Year of the Rabbit: Chinese Lunar New Year 2023

 The Year of the Rabbit begins January 22, 2023

Gung Hay Faat Choy is the Lunar New Year greeting in the Cantonese language.

Wishing you all health, happiness, and prosperity

 

 According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Rabbit will bring a calmer year

Novels featuring the New Year

Daughters of the New Year: a novel by E.M. Tran

Published October 11, 2022; Hanover Square Press

 

"Five generations of Vietnamese mothers and daughters, drawing on Vietnamese zodiac astrology to chart the fateful events of their lives.

In present day New Orleans, Xuan Trung, former beauty queen turned refugee after the Fall of Saigon, is obsessed with divining her daughters' fates through their Vietnamese zodiac signs.

 

But Trac, Nhi and Trieu diverge completely from their immigrant parents' expectations."(publisher)

Book beginning: 

Prologue

The night before the first day of Lunar New Year, Xuan called her children to give them their horoscopes. She did this every year: for at least a week, she pored over the gigantic book with each sign's annual predictions and the star positions, and the daily zodiac calendar with its moon phases, both of which she bought at the Vietnamese bookstore at the strip mall in New Orleans east.   

Lunar Love 

by Lauren Kung Jessen

Published January 10, 2023 by Forever

 

This enemies-to-lovers debut rom-com filled with Chinese astrology will undoubtedly prove to be a perfect match with readers

Always a matchmaker, never a match...

Olivia Huang Christenson is excited-slash-terrified to be taking over her grandmother’s matchmaking business. But when she learns that a new dating app has made her Pó Po’s traditional Chinese zodiac approach all about “animal attraction,” her emotions skew more toward furious-slash-outraged. Especially when L.A.’s most-eligible bachelor Bennett O’Brien is behind the app that could destroy her family’s legacy.

 

 What are you reading 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

The Donut Trap by Julie Tieu: Book Review/Book Beginning

 

The Donut Trap by Julie Tieu, November 9, 2021, Avon, library book 

Genres:  romantic comedy, YA, contemporary fiction, immigrant fiction, multicultural interest 

Book beginning: 

All of my customers have told me at one point or another that Sunshine Donuts is their happy place. Who can blame them? There are colorful sprinkled donuts.... To live and breathe it every day, that's a different story. 

Page 56: 

His lightly tanned skin was so perfectly even and smooth, with tiny freckles under his left eye. 

Book review: 

As the title suggests, Jasmine finds herself trapped in her parents' donut shop after recently graduating from college. Her feelings of obligation to her immigrant Chinese-Cambodian parents keep her at home, knowing they need help, even though they encourage her to find a job. 

In love, dating, marriage, family obligations, career, Jas weighs what she wants for herself and what her parents expect from her. When her current crush, Alex, and his mother come to dinner at her parents' house, the evening ends in a minor disaster,  Alex is no longer welcome, and Jas is in conflict.

 But Jas is determined to live her own life and to also help her parents update their store's donut offerings to keep up with the competition, hire additional help, and leave her free to find her own path.

A contemporary novel of young adults - Jas and her brother Pat-  finding their own way while appreciating and loving their families, I gave this five stars for being spot on re this topic. 

The Friday 56. Find any sentence that grabs you on page 56 of your book. Post it, and add your URL to Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.

First Chapter: The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

The Golden Son: A Novel  by Shilpi Somaya Gowda, October 20, 2015.

The Golden Son is an immigrant story, set in the U.S. and India, about immigration, tradition, and cultural clashes and difficulties.

Publisher description: Anil Patel, the golden son, leaves his tiny Indian village to begin a medical residency in Dallas, Texas. When his father dies, Anil inherits the mantle of arbiter for all of the village’s disputes. But he is uncertain that he has the wisdom and courage demonstrated by his father and grandfather. His doubts are compounded by the difficulties in adjusting to a new culture and a new job.

Back home in India, Anil’s childhood friend, Leena, struggles to adapt to her demanding new husband and relatives. Arranged by her parents, the marriage shatters Leena’s romantic hopes and eventually forces her to make a desperate choice.

First paragraph:

Anil Patil was ten years old the first time he witnessed one of Papa's arbitrations.
Children usually were not allowed at these meetings, but an exception was made for Anil since he would, one day, inherit his father's role....

Based on the first paragraph, would you keep reading?

Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two, from a book you are reading or will be reading soon.

Book Review: An Incurable Insanity by Simi K. Rao

Title: An Incurable Insanity by Simi K. Rao
Published October 8, 2013; Tate Publishing
Genre: fiction

"Tell me, what have I done to deserve this? To marry you, be ready to spend the rest of my life with you, then suffer rejection not once but twice. Do you know how humiliating it is? How many nights have I spend wondering what sins I was being punished for?"
"No, Ruhi, you've done nothing wrong!" The words came out in a rush as he  folded her tenderly in his arms. (p. 172)

Synopsis: Shaan Ahuja found himself bowing to tradition and agreeing to an arranged marriage to the beautiful Ruhi Sharma. He went through the motions but had no intention of carrying through on his vows. His last foray into matters of the heart with an American girl had left him scarred and unwilling to try again. Thoroughly disillusioned and disgruntled, he wasted no time in making his intentions clear to Ruhi on their wedding night. But, he was completely unprepared for what his new wife had in mind. (publisher)

My comments: An interesting story of an arranged marriage of two people who settle in Los Angeles after their marriage ceremony in India. It's a love story of how the reluctant husband eventually comes to cherish his rebuffed wife. I learned a lot about the Indian culture and was taken behind the scenes of some traditional unions, what a couple might have to go through before they settle into the inevitability of an arranged marriage. In this novel, the final outcome is predictable, and the characters a bit stereotypical. The wife Ruhi, for example, seemed at the beginning just too perfect; Shaan later becomes just too love struck. These points could be the main drawback for a reader, though I did appreciate the behind-the-scenes look at potential problems and potential happy outcomes for this type of marriage.

Simi K. Rao was born in India and lives in Denver with her family. This book is her first. The inspiration for the story came from the immigrant community. Some of the experiences are her own; some are from friends and conversations with acquaintances. She also writes poetry, is an avid photographer, loves to travel, and is a practicing physician. Connect with Simi on her website, Twitter, Facebook.

For other reviews, visit the book tour schedule organized by TLC Book Tours
Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the author for a review copy of this book.  If you have difficulty leaving a comment, click on Book Dilettante and try again.

Book Review: The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmines by Shohreh Aghdashloo

Title: The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmines by Shohreh Aghdashloo
Published June 4, 2013; Harper
Genre: memoir

About the book: Shohreh has decided to leave Iran, her parents, and her husband, the painter Aydin, because of her outspoken political beliefs and her involvement in western-style theater as an aspiring actress. Aydin agrees with her decision to leave and breaks the news to his parents.

"But why are you doing this?" she kept asking.
"Believe me, Mom, it's best for everybody," he said.
She turned to me and asked, "Do you not love Aydin?"
I was stunned. "Yes, I do love him. That is why I am doing this. I don't want him to get into trouble over me." .... 

At 4:30 a.m., February 28, 1979, I left Iran. Like thousands of other Iranians departing the country every day, I, too thought that I would return after the turmoil had ceased, possibly in only a few weeks. Surely I'd be home again. (ch. 19)

My comments: This is quite a moving account of the life of the young actress from Tehran who left her home for Europe and eventually came to the U.S. after the fall of the last Shah of Iran and the beginning of the Islamic Republic.

In America, she eventually remarries and continues her career as an actress in Iranian plays written by her second husband, the playwright Houshang. She then breaks into the Hollywood circle, leading up to her nomination for an Academy Award as supporting actress in The House of Sand and Fog. She later received an Emmy Award.in 2009 for her supporting role as Saddam's wife in the film, House of Saddam..

We see Shohreh as a passionate young woman who takes risks for what she loves and succeeds through sheer will power and determination. This is an inspiring book for immigrants and for those who  leave their countries during political upheavals. Granted Shohreh comes from a well-to-do family, but there are times in her self-exile when she struggled to support herself and her driving desire to continue acting.

She remembers her home country in the title of the book, which refers to the alley with yellow flowers near her home where she used to walk.

A well written and very detailed account of Shohreh's life before and after leaving Iran, her eventual success in the U.S., and her reunions with her mother and brothers.  

About the author:
Shohreh Aghdashloo won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for HBO’s House of Saddam and was the first Iranian actress ever to be nominated for an Academy Award, for her role in House of Sand and Fog. She has starred in the Fox series 24 and has been featured in a number of television shows and films. Born and raised in Tehran, she now lives in Los Angeles.

For other reviews, visit the tour schedule by TLC Book Tours 

Linked to Cym Lowell's Book Review Link-Up Party 

Thanks to the publsher and TLC Book Tours for a review galley of the book.