#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

[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.

[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

[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

[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

[letsrilakkusu-blog]

Favorite recent reads - Part 2

Finishing off my list of favorite books read in the past two years!

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

Breasts and Eggs is a two-part novel with a woman named Natsu as the center. The first part focuses on a summer when she is visited in Tokyo by her older sister, who is looking to get a breast enhancement procedure done, and her niece, who for reasons unknown has stopped speaking. The second part takes place years later as Natsu contemplates her options to pursue motherhood as she grows older without a partner.

I was profoundly impacted by this story and its discussions of identity, as a woman, as a mother, as a child. One of the characters holds the view that giving birth to a child is essentially an act of violence against them, because the child never asked to be born and you cannot guarantee that it will live a safe, happy, healthy life. While extreme, this tapped into my concerns about bringing a child into the world in its current state, and it strengthened my resolve that a child is a blessing to you as a parent. The child owes you nothing because you wanted to have them, and you should be doing everything in your power to make them feel happy and loved.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

I always thought of myself as more of a contemporary fiction reader, but The Mountains Sing opened my eyes to the beauty and intrigue of historical fiction as well. This epic tale spans three generations of the Tran family as they navigate life in Vietnam through various harrowing historical events, such as the Land Reform, the Great Famine during the Japanese occupation, and the separation of the North and South and the resulting Vietnam War. Each generation of the family experiences loss, suffering, and sacrifice of unimaginable scale, but they continue to endure and build themselves back up each time with inspiring grit and grace. The importance of family, forgiveness (for others, and yourself), and staying true to your values were heavily instilled in me. The prose is beautiful, poetic, and paints a picture of Vietnam that I never knew, and I gained a greater understanding of the history of this embattled country that was never taught to me. Also, it had me craving pho the entire time I was reading it.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

I saw The Mountains Sing often being compared to Pachinko, which was published a few years earlier, so I decided to make this my next read and it confirmed that I do in fact love sweeping historical sagas. The central character is Sunja, but the story starts in 1910 with her parents and follows the family all the way to 1989 with Sunja's grandson. I was aware of the atrocities that the Japanese committed against Koreans both in Korea and in Japan, but seeing it laid out on a more detailed, personal level was eye-opening and devastating. As pointed out by Sunja's mother, a woman's lot is to suffer, and so do all the women of Pachinko. They work endlessly and sacrifice everything for a better future for their children, and despite that, things don't always work out the way they wish. But it is the strength and resilience of these woman in the face of adversity that keeps the family marching forward, its flame never extinguished no matter how hard the winds may blow.

As a side note, the television series adaptation by Apple TV+ was ambitious and really well done. It took a lot of liberties with the plot but kept the important points, and the way it tells the story with parallel timelines is very interesting and effective. I live for Steve Sanghyun Noh as Isak, and I look forward to the seasons to follow.

Bonus: Greatest disappointments

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - Predictable, painfully awkward, and preachy. I read it because it was in like every book club and receiving all kinds of hype but it was a huge letdown.

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki - I was excited to read Ruth Ozeki's newest novel after loving A Tale for the Time Being so much, but this wasn't it. The premise was interesting but it felt really long and a little too meta, and Benny wasn't a very likeable main character even though I know it's not really his fault.

[read-alert]

Figured that now that I've got a bookblr, I should make a post about the Read the World Challenge I'm doing! I'm reading a book primarily set in every country, doing my best to focus on authors from said country, though I will read diaspora authors if that's not feasible. Also some of the books from early on were from diaspora authors because I was pulling from books I had already read; I'll likely read more books from those countries in the future if I can. I've got 52 countries so far, and I'll list the titles and countries under the cut

USA- Kindred by Octavia Butler- 5⭐️

Canada- The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline- 5⭐️

Trinidad and Tobago- The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull- 3⭐️

Brazil- Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha trans by Larissa Helena- 5⭐️

Argentina- Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica trans by Sarah Moses- 5⭐️

South Africa- The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden- 3⭐️

Nigeria- Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor- 4⭐️

Liberia- Dream Country by Shannon Gibney 5⭐️

France- Romance in Marseilles by Claude McKay- 2⭐️

UK- Watership Down by Richard Adams- 5⭐️

Ireland- Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen- 4⭐️

Qatar- Love from A to Z by SK Ali- 4⭐️

Iran- Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram- 4⭐️

China- The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu trans by Ken Liu- 5⭐️

Taiwan- Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen- 4⭐️

Japan- Confessions by Kanae Minato trans by Stephen Snyder- 3.5⭐️

Norway- Survival Kit by AH Haga- 4.5⭐️

Germany- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak- 4.5⭐️

India- The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi- 4⭐️

South Korea- The Mermaid from Jeju by Sumi Hahn- 4⭐️

Colombia- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez trans by Gregory Rabassa- 4⭐️

Ghana- Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey- 4⭐️

Turkey- 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak- 4⭐️

Russia- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy trans by Louise Maude- 4⭐️

Sierra Leone- The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna- 4⭐️

Austria- The Wall by Marlen Haushofer trans by Shaun Whiteside- 5⭐️

Zimbabwe- Nervous Conditions by Tsiti Dangarembga- 5⭐️

Venezuela- It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo trans by Elizabeth Bryer- 4⭐️

Chile- The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende trans by Magda Bogin- 5⭐️

Sri Lanka- Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai- 4⭐️

Singapore- How We Dissappeared by Jing-Jing Lee- 4.5⭐️

Malaysia- Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf- 3.5⭐️

Egypt- A Master of Djinn by P Djèlí Clark- 4.5⭐️

Sudan- Ghost Season by Fatin Abbas- 4.5⭐️

Antigua and Barbuda- At the Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid- 4⭐️

Ukraine- The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh- 5⭐️

Bahamas- Learning to Breathe by Janice Lynn Mather- 4⭐️

Cuba- The Black Cathedral by Marcial Gala trans by Anna Kushner- 4⭐️

Dominica- The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid- 3⭐️

Bangladesh- Djinn City by Saad Z Hossain- 4⭐️

Mexico- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia- 4⭐️

Jamaica- Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn- 4⭐️

Vietnam- Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai- 4.5⭐️

Australia- Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko- 4⭐️

Israel- Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa- 4.5⭐️

Palestine- Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa- 5⭐️

Costa Rica- Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias- 4.5⭐️

Uruguay- Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis- 5⭐️

Dominican Republic- Tentacle by Rita Indiana trans by Achy Obejas- 2.5⭐️

Republic of the Congo- Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou trans by Helen Stevenson- 2⭐️

Czech Republic- The Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař- 2.5⭐️

Honduras- Turtles of the Midnight Moon by María José Fitzgerald- 4.5⭐️