recently read: the best we could do by thi bui
18: this weekend's book pop up and last night at the telegraph club by malindo lo
Knowing what book someone is reading and what parts they resonate with most can be so intimate. It reveals their interests, where their head is at, and what excerpts are so significant that they will mark up a page because they think it’s worth revisiting at a later time. I’m fascinated by what books others gravitate towards and I find that it helps me get to know them better and gives me a small glimpse into who they are at their core. No one asked for these book reviews, but maybe it’s my way of showing who I am and what I’m interested in – beyond the clothes, the products, and my career. Or at the very least, encourage some to look up from their phones and instead towards the pages of a good book.
Before I share though, one last reminder before this weekend: the last Seen Library event of 2023 is taking place on Saturday, December 2 and Sunday, December 3!
There will be:
Intentionally curated wrapped books with handwritten clues atop custom library cards — starting at $8
Pop-up exclusive Seen Library baseball caps in black and beige (black pictured here)
My all-time favorite notebooks and pens
Custom coffee and tea lattes by Filipino-owned Flow Good Coffee
Binu Binu candles and soaps
Space of Time journals and 3-minute timers
7x the amount of books as the last pop up, which sold out in 3 hours!
To be safe, I still suggest you get there early as it will be while supplies last :)
If you're not in LA this weekend, but still want to get a taste of Seen Library, you can enter a giveaway here — there will be three winners!
Plan on coming to the pop up? RSVP not required, but suggested here!
Book no. 13 of 2023
The Best We Could Do - Thi Bui
An easy 5 stars. I found this in a thrift store and remembered a friend of mine telling me how incredible it was. She was right. I was so impressed with the author’s ability to tell — and illustrate! — her story while weaving in her parents and the history of the Vietnam war so seamlessly.
This is a book I highly recommend and have already gifted it to loved ones in my life, especially those with immigrant parents. It’s also a book I’ve made sure to have multiples of for this weekend’s pop up :)
I’m not a big reader of graphic novels, but this one was well worth reading — it has so much heart and so much history told in such a personal way. It reminds you that your parents are individual people with unique stories that have made them the people they are today, that shaped who they’d become as parents. It makes me want to learn more about my own parents and learn about their dreams and aspirations and who they were before me, which I’ve recently made more of an effort to do, especially with the help of
It never ceases to amaze me just how much more I learn about history in the books I read for pleasure than in the textbooks I was required to read in school.
Underlined quotes:
“Family is now something I have created — and not just something I was born into.”
“I suppose for my mother, I love you sticks in the throat. So she buys gifts… and cooks. I suppose I don’t say I love you either.”
“Afraid of my father, craving safety and comfort. I had no idea that the terror I felt was only the long shadow of his own.”
“I see a new life, bound with mine quite by coincidence, and I think maybe he can be free.”
Book no. 14 of 2023
Last Night at the Telegraph Club - Malinda Lo
A cute, lighthearted yet interesting and well-researched coming of age fiction about a queer Asian American girl in 1950s San Francisco navigating her sexual and racial identity in a time and space that made it hard for both to coexist.
It’s labeled YA, which made me hesitant to read it, but I actually found the themes and writing to be more mature (in a good way!) than I expected and I really appreciated the author’s addition of historical context at the end, which was fascinating. It’s also just a breath of fresh air to finally read an Asian girl, especially one so layered, as the romantic lead, and not just a side character.
I love how the author weaved in Cantonese and Mandarin throughout the book and shed light on racial micro aggressions, especially coming from another marginalized community. It was really interesting to learn about the community in Chinatown and the underground lesbian movement going on at that time. What I did feel was lacking, though, was storytelling around the Red Scare, which I expected to be a larger piece of the story. I also felt the ending was a bit quick and didn’t tie up some of the loose ends I was hoping for.
All in all, a great story and one I would definitely recommend — this will also be at the pop up and one I’ve actually shared in previous book givings. I remember this book specifically because as one of the guests shared her reasons for picking this book, she got a little choked up as the clues really resonated with her.
Underlined quotes:
“She felt as if she were on display, and part of her wanted to hide, but another part thrilled to it: this being seen, as if every person who gazed at her were creating her anew.”
“She wasn’t one to coo; she had never been. Perhaps that meant there was something wrong with her, and her body had known that and had rejected motherhood.”
“She’s having a hard time right now because you’re not what she expected. But we’re never what our parents expected. They have to learn that lesson.”
“Lily. had admired the way Shirley sailed through the world with such confidence, as if she wore an impenetrable armor that protected her against all slights… but now she saw that it was an illusion and those who possessed the right knowledge could pierce it at will.”
You may also like: