Fiction Featuring Historical Women

Historical fiction often features the more well known figures in history, particularly when it comes to women.  Here are some works that highlight the lives of less well known, but very important women figures in history.

The Other Einstein - Marie Benedict

Mitza Marić has always been a little different from other girls. Most twenty-year-olds are wives by now, not studying physics at an elite Zurich university with only male students trying to outdo her clever calculations. But Mitza is smart enough to know that, for her, math is an easier path than marriage. And then fellow student Albert Einstein takes an interest in her, and the world turns sideways. Theirs becomes a partnership of the mind and of the heart, but there might not be room for more than one genius in a marriage.  Fictional account of the wife of Albert Einstein who was also a brilliant physicist.

The Moon in the Palace - Weina Dai Randel 

A Palace concubine, young Mei knows nothing of these womanly arts, yet she will give the Emperor a gift he can never forget. Mei's intelligence and curiosity, the same traits that make her an outcast among the other concubines, impress the Emperor. But just as she is in a position to seduce the most powerful man in China, divided loyalties split the palace in two, culminating in a perilous battle that Mei can only hope to survive.  Mei, also known as Wu Zetian, went on to become  Empress Wu, was involved in the expansion of China. 

Margaret the First - Danielle Dutton

Margaret the First dramatizes the life of Margaret Cavendish, the shy, gifted, and wildly unconventional 17th-century Duchess. The eccentric Margaret wrote and published volumes of poems, philosophy, feminist plays, and Utopian science fiction at a time when 'being a writer' was not an option open to women. As the English Civil War raged on, Margaret met and married William Cavendish, who encouraged her writing and her desire for a career. After the War, her work earned her both fame and infamy in England: at the dawn of daily newspapers, she was "Mad Madge," an original tabloid celebrity. Yet Margaret was also the first woman to be invited to the Royal Society of London--a mainstay of the Scientific Revolution--and the last for another two hundred years.

Hild - Nicola Griffith

Tells the story of Saint Hilda of Whitby.  Daughter of a poisoned prince and a crafty noblewoman, quiet, bright-minded Hild arrives at the court of King Edwin of Northumbria, where the six-year-old takes on the role of seer/consiglieri for a monarch troubled by shifting allegiances and Roman emissaries attempting to spread their new religion.

Terrible Virtue - Ellen Feldman 

A fictional portrait of one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century follows the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, who sacrificed two husbands, three children, and scores of lovers in her fight for sexual equality and freedom.

Get Ready to Read for the Win 2016 - Stories Set in a Different Culture - Need Help With That Square?

Get ready for this year's summer reading program Read for the Win, which will be kicking off Sunday, June 12 and will run through Sunday, July 31.

This year you'll be selecting different categories from our summer reading BINGO card.

To help you get started, here's a few suggestions for some good reads for one of the squares' categories - Set in a Different Culture.

Have fun and read for the win!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan 

Set in 19th c. China when women's feet were bound and they often lived a life of seclusion for the rest of the world. The women in one remote Hunan province create their own secret code which they painted on fans or embroidered on their handkerchiefs to communicate their thoughts and dreams to each other. Two girls to be paired and communicate are Snow Flower and Lily. As the years pass, thorough famine and rebellion, they reflect upon their arranged marriages, loneliness, and the joys and tragedies for motherhood.

The Secret River
This the story of Grenville's ancestry, who wrested a new life from the alien terrain of Australia and its native people. London, 1806. William Thornhill, a Thames bargeman, is deported to the New South Wales colony that would become Australia.


The Poisonwood Bible
The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it--from garden seeds to Scripture--is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

Eva Luna
A woman makes love to an India dying of a snakebite, miraculously restoring him to life and engendering a daughter named Eva "so she will love life." Set in Latin America, it relates Eva's picaresque adventures.

The Foreign Film Challenge continues

Here's how it works. If you like foreign films, you may want to review this list. I am sorting through the newly-arranged (by language) foreign films and highlighting those that received a rating of 7 or better on imdb.com. So here I am continuing with the Chinese films. If you do have a chance to view any of them and you love them, please leave a comment and start a dialogue. Enjoy!


Good Bye, Dragon Inn (2003) Mandarin & Taiwanese
Bu san (original title)
In Taipei, a movie theater is closing, but not before one final film is shown -- "Dragon Inn," a 1967 action film that is the source of nostalgia for the moviegoers and employees in the old, decrepit and possibly haunted building. The eccentric projectionist and a crippled cashier along with two ghostly actors from the original film come to mourn the passing of an era.

Fallen Angels (1995) Cantonese

Do lok tin si (original title)

Set in contemporary Hong Kong, a disillusioned killer embarks on his last hit. He tries to overcome his affection for his cool, detached partner and sets out to find a surrogate. He crosses paths with a strange drifter and an amusing mute trying to get the world's attention in his own unconventional ways.

The Flowers of War (2011) Mandarin 

Jin ling shi san chai (original title)

A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's rape of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.

Happy Together (1997) Cantonese

Chun gwong cha sit (original title)

Yiu-Fai and Po-Wing arrive in Argentina from Hong Kong and take to the road for a holiday. Something is wrong and their relationship goes adrift. A disillusioned Yiu-Fai starts working at a tango bar to save up for his trip home. When a beaten and bruised Po-Wing reappears, Yiu-Fai is empathetic but is unable to enter a more intimate relationship.

Hero (2002) Mandarin

Ying xiong (original title)

In this visually arresting martial arts epic set in ancient China, an unnamed fighter is being honored for defeating three of the king's most dangerous enemies. When he recounts his battles with the assassins, the king begins to question some of the details. The king challenges the tales, interjecting his own take on these events.

House of Flying Daggers (2004) Mandarin

Shi mian mai fu (original title)

The Tang Dynasty is fighting to keep control over China, a battle they are losing to several rebel groups. One such group is the House of Flying Daggers, who steal from the wealthy and give to the poor. Two police deputies working with the government are ordered to investigate a young dancer who is rumored to be working with the House of Flying Daggers. But both men fall under her charms and decide to help her escape instead.

Ilo Ilo (2013) Mandarin

Set in Singapore during the 1997 financial crisis, this film chronicles the Lim family as they adjust to their newly arrived domestic helper, Teresa, who has come, like many others in search of a better life.

The foreign film challenge continues . . .

If you like foreign films, you may want to review this list. Here's how it works. I am going through the newly-arranged (by language) foreign films and highlighting those that received a rating of 7 or better on imdb.com. So here I am continuing with the Chinese films. If you do have a chance to view any of them and you love them, please leave a comment and start a dialogue. Enjoy!

Chan is Missing (2006) Cantonese

Two cabbies search San Francisco's Chinatown for a mysterious character who has disappeared with their $4000. Their quest leads them on a humorous, if mundane, journey which illuminates the many problems experienced by Chinese-Americans trying to assimilate into contemporary American society. 

Chungking Express (1994) Cantonese/Mandarin

Two melancholy Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal server at a late-night restaurant he frequents.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Mandarin

Two warriors in pursuit of a stolen sword and a notorious fugitive are led to an impetuous, physically skilled, adolescent nobleman's daughter, who is at a crossroads in her life.

Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) Mandarin
During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.

The Drummer (2007) Mandarin/Cantonese
A gangster's willful son is sent into hiding over sexual misconduct. Sent far, he unexpectedly takes up with remote Buddhist drummers who slowly but profoundly influence his life.

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) Mandarin
A senior chef lives with his three grown daughters; the middle one finds her future plans affected by unexpected events and the life changes of the other household members.

Foreign Language Films

Did you know that the Library’s film collection includes DVDs in about 48 foreign languages? French, Spanish, and Italian take the lead, but there are quite a few that you might not be familiar with.  The Seagull's Laughter is a comedy/drama in the Icelandic language.  Fast Runner, or Atanarjuat  was produced in Canada and has won and been nominated for several awards. It is in the Inuktitut language which is  spoken by the Inuit Indians.

This month, we are spotlighting films in Chinese, of which there are over 50 in the collection, in honor of Chinese New Year, which is celebrated on February 19, .  

Perhaps the most well-known is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Produced in 2000, it won the Best Foreign Film, and is filled with action, drama and romance. 

For action and comedy, watch Kung Fu Hustle and for more action, watch  Hero which was nominated for Best Foreign Film in 2003. 

Others of note are The Emperor and the Assassin, Tuya's Marriage, and Goodbye, Dragon Inn.  All of these films have either won or have been nominated for some prestigious award. 

Til then, may all the fortune in your cookie be good ones. Gōng Xǐ Fā Cái!!

On the Road Again

Cold? Bundled up? Tired of the insides of your house? It might be time to armchair travel and plan next year's traveling adventure. 

Want to do a Road Trip?  Foodies Jane and Michael Stern take to the American byways and back roads to discover American cuisine at its finest in their memoir of their early (and humorous) adventures, Two for the Road: Our Love Affair with American Food. They wrote the book Road Food and started the Road Food blog for those travelers who want eat at other local establishments other than a chain fast food joint on the side of the intersection. In a world before Yelp and the Internet, the Sterns were the people to go to when you wanted to find out about good road food.

On a bit of a different kind of road, there is the book On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome with Love and Pasta by Jen Lin-Liu. The title of this delightful book is a play on the legendary Silk Road, the major trade route between Asia and Europe. Chef and cooking school founder Lin-Liu (Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China ) wanted to settle a burning question: Who really invented the noodle? To do this, she embarked on a cooking and eating journey through China, Central Asia, Iran, Turkey, and Italy. She was occasionally joined by her husband, Craig, who adds charm and a personal feel to her culinary adventure.

Want to get away with the girlfriends? Are they your book group buddies too? Take a look at this title, Off the Beaten Page: the Best Trips for Lit Lovers, Book Clubs, and Girls on Getaways by Terri Peterson Smith.  

It has some great ideas for simple literary field trips close to home, and thoughtful essays describing each destination's literary heritage and attractions. From New York to Chicago, Memphis, Miami, Santa Fe and more there are various three-day itineraries that include such lit inspired excursions such as Santa Monica through the eyes of noir crime master Raymond Chandler; a Devil in the White City view of Chicago in the Gilded Age; an exploration of Edith Wharton's elite Newport, Rhode Island, while talking about other side trips in the area. There are location specific reading lists for each destination and along with a profile of an author who current lives and works there. It also covers various book festivals around the country.

Get ready to read about your next trip now.

Gung Hei Fat Choi!

The Chinese New Year Dragon 4710 began yesterday!

Celebrate by reading some of these novels with "Dragon" in the title:

A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin
New threats emerge to endanger the future of the Seven Kingdoms, as Daenerys Targaryen fights off a multitude of enemies, while Jon Snow faces his foes both in the Watch and beyond the great Wall of ice and stone.
Fifth book in the Song of Fire and Ice series

Dragon by Clive Cussler
Adventurer Dirk Pitt matches wits with a group of Japanese nationalist extremists out to establish a new empire as he races against time to recover an atomic bomb lost in the Pacific aboard a B-29 during World War II.

Harrowing the Dragon by Patricia McKillip
Spanning a quarter of a century, an anthology of previously uncollected short fiction explores a world of magic in such works as "The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath," "A Matter of Music," and "The Fellowship of the Dragon.".

Dragon's Fire by Anne McCaffrey
When a mine containing firestone, the mineral that gives the dragons of Pern their ability to breathe fire, explodes, killing the miners trapped there, young Cristov volunteers to take over the dangerous task of retrieving the explosive rock for the dragons.
Part of the Dragonriders of Pern series

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Journalist Mikael Blomkvist and hacker Lisbeth Salander investigate the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, which took place forty years ago.
First in the Millennium Trilogy

Dragon Fire by William S. Cohen
Upon the assassination of the Secretary of Defense, former senator and Vietnam POW Michael Patrick Santini is called upon by his President to fill the vacancy. Once there, he discovers that the United States is under attack by a silent, sinister force, someone determined to alienate our allies and undermine our position as a global superpower. But America is hours away from going to war--with the wrong enemy. Rejecting direct orders from the president, Santini races across the world in a desperate attempt to prevent a catastrophic global war

Murder With A Foreign Accent

Many of us have read mysteries which take place in familiar settings in the U.S. But don’t lose out on a whole slew of who-dunnits set in other countries and written in languages other than English. These works contribute their own unique perspective to the genre.

The first foreign writer to become popular in America was France’s Georges Simenon, whose detective Jules Maigret became a well-known and well-loved character who immerses himself in the crime, the people, the place and the feelings of the crime. He was one of the first authors to explore the psychology behind crime.

In contrast to Simenon, most non-English speaking authors write more traditional police mysteries. Japanese mystery writer Seicho Matsumoto used the realistic police procedural to show how he police in Japan slowly unravel a crime, but he also comments on the problems in Japanese society. He uses a very Japanese motive for murder – the need to “save face”.

 Many non-English speaking mystery authors feature police investigators who are moody, insightful loners who solve the crimes on their own.

Here are a few titles you might read which will give you a view of other countries and other societies from an insider’s point of view, and will give you a unique perspective on crime and punishment in different countries.

The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri.
Follows Sicilian detective Inspector Montalbano as he investigates the suspicious death of an engineer who had made a name for himself in a small town.

The Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza.

Brazilian Inspector Espinosa investigates the murder of a corporate executive found dead in his car, piecing together clues surrounding the victim's missing secretary, a life insurance policy, the victim's widow, and two additional murder victims.

Murder in Jerusalem by Batya Gur.

When a woman's body is discovered in the wardrobe warehouses of Israel Television, brooding police superintendent Ohayon embarks on a tangled and bloody trail of detection through the corridors and studios of Israel's official television station and, especially, through the relations, fears, loves, and courage of the people who make the station what it is.

The Mao Case by Xiaolong Qiu.

Inspector Chen investigates a young woman, the granddaughter of an actress who was once close to Mao, who may be in possession of an object that would bring dishonor to the Chairman's memory.

Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten.

While investigating the apparent suicide of a wealthy financier who is connected to one of the most powerful families in Sweden, Detective Inspector Irene Huss soon finds herself immersed in a murder mystery involving motorcycle gang members, skinheads, immigrants, and neo-Nazis.

Spotlight on International Fiction: China

The second in the "Spotlight on International" blog series focuses on China. If you like to be whisked away to a far away place through fiction novels, China is a great setting for international fiction - whether it's historical fiction or contemporary. Here are some titles you may enjoy!


Three Sisters by Feyiu Bi
Growing up in a post-Cultural Revolution-era Chinese village, three sisters among seven strive to change the course of their destinies by embracing respective views about dignity, seduction, and ambition.

A Thread of Sky by Deanna Fei
Widowed after a devastating accident and fearful of facing her grief alone, Chinese-American Irene Shen reunites three generations of independent women from her estranged family--including her mother, sister, and daughters--during a tour of mainland China.

Pearl of China: a novel by Anchee Min
A tale based on the life of novelist Pearl S. Buck follows her as she grows up in late-nineteenth-century China; befriends Willow, a Chinese peasant girl; and with Willow shares life's joys and sorrows, despite the Communist revolution.

Peony in Love by Lisa See
Written by bestselling author of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan". In seventeenth-century China, three women become emotionally involved with "The Peony Pavilion," a famed opera rumored to cause lovesickness and even death.

Woman from China: tales of survival from a Chinese labor camp by Xianhui Yang
Presents the fictionalized stories of twelve survivors from the Chinese work camps in Jiabiangou, exiled there by the Communist Party between 1957 and 1960 to undergo reeducation through hard labor for being rightists.

You can find many more titles in our catalog of fiction that takes place in China.

For those interested in contemporary China

A Sinophile is a person who demonstrates a strong interest in aspects of Chinese culture and its people. To understand modern China is to learn about life during Mao’s reign, immigration to other countries and current life in modern, technology-driven China. The fiction and non-fiction below, in no particular order, and available in Glenview Public Library’s collection, make for fascinating reading.

The Vagrants by Yiyun Li –
Fiction
A novel with a consistent voice, highly readable prose, fascinating and believable characters and bursting with interesting details, Li illuminates the period two years after the death of Mao. This first novel is reminiscent of the work of Ha Jin as the author is fairly new to writing in English. She came to the US in 1996 as an immunology major at the University of Iowa, but soon found herself in a writing class there. This is a memorable experience which enhances one's knowledge of what Chinese people have lived through.

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie Chang –
331.40951 CHA
These young women must re-invent themselves as they move to a factory town, Dongguan, that provides a dormitory, stores, friends and work. There is nothing there but the factories that make the imported goods found all over the world. English is the only way to upward mobility. Chang, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, traces her own family history while living with the factory girls and learning about their day to day dramas and rather unromantic courtships and grueling hours. A real eye opener.

The Bitter Sea: coming of age in a China before Mao by Charles N. Li
952.05 Li
An exceptionally well written and gripping memoir of growing up in China. Born near the beginning of World War II, Li was the youngest son of a wealthy Chinese government official. He saw his father jailed for treason and his family's fortunes dashed when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists came to power in 1945. He went from living amongst the most wealthy and then the reversal of fortune found him living in a slum. A difficult father and a much removed mother added to his difficult life. Now a professor of linguistics at U of California, Santa Barbara, this appears to be the first in a continuing saga of his life. I can't wait for the next one.

Midnight at the Dragon Café by Judy Fong Bates
Fiction
A family comes to Canada from Communist China in the late 1950's. They own a Chinese restaurant in rural Ontario that consumes them. Su-Jen Chou tells her story--her life as the only Chinese girl in her high school-- in this deeply affecting coming-of-age novel. Her father is the proprietor of the local Canadian-Chinese “greasy spoon”. Her mother is haunted with yearnings for her homeland, and unpleasant family secrets are revealed. A memorable, well-told story that reads like a memoir.


Wild Swans: three daughters of China by Jung Chang
951.05 CHA
An ode to courage and resilience, this autobiography is about three generations of women in China. It provides a thorough portrait of China during World War II and what Mao’s version of communism did to one family. Chang was one of the lucky few permitted to leave Communist China and earn a doctorate in the west. Essential reading for those seeking to understand how China evolved.

A Good Fall by Ha Jin
Fiction
Deceptively simple, but well-crafted short stories represent a variety of Chinese immigrant experiences. Characters are often academics newly arrived in New York (Queens especially). Jin's characters share a simple goal: how to successfully live in America in spite of baggage. Two stories had a particularly virulent form of baggage: a hate spewing mother-in-law. I have a question for Mr. Jin: could visiting mother-in-laws really be that rude to their daughter-in-laws?



-IVF

Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China.

Jen Lin-Liu is an American journalist and food writer living in Beijing, China. She decides to hone up on her cooking skills by taking Chinese cooking classes in a state run cooking school. Her adventures have lead to the book, Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China.

So is this book about Chinese cooking? Yes - but it is so much more. It is also a study of China today and where it is headed. It is about the ambition of it's people and where they have been. Who knew that one of the most important people that she meets is the secretary and caretaker of the school? This "non" teacher becomes Jen's guide to the China of yesteryear as well as her traditionalist cooking advisor and friend. As Jen discovers and learns about different regional cuisines, she travels and cooks in different areas and restaurants. Everything from your local small lunchtime noodle shop to the high class international restaurants of Shanghai.

A good book for Chinese food fans, history fans, and those who are trying to get a grasp on the Chinese culture today. After reading this, one has a better understanding of how the latest food scares out of China can happen and why they will probably continue. An excellent read.

Shanghai Girls

Lisa See does it again! Her most recent novel, Shanghai Girls is skillfully plotted with rich characters plus an exotic location. See tells the story of sisters Pearl and May Chin, born to middle class Chinese parents in glamorous 1937 Shanghai. Both girls are modern, smart and beautiful and are having the time of their lives thanks to their father’s successful rickshaw business. Their lives take a dramatic turn when their father tells them he has gambled away his wealth, and in order to settle his debts, he has sold them as wives to two California brothers. The girls must leave Shanghai immediately and travel to Los Angeles to honor their father’s agreement. Pearl and May set out on a perilous journey amidst Japanese bombs and the horror of invasion by Japanese soldiers. When they reach Los Angeles, they must contend with strangers for husbands and try to adapt to American life. Shanghai Girls is the story of sisters; devoted, best friends who share hopes, dreams and a past. See is an expert storyteller and this novel will not let you down. If you like Shanghai Girls, check out her other titles: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, Dragon Bones, The Interior, and Flower Net.