Sponsored by Mango and Peppercorns, published by Chronicle Books
A powerful memoir of resilience, friendship, and family from the acclaimed female chefs behind the award-winning Hy Vong Vietnamese restaurant in Miami. Through powerful narrative, archival imagery, and 20 Vietnamese recipes that mirror their story, Mango & Peppercorns is a unique contribution to culinary literature. This real-life American dream is a welcome reminder of our country’s longstanding tradition of welcoming refugees and immigrants and this book adds a touchpoint to that larger conversation, resonating beyond the bookshelf.
Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. I am hopping into what was a finished newsletter where I talked about feeling so disheartened in the wake of the Atlanta shootings to now add additional heaviness over a separate shooting in Boulder. I don’t know what to say that I and everyone else who cares haven’t already said. If you’re looking for ways to get involved, I’ve dropped some links below.
AAPI Authors, Bookstagrammers Organize Support Campaign
Okay, let’s talk about books to help combat AAPI racism. To the club.
Nibbles and Sips
No nibbles and sips this week. Make some calls, donate if you can, and be kind to one another.
Very Not Minor Feelings
Friends, I confess that I initially felt conflicted about composing this reading list. How many anti-racist reading lists did we see this summer, and what did those accomplish? Is reading a stack of books by and about AAPI authors going to help? It’s easy to feel helpless, like the gesture is empty. I’m frustrated.
Here’s where I landed after some tea and reflection: while I don’t think white supremacy and racism are going to be solved just by reading books or that reading books is enough to pat ourselves on the back, I do think there is enormous value in education and books are a great way to accomplish that. While I of course advocate for amplifying books by all BIPOC now and always, my hope is that this list of nonfiction (and one fiction title) will help you along in learning about our country’s loooooooooooooooong history of Anti-Asian racism and the damage it has caused. This list focuses on East Asian stories in light of the recent surge of COVID-19-related racism against the AAPI community. It encompasses more than just Chinese stories because racism is not even smart enough to distinguish between different East Asian identities. I know, it’s infuriating. Go ahead, scream into a pillow and then come back & keep reading.
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
Linking the essays in this blend of memoir, history, and cultural critique is Cathy Park Hong’s theory of “minor feelings.” She uses this term to refer to the shame, suspicion, and melancholy that characterized Hong’s upbringing as the daughter of Korean immigrants. These feelings, the result of American optimism contradicting your lived experience, then make you begin to believe the lies you’re told about your own racial identity. Her story is a starting point for a broader, deeper discussion about racial consciousness in America.
Yellow Peril: An Archive of Anti-Asian Fear edited by John Kuo Wei Tchen and Dylan Yeats
The Yellow Peril, the Yellow Fear, the Yellow Terror: sadly all of these racist metaphors painting East Asians as an existential threat to the Western world are far (so far!) from new. Published in 2014, this book was the first comprehensive archive of anti-Asian images and writing, documenting the rise of Anti-Asian fear-mongering and paranoia through an extensive collection of paintings, photos, pulp novel drawings, movie posters, comics, pop culture ephemera, and more.
All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
Nicole Chung was a preemie and transracial adoptee who was raised by a white family when her Korean parents put her up for adoption at birth. She grew up in a sheltered Oregon town and was told a mythologized version of her adoption story since childhood, one that framed her biological parents as making the ultimate sacrifice to give her a better life. “But as Nicole grew up—facing prejudice her adoptive family couldn’t see, finding her identity as an Asian American and as a writer, becoming ever more curious about where she came from,” she began to question whether the story she’d been told all her life was the truth, a lie, or somewhere in between.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Marilynn and James Lee, a white woman and Chinese man, are raising their family of five in 1970s Ohio. All their hopes and dreams seemingly rest on the shoulders of their favorite daughter Lydia, their perfect golden child who will surely go on to live the life they each once envisioned for themselves. But when Lydia’s body is found at the bottom of a local lake, the gossamer threads holding their family together come undone. Told in flashbacks and from multiple perspectives, the truth of what happened on the night of Lydia’s death is slowly revealed, as is the web of secrets and lies the Lees kept from each other and from themselves. I included this title because there’s a lot of discussion to be had here on the idea of the “model minority.”
Suggestion Section
Food for thought for book clubs: do queer books still need happy endings?
This lis of romance featuring aspiring women in fields they would have had a very hard breaking into in their times is great for book clubs: a fun romance with a good discussion of the professional barriers women have faced throughout history.
Curious about solarpunk? Here’s a primer on the subgenre and reading recs to consider for your clubs.
Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter and catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast.
Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa