Nicoletta arrives in Rome with a very specific goal: she's determined to confront the mother who abandoned her 15 years ago. The reason her mother gave then remains just as inexcusable now: "'There's a man I'm destined to be with. But he'll never marry a...
Audrey Niffenegger's second novel begins with "The End" – the title of the book's opening chapter – and the words "Elspeth died ...
Words of warning ...
Pakistani Canadian writer Rukhsana Khan takes on sibling rivalry once again, but unlike her adorable 2005 title, Silly Chicken, this time, all her characters are all of the human variety ...
Two things are keeping me up at nights ...
At 40, Shizuo Oguro lives with his cranky father, his helpful teenage daughter, and has had the same job for 15 years. He couldn't exactly say "what was wrong with [his] life." But his sudden need to "find [him]self" means quitting his job, starting up...
Tending toward contrary (ahem!) means I can't seem to read ubiquitous bestsellers when everyone else does. Nope, haven't read a single Stieg Larsson (one the last hold-outs, I'm sure) or Evanovich or Cussler or Patterson. I know, like an ostrich am I. So while Time Traveler's Wife was...
Oishinbo is apparently one of those cult manga series that only recently hit U.S. shelves in translation, but floating out there all over the world already are over 100 million copies. The title, by the way, translates to something like delicious (oishii: 美味しい, orおいしい) and 'a...
In spite of the "A Work of Fiction" disclaimer on one of the front pages of Tim O'Brien's Vietnam War classic, you'll probably close the book believing every word contained between the covers to be true. That O'Brien the author names his narrator Tim O'Brien...
This has been one tragic week: the deadly Oaxaca, Mexico mudslide, the two Rutgers freshmen whose abusively invasive actions led to the suicide of a third first-year student, the deaths of iconic actor Tony Curtis and director Arthur Penn ...
I rarely ever say this: skip the book, and go see the film version of The Blind Side (which got Sandra Bullock her much-deserved Oscar win). The story of Michael Oher – a massive young man estranged from his addict mother, his dysfunctional siblings, and lost to...
Jiro and his father arrive at Mr. Ozu's to wish him a happy new year. As the grown-ups talk, Jiro wanders first out of the room, then into the garden where he sees a striking, unmoving large bird. As he approaches it, laughter breaks out...
Unlike probably most of her many, many readers, I knew (not personally, but as an author, I mean) Audrey Niffenegger first as a graphic artist than as a novelist; her 'novels-in-pictures,' The Three Incestuous Sisters (2005) and The Adventuress (2006), sit prominently displayed (covers facing out for maximum...
"Mommy, I – I – I AM SO MAD AT YOU!" Okay, Mommies (and Daddies) ...
What timing ...
Seth Godin has written a dozen worldwide bestsellers. I admit I'm late in discovering him; this is my first Godin title, which Godin himself read to me (it's loaded on my iPod so I can take it on my training runs – Leadville 100 in...
Unlike the rest of Andrew Lam’s relatives who only want to bombard him with questions about meeting Hiroyuki Sakai of Iron Chef fame (I don't watch TV and I hate to cook), what I want to know is, 'how's the love life?' Some might say...
What a festive day this is in most Asian and the Asian American communities throughout the world ...
"Playing – as others would call it – in the light left no space, no time for interiority, for reflecting on what they had done. Under the glaring spotlight of whiteness, they played diligently, assiduously; the past, and with it conscience, shrunk to a black...
As I discovered manga in so-called mid-life, I'm especially illiterate in the shōjo genre – manga marketed specifically to young girls ages 10 to 18-ish with pages that seem to show a plethora of starry eyes, fluffy costumes, talking animals and such. The Japanese characters for 'shō-jo'...
