I've always held a strange fascination with forbidden places. When I was in college, I was determined to travel to Vietnam and Cambodia, two countries not on the typical American tourist map.Cuba was the same.The more forbidden, the more attractive. So in 2004, I'd met my … [Read more...]
Hong Kong in letters
Yesterday I went through some old letters and postcards I'd sent to my paternal grandmother in the 1990s when I lived in Hong Kong. I got a bit out of control on Instagram (I'm susanbkason there) last night. It'd been a long time since I'd looked at these letters. Just as I found … [Read more...]
Book of the week–Nobody Said Not to Go
I've long been fascinated by the life and travels of Emily Hahn, an American writer who lived in Africa and Asia in the 1930s and 40s. When I speak about Jews in China during World War II and books set during that period, I always bring up her memoir, China to Me (Blakiston, … [Read more...]
Photo Friday
As summer begins for school kids across the US, including college students (who finished their terms last month), I'm reminded of a time years ago when I, too, could enjoy a long summer vacation.I took this photo on one such vacation. It was the summer of 1991, I had just … [Read more...]
Book of the week–Hour of the Rat
Several years ago I stumbled upon Lisa Brackmann's debut novel, Rock Paper Tiger (Soho, 2010) and was blown away by her central character, Ellie McEnroe. I couldn't remember a fictional character as brash and badass as Ellie. An Iraq War vet and recent Beijing transplant, Ellie … [Read more...]
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