Memoirs – Page 21 – Susan Blumberg-Kason

East Coast Book Tour

September 20, 2014 By Susan Blumberg-Kason 2 Comments

Tom became a househusband for a couple days this past week as I took the Good Chinese Wife book tour out east. I made it to the venue, 5C Cafe, with one hour to spare. My generous cousins Trudy and Bruce own the cafe in the East Village.

The reading was also an alumni event for my alma mater, Goucher College. My friends Risa and Dina (standing on both sides of me) organized the Goucher component of the evening, which resulted in almost a dozen alums at the event.

I counted 30 people in total at the event, including alum Marissa Kluger, who blogged about the evening on her site, Xianangans, which you can read here. Marissa and her husband ZJ recently moved to the US from Xian.

It was so great to meet for the very first time my rock star agent Carrie Pestritto of Prospect Agency and fellow writer and Carrie-disciple Kara Tatelbaum!

Discussing the book!

The next day I took the train out to New Jersey, where I spoke to a group of students at The College of New Jersey.

That evening I did a reading at the Princeton Barnes & Noble (which was celebrating its 1 year anniversary in its new space). A dozen people attended the event, including Risa (pictured with me below) and her husband Fritz.

Next stop: Hong Kong!

More book sightings

August 25, 2014 By Susan Blumberg-Kason Leave a Comment

Good Chinese Wife has been out for four weeks now and it’s still great fun to receive photos from friends near and far.

My friend Maria found the book in Ontario at a Chapters Bookstore!

Here’s Good Chinese Wife at the Barnes and Noble in Glendale, California, courtesy of my friend Judy.

Shannon Young, who has a fabulous Hong Kong memoir out this October, snapped this photo at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona.

Author Mingmei Yip sent this from the 86th and Lexington Barnes and Noble in New York.

Animals have enjoyed the book, too. My friend Miriam in Mississippi sent this photo of her dog.

And here’s mom’s friend Becky’s cat sleeping on the book.

If you have photos of Good Chinese Wife, please send them over!

Happy reading!

Book reading at Anderson’s in Naperville, IL

August 7, 2014 By Susan Blumberg-Kason 2 Comments

So I had my first book reading last night, which meant it was the first time I read from Good Chinese Wife in front of an audience.

Look at Anderson’s events flyer. I about fainted when I saw my name listed below Rebecca Makkai. I’m reading her book, The Hundred-Year House, and am loving it.

When I arrived, Anderson’s already had the space set up with several rows of chairs. I was delighted and honored when they had to add more chairs to accommodate everyone. Here I am with some of the audience!

I told a quick story of how Naperville is so central to my book. My publisher, Sourcebooks, is headquartered in Naperville. And I was actually in Naperville the day my rock star agent Carrie called me with the show-stopping news that Sourcebooks had made an offer on Good Chinese Wife. So it only seemed natural to have my first reading in this Chicago suburb.

It was especially wonderful to finally meet my uber-amazing editor, Stephanie Bowen! She’s on the right in this photo. Nancy Cavanaugh, a Sourcebooks sister author, is on the left. I’m going to Nancy’s book launch party this weekend for her middle grade novel, Always Abigail.

At the end of the evening, Anderson’s asked me to sign their author wall. I signed my name right under Rebecca Makkai’s! They also gave me this cute little bag and told me I could pick ANY BOOK in the store! Keeping with the flavor of the night, I chose another women’s memoir about overcoming a difficult struggle. Plus, I’ve been meaning to read Misty Copeland’s Life In Motion.

As if the night couldn’t have gone better, when I was outside Anderson’s, author Sonali Dev recognized me and took this photo of Jake and me. I am still kicking myself for not taking a photo with Sonali, but will be at her launch party–at Anderson’s–in early November.

A huge thank you to all the friends and readers who attended last night’s reading!

Good Chinese Wife around the US

August 3, 2014 By Susan Blumberg-Kason Leave a Comment

The last week has been fun and exciting with the official release of Good Chinese Wife! I blogged about the wonderful launch party, attended by more than 80 friends and family. On Thursday I was featured in a lovely write-up in the Wall Street Journal.

But what’s really been great is the many photos of Good Chinese Wife that friends have sent me from all over the country. I’ve posted just some of them here.

Starting on the east coast, here are two shots from two different people of the 5th Avenue Barnes & Noble in New York City.

The Park Slope, Brooklyn Barnes & Noble courtesy of my brother, Jonathan.

In Springfied, New Jersey at Barnes & Noble:

And in the Princeton, New Jersey Barnes & Noble:

In Virginia:

Down in Mississippi:

Madison, Wisconsin’s Barnes and Noble:

Hooray for the Book Cellar, a lovely independent bookstore in Chicago:

In Minnesota:

In Southern California:

And not to leave out Kindles, here are two photos from two different college friends:

Keep sending your photos. I love them!

Book of the week–Apologies to My Censor

August 1, 2014 By Susan Blumberg-Kason Leave a Comment

For an open and honest look at expat life in China, I highly recommend Mitch Moxley’s memoir, Apologies to My Censor: The High and Low Adventures of a Foreigner in China (Harper Perennial, 2013). It’s also a great book for providing inspiration to anyone who moves to a new country or tries to make it in a competitive field.

Moxley moved to Beijing on a whim in 2007, a year before the Olympics. He was a freelance writer in Toronto and needed a big change in his life. Beijing gave him that change and so much more. And although Moxley had his ups and downs in Beijing, it was quite apparent by the end of the book that moving to China was a brilliant decision. Unlike many China memoirs written by North American men, Moxley’s delves into the taboo territory of dating. He writes about loneliness, the small dating pool, and the difficulties many face in cross-cultural dating (he discloses that he can’t speak for all, but this was a common theme amongst many of his friends).

I also loved reading about his writing career and how he felt insecure about his first job in China, writing and editing for the state-owned China Daily newspaper. But as the reader later sees, Moxley learned more about Chinese culture at China Daily than he would have at a foreign paper. In the long run, his experience at China Daily allowed him to get along better in China than many other expats. His chapters about Mongolian prostitution and trafficking, as well as the African community in Guangzhou, are fabulous and give the reader a look into a China that many people would never otherwise read about.

One of the most difficult parts of living abroad is deciding when and if to go home. I also enjoyed and appreciated this part of the book.