Yoshiko Uchida "The Invisible Thread"

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I feel kind of silly posting to the comm, since I read about eleven books total last year and therefore know that fifty books this year, by PoC or otherwise, is laughable. But! Whatever.

Today at Book Off, I was walking past the English books and this happened to catch my eye. It's subtitled "A Memoir by the Author of The Best Bad Thing". I had heard of neither the author nor the book, but this sounded interesting and was a dollar so I grabbed it.

Yoshiko Uchida was born and raised in the Bay Area during the Depression. About half the book deals with her childhood, with short sections about her parents as well, and the other half is about life during the war (she was just weeks away from finishing college when Pearl Harbor was bombed). She later went on to write dozens of books about Japanese and Japanese-Americans, mostly children's books, but her later life isn't really covered in the book at all.

It's only about 130 pages and is aimed at children, but it's well-written and doesn't flinch from describing the racism she encountered growing up or the harsh realities of the concentration camps in WWII. Despite that, it's overall pretty upbeat and positive, and not a horribly depressing read (other than the general subject matter).

I really enjoyed it and definitely recommend it. If anyone's interested, I'm happy to pass on my copy as I don't reread and it appears to be out of print. E-mail me at megchan@gmail.com with your address (US only, please, as shipping elsewhere would be too pricey for me right now) and I'll send it to you. ETA: Taken!

In which I read a ton of paranormals...

[oyceter]

Not including text for all the Liu's I read, or else this would be super long.

20. Singh, Nalini - Visions of Heat
    Faith NightStar (this is a PsyClan name, not a pretendian one, I think) is one of the world's top F-Psy; she forecasts business trends with unerring accuracy and can even be prompted by triggers, further upping her value. But lately, she's been getting visions of horrible violence, disturbing because the Silence has supposedly wiped emotion from all of the Psy. She ends up getting help from a leopard Changeling clan, though she's instantly attracted to a jaguar Changeling, Vaughn. (more)


21. Manning, Frankie, with Cynthia Millman - Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop
    So, for those interested in lindy hop history, the second and last sections were the most interesting for me. There's not much sociological analysis, but as a first-hand narrative, we probably aren't going to get anything better, given that Shorty Snowden and Whitey White passed away a while ago (Norma Miller! Write a biography?). For those interested in show business, I suspect the other sections will be much more interesting. (more)


22. Liu, Marjorie M. - Tiger Eye
    "If you did not bring me here to kill or fight, then I was summoned to pleasure your body." He looked like he would rather impale himself face-first on a bed of nails. (more)


23. Liu, Marjorie M. - Shadow Touch (more)


24. Morrison, Toni - Beloved
    I wish I had more to say about this book -- I felt like I missed tons while reading it, as it is not a good book to read when one's brain is not working, like mine. (more)


25. Liu, Marjorie M. - The Red Heart of Jade (more)


26. Singh, Nalini - Caressed by Ice
    I probably won't continue with the Psy-Changeling series after this; the prose is just too clunky and the characterization isn't good enough to catch my interest. (more)


27. Liu, Marjorie M. - Eye of Heaven (more)


28. Liu, Marjorie M. - Soul Song (more)