Amy Tan

Amy Tan is a Chinese-American and my favorite author.  Whenever I find her work, I want to read.  Her books were usually about China, such as Chinese in China, Chinese immigrants in America, or Chinese-American in America.  The reason I like Amy Tan is not only I like Chinese history, but also her writing style and the way of her expression.  I have never met Amy Tan herself, but I kind of can imagine her uniqueness and sense of humor from her works.  For me, her works are not a type of story I want to read nonstop in a day.  I’d rather enjoy each page and each sentence at a time reading slowly.

My very first Amy Tan’s book is Joy Luck Club.  I still regret I failed to get a chance to see the musical of Joy Luck Club at Diamondhead Theater several years ago.  I was really curious how they would show this story in a musical.  I love this heartwarming story with humor and oddness.  Joy Luck Club had been my favorite of her works until I read The Kitchen God’s Wife, which is incredible, and I love it. The scenes in her books sometimes sound very strange or unfamiliar to me, but somehow her writing skill enables me to imagine each scene vividly.  Although the story is incredible, it also describes normal family relationship that sounds familiar to me.  The balance between familiar and unfamiliar aspects, I think, attracts many readers including me. 

Last year, her new book, The Valley of Amazement, was published.  I’ve heard lots of good reviews and been very interested in it.  It is one of books in my to-read list.

Holes

My friend recently asked me what book I would recommend for her 4th grade son.  I even didn’t have to think about it to answer her question because I knew what I recommend.  It was definitely Holes although I was not sure if it's too difficult for 4th graders or not, but I love it and he can read it anytime in the future anyway.   

Holes written by Louis Sachar is one of Newbery Award Winners.  When I happened to find Holes in a library several years ago, I even didn’t know what Newbery Award is.  I just happened to take it out of a bookshelf and started reading a couple of pages.  I just wanted to see what kind of story it is and did not mean to read it long standing by the bookshelf but could not stop reading it either.  I ended up sitting in a chair, kept reading, and brought it home to finish it. 

When I read a children’s book, I often get bored.  It might be because the plot tends to be too ordinal and boring.  Sometimes the setting is too unrealistic and fantasied.  Holes is one of unrealistic side of stories, but quite imaginable.  When I was reading it, I was totally into it.  It was sometimes mysterious and made me nervous.  It was sometimes adventurous and made me feel excited. 

If you are looking for a book for children, especially who do not like onions, Holes might be a good one.  The scene with onions is my favorite part of this book.  I am not crazy about onions, but I wanted to eat onions after reading this book.  Pick up the book and find out how your appetite changes!

Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind

Right after I moved in America from Japan, my English was not good enough to be able to read most of the books written in English, but I went to the library quite frequently because the library in my neighborhood had lots of mangas (cartoons).  When I found Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind in a book shelf, I was thrilled.  It has been my favorite manga I have read in my life.  Although it is all written in English, my motivation level jumped up, I read the whole story taking for a couple of weeks.

A manga or cartoon sounds like a fun and sometimes silly story with pictures, but Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind has a pretty serious theme in it.  It will make you think about many important issues of your life such as friendship, environment, and nature.  The author is Hayao Miyazaki, who is a famous Japanese manga writer and film director.  He made lots of animation films, which also became popular in U.S., so you might have heard of or seen some of his works already.  Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind is one of his early works.  Like many of Miyazaki works, the main character is a girl, who has a strong but gentle mind.  The story has 7 volumes, and the film was made mainly from the 1^st and 2^nd volumes.  I highly recommend to read the manga version rather than the film.  The story of 7 volumes sounds very long but goes really deeply into Miyazaki’s world.  If you like Miyazaki works, you will love it.  Some day I want to buy all 7 volumes and have them in my book shelf forever. 

The Help

We can never choose where, when, and how we are born.  We could be born during a war, in a country with dictatorship government, or with multiple handicaps.  All we have to do is accept the situation we are given and live hard.  I am sure it is easier to say, and that’s why I always admire people who overcome their difficult circumstances.  As a book reader, books like Wild Swans and The Help, which deeply inspired me, are very important for me.  I keep these books in a bookshelf forever so that they always encourage me whenever I see them. 

I read The Help recently because my friend recommended its film.  Like many other book readers, I believe books are often, I do not say always, better than films.  So, I started reading The Help.  It is about the black women’s lives in 1960’s, when many black women worked as maids for white family under the severe discrimination.  I really appreciate that I can experience the compassion and courage of the characters in this book while reading it.  It is not a real experience of course, but my feeling really moved at each events.  This is my favorite part of reading.  Especially when the story is about women based on their daily life, I tend to immerse myself in the story.  There is also a white character who stands up for black ladies.  It is really difficult to do the right thing under the circumstances like in this story. 

If you want to read a book about women’s history that could move your heart, this might be the one you are looking for.