SVong-Along

Lies and Wedding is a fun, light read that is basically Crazy Rich [Half] Asians (by the same author of Crazy Rich Asians[CRA], Kevin Kwan).  As a big fan of CRA, I generally enjoyed reading Lies and Wedding and found it more memorable than Sex and Vanity, but not as memorable as CRA. The formula is essentially the same as Crazy Rich Asians, rich people have family drama, answer behind drama revealed towards end, super predictable ending, and basically similar characters (I guess good for anyone who loves Eleanor Young).  This book is for anyone who:  is a fan of Crazy Rich Asians loves family drama into travel, fashion, Selling Sunset/real estate, or watching those dream wedding shows. Some of my favorite parts included mentions of local spots on the Big Island of Hawaii, LA, and just imagining different opulent weddings. While Kwan does highlight glitz and glamour and drops a gazillion brand names, he also shows the dark side of money, and some of the lows of the b...

What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?  These are the questions posed inside the cover pamphlet of "Real Americans" by Rachel Khong, a story than spans several generations in the United States - beginning with Lily, then her son Nick, and then his grandmother May.  In short, read Real Americans if: you are interested in different perspectives of the American Dream you want to justify having a college education your immigrant parents ingrained in you the invaluableness of college you are a bicoastal elite you need reasons or a reminder to appreciate your family Told from first person perspective, Khong takes us through multiple generations of a family in different timelines - from NYC to the West Coast to Asia, and the struggles and tension of life and escaping a harsh history/past to reconciling how our past affects us.  Some of my favorite themes included:  Dreams (and the American dream) How we wonder about our parent's choices and their effe...

Afterparties is a collection of stories by Cambodian-American author Anthony So, who passed away unexpectedly last year at the age of 28. The stories are novel in that they are about Cambodian-American life, something that had not yet been published in the New Yorker , and cool to read as an immigrant and a Cambodian-American myself. I felt an ability to relate but also a sense of uncomfortable-ness as he touched topics such as reincarnation, the Khmer Rouge, and even gay threesomes.  TL/DR: Read Afterparties for insight into the perspective of a gay, Californian Cambodian-American's imaginings of Cambodian/immigrant/family life. Sort of like the story of So, whose life got cut short, these stories just provide a snippet into the Cambodian-American perspective, and I was left wanting more of an emotional connection to characters. There are nine stories are: Three Women of Chuck's Donuts Superking Son Scores Again Maly, Maly, Maly The Shop The Monks We Would've Been Princes ...

TL;DR - Read Crying in H-Mart if you: love a good mother-daughter/family story, like Asian food/culture, or just in need to cry it out. Crying in H-Mart is a memoir by Michelle Zauner, a bi-racial Korean American who moves to Oregon to help take care of her mom when she is diagnosed with cancer. The story heavily centers on the grief she experiences, but also how she honors her mother with memories of Korean food and cooking.  Like my cool cousins Julie and Tara - I wanted to read Crying in H-Mart to be an "in the know" Asian-American (it debuted at #2 on the NYT and will also be adapted into a movie) but also because even though I'm not Korean, I still have some fond memories shopping at H-Mart (and my non-Asian coworkers have even asked me about it when for example it opened in SF.) My favorite part of the book was Zauner recalling certain Korean recipes with her mom- kimchi, samgyetang, and even when she travels to Seoul the sensory details and ties with emotion really...

 TL;DR read the Sympathizer if: you're a fan of war novels,  interested in Southeast Asian history, or  are interested in a glimpse into Asian-American culture/the refugee experience.  The Sympathizer takes place around the Vietnam War and is told from the perspective of a "North Vietnamese mole in the South Vietnamese army, who stays embedded in a South Vietnamese community in exile in the United States." The themes include: war, revolution, freedom, independence, duality, how we are viewed in society, American ideas such as "Disneyland ideology" and the pursuit of happiness. While I enjoyed this perspective on conflicts faced by Asian-Americans and the idea of being treated as either two halfs or two wholes, the style and bouncing back and forth did make the story harder to follow for me. Also the use of the word sympathize got annoying, but that is expected from the title.  What did keep me reading was that the book is crazy- from bestiality to violent e...

In a time of racism, lack of empathy, and general uncertainty, Pachinko (Min Jin Lee, 2017) is an excellent read. TL,DR: Read Pachinko if you are interested in: Asian family histories, war, class and society, gender roles, battling racism, religion, shame, and/or enjoyed Les Mis.  What is Pachinko? The title of the book comes from a Japanese gambling game comparable to American slot machines. But the book itself centers around a Korean family who eventually immigrates to Japan and their struggles- socioeconomically but also intersected with class, race, and religion. It's fascinating to view history from the perspective of an underrepresented, almost persecuted group- in this case Koreans in Japan from World War I era to the 1990s, and consider and understand their role in something seen as Japanese (pachinko).  The themes are heavy, and the book to me was basically an East Asian Les Mis. Some parts are difficult to read, because the book can feel slow as history itself, but ...

"Where do we follow the rules, and where do we justify breaking them? Do our pasts determine what we deserve in the future? And is it ever possible to leave your past behind?" Celeste Ng explores these themes, familial relationships, and the contrasts of life in America through Caucasian and African-American, and Asian-American characters and lenses in the utopian Shaker Heights, Ohio.  I started off watching the Hulu series with Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon, and got a little over halfway but never finished. This made it easy for me to visualize the characters and have a basic sense of the story, while enjoying the themes of the book and the storytelling from multiple character perspectives rather than the tv camera. I finished the book in a few days, finding it much better than the TV series (even though I really like both KW and RW).  Both the TV series and the book start off the same: a large family house is on fire, and Ng foreshadows the suspect, but we go back...

How do you deal with a loved one who is losing their mind? Rachel Khong's novel Goodbye, Vitamin explores this through Ruth, a 30 year old Asian American who returns home to take care of her father, whose Alzheimer's/dementia gets increasingly severe. Ruth returns from San Francisco to Southern California after a break up with her ex-fiance, and writes diary entries for the year she spends with her family. In short, read Goodbye Vitamin if: you're looking for a good read and short read with both lighthearted and heavy insights about love, loss, and family  you are a young Californian or Asian American dealing with struggles of adulthood- relationship, family, etc.  you want a different perspective on how to love someone who is losing their memory  The book takes a fresh perspective on the familiar genres of family battling disease/overcoming a breakup: more specifically, an Asian American Californian (and her family) confronting Alzheimer's and their prio...

"Most human activities are predicated on the assumption that life goes on. If you take that premise away, what is there left?" Haruki Murakami explores this theme in the very strange but fascinating  Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.  Murakami draws readers into a "narrative particle accelerator in which a split-brained data processor, a deranged scientist, his undemure granddaughter, Bob Dylan, and various thugs, librarians, and subterranean monsters collide to dazzling effect." The book is definitely a trip - taking you from the mind of a seemingly normal, nameless man who talks about mundane (but relatable things) such as couch shopping, to dealing with the Yakuza (mafia) and avoiding demons in the sewer. What I enjoyed most was the immersive narrating with random details, and unraveling the mystery/how the storyline eventually made sense. Murakami adds such relatable notes of nostalgia- i.e. bringing up memories of how library books had t...

The Queen of the Night is a crazy, dramatic journey of an opera singer, Lilliet Berne. I originally started reading it right after my trip to France in August 2018, inspired after roaming the streets of the Marais and learning a little more about Paris after spending a couple of days there. It took me a while to get through this book, as I discovered I'm not a huge fan of opera and the story is confusing with so many characters to follow. This novel is told from the perspective of Lilliet Berne, "a legendary soprano with every accolade except an original role." Her life is insanity- the beginning opera scene did not appeal to me as much as the story of her family hardship, traveling to another continent, joining a circus, becoming a prostitute, forming a web of love and affairs, and surviving seiges. To me, the narrative was confusing partially because it is meant to be: there is mystery surrounding the start even though the story is from the perspective of the pro...

