I can’t wait for 2016 to be over and done with. Go. Away. Already. But to stay positive until then, I was fortunate to experience quite a few highlights. In January, I wrote the introduction for the re-release of Ban Zhao’s Instructions for Chinese Women and Girls (Camphor Press, 2016), a text I quoted from in Good Chinese Wife.
In February, Good Chinese Wife got a new cover, with a front blurb and three on the back.
In March, I started writing for the Los Angeles Review of Books’ China Blog. My first article was a review of Eileen Chang’s newly translated novel, Half a Lifelong Romance (Penguin, 2016). I went on to write seven more blog posts for the LARB China Blog this year. It’s been such a great opportunity.
In April, my oldest son returned to the house in San Francisco where I lived during the last part of Good Chinese Wife. He asked to see inside, but the new owner wasn’t comfortable with that. No worries. I get the picture from this outside image.
In May, the Italian translation of Good Chinese Wife was published! This version is in hardcover and is just beautiful with a dust jacket and raised lettering underneath.
In June, my husband and I spent a week in Paris–our first time there. This is a photo from our initial afternoon in Paris, in front of the Centre Pompidou. I learned about this museum in high school French class thirty years ago. My French was very rusty, but Paris was magical and it didn’t matter that no one could really understand me.
Speaking of old houses, in July, I took my little kids and friends to see where I grew up in Evanston, Illinois in the 1970s and 80s.
In August, I took Jake to New York to move him into his college dorm. This is his view!
In September, I returned to Hong Kong for a week! It was the first time I’d been there that long since I left in 1998 and the first time I was there alone longer for a day since I lived there. One of the many highlights–besides seeing two dozen absolutely generous friends–was speaking about cross-cultural marriage to this Master’s of Social Work class at the University of Hong Kong.
In October, I covered the book launch of The Adventures of Fat Rice: Recipes from the Chicago Restaurant Inspired by Macau (Ten Speed Press, 2016) for the Los Angeles Review of Books’ China Blog. The book just as amazing as the restaurant!
In November, we celebrated my mom’s 75th birthday with a party at a restaurant in Chicago and with tea party favors I picked up from Man Cha Teas in Hong Kong!
And in December, the Los Angeles Review of Books’ China Blog asked me to contribute to their annual holiday book recommendation post. It was such an honor and great fun to suggest some books I’ve enjoyed this year that are set in Hong Kong.
So I really can’t complain about 2016, but I do have higher hopes for 2017 as a whole. Peace and love to all!
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