereotypes from which Danny is attempting to distance himself.
I'm not usually a fan of books where the character's squirm-inducing shame plays a big role, and I did hurry through some sections, but the subject is handled well here, and there is real growth for Jin Wang. I liked it.

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Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream by Jenny Han 149 pages

Clara Lee is a true believer of the importance of good luck. And luckily, she has a grandpa who is gifted at interpreting dreams. He tells her that her bad nightmare actually means that she will have good luck. She has a fabulous day at school until her luck changes and she finds herself in everyone's bad graces. Her dream is to win the Little Miss Apple Pie pageant. Her classmate tells her that she is unlikely to win because she is hardly all-American. This book will appeal to fans of Judy Moody and Clementine. Clara is a sweet heart.