Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way by Jonah Berger

 

Nonfiction reading

Magic Words by Jonah Berger

January 1, 2023; Harper Business

Genre: language, communication, psychology

I came across this library book by chance and was eager to read it.  Who doesn't want to know how to get your own way? The theme is communicating to convince - tips on how to and how not to. 

 

Believe it or not, the author even references the future president elect a few times re making speeches (conveying the utmost confidence and conviction) that sway many people. And this book was published in 2023! I guess it's not so much What you say as much as How you say it! 

Another point of the book - speaking in concrete not abstract terms makes more of an impact. Specifics win over generalities. Depending on the situations, of course. 

I'm halfway through the book and eager to see what else the author offers. Update: depending on the situation, suggestion is using could or would instead of should; using a noun replacement for a verb; using the present tense instead of the past, and more.

Description: how six types of words can increase your impact in every area, from persuading others and building stronger relationships, to boosting creativity and motivating teams.

I was hooked, and just sent a copy of the book to a friend in a new job. 

Getting ready for Christmas

I gave two of J.E. Rowney's earlier thrillers three stars on NetGalley, and my most recent read of hers, (The Other Passenger), I gave four stars  . I'm eager to see if this most recent book, Xmas Break (Nov. 2, 2024; Little Fox Publishers) will be as good. 

Description

When Isla reluctantly accepts her estranged sister Clara's invitation to spend Christmas at a luxury mountain retreat, she expects awkward family tension – not a fight for survival. After years of silence following their mother's death, this holiday reunion seems too good to be true. And it is.

Currently reading: ARCs

Rowan Gallagher stalks her ex by following his avatar on her phone and seeing his whereabouts at all times. But when she is a suspect in his death, she has to get out of it. Portland, Maine. (May 2025; Harper)

I started this a while ago but got side tracked by other books, a common occurrence, unfortunately.

I may have to start close to the beginning again to follow this thriller. The description sounds interesting and vaguely familiar: 

It's been years since Zoe last saw them – since they graduated and lost touch.

Years since the night an unexpected death shattered their close-knit group of friends.

Now, Zoe is invited to a wedding on a remote island in Scotland. Apprehensive, she hopes the long drive with Lily will ease her nerves.

Lily has agreed to give Dan a lift, and Rod is joining them, along with his fiancée.

And when they come into trouble on a cold, dark, desolated Highland road, a chain of events will leave them all shaken to their core. (Nov. 20, 2024; Boldwood Books

What books are you reading? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday 

Thrillers on the Nile and China, and Women in Modern China: Sunday Salon

Latest read

Havoc by Christopher Bollen  Publication: December 3, 2024; Harper, NetGalley

Genre: suspense literary fiction, noir mystery, Egypt 

My review:

Eighty-something year old Maggie returns to the Hotel Karnak on the banks of the Nile to live out the rest of her life, but then meets an unlikely eight-year-old, Otto, a guest with his mother at the hotel, who gets in the way of her lifestyle and unusual hobby. Maggie is a self-made love arbitrator who has decided on the sly to interfere in couples' lives and engineer their break up when she thinks someone in the marriage is or will be unhappy.

Otto has witnessed Maggie at work, when he sees her leaving false trails that led to the break up of a family in the hotel. He decides to play cat and mouse with Maggie throughout the book and is diabolical in getting back at her when she doesn't give in to his blackmail for video games and expensive items for his mother.

A dark tale of warring minds, old versus young, both getting ever more desperate, until the two seem to go off track. It was hard to believe that an eight year old could be so diabolical, but then I'm reminded this is fiction and Maggie is equally wicked. The last page of the book left me wondering if Otto intended such an ending. The Egyptian god of disorder, violence, and foreigners in Egypt, Set, who is mentioned in the book, seems to reign over these two opponents.

It was an engrossing noir read, leaving the reader wondering during the book, what craziness will they have in store for each other next? 

 

At the library

A modern day spy thriller 

  

The Expat: A Novel by Hansen Shi ( Pegasus Crime, July 2, 2024)  

Description: Piercingly intelligent and ruthlessly contemporary, The Expat: A Novel is both a white-knuckle spy novel and a thrilling exploration of the myth of meritocracy, high-tech immigration, U.S.-China conflicts, identity, and disaffection. 

