#nguyễn phan quế mai

[litandlifequotes]

A part of our history has been erased, together with the lives of countless people. We’re forbidden to talk about events that relate to past mistakes or the wrong doing of those in power, for they give themselves the right to rewrite history. But you’re old enough to know that history will write itself in people’s memories, and as long as those memories live on, we can have faith that we can do better.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

[nat-reviews-books]

Currently Listening: Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

This is really good so far. I went to Vietnam last year, and I learned a lot about the Vietnam War and the lasting impacts that the country still faces because of the war. In just the first few chapters, this has brought me back. I'm reading (listening) to this for two challenges with my book club: read the rainbow (red cover) and read a book set somewhere you've been.

[judgingbooksbycovers]

The Mountains Sing: A Novel

By Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai.

Design by Mumtaz Mustafa.

[jenmedsbookreviews]

Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Today I am sharing my thoughts on Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai. @nguyen_p_quemai @OneworldNews @RandomTTours #dustchild #books #booktwitter

Today I am delighted to share my thoughts on Dust Child, the brand new novel from author Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai. My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the blog tour invite and to publisher One World Publications for the advance copy for review. Here’s what the book is about: Source: Advance Reader CopyRelease Date: 20 April 2023Publisher: One World Continue reading Untitled

[cherylmmbookblog]

#Blogtour Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Ma

It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Ma. ‘The eagerly awaited new novel from the internationally bestselling author of The Mountains Sing.’ About the Author Nguyễn Phan Quế Ma is an award-winning Vietnamese poet and novelist. Born in the Red Delta of Northern Việt Nam, she grew up in the Mekong Delta, Southern Việt Nam. She is a writer and translator who…

[read-alert]

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Here's some of my favorite reads by Asian authors from the past year!

Full titles under the cut!

Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Djinn City by Saad Z Hossain

Femme in Public by Alok Vaid-Menon

The Future is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea by Kai Cheng Thom and Kai Yun Ching

Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

[llycaons]

I started The Mountains Sing and almost started crying right on the way home. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai has a direct style that cuts you right to the heart. I really love these types of character-centered historical novels narrated by women and I've always been interested in Vietnam's history, so I'm glad I added this to my list

[alethiometry]

9 books i plan to read in 2025! // tagged by @aeide and @leofrith and i think it will be interesting to see if i can actually stick to this lol

1-2. calling on dragons & talking to dragons by patricia c wrede // i read dealing with dragons about a billion times as a kid, it remains one of my favorite comfort reads, but my school library never had the sequel books. so now i'm finally revisiting the series (am almost done with book 2, searching for dragons) and finishing it once and for all. it's just very cozy and nice!

3. bad cree by jessica johns // has been on my to-read list forever, for whatever reason i could never find it on libby, but i got it as a christmas present and am so excited to dive in!

4. cue the sun! the invention of reality tv by emily nussbaum // i actually just got this as a skip-the-line checkout on libby so i've already started reading! i've watched so much more reality tv in recent years and the whole industry never fails to fascinate me in mostly a morbid way.

5. fevre dream by george r r martin // during my revisit of asoiaf last year it was recommended that i check out some of grrm's other horror works. all i know is it has something to do with vampires in the bayou, and some asoiaf theorists refer to it a lot when discussing bolt-on which i find to be one of the wackier crack theories lol.

6. the tenant of wildfell hall by anne bronte // i've been reading through the bronte sisters on serial reader so this will be my next one after i finish wuthering heights!

7. dust child by nguyễn phan quế mai // the mountains sing was my absolute favorite book that i read last year and it moved me to tears/made me ugly-cry so so so many times. so of course i am beyond excited to read everything else she has written! also if you haven't read the mountains sing this is your sign from the universe to do so. it's amazing.

8. the orchid thief by susan orlean // so i got this as a birthday gift last year and read probably the first 1/3 or so before i fell off of reading pretty hard for most of the year (aka got super busy with 5,000 other things). i really want to pick it back up and finish it this year.

9. the will of the many by james islington // a couple friends made a book recs list/zine at the end of 2024 and they honestly all look great and i don't have space to list all of them here! so i picked this one at random out of the ones i haven't read yet!

oh also my secret 10th answer is if either the winds of winter* or the book of dust vol. 3 drop this year they will immediately take priority over any other books on this list 👀

idk who else has already done this but i'll tag @winedark and @roadtriphoax 😘

* lol. can you imagine.

[moonspirit]

What kinds of books do you enjoy? And do you ever get inspired by books/stories you've read?

Hello Myrtle!

So I don't have a particular type of book I prefer; if it interests me enough, I'll read it xD Recently I've read: Dust Child (Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai), The Miracles of the Namiya General Store (Keigo Higashino), and Stone Maidens (Lloyd Devereux Richards).

(so that explains enough xD A historic fiction, a slice of life, and a crime thriller lmao). I have the Celestial Kingdom duology up next on my reading list (so that covers fantasy xD).

And yessss! I'm inspired plenty by what I read (and watch and listen). If I had to provide an example, VBEOW is a result of wanting to tell a story that incorporates elements of the wonder of life and living, taking readers on an adventure both physical and emotional, and of bonding; all of which are inspired by the likes of The Bear (book; Andrew Krivak), Mushishi, Avatar (the movies), and also to an extent by Miyazaki and Shinkai works, among others.

This became quite long I'm sorry T_T

[minipliny]

30-second book reviews: Dust Child, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Three interlinked stories; an Amerasian in present-day Vietnam looks for his father and a route to an American visa for himself and his family; a Vietnam War veteran searches for the child of the pregnant girlfriend he abandoned; and in 1969 two teenage sisters in the Mekong Delta find a seemingly glamorous new job in a Saigon bar, where all they'll have to do to pay off their parents' crushing debts is to drink tea and flirt with the GIs...right?

This book came partly from the author's PhD dissertation on Amerasians, and the interviews and research she conducted; the author is also a poet. At times the sheer weight of how much she knows about the subject weighs on the book, but the core stories are so piercingly emotional and nuanced, and the writing is so beautiful, that you are carried through. I listened to the audiobook via the library, and feuilljska came in, started listening three quarters of the way through the story, couldn't stop listening, and then got tearful during the story.

It's a story about making amends and the impossibility of making amends; about not understanding the consequences of your own choices, but it's also really profoundly a story about resilience and how people try to live past and make sense of their experiences. Even though you might think you know from the summary above how the story is going to end, there are several brilliant twists that make perfect sense and also recontextualise so much of the story.

"“She had tried to live an honest life, but the war had given her no choice. It had forced her to make up a version of herself which was acceptable to others. In a way, making up stories had been the basis of her survival and her success.”

[rockislandadultreads]

Historical Fiction Recommendations

Spanning from 18th century North America to 20th century Asia, check out these historical fiction recommendations!

Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

In 1969 Vietnam, sisters Trang and Quỳnh, desperate to help their parents pay off debts, leave their rural village and become “bar girls” in Sài Gòn, drinking, flirting (and more) with American GIs in return for money. As the war moves closer to the city, the once-innocent Trang gets swept up in an irresistible romance with a young and charming American helicopter pilot, Dan. Decades later, Dan returns to Việt Nam with his wife, Linda, hoping to find a way to heal from his PTSD and, unbeknownst to her, reckon with secrets from his past. 

One Blood by Denene Millner

Raised by her beloved grandmother in tension-filled, post-segregation Virginia, Grace is barely a teenager when she loses her Maw Maw. Shellshocked, she is shipped up North to live with her formidably ambitious Aunt Hattie - a woman who firmly left behind her “undesirable” Southern roots in pursuit of upward mobility. Feeling like a fish out of water, Grace’s only place of sweet comfort is with the smart, handsome son of one of the society’s grand dames. However, when he gets caught up in a racial police killing and Grace ends up pregnant, she is quickly hidden away and deceived by Hattie in an ultimate act of betrayal.

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

The year is 1921. Lesley Hamlyn and her husband, Robert, a lawyer and war veteran, are living at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang. When “Willie” Somerset Maugham, a famed writer and old friend of Robert's, arrives for an extended visit with his secretary Gerald, the pair threatens a rift that could alter more lives than one. Additionally, in desperate need of a subject for his next book, Maugham soon finds a story worthy of fiction when coming to learn more about Lesley's past. 

The Woman with the Cure by Lynn Cullen

In 1940s and ’50s America, polio is as dreaded as the atomic bomb. No one’s life is untouched by this disease that kills or paralyzes its victims, particularly children. Some of the world’s best minds are engaged in the race to find a vaccine. The man who succeeds will be a god. But Dorothy Horstmann is not focused on beating her colleagues to the vaccine. She just wants the world to have a cure. Applying the same determination that lifted her from a humble background to becoming a doctor, she hunts down the monster where it lurks: in the blood.

[gremlinshatephilosophers]

2023 reading list!

I read 148 books this year and managed to go to all 78 public libraries in my county network!

Hell Bent [Alex Stern: 2] - Leigh Bardugo

The Golden Enclaves [Scholomance: 3] - Naomi Novik

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi [Amina al-Sirafi: 1] - Shannon Chakraborty

The Hunger Games [The Hunger Games: 1] - Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire [The Hunger Games: 2] - Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay [The Hunger Games: 3] - Suzanne Collins

Camp Zero - Michelle Min Sterling

One True Loves - Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Priory of the Orange Tree [The Roots of Chaos: 1] - Samantha Shannon

One for My Enemy - Olivie Blake

Atalanta - Jennifer Saint

The Sun and the Star: A Nico Di Angelo Adventure - Rick Riordan, Mark Oshiro

Untethered Sky - Fonda Lee

Daughter of the Moon Goddess [Celestial Kingdom: 1] - Sue Lynn Tan

A Day of Fallen Night [The Roots of Chaos: 0] - Samantha Shannon

Heart of the Sun Warrior [Celestial Kingdom: 2] - Sue Lynn Tan

Yellowface - R. F. Kuang

Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson

The Sleepless - Victor Manibo

Kaikeyi - Vaishnavi Patel

Exo [Exo: 1] - Fonda Lee

She Who Became the Sun [The Radiant Emperor: 1] - Shelley Parker-Chan

Rosewater [The Wormwood Trilogy: 1] - Tade Thompson

Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver

Book of Night [Book of Night: 1] - Holly Black

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee

The Secret Book of Flora Lea - Patti Callahan Henry

The Only Survivors - Megan Miranda

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn [The Library Trilogy: 1] - Mark Lawrence

Red Rising [Red Rising Saga: 1] - Pierce Brown

Ink Blood Sister Scribe - Emma Törzs

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Clytemnestra - Constanza Casati

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride - Roshani Choksi

Light from Uncommon Stars - Ryka Aoki

Salt Houses - Hala Alyan

The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O’Farrell

The Unbroken [Magic of the Lost: 1] - C. L. Clark

The Shadow of What Was Lost [The Licanius Trilogy: 1] - James Islington

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

The Last to Vanish - Megan Miranda

All the Dangerous Things - Stacy Willingham

All My Rage - Sabaa Tahir

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin

Gods of Jade and Shadow - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

River Sing Me Home - Eleanor Shearer

The Jasmine Throne [The Burning Kingdoms: 1] - Tasha Suri

Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt

Shrines of Gaiety - Kate Atkinson

Spells for Forgetting - Adrienne Young

Velvet Was the Night - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell

Trust - Hernán Díaz

Dust Child - Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Our Hideous Progeny - C. E. McGill

Golden Son [Red Rising Saga: 2] - Pierce Brown

The Henna Artist [The Jaipur Trilogy: 1] - Alka Joshi

The Art of Prophecy [The War Arts Saga: 1] - Wesley Chu

The Attic Child - Lola Jaye

How High We Go in the Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu

The Whispers - Ashley Audrain

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur [The Jaipur Trilogy: 2] - Alka Joshi

The Oleander Sword [The Burning Kingdoms: 2] - Tasha Suri

Immortal Longings [Flesh & False Gods: 1] - Chloe Gong

The Sea Elephants - Shastri Akella

Morning Star [Red Rising Saga: 3] - Pierce Brown

Honor - Thrity Umrigar

The First Bright Thing - J. R. Dawson

The Genesis of Misery - Neon Yang

An Echo of Things to Come [The Licanius Trilogy: 2] - James Islington

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? - Crystal Smith Paul

Last Exit - Max Gladstone

Masters of Death - Olivie Blake

The Final Strife [The Ending Fire Trilogy: 1] - Saara El-Arifi

Peach Blossom Spring - Melissa Fu

There There - Tommy Orange

A Master of Djinn [Dead Djinn Universe: 1] - P. Djèlí Clark

The Battle Drum [The Ending Fire Trilogy: 2] - Saara El-Arifi

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England - Brandon Sanderson

The Will of the Many [Hierarchy: 1] - James Islington

Independence - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Bone Ships [The Tide Child Trilogy: 1] - RJ Barker

Tread of Angels - Rebecca Roanhorse

City of Last Chances - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Blacktongue Thief [Blacktongue: 1] - Christopher Buehlman

The Fifth Season [The Broken Earth: 1] - N. K. Jemisin

Forged by Blood [Tainted Blood Duology: 1] - Ehigbor Okosun

Even Though I Knew the End - C. L. Polk

The Bone Shard Daughter [The Drowning Empire: 1] - Andrea Stewart

Empire of Sand [The Books of Ambha: 1] - Tasha Suri

A Memory Called Empire [Teixcalaan: 1] - Arkady Martine

The Way of Kings [The Stormlight Archive: 1] - Brandon Sanderson

He Who Drowned the World [The Radiant Emperor: 2] - Shelley Parker-Chan

Empire of Exiles [Books of the Usurper: 1] - Erin M. Evans

Call of the Bone Ships [The Tide Child Trilogy: 2] - RJ Barker

Ashes of the Sun [Burningblade & Silvereye: 1] - Django Wexler

Summer Sons - Lee Mandelo

The Ninth Rain [The Winnowing Flame Trilogy: 1] - Jen Williams

Foundryside [The Founders Trilogy: 1] - Robert Jackson Bennett

The Surviving Sky [The Rages Trilogy: 1] - Kritika H. Rao

The Light of All That Falls [The Licanius Trilogy: 3] - James Islington

Threads That Bind [Threads That Bind: 1] - Kika Hatzopoulou

The Sword Defiant [Lands of the Firstborn: 1] - Gareth Hanrahan

The City We Became [The Great Cities: 1] - N. K. Jemisin

The Chalice of the Gods [Percy Jackson and the Olympians: 6] - Rick Riordan

The Tiger and the Wolf [Echoes of the Fall: 1] - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Justice of Kings [Empire of the Wolf: 1] - Richard Swan

The Fragile Threads of Power [Threads of Power: 1] - V. E. Schwab

The Deep Sky - Yume Kitasei

City of Stairs [Divine Cities: 1] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - Brandon Sanderson

Words of Radiance [The Stormlight Archive: 2] - Brandon Sanderson

Foul Heart Huntsman [Foul Lady Fortune: 2] - Chloe Gong

The Water Outlaws - S. L. Huang

Under the Udala Trees - Chinelo Okparanta

A Desolation Called Peace [Teixcalaan: 2] - Arkady Martine

The Celebrants - Steven Rowley

Translation State - Ann Leckie

Godkiller [Godkiller: 1] - Hannah Kaner

The Art of Destiny [The Wat Arts Saga: 2] - Wesley Chu

The Mimicking of Known Successes [Mossa & Pleiti: 1] - Malka Older

Shorefall [The Founders Trilogy: 2] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Catfish Rolling - Clara Kumagai

Red Sister [The Book of the Ancestor: 1] - Mark Lawrence

Empire of Silence [The Sun Eater: 1] - Christopher Ruocchio

Sisters of the Lost Nation - Nick Medina

Dead Country [The Craft Wars: 1] - Max Gladstone

The Bone Shard Emperor [The Drowning Empire: 2] - Andrea Stewart

The Bear and the Serpent [Echoes of the Fall: 2] - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Ancillary Justice [Imperial Radch: 1] - Ann Leckie

Six Crimson Cranes [Six Crimson Cranes: 1] - Elizabeth Lim

A River Enchanted [Elements of Cadence: 1] - Rebecca Ross

Realm of Ash [The Books of Ambha: 2] - Tasha Suri

The Obelisk Gate [The Broken Earth: 2] - N. K. Jemisin

The World We Make [The Great Cities: 2] - N. K. Jemisin

The Stardust Thief [The Sandsea Trilogy: 1] - Chelsea Abdullah

All the Missing Girls - Megan Miranda

The Mountains Sing - Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Silver Nitrate - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

None of This Is True - Lisa Jewell

City of Blades [Divine Cities: 2] - Robert Jackson Bennett

The Bone Ship’s Wake [The Tide Child Trilogy: 3] - RJ Barker

Locklands [The Founders Trilogy: 3] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Oathbringer [The Stormlight Archive: 3] - Brandon Sanderson

The Judas Blossom [The Nightingale and the Falcon: 1] - Stephen Aryan

The Faithless [Magic of the Lost: 2] - C. L. Clark

One Word Kill [Impossible Times: 1] - Mark Lawrence

[nat-reviews-books]

Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Dan is a retired helicopter pilot and captain from the US army, going back to Vietnam for the first time in 2016. Trang is a young woman who becomes a "bar girl" during the war. Phong is a man looking for his parents, a Vietnamese woman and a black American soldier.

This was a difficult read in places, but the story was beautiful. The author wrote each character with grace, allowing them to have faults and flaws, but not allowing those to make anyone unforgivable. I loved how the stories between the three characters and two timelines wove together.

Although there were difficult things, this book highlighted the things that make me want to go back to Vietnam. The friendly people, the beautiful landscapes, and the amazing food.

I thought the author did a great job covering a difficult topic, and her work in reuniting American servicemen with their Amerasian children is highlighted throughout the book, in her kindness toward each of the characters.

I felt a bit unresolved in this book, mainly because I wanted to stay with these characters longer. There was one loose end we were left with, but it was a realistic loose end that I am ok with, even though I really wanted it tied up too (trying not to give spoilers here).

Recommended for: people who want to learn more about Vietnam, someone looking for a book that will break your heart and mend it back together, and anyone looking for a book about the effects of the Vietnam War by someone from Vietnam.

Content Warnings: alcoholism, prostitution, rape, war

[esta-elavaris]

The Mountains Sing - Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

[reverie-quotes]

“Try to forgive and forget, Ngọc,” said Grandma. “If you bear grudges, you’re the one who’ll have to bear the burden of sorrow.”

— Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, The Mountains Sing

[bookclub4m]

28 Family Sagas by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi

An Unlasting Home by Mai Al-Nakib

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card

America Is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo

Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros

The Antelope Wife by Louise Erdrich

Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama

Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Evening is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan

A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

Cane River by Lalita Tademy

The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan

Daughters of the New Year by E.M. Tran

The Strangers by Katherena Vermette

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson