Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: china

Showing posts with label china. Show all posts

Dark Days of China's Cultural Revolution in A Hundred Flowers

"Let a hundred flowers bloom. Let a hundred school of thoughts contend."
Though Chairman Mao has declared a new openness in society with citizens free to express their views about Communism, many intellectuals fear it is a trick. Kai Ying must safeguard her family after her teacher husband is arrested for criticizing the Communist Party and sent to a labor camp for "reeducation". A Hundred Flowers by Gail Tsukiyama is a powerful novel about an ordinary family experiencing China's Cultural Revolution.

Explore the Orient

A few of you in the library's Summer Reading Club have taken this year's theme of "Novel Destinations" to heart! Take a book suggestion from a fellow community member, and explore the Orient with Yip's Silk Road or Rowland's Perfumed Sleeve and Assassin's Touch. A few other suggestions include How to be an American Housewife, about an American GI who brings home a Japanese bride, or the award-nominated Under Heaven, set in a fantastical world inspired by ancient China.

Book-to-Movie: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Lisa See's riveting work of historical fiction Snow Flower and the Secret Fan tells the story of two best friends in ancient China, following their lives from girlhood to motherhood and old age. They commemorate special moments in their lives on a silk fan, until a miscommunication threatens to tear their friendship apart. The film adaptation, which premieres in movies today, also introduces a second storyline set in modern times. Check out the book that inspired this blockbuster film adaptation! (And don't forget to submit your review to the Summer Reading Club for a chance to win the prize of the week!)

New Award Winner: Three Sisters

Three Sisters by Feiyu Bi has won the prestigious Man Asian Literary Prize for Asian literature translated into English. The book is set in rural China during the Cultural Revolution and follows three of seven sisters as they struggle against their destinies. The author will receive a prize in the amount of $30,000, with each of the two translators receiving an additional $5,000. Check out this new award-winner today!

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda