Check out the book here
Time to Pick Up August's Book from Albania!
The vote was so incredibly close! But before we get to that we’d like to share a comment submitted with the vote which made our week: “This was the best compilation for voting yet! How can anyone choose?!?!”
We’re thrilled you appreciated the list this month especially since it was such a hard one to put together.
We also wanted to highlight a book that didn’t work for a club read since a good portion occurs in the US, but it seems like a fascinating book. It focus on an Albanian tradition we hadn’t heard about before—if there are no male heirs, a woman can "choose" to become a man & enjoy the associated freedoms as long as she swears herself to virginity for life. “
“Dones’s deft and lively novel finds its sweet spot in a handful of dualities . . . Dones writes in a clean and breezy style, raising sly questions about culture, art, and, especially, gender. Her novel is provocative without being confrontational.” —Publishers Weekly
“Fascinating reading. The word pictures of people and of those repressive climates; dictatorship, rural isolation and patriarchy; that condition them are set out in very compelling prose. If you have never been to rural Albania, reading this novel will transport you there and bring you back again safely. It would be well worth the journey.” —Akanos
BUT WHAT BOOK ARE WE READING for the club?
Note: We’re thrilled we found an audio version available as well under a different link!
Named a Best Book of the Year by the New Yorker, Washington Post, Financial Times, Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, Sunday Times, and more
An astonishing and deeply resonant memoir that is by turns "bitingly, if darkly, funny…and truly profound" (NY Times), Lea Ypi writes about growing up in the last days of the last Stalinist outpost of the 20th century.
Family and nation formed a reliable bedrock of security for precocious 11-year-old Lea. She was a Young Pioneer, helping to lead her country toward the future of perfect freedom promised by the leaders of her country, the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania. Then, almost overnight, the Berlin Wall fell and the pillars of her society toppled. The local statue of Stalin, whom she had believed to be a kindly leader who loved children, was beheaded by student protestors.
Uncomfortable truths about her family’s background emerged. Lea learned that when her parents had spoken in whispers of friends going to “university” or relatives “dropping out,” they meant something much more sinister. As she learned the truth about her family’s past, her best friend fled the country. Together with neighboring post-Communist states, Albania began a messy transition to join the “free markets” of the Western world: a dystopia of pyramid schemes, organized crime, and sex trafficking. Her father, despite his radical left-wing convictions, was forced to fire workers; her mother became a conservative politician on the model of Margaret Thatcher. Lea’s typical teen concerns about relationships and the future were shot through with the existential: the nation was engulfed in civil war.
Ypi’s outstanding literary gifts enable her to weave together this colorful, tumultuous coming-of-age story in a time of social upheaval with thoughtful, fresh, and invigorating perspective on the relation between the personal and the political.
"Riveting. . .A wonderfully funny and poignant portrait of a small nation in a state of collapse. . . gloriously readable. . .One of the nonfiction titles of the year, it is destined for literary accolades and popular success.” ―Observer
"Utterly engrossing . . . Ypi's memoir is brilliantly observed, politically nuanced and—best of all—funny." ―Guardian
"Ypi is a beautiful writer and a serious political thinker, and in just a couple hundred readable pages, she takes turns between being bitingly, if darkly, funny (she skewers Stalinism and the World Bank with equal deadpan) and truly profound...Free is meant to inspire." ―NY Times Book Review
“I was entranced from beginning to end." ―Sunday Times
Happy reading! (If you want to read & discuss the winning book together, join our online book club on Facebook.)
Time to Pick Up July's Book from Thailand
The vote was very close this month, but I think all will be pleased with the winner. But before we get to that, I would be remiss if I didn’t include a cookbook considered to be the “Gold Standard for Authentic Thai Cuisine” in the US written by a chef to Thai Chinese parents who immigrated to the US—which is particularly apropos this month.
“In this showstopping collection of must-try Thai dishes, culinary mastermind and bestselling author Jet Tila opens up the world of his Thai heritage for today’s home cooks with recipes that are authentic, accessible and ultra-craveable.
With dishes ranging from tantalizing classics and popular street foods to unsung heroes spanning the region, this cookbook is your one-stop guide to the rich culinary traditions of Thailand. Jet also presents an exciting collection of plant-based takes on popular dishes to welcome everyone to the table and show the range of possibilities in the modern Thai kitchen. Fire up your wok and get hungry for 101 of the best damn Thai dishes you’ll ever have.”
Jet Tila is a James Beard–nominated chef. He’s made appearances as a celebrity chef on Iron Chef America, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Cutthroat Kitchen and more. Jet is culinary VP of the Pei-Wei Restaurant Group and co-owns Dragon Tiger Noodle Co. Jet grew up helping at his family’s famed Bangkok Market―the first Thai market in the United States. He is also the Culinary Ambassador of Thai Cuisine.
“There’s nothing better than when a born teacher teaches the cuisine he was born to cook. Jet Tila is that teacher and Thai is that cuisine.” ―Alton Brown
“This book is amazing because it makes one of the most delicious cuisines in the world accessible, thanks to Jet.” ―Marcus Samuelsson
“Jet cooks with the same passion, heart and verve that he lives by. You’ll get a glimpse of the soul he puts into his cooking when you read this book, and you’ll get a mouthful of it when you try these recipes.” ―Duff Goldman
BUT WHAT BOOK ARE WE READING for the club?
When the original Thai version of Letters from Thailand appeared in Bangkok in 1969, it was promptly awarded the SEATO Prize for Thai Literature. Thirteen years later, it was translated into English to reach a much wider readership. Today, the book is still considered one of Thailand’s most entertaining and enduring modern novels, and one of the few portrayals of the immigrant Chinese experience in urban Thailand.
Letters from Thailand is the story of Tan Suang U, a young man who leaves China to make his fortune in Thailand at the close of World War II, and ends up marrying, raising a family, and operating a successful business. The novel unfolds through his letters to his beloved mother in China.
In Tan Suang U’s lively account of his daily life in Bangkok’s bustling Chinatown, larger and deeper themes emerge: his determination to succeed at business in this strange new culture; his hopes for his family; his resentment at how easily his children embrace urban Thai culture at the expense of the Chinese heritage which he holds dear; his inability to understand or adopt Thai ways; and his growing alienation from a society that is changing too fast for him.
"The deft and at times hilarious comedy of these letters lies in the slow but relentless erosion of Tan Suang U's principles, under the balmy influence of a sunnier, lazier land." ―The NY Review of Books
"This is a fascinating book, and I heartily recommend it to all Westerners who know and love Thailand." ―Bangkok Post Sunday Magazine
Happy reading! (If you want to read & discuss the winning book together, join our online book club on Facebook.)
Time to Pick Up June's Global Pride Book!
There’s a clear winner from the book vote this month, but before we get to it I wanted to share an LGBTQIAP+ travel memoir named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Elle, Them, Book Riot, LitHub, Stylecaster, and Chicago Review of Books in addition to being named One of Esquire‘s Best Memoirs of 2024!
A memoir given the highest of praise:
“Phenomenal…. A memoir that opens into the world, with brilliance, courage, and elegant prose…. This is a book to read, read again, and remember.” —Imani Perry
“Bursting with humor and life, it will do more than transport readers; for many, it will be transformative.” —Esquire
In their new book, Shayla Lawson reveals how traveling can itself be a political act, when it can be a dangerous world to be Black, femme, nonbinary, and disabled. With their signature prose, at turns bold, muscular, and luminous, Shayla Lawson travels the world to explore deeper meanings held within love, time, and the self.
Through encounters with a gorgeous gondolier in Venice, an ex-husband in the Netherlands, and a lost love on New Year’s Eve in Mexico City, Lawson’s travels bring unexpected wisdom about life in and out of love. They learn the strength of friendships and the dangers of beauty during a narrow escape in Egypt. They examine Blackness in post-dictatorship Zimbabwe, then take us on a secretive tour of Black freedom movements in Portugal.
Through a deeply insightful journey, Lawson leads readers from a castle in France to a hula hoop competition in Jamaica to a traditional theater in Tokyo to a Prince concert in Minnesota and, finally, to finding liberation on a beach in Bermuda, exploring each location—and their deepest emotions—to the fullest. In the end, they discover how the trials of marriage, grief, and missed connections can lead to self-transformation and unimagined new freedoms.
BUT WHAT BOOK ARE WE READING for the club?
Acclaimed by Cosmopolitan Magazine, the LA Times, Out Magazine, and many others, “this is a unique and devastatingly hopeful story about the paradox of love: even in the midst of war, and in a world dominated by violence and prejudice, still, love transcends.” (Mia Couto)
Inspired by Nigeria's folktales and its war, Under the Udala Trees is a deeply searching, powerful debut about the dangers of living and loving openly.
Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls. When their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie.
As Edwidge Danticat has made personal the legacy of Haiti's political coming of age, Under the Udala Trees uses one woman's lifetime to examine the ways in which Nigerians continue to struggle toward selfhood. Even as their nation contends with and recovers from the effects of war and division, Nigerian lives are also wrecked and lost from taboo and prejudice. This story offers a glimmer of hope—a future where a woman might just be able to shape her life around truth and love.
A special thank you to book club member, Linda Varick Cooper for the suggestion.
Happy reading! (If you want to read & discuss the winning book together, join our online book club on Facebook.)
Time to Pick Up May's Book!
We’re thrilled to again be celebrating Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Heritage Month to honor these diverse communities’ experiences, histories, & cultures.
The vote was close, but we’re pleased with the excellent read that came in first especially since it’s a genre we don’t often read.
But what book are we reading?
It’s a RUSA Award-winning novel & a truly delicious book written by “a Chicago Filipina, who has reinvigorated tired tropes to create a multicultural, queer-friendly culinary mystery, making Arsenic and Adobo an envelope-pushing, world-expanding debut that goes down easy.” (LA Times)
The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes—one that might just be killer….
When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.
With the cops treating her like she’s the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila’s left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block.
"This debut introduces readers to Filipino American food and culture, with its emphasis on family. There are cozy tropes (the close-knit community, the food business), but the emphasis on the Tagalog language, the culture, and drug dealing in a small town add gravity and individuality to this outstanding series kick-off."—Library Journal, starred review
"Even though I tend to write dark, hardboiled stories in which people get hit in the face with tools, I love to read a well-written and quirky cozy mystery. Manansala has created just that with her debut novel, a tale full of eccentric characters, humorous situations and an oh-so-tricky mystery. Check this one out for the poetic prose and the mouth-watering recipes that are integral to the plot."—The Washington Post
Happy reading! (If you want to read & discuss the winning book together, join our online book club on Facebook.)
Time to Pick Up November's Book
There was a clear winning book this month & it’s a fairly short read, but before we get to that I’d like to share my astonishment that a club member has already read 5 of the proposed books—Anna Ruth! She lived in Cameroon for 2 years, but we’ve had others who lived in other countries all of their lives & still haven’t come close to that number. 😮
And what would a voting results post be without another great global cookbook? Here’s one which just came out in September written by someone who grew up in Cameroon on an organic farm. She later moved to the US where she became a Certified Integrative Nutritionist, chef, & TV personality before founding Yummy Spoonfuls Organics, the first nationally-distributed organic food for kids.
“I want you to close your eyes as you hold this book in your hands and understand that it is yours to create magic, to reinvent yourself in the kitchen in ways you never thought possible. It doesn’t matter if you weren’t raised in a home with skilled cooks or entrenched in healthy food traditions as I was. It doesn’t matter if you have no culinary experience at all. I am sharing my kitchen, my mami’s kitchen, my grandma’s bare-bones, gadget-free kitchen that produced the healthiest, most mouthwatering meals. This book you are holding—full of recipes, knowledge, life stories, and tips I share with my own family and clients—is an extension of who I am. I hope it helps and brings you joy, too.” —From the introduction
When Agatha Achindu came to the US from Cameroon, she didn’t know what to make of the aisles and aisles of canned foods in the grocery store. She started making meals with fresh ingredients for her college roommate. After her first community dinner for 50 fellow students, word spread. Fast-forward 30 years: What started as small workshops teaching moms how to make nutritious meals blossomed into a career dedicated to helping families live life unprocessed, and eat flavorful, nutrient‑dense foods that can help prevent chronic disease and other food-related health concerns. No matter what Agatha does, her dishes are always based on one fundamental principle she learned from her mami: You are what you eat. Throughout her career, she has shared this ethos: for each and every person—no matter their age, background, or locale—to grow and thrive without the daily aggravation and hardship (and expense!) of preventable chronic diseases. Agatha has been on an unrelenting mission to make families and communities healthier, to live a life that is bursting with vibrant energy, age gracefully and in good health. It is never too late to start eating food that will nourish our body, mind and soul.
Bountiful Cooking celebrates these matrilineal culinary philosophies with 100 recipes packed with life-giving nutrients. Not only are these recipes healthy, but with global flavors, they also serve as cultural nutrition for the whole family. Agatha’s recipes will make you fall in love with food—and recognize that food, a sacred source of life and feeding, is the highest expression of love.
But what book are we reading?
A slim novel at only 169 pages (4 hours 48 minutes on audio) which you’ll be able to read even though we’re getting a late start this month!
A powerful, heartrending, and insightful novel of a trio of women in Cameroon who dare to rebel against oppressive, long-held cultural traditions—including polygamy and domestic abuse—that define and limit their lives.
In North Cameroon, well-to-do young Ramla is torn from her true love and wed to a manipulative older man. Safira, her co-wife, juggles envy and empathy for this new bride with disappointment in the husband she desperately loves. Like her older sister, Ramla, Hindou is married off to a man she does not know or want, a distant cousin whose instability and violence terrifies her.
From an early age, these women were raised to submit to men, or risk shame and repudiation of themselves and their families. They are advised to have munyal—patience. They are told that their fates are the will of the All-Powerful, and that it is unthinkable—or rather, impossible—to defy tradition. They are reminded of the Fulani proverb which holds, “At the end of patience, there is the sky.”
Yet Ramla, Safira, and Hindou are tired of waiting for a happiness that may never come. Their lives are driven by impatience and clouded by the suffering rooted in forced marriage and physical abuse, but it is this oppressive culture that binds them together.
Djaïli Amadou Amal makes her literary debut in English with this remarkable novel that breaks taboos as it denounces the cultural mores of Africa's Sahel region. Inspired by the author’s own experiences and written with grace, strength, and veracity, The Impatient is a moving testimony to a shared pain and a call for change—an unflinching depiction of the psychic damage traditions can have on the women who must abide by them and a denunciation of violence against all women and the normalization of domestic abuse—not only in Cameroon but around the globe.
“A stark and unflinching view of an oppressive culture.” —Publishers Weekly
(A special thank you to book club member, Elke Richelsen for the suggestion.)
Happy reading! (If you want to read & discuss the winning book together, join our online book club on Facebook.)
Time to Pick Up October's Halloween-themed Book
It looks like book club members were just as excited as we are to read a Halloween-themed book as we received a number of comments noting folks were going to read their top picks either way too!
But before we get to the winning book, I want to introduce you to a book that wasn’t chosen which I highly recommend. As someone who hates horror, it was also a surprise to me that horror could just be fun/creepy (& not filled with gore & the other things I hated about horror). +It’s also a good intro to flash fiction if you’re unfamiliar.
The Cave
“When I was a kid, I loved to play with my sisters under the blankets of my parent’s bed. Sometimes we pretended it was a tent, and sometimes we said it was an igloo near the North Pole, though the best game was always the cave. The bed was huge! Once I took the flashlight from the nightstand and told my sisters I was going to explore the deepest part of the cave. At first they laughed, then they got nervous, and they ended up calling down for me. But I didn’t pay any attention to them and kept crawling until I couldn’t hear their cries any more. The cave was enormous, and, when the batteries ran out, it was impossible to go back. I don’t know how many years have gone by since then, but my pajamas wore out and now I wrap myself up in them like Tarzan.
I’ve heard my mom has died.”
This is 1 of the pieces of flash fiction in Grave Goods written by someone renowned as one of Peru’s best contemporary writers. For those of you like me who didn’t really know how good flash fiction could be, I hope it’s just as eye-opening. I had no idea you could get a whole story out of so few words! I also really enjoyed the surprise factor of these stories as shown above as well as the author’s humor in other stories.
The Kindle book is currently only $2.99 (Click here to view on Amazon) so now’s a great time to check it out. It’s the perfect October read in addition to the group pick. (I’m also happy to have a discussion about this book as well if anyone is interested.)
BUT WHAT BOOK ARE WE READING FOR THE CLUB?
A bold, clever, and sublimely sinister collection that dares to ask the question: “Are you ready to be un-settled?”
Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear—and even follow you home.
These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.
Featuring stories by: Norris Black • Amber Blaeser-Wardzala • Phoenix Boudreau • Cherie Dimaline • Carson Faust • Kelli Jo Ford • Kate Hart • Shane Hawk • Brandon Hobson • Darcie Little Badger • Conley Lyons • Nick Medina • Tiffany Morris • Tommy Orange • Mona Susan Power • Marcie R. Rendon • Waubgeshig Rice • Rebecca Roanhorse • Andrea L. Rogers • Morgan Talty • D.H. Trujillo • Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. • Richard Van Camp • David Heska Wanbli Weiden • Royce Young Wolf • Mathilda Zeller
“Never failed to surprise, delight, and shock.” —Nick Cutter, author of The Troop and Little Heaven
(A special thank you to book club member, Amanda Foxman for the suggestion.)
Happy reading! (If you want to read & discuss the book together, join our online book club on Facebook.)