About a year ago, I started my blog and came up with a list of 30 goals before 30 . How did I do in terms of reaching these goals? I've been crossing off ones I've accomplished, and sadly, I only did 7/30 this past year. Barely over 20% of my goals is not so great, my excuses being: Some are objectively hard to measure or actually take 3 years to accomplish Feeling too tired to do anything productive after work  Life  Analyzing by category- I accomplished more professional goals than others and sadly neglected  health, finance, and fun. This past year, I learned that I need to be more realistic with my goals. Some of my unrealistic ones include: Apply for jeopardy (I love watching, but the questions are so damn hard nowadays)  Apply for program in Cambridge (student loans T_T)  Lower body fat to 15%  Thus, while I am proud to have accomplished some of my goals, I am deciding to adapt and make my list more realistic. As a [newbie] civil lit...

Men Without Women is a set of 7 short stories following Men Without Women. In each story, Haruki  Murakami explores the thoughts and lives of a man who is alone because they somehow lost a loved one- through death or due to her leaving him. The book basically pays homage to Ernest Hemingway's same titled short story collection (which I have not read)- but with stories taking place mostly in Japan and I'm assuming a more modern perspective since the collection is from 2014 but it was not translated and published in English until 2018. As a Murakami fan, the writing style was what I expected- whimsical, almost stream-of-consciousness in a way that really makes you empathize with the narrator of each story. Murakami explores various roles such as doctors, students, actors, lovers, and is able to relate everyday themes we think about- work, relationships, and sex, and delve into how these themes play into our lives. I finished reading the stories in less than a week while I wa...

Where do we come from?  Where do we go?  No, I'm not quoting "Cotton Eye Joe," but referring to questions that Dan Brown explores in his most recent novel, Origin. Origin is a thrilling fiction tale following Professor Robert Langdon as he journeys to Spain to solve riddles and ponder the controversial tale of how life began. Dan Brown is a master of pitting religion against science (read Angels & Demon, and basically every other one of his novels), and Origin is no exception. His books are generally formulaic: nerdy protagonist, crazy world-changing discovery/implication, hot chick, scary assassin, plot twist, and ending a chapter on a cliff-hanger. Although the plot was very predictable (maybe because I have read all 7 of his books), I enjoyed the story incorporating historical sites, recent pop-culture references, and page-turning writing. At the heart of Origin and what makes it so interesting is its theme debating how life began: "Just imagine what...

Never Let Me Go was on my "to read" list sometime in the past year since Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017. My friends Isabella and Miko also kept tweeting/posting about it on social media so I finally decided to request it on my library's E-book overdrive and got it 1-2 months later. Essentially, Never Let Me Go is told from the perspective of Kathy, a self-described "carer," and she begins reminiscing about her experience at a boarding school in England called Hailsham with her friends Ruth and Tommy. The book is fiction and a mix of "coming-of-age," dystopian, and mystery/thriller. The e-version I downloaded has a handy "Reader's Guide" that describes the book as a "devastating novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss." It's been a while since I've read a fiction novel, and honestly the main thing getting me through was wondering why the author received a Nobel Prize. The book itself ...

(Updated 8.30.18) Reading is something I'm trying to do more of to increase my intelligence, de-stress/entertain myself, and general self-help/improvement. I'm trying to read more books [as one of my #30goalsbefore30 is to read a book a month for the next 30 months], but open to articles and blogs as well. Sometimes it's hard to make time to read for leisure when most of my work is reading (in the past year I've read over 300,000 pages in case files), and there's no real pressure [aka reading in law school to not look dumb when on-call.] Publishing a goal and reviewing each book I read helps make me more accountable, and I hope to have a record of what I've added to my literary repertoire. Here's what I've read since starting my goals December 2017: Modern Romance - Aziz Ansari The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg Option B - Sheryl Sandberg  What I Talk About When I talk About Running - Haruki Murakami  Currently, I'm reading Never...

