Book
Suggestions
Version 03Jan13
Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America –
Firoozeh Dumas
Call # 979.49 Dumas
In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved
from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this
country beyond her father’s glowing memories of his graduate school years here.
More family soon followed, and the clan has been here ever since.
Funny in Farsi chronicles the American journey of Dumas’s
wonderfully engaging family: her engineer father, a sweetly quixotic dreamer
who first sought riches on Bowling for Dollars and in Las Vegas, and later lost
his job during the Iranian revolution; her elegant mother, who never fully
mastered English (nor cared to); her uncle, who combated the effects of
American fast food with an army of miraculous American weight-loss gadgets; and
Firoozeh herself, who as a girl changed her name to Julie, and who encountered
a second wave of culture shock when she met and married a Frenchman, becoming
part of a one-couple melting pot.
In a series of deftly drawn scenes, we watch the family grapple
with American English (hot dogs and hush puppies?—a complete mystery), American
traditions (Thanksgiving turkey?—an even greater mystery, since it tastes like
nothing), and American culture (Firoozeh’s parents laugh uproariously at Bob
Hope on television, although they don’t get the jokes even when she translates
them into Farsi).
Above all, this is an unforgettable story of identity, discovery,
and the power of family love. It is a book that will leave us all
laughing—without an accent.
The Palace of Illusions – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Call # Fiction Divakar Chitra
Taking us back to a time that is half history, half myth and
wholly magical, The Palace of Illusions gives new voice to
Panchaali, the fire-born heroine of the Mahabharat, as she weaves a vibrant
interpretation of an ancient tale. Married to five royal husbands who have been
cheated out of their father's kingdom, Panchaali aids their quest to reclaim
their birthright, remaining at their side through years of exile and a terrible
civil war. But she cannot deny her complicated friendship with the enigmatic
Krishna—or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husbands'
most dangerous enemy—as she is caught up in the ever-manipulating hands of
fate.
Arranged Marriage: Stories - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Call # SS Divakar Chitra
Although Chitra Divakaruni's poetry has won praise and awards for
many years, it is her "luminous, exquisitely crafted prose" (Ms.)
that is quickly making her one of the brightest rising stars in the changing
face of American literature. Arranged Marriage, her first collection of
stories, spent five weeks on the San Francisco Chronicle bestseller list
and garnered critical acclaim that would have been extraordinary for even a
more established author.For the young girls and women brought to life in these
stories, the possibility of change, of starting anew, is both as terrifying and
filled with promise as the ocean that separates them from their homes in India.
From the story of a young bride whose fairy-tale vision of California is
shattered when her husband is murdered and she must face the future on her own,
to a proud middle-aged divorced woman determined to succeed in San Francisco,
Divakaruni's award-winning poetry fuses here with prose for the first time to create
eleven devastating portraits of women on the verge of an unforgettable
transformation.
The Notebook – Nicholas Sparks
Call # Fiction Sparks Nichola
In 1932, two North Carolina teenagers from opposite sides of the
tracks fall in love. Spending one idyllic summer together in the small town of
New Bern, Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson do not meet again for 14 years. Noah
has returned from WWII to restore the house of his dreams, having inherited a
large sum of money. Allie, programmed by family and the "caste system of
the South" to marry an ambitious, prosperous man, has become engaged to
powerful attorney Lon Hammond. When she reads a newspaper story about Noah's
restoration project, she shows up on his porch step, re-entering his life for
two days. Will Allie leave Lon for Noah? The book's slim dimensions and
cliche-ridden prose will make comparisons to The Bridges of Madison County
inevitable. What renders Sparks's (Wokini: A Lakota Journey of Happiness and
Self-Understanding) sentimental story somewhat distinctive are two chapters,
which take place in a nursing home in the '90s, that frame the central story.
The first sets the stage for the reading of the eponymous notebook, while the
later one takes the characters into the land beyond happily ever after, a
future rarely examined in books of this nature. Early on, Noah claims that
theirs may be either a tragedy or a love story, depending on the perspective.
Ultimately, the judgment is up to readers?be they cynics or romantics. For the
latter, this will be a weeper.
Nickel and Dimed:
On (Not) Getting By in America – Barbara Ehrenreich
Call # 305.569 Ehrenre 2011
Our sharpest and most original social critic goes
"undercover" as an unskilled worker to reveal the dark side of
American prosperity.
Millions of Americans work full time, year round, for
poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was
inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised
that a job -- any job -- can be the ticket to a better life. But how does
anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich left
her home, took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs
she was offered. Moving from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, she worked as a waitress,
a hotel maid, a cleaning woman, a nursing-home aide, and a Wal-Mart sales
clerk. She lived in trailer parks and crumbling residential motels. Very
quickly, she discovered that no job is truly "unskilled," that even
the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort. She
also learned that one job is not enough; you need at least two if you int to
live indoors.
Nickel and Dimed reveals low-rent America in all its tenacity,
anxiety, and surprising generosity -- a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a
thousand desperate stratagems for survival. Read it for the smoldering clarity
of Ehrenreich's perspective and for a rare view of how "prosperity"
looks from the bottom. You will never see anything -- from a motel bathroom to a
restaurant meal -- in quite the same way again.
The Samurai’s Garden: A Novel – Gail Tsukiyama
Call # Fiction Tsukiyam
Gail
The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Tsukiyama
uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop
for her unusual story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is
sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from
a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper
and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns
Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound
spiritual insight. Matsu is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good
and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world, and Stephen is a noble
student, learning to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way of life and
to love Matsu's soulmate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – Lisa See
Call # Fiction See
Lisa
In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl
named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, an “old
same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow
Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she’s written a
poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to
communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily
and Snow Flower send messages on the fan and compose stories on handkerchiefs,
reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.
