After reading Gay’s riveting memoir, I was hunger for more. I admire her articulate, effortless prose. I picked up Bad Feminist to learn her writing style, but her critical thinking opens my mind on America’s race, gender, violence, entertainment, and politics. Her perspective and observation are honest and thoughtful. From novels to films, women rights to gay rights, and humors to exploitations, Gay offers a powerful, provocative voice of a bad feminist who gives us something to think about.

Truyện tình cảm ngắn của Cát Thảo viết về ba người trẻ (một nữ hai nam) cùng mối quan hệ hơi phức tạp. Nội dung cũng tạm được cho dù có những chi tiết không rõ ràng chẳng hạn như “trường X” và tuyết mùa đông. Người Việt ở Việt Nam thì làm gì có tuyết. Tôi đọc cố ý để học chữ Việt nhiều hơn là hứng thú về câu chuyện. Tôi không thích đọc tiểu thuyết tình cảm mấy nhưng ở đây sách tiếng Việt rất hạn chế.

Pamela Paul obviously loves Bob. She embraces him, holds him, caresses him, talks about him, and spends her entire life with him. Bob turns out not to be a guy, but a book of books. My Life with Bob is a funny, witty, and brainy memoir of a book lover. Paul read whenever she could when she was a kid as well as when she had her own kids. Books have been part of her life and Bob, which is a list of books with just date, author, and title, reveals the type of person she is through the books she had read. Inspired by Paul’s Bob, I now have my own Bob: Blog of Books.

Chuyện tình cảm giữa một cô gái từ Việt Nam sang New York du học và một chàng trai da đen Jamaican. Đại khái là hai người đến với nhau và yêu nhau cho dù sự khác biệt giữa hai sắc tộc và văn hoá. Cô gái Việt bất chấp những lời khinh bỉ và kỳ thị của đồng hương về người yêu lý tưởng của mình. Còn chàng trai thì luôn thương yêu, trung thành, và lo lắng cho nàng. Chắc ở Mỹ đã lâu nên tôi thấy những cặp tình nhân khác chủng tộc (interracial couples) là chuyện thường. Nên đọc cho vui và học thêm tiếng Việt thôi chứ nội dung chẳng mới lạ hoặc hào hứng gì. Đàm Ngân viết về người thứ ba (cô gái) nên câu chuyện không gần gũi lắm. Tác giả dùng rất nhiều chữ i thay vì chữ y như thẩm mĩ, kì thị, lí tưởng, tối kị, lí lẻ, mĩ mãn, và tâm lí.

In her poignant memoir of living with bipolar disorder, Lowe gives readers a glimpse inside her head. She writes about her struggle with mental illness and her manic depression. She writes about her experience with lithium and Depakote. She writes to find peace and stability. She writes with force, rhythm, and empathy. Any politician who seeks to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and disregard mental health coverage should read this book. It’s eye-opening.

Bierut is a celebrated graphic designer. Over forty years of his career, Bierut worked for big clients as well as pro bono projects. His book, How to Use Graphic Design to Sell Things, Explain Things, Make Things Look Better, Make People Laugh, Make People Cry, and (Every Once in a While) Change the World, showcases a wide range of projects he had designed. His simple execution yet clever concept makes his works stand out. The intention behind his design is what makes him a genius. He is a vigorous reader and an excellent writer. These qualities make him a strong designer. His masterful designs combined with his engaging writings make this book a must-have for graphic design students. How To is a great resource that deserves a space on your bookshelf.

Stranger raped Elva. He was eighteen and she was sixteen. He lives in Australia and she lives in Iceland. They corresponded through emails about the incident. After nine years, they decided to meet face to face to put their past behind. Their book reveals their daily interaction during the nine days they spent in Cape Town, South Africa. Their road to reconciliation required them to face their painful past once again. Their emotion, humiliation, compassion, and transformation are laid bare on the pages. An unspeakably honest read.

Their TED talk is also inspiring, but you might want to hold off until you read the book first.

Chip Kidd is a prolific graphic designer and Book Two showcases an extensive collection of his work in the last decade. Most of his works are book jackets and cover designs, but they cover a wide range. From poetry to novel to comic to non-fiction, his designs are impressive and inspiring. I am glad that the rise of e-books has not affected his work.

Dani Shapiro’s part memoir part advice on writing reveals how she became a writer and her writing process. Growing up as the only child of older parents who are observant Jews, she spent most of time in the Sabbath reading or writing. Although I have not read any of Shapiro’s book, I have always interested in learning about a writer’s process. In Shapiro’s case, the level of concentration to just write appeals to me. I don’t plan on becoming a writer either, but I enjoyed reading how writers still writing.

Nguyễn Thanh Việt came to the U.S. when he was four. I left Vietnam when I was twelve. We are both refugee. Yet neither of us has any idea about the war. He explored the subject through novels and movies. I learned about it through Asia Entertainment, a Vietnamese music production that released documentary and music video about the war. Its perspective is mostly from the Republic of Vietnam.

In writing this book, Nguyễn returned to the homeland to visit war-related places and museums, which are now mostly tourist attractions. Like him, I went into Vịnh Mốc tunnels and paid Hồ Chí Minh’s body a visit. From a refugee perspective, Nguyễn offers a fair and balance analysis of the war. He draws his studies from literature, film, and art, which are kind of odd for a nonfiction book. I wonder why he hadn’t studied Vietnamese music. We must have thousands of songs about the war. Nguyễn’s assessment on identity resonates with me:

Having carried ourselves over, or been brought over, from the other side—we Gooks, we goo-goos, we slopes, we dinks, we zipperheads, we slant-eyes, we yellow ones, we brown ones, we Japs, we Chinks, we ragheads, we sand niggers, we Orientals, we who cannot be distinguished between ourselves because we all look alike—we know that the condition of our being and our self-representation is that we are both ourselves and others. We are never without identity and never without ideology, whether we like it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not. Those people who believe themselves to be beyond identity and ideology will, sooner or later, charge us with identity and ideology if we dare to commit that most unnatural act of speaking up and out. (p.63)

He was lucky that no one had ever called him these names to his face. As a kid, I was called Ching Chong and chink even though I am not Chinese. Then again, we all look alike.

A compelling and beautiful read if you don’t mind Nguyễn’s academic writing style.