I love Haruki Murakami's writing. I first read Kafka on the Shore in college, and since then, I've read at least one of his novels every year or every other year. His stories are a mind trip and his writing style is compelling, simple, yet sophisticated and whimsical. He is a master of description and his use of similes is incomparable. While known for his fiction, I borrowed an e-book version of What I Talk About When I Talk About Running because of my fondness of Murakami's writing and because it's not super long and something I could finish in less than a month. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is a memoir that literally talks about Murakami's long-distance running. While running and training for the New York marathon is the main theme, there are several complementary side-stories: how he wrote his acclaimed novels, life in Japan compared to Hawaii and Cambridge, and lecturing to college students. He discusses details of his personal life from su...

Life doesn't always go as planned. So how do we deal with the unexpected? In other words, what do we do when Option A is no longer an option? Sheryl Sandberg shares her very personal approach in Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy.  I saw it listed on my library's "trending" e-books, but I also read it because I was interested in what the COO of Facebook had to share about overcoming some of life's greatest obstacles. Option B is essentially a reflection of how Sandberg dealt with the sudden death of her husband Dave Goldberg in 2015. While it may seem like she just wants to talk about herself and her feelings, she tells her story in a way that is so relatable with relevant anecdotes that almost anyone can empathize with. I personally have not gone through anything as traumatizing as losing the love of my life, but Sandberg's stories are like a Pixar movie that take you through a roller-coaster of emotions and offer a great te...

The Power of Habit : Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg was listed on "most popular" on my library's overdrive for e-books, so I read it because of its "bestseller" status and because I've been more into self-help/self-entrepreneurship recently. It is an interesting mix of historical storytelling, psychological analysis, and personal interviews to explore human behavior. From Michael Phelps becoming an Olympic Gold swimmer to pregnant women shopping at Target, Duhigg scientifically examines how good [and bad] habits develop and how we can change our habits. Everybody can relate to this book because we all have habits: brushing our teeth, listening to music, shopping at certain stores (i.e. my weekly Costco trip), etc. Duhigg provides a basic framework on how to identify our habits, and explore ways to use habits to implement positive change, whether on an individual level or a societal level. One part of the book that stood o...

I am a material person. I like spending money on things, having possessions to call my own, and making sure that I have quality things to ensure that I am truly living. It wasn't until I faced a [mini] life-crisis that I discovered The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up . After finishing the 2016 bar exam, I had less than a week to pack up my apartment and move everything I collected over a 3 year span back to my parents' house. Although I had been gradually moving out, it still took over 3 full days of packing and organizing, and I had to get help from others to take/hold things. I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of clothes and random crap that I accumulated, and decided to turn my life around and avoid more of these unnecessarily stressful situations. Before traveling a month in Asia, I downloaded Marie Kondo's bestseller and delved into the philosophy of "de-cluttering." Basically, you are supposed to put all of your possessions in front of you, touch...

Everybody wants to find love, so who better to tell us how than the comedian who plays Tom Haverford on Parks and Rec? (But forreal I have mad respect for Aziz who is making a name for Asian-Americans in the media.) Anyways, I started Modern Romance after hearing good things about it from friends, and was lent a paper copy from my friend Danna (personalized with post-its marking her favorite quotes). Having seen Parks & Rec, Master of None, and Aziz's standup on Netflix, I fully read this in his high-pitched voice (and he even tells you to read certain parts in his voice). His [sometimes annoying] voice represents the voice of a tech-savvy, urban millennial who is navigating the obstacles of dating and relationships in our ever changing society. His book is somewhat selfish as it serves to answer the questions surrounding why he faced difficulties in his own dating life (although a friend in LA told me that someone told them that they saw Aziz walking out of a club with ...