Princeton graduate, Michael Wang finds himself enmeshed in a dangerous web of industrial espionage and counterintelligence when he goes to China for an engineering job in the auto industry. Caught between two countries that view him as a pawn, where do his loyalties lie? (publisher)

Young women in China trying to make it in the new economy

 

Private Revolutions: Four Women Face China's New Social Order by Yuan Yang 

Published July 2, 2024, Viking

Genre: women's history, nonfiction, Communism and socialism

Description: A sweeping yet intimate portrait of modern China told through the lives of four ordinary women striving for a better future in a highly unequal society

While serving as the deputy Beijing bureau chief of the Financial Times, Chinese-British journalist Yuan Yang began to notice common threads in the lives of her Chinese peers—women born during China’s turn toward capitalism in the 1980s and 1990s, who, despite the country's enormous economic gains during their lifetimes, were coming up against deeply entrenched barriers as they sought to achieve financial stability.

The book traces the journey of four such women as they try to make better lives for themselves and their families in the new Chinese economy. 

 

What new books or programs are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves 

 

Note: I am an Amazon Affiliate and will earn a small commission with each purchase through blog links, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support.

The Lover of No Fixed Abode by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini: A romance in Venice

 Books set in Italy and Alaska

The Lover of No Fixed Abode by Franco Lucentini

Gregory Dowling (translator)

Published February 20, 2024; Bitter Lemon Press

Genre: travel, Venice, art history, romance, literary fiction

The novel is a love story of a modern day Roman princess who buys art for an auction house and a tour guide, the enigmatic Mr. Silvera, both of whom meet on a flight to Venice. The two share three unforgettable days in Venice,  their passionate affair including touring the canals, streets, bridges, museums and palaces of the city.

I loved this unusual book, the art and historical details of Venice that it gives the reader, and the romance between the two intriguing main characters themselves. Mr. Silvera's background is ambiguous and his wandering life is something he cannot escape. Learned in history, art, languages, he tells the princess that he must leave soon and she will not be able to follow him. Jewish himself, Mr. Silvera likens his life to the story of the Wandering Jew, who is condemned to wander till Judgement Day. This gives a certain melancholy to the entire book.

The romance between the two people is both heartfelt and tragic. But the book is also about Italian art, the trading of very costly works and the subterfuges and scams used in buying and selling. But overall, it's also a sophisticated love story of Venice. 

The book made me feel as I had visited the city and its surrounding islands in person!

Thanks to Bitter Melon Press and publicist for a review copy 

New books from Soho Crime set in Tuscan, Alaska: 

The Road to Murder by Camilla Trinchieri, a Tuscan mystery

Published March 5, 2024; Soho Crime

The setting in a little town in Tuscany is a big draw for readers of this mystery series. Local food, people, and customs are highlighted. 

Description:

Ex-New York City detective turned amateur chef Nico Doyle is asked by the local carabinieri to help. A woman has been found dead in her home, slumped over her piano, and the sole witness speaks only English. Nico reluctantly agrees to help Perillo with the case.

I've read several of the other books and am looking forward to this one too. 

 

Big Breath In by John Straley, former Writer Laureate of Alaska

Publication: November 12, 2024; Soho Crime

Setting: Alaska 

Description: Delphine, is a retired marine biologist, and a terminal cancer patient. However, she is determined to carry on with life as usual, and sets out to find the missing mother of a young child whom she had observed being harassed by an unknown man. What ensues is a rescue mission across the Pacific Northwest. 

I'm eager to get to the chase, but I'm first reading the first part of the book, which is all about sperm whales and their habitat and habits.

Straley's wife Jan is a marine biologist who specializes in studying humpback whales, while he is a well known writer of Alaska mysteries. 

 

What new books or programs are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves 

 

I have an affiliate link with Amazon and will earn a small commission with each purchase through my blog links, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support.

Wait: A Novel by Gabriella Burnham: Sunday Salon

 Book Review

Wait by Gabriella Burnham

Published May 21, 2024; One World, NetGalley

Genre; literary fiction, contemporary fiction, adult fiction, immigrants

I enjoyed this novel about two American born sisters - Elise, a recent college graduate and Sophie, a high school student, whose mother, illegally in the U.S., was deported back to Brazil after being arrested for long overstaying her work visa. The girls' father, a visitor to the U.S. himself, left the family to return to Ireland a long time ago when Sophie was two years old. 

How the sisters, half-Irish, half-Brazilian American citizens, manage alone on Nantucket Island, their home, while waiting for their mother to acquire a green card from Brazil is the crux of this novel, a story of one illegal immigrant and her children.

Heart warming as well as revealing, the book looks at the children, especially the older child Elise, who is more affected by the change in their family situation than her younger sister. The story of the girls living their own lives on their own in the U.S. while they wait, and their mother adjusting to her own life back in her country, Brazil, leaves the reader both joyful and a little sadder.

A wonderfully written and executed book on a timely and relevant topic.

Currently reading

See: Loss. See Also: Love,  a novel by Yukiko Tominaga

Published May 7, 2024; Scribner, NetGalley

Genre: adult contemporary fiction, literary fiction, Japanese fiction

Description: A debut novel following a Japanese widow raising her son between worlds with the help of her Jewish mother-in-law as she wrestles with grief, loss, and—strangest of all—joy. 

Shortly after her husband Levi’s untimely death, Kyoko decides to raise their young son, Alex, in San Francisco, rather than return to Japan. Her nosy yet loving Jewish mother-in-law, Bubbe, encourages her to find new love and abandon frugality but her own mother wants Kyoko to celebrate her now husbandless life. Always beside her is Alex, who lives confidently, no matter the circumstance.

Four sections of vignettes. 

I'm intrigued by the mixing of cultures, people, and family in a novel about love and loss.

The Olympics

 

I found myself getting involved in more games than I thought I'd like, watching fencing and archery, as well as diving, track, cycling, soccer, volleyball, table tennis, gymnastics and more.

Thanks to my son who subscribed so we could enjoy watching the games on tv!  Did you watch any of the games? 

One of my favorites - the final men's soccer match between France and Spain. Spain won a hard fought game. 

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves

As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn a small commission on each purchase through my blog links. at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support.

A Love Letter to Paris by Rebecca Raisin: Paris in July 2024

 

 A Love Letter to Paris by Rebecca Raisin, July 8, 2024; Boldwood Books, NetGalley

Genre: romance, Paris, contemporary fiction

Reviewed for Paris in July 2024

 

My comments: Half-French Lilou has lived in Paris since her 20s, selling old letter and personal diaries and ephemera from the past at her stall at the San Ouen flea market. Inspired by her friend Emilienne, who wants to find the right boyfriend, and convinced that writing letters would better introduce two people to each other than sending pictures or having sudden impromptu dates, Lilou opens a letter writing matchmaking site online and calls herself the Paris Cupid.

Becoming a flourishing matchmaker, the Paris Cupid that advocates "slow-burn romance" through the written word, Lilou also finds herself the target of romance, wondering about the love talismans she finds among her things at her stall. There are three men who have stalls close by hers at the flea market who might be trying to convey their romantic feelings to Lilou, or court her in this way.

This cute romance novel tells a lot about Paris, its huge and famous flea markets, antique shops, the booksellers along the Seine, the parks and gardens and places to get the best views of Paris, sites for lovers, even the French love of cats as pets. Readers will want to see this aspect of Paris. I found the book an enjoyable and easy read that showed me other sides of this intriguing city.

Travel Can Be Fun or Not: Sunday Salon

Books read and to-be-read

The Trip by Phoebe Morgan, May 25, 2024; HQ, NetGalley

Genre: mystery, adventure, travel fiction, adult fiction

Braving it in Thailand. Four friends enjoy their vacation, until one of them commits a crime, and they all keep it a secret. I read this mainly for the details of a trip to Thailand, but enjoyed the straightforward plot of trouble found not in that country, but trouble that follows one of the travelers from the U.S. The last half of the book was suspenseful even though most of the plot was somewhat predictable. The very end of the book was a plot twist I didn't see coming, however.

A rom com set in Vietnam

Adam and Evie's Matchmaking Tour by Nora Nguyen, September 24, 2024; Avon, NetGalley

  

Description: A rollicking romance about two strangers finding love as they embark on a matchmaking tour through Việt Nam - from the bustling streets of Hồ Chí Minh City to the soaring waterfalls in Đà Lạt.

The Main Character by Jaclyn Goldis
May 21, 2024; Atria, NetGalley

Genre: travel, thriller, suspense

Description: A thriller author arranges a luxury train trip along Italy’s Mediterranean coast on the famed, newly renovated Orient Express, traveling from Cinque Terre to Rome to Positano. All who are invited by the author are hiding secrets. And there might be a murder or two.

Hurricane season

Storm Warning by David Bell, June 25, 2024; Berkley. Genre: suspense, thriller

It's hurricane season in Florida! Here is a book that might make you think twice about going south during the storm season. 

The setting during a strong hurricane on a barrier island in Florida is new, but the mystery thriller situation is familiar. There is a killer (among the residents who are sitting out the storm in their delapidated building), and the residents are isolated from the mainland and from help. They must fend for themselves and each other the best they can.

There is some supense when the first building resident is found murdered, and more suspense from the relentless storm that threatens to destroy the building in which they live. Who the murderer is and why, and how and if they survive is the crux of the story.

Not extremely original in plot, but a good read nevertheless. 

Immigration and the American Dream

Love Can't Feed You by Cherry Lou Sy, October 8, 2024; Dutton, NetGalley

Description: a heartbreaking look at coming of age, shifting notions of home, and the disintegration of the American dream. It asks us: What does it mean to be of multiple cultures without a road map for how to belong?        

Queenie, her younger brother, and their elderly Chinese father arrive in the United States from the Philippines to finally reunite with Queenie’s Filipina mother, a nurse. But her mother is not the same woman she was in the Philippines: Something in her face is different, almost hardened, and she seems so American already.

What are you reading/watching this week?  

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves 

Sunday Salon: Quick Trip and a Book Review of The Other Passenger by J.E. Rowney

 I’m visiting relatives in Toronto and am also reading The Other Passenger The Other Passenger by J. E. Downey. A new book from NetGalley, publication May 31, 2024. 

The Other Passenger 

May 31, 2024

Description: On the run from their pasts, a man and a woman are forced together by the weather and by necessity. When a radio news broadcast reports that a body has been found further back along the road on which they are travelling, tensions rise and it’s only so long before the truth must come out. But the truth is never quite what you imagine.''

My review: 

Emma and David are both running away from something and land up in the same car during a terrific storm on a dark night in a remote area of England. David we know from the outset is upset at being passed over for an award at work that he was sure he was going to get; Emma is trying to find her sister Angeline.

The descriptions of the car ride into the stormy night and of the two strangers in the same car going somewhere, but not knowing exactly where, carries the story. The plot is not complicated but the background stories and the interaction between the two strangers, forty-year- old David and the 21-year-old Emma, also carry the story.

The ending of this psychological thriller came as a surprise. It was well worth reading for the writing as well as for the plot.

Hope you are all enjoying spring or whichever weather zone you are in. I’m loving the good food here that I can’t get back home, namely dim sum with all the varieties, Jamaican patties, and sticky rice with roast pork and mushrooms. 

And of course seeing relatives again. 

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

How to Live Japanese by Yutaka Yazawa: Review

 

How to Live Japanese

by Yutaka Yazawa

Pub Date 11 Oct 2018

Quarto Publishing Group - Aurum Press, White Lion Publishing, NetGalley

Detailed and very readable book with sections covering the history, geography and topography of Japan, as well as the religions, cuisine, cultural traditions, famous landmarks and more.

This book would be good background reading for anyone traveling to Japan, to help   make the land, the people, and the customs easily understandable.  Religious celebrations, festivals, holidays, are all included in easy to understand and fluid prose.

Outstanding to me were descriptions of Mt. Fuji and its importance, mountain walking and trekking that are popular for so many, onsens and hot spring resorts, the unique preparation of food as in sushi and more, the geisha tradition and history, pottery making in the Kyoto region and elsewhere, other arts and crafts, farming and fishing occupations, religious festivals and celebrations.

Those already familiar with Japan will recognize many of the sections' information, and see these from the Japanese-born author's point of view.  I enjoyed reading about what was new to me and what I was already familiar with.

Yutaka Yazawa

Having spent university and early career years in London, Yutaka Yazawa decided to return to his childhood home of Tokyo. After a long career travelling in law, he decided to make the switch to writer. He has also written The Little Book of Japanese Living. 

Book Tour: The Spice Maker's Secret by Renita D'Silva

 

The Spice Maker's Secret by Renita D'Silva, historical fiction

Publication: January 3, 2024; Bookouture, NetGalley

I enjoyed the sweet romance that developed in an Indian village between Bindu, the poor teenage tenant of a rich landowner, and Guru, the landowner's young son. That Guru did not let Bindu's low status prevent him from wooing her was an interesting part of the plot. 

However, when society's strict rules and the landowner's own restrictions put Bindu, his son's new young wife, in a golden cage, so to speak,  Bindu rebels in the only way she can, convincing her wealthy husband to allow her to continue making her spice pastes and to cook, but also secretly submitting her poetry and stories to a publication run by a handsome British journalist. Bindu is not allowed to read magazines or discuss politics with any of the Indian or British guests at the many parties the landowner throws. 

The tragedy of Bindu and Guru's ill fated marriage takes up most of the rest of the novel. The story switches from unhappy Bindu in 1930s India to Eve, a young woman living in1980s London. The novel later reveals the connection between the two women living in different historical periods in a dramatic fashion.

Heartrending, the novel first shows the restricted lives of women, poor and wealthy alike, in pre-Independence India, and focuses on Bindu, one woman who chafes at these rules and the price she pays for her independent spirit. 

The author has given a startlingly clear depiction of both the rich and green land of India and the tropical surroundings, the relationship between those in poverty and those of wealth, and the role of women in 1930s India. 

I heartily recommend this historical novel for those wanting to know more about the social and working life and the culture and traditions of people in this era in India.

Author Bio:

Renita grew up in a picturesque coastal village in the South of India, the oldest of three children. Her father got her first story books when she was six and she fell in love with the world of stories. Even now she prefers that world, by far, to this.

https://www.facebook.com/RenitaDSilvaBooks/

https://www.instagram.com/renita_dsilva/

https://twitter.com/renitadsilva

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Renita D'Silva here: https://www.bookouture.com/renita-dsilva

Buy Link:

Amazon:  https://geni.us/B0CLL11Z8Qsocial

Thanks to Bookouture for providing access to this novel for their book tour.

Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin: Sunday Salon

  NEW RELEASE

 

This is a reprint of a February 2023 review posted on this blog. I am reprinting it as the author has an extensive list of cities he is now visiting for book signings and readings, including in this city!

Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir by Curtis Chin  October 23, 2023, Little, Brown and Company

Genre: memoir, family drama, multicultural interest, LGBTQ

Setting: Detroit

The memoir is about growing up Asian in Detroit in the 1970-1980s. The publisher sums the book up best:

Nineteen eighties Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven: Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, where anyone—from the city’s first Black mayor to the local drag queens, from a big-time Hollywood star to elderly Jewish couples—could sit down for a warm, home-cooked meal.

Here was where,... surrounded by his multigenerational family, filmmaker and activist Curtis Chin came of age; where he learned to embrace his identity as a gay ABC, or American-born Chinese; where he navigated the divided city’s spiraling misfortunes; and where ... he realized just how much he had to offer to the world, to his beloved family, and to himself.

My comments: 

As an Asian American living in the Midwest, I saw Detroit as both fascinating and dangerous, even as it declined economically and socially when it lost the auto industry and its economic power, and became a literal war zone, with riots and fires, a city soon abandoned by many long time residents.

I was delighted to read of this Chinese family that stayed and thrived even in dangerous conditions, because of their well-known restaurant with customers from all classes, races and religions, the common ground being love of Chinese cuisine.

The memoir describes a volatile Detroit during those changing times and the lives of the Chinese family, the Chins, as seen by third son, Curtice, a second generation son. Curtice's book covers his life there until he left after graduating from the University of Michigan to find his own way, as a film maker in NYC.  

The heady topics of his sexuality, his position in the family as the middle child of five, plus racism and discrimination, and the dangers of Detroit are offset by the humor with which Curtice Chin tackles his own personal life there.  The memoir is entertaining as well as informative and very considerate regarding many of the people he came in contact with in school, at work, and in daily life. This, in spite of the fact that the Chinese community there could not forget the murder of a family friend, Vincent Chin, considered an act of discrimination that was never fully punished. 

I can see that it took this long for the author to write this book, perhaps because of the sensitive subjects and also because gay rights and legal immigrant rights are now fully established. (At least, we hope so.) Kudos to Curtis for writing with so much insight and honesty, and presenting himself with delightful humor in between the very serious topics.

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves.