The Book Corner

China has a multitude of authors that the world is discovering. Their books are translated in many languages, and their stories resonate on many levels. Always good reads. Here are few of my favorite fiction books, in no particular order. Enjoy!

1. Ha Jin, Waiting. A doctor must wait decades to marry the woman he truly loves because his wife refuse to grant him a divorce. In this novel traditional Chinese values come to clash with the beginning of modern China.
2. Ha Jin, The Crazed. A Professor, respected teacher of literature in a provincial university has a stroke. His student, who is engaged to the Professor' daughter has been mandated to care for him. In this book, loyalty and betrayal abound, and duty becomes dangerous.
3. Dai Sijie, Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress. Two young educated men are sent to the countryside to carry buckets up and down the mountains. They fall in love with the same girl who distracts them from their "forced" job. Their lives are transformed after the discovery of a book written by Balzac himself. The human spirit at its best.
4. Mo Yan, Red Sorghum. It is the story of a young 19-year-old and his family who are winemakers, and are fighting the Japanese invasion during 1937-1945.
5. Su Tong, Raise the Red Lantern. A rich Chinese and his four wives live together. They must fight for his attention...and everything is permitted. Games of deception and betrayal, power and submission.
6. Lisa See, On Gold Mountain:The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family. Personal views and feelings about a Chinese man who came to California, in 1867 to practice Chinese medicine, at a time when prejudices were often ignored, and were some lives were not valued . The compassion of a man who helped the immigrants who worked in some difficult conditions, and how through a century, his family evolved, fighting racism, secret marriages and every day life in a new world. Great historic views from immigrants.