Last week my friend Karen sent me a postcard from Shanghai. It was her first trip to China, and while she saw a Shanghai and Beijing quite different from what I visited 15-20 years ago, she encountered one thing that hasn't changed.It's damn difficult to find a postcard … [Read more...]
An evening with Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
To kick off Chicago's annual Printers Row Lit Fest, I attended a fabulous reading and dinner last night with Cheryl Tan, author of A Tiger in the Kitchen (Voice, 2011) at Town House Books & Cafe.With my 12 year-old son Jake in tow, I introduced myself to Cheryl as a … [Read more...]
Book of the week–Berlin 1961
I came across Frederick Kempe's new book, Berlin 1961 (Putnam, 2011), on GoodReads.com and thought it sounded interesting. So I clicked the link to enter the raffle. A few weeks later I won a copy!After 500+ pages, I'm left wondering more than ever if the bulk of the Cold War … [Read more...]
Along the Kowloon-Canton Railway
I love train travel. One of the train systems I've frequented the most is the Kowloon-Canton Railway.The KCR, as it's known in Hong Kong, opened 101 years ago in British Hong Kong. A year later, it linked up with a line in China to the city of Canton (present day Guangzhou … [Read more...]
Book of the week–The Girl from Foreign
Last week I read a fabulous memoir titled The Girl from Foreign by Sadia Shepard (Penguin, 2009).I've read a bit of fiction set in India, but haven't found many memoirs. Shepard has such an interesting and complicated family history that India here serves more as a backdrop … [Read more...]
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