Together they endure the agony of footbinding and reflect upon their arranged
marriages, their loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two
find solace in their friendship, developing a bond that keeps their spirits
alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their relationship suddenly
threatens to tear apart.
The Muslim Next Door:
The Qur’an, the Media, and That Veil Thing – Sumbul Ali-Karamali
Call #: 297 Alikara
Since 9/11, stories about Muslims and the Islamic world have
flooded headlines, politics, and water-cooler conversations all across the
country. And, although Americans hear about Islam on a daily basis, there
remains no clear explanation of Islam or its people. The Muslim Next Door
offers easy-to-understand yet academically sound answers to these questions
while also dispelling commonly held misconceptions. Written from the point of
view of an American Muslim, the book addresses what readers in the Western
world are most curious about, beginning with the basics of Islam and how
Muslims practice their religion before easing into more complicated issues like
jihad, Islamic fundamentalism, and the status of women in Islam. Author Sumbul
Ali-Karamali's vivid anecdotes about growing up Muslim and female in the West,
along with her sensitive, scholarly overview of Islam, combine for a uniquely
insightful look at the world's fastest growing religion.
Veil of Roses – Laura Fitzgerald
Call # Central Fiction
Fitzgerald L (At Santa Clara
County Library)
This compelling debut follows one spirited young woman from the
confines of Iran to the intoxicating freedom of America—where she discovers not
only an enticing new country but the roots of her own independence. . . .
Tamila Soroush wanted it all. But in the Islamic Republic of
Iran, dreams are a dangerous thing for a girl. Knowing they can never come
true, Tami abandons them. . . . Until her twenty-fifth birthday, when her
parents give her a one-way ticket to America, hoping she will “go and wake up
her luck.” If they have their way, Tami will never return to Iran . . . which
means she has three months to find a husband in America. Three months before
she’s sent back for good.
From her first Victoria’s Secret bra to her first ride on a motor
scooter to her first country line-dance, Tami drinks in the freedom of an
American girl. Inspired to pursue her passion for photography, she even
captures her adventures on film. But looming over her is the fact that she must
find an Iranian-born husband before her visa expires. To complicate matters,
her friendship with Ike, a young American man, has grown stronger. And it is
becoming harder for Tami to ignore the forbidden feelings she has for him.
It’s in her English as a second language classes that Tami finds
a support system. With the encouragement of headstrong Eva, loyal Nadia, and
Agata and Josef, who are carving out a love story of their own, perhaps Tami
can keep dreaming—and find a way to stay in America.
Dreaming in English – Laura Fitzgerald ( A sequel to Veil of Roses)
Call #: Fiction
Fitzger Laura
Knowing she could never be happy in Iran, Tamila Soroush took her
mother's advice to "Go and wake up your luck" and joined her sister
in the United States. Now, after a spur-of-the-moment exchange of "I
do"s with her true love, Ike Hanson, Tami is eager to start her new life.
But not everyone is pleased with their marriage, and Tami's
happily- ever-after is no sure thing. With an interview with Immigration
looming, Tami wonders if she's got the right stuff when it comes to love,
American-style. Maybe her luck is running out. Or maybe she'll stand up for
herself and claim her American dream.
Having Our Say:
The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years – Sarah L. Delany, A. Elizabeth
Delany, Amy Hil Hearth
Call #: 929.2089 Delany
Warm, feisty, and intelligent, the Delany sisters speak their
mind in a book that is at once a vital historical record and a moving portrait
of two remarkable women who continued to love, laugh, and embrace life after
over a hundred years of living side by side.
Their sharp memories show us the post-Reconstruction South and
Booker T. Washington; Harlem's Golden Age and Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois,
and Paul Robeson. Bessie breaks barriers to become a dentist; Sadie quietly
integrates the New York City system as a high school teacher. Their
extraordinary story makes an important contribution to our nation's
heritage--and an indelible impression on our lives.
The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan
Call #: Fiction Tan
Amy
Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift
with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. In 1949
four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat
dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope,
they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they
choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was to wish
back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already
unbearable." Forty years later the stories and history continue.
With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful,
often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each
woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the
strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over
daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable
tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing
readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.
First Ladies of the White House – Nancy Skarmeas
A companion volume to Our Presidents, First Ladies of the White
House tells of the remarkable women who have accompanied their husbands to the
White House to make distinctive contributions to American life.
Lone Woman: The
Story of Elizabeth Blackwell, the First Woman Doctor – Dorothy Clarke Wilson
Call # Central 921
B632 (At Santa Clara County
Library)
The definitive well-researched biography focusing on the first
woman doctor in America. The many changes of scene and of fortune in
Blackwell's life, combined with her penchant for seeking new challenges, make
her a lively biography subject.
Up against the limitations of American medicine in the early
1800s & how women suffered at the hands of male physicians, came, from a
close-knit family of Dissenters who emigrated from England, a single-minded
young woman determined to become a surgeon. A few physicians rallied to her
cause, becoming sponsors, but no medical schools would admit her except,
eventually, Geneva Medical College of Western New York, and that was actually
the result of a joke. The many personal and professional hurdles that Blackwell
had to overcome in order to succeed are detailed in this well-documented
narrative, preesented within the context of her social and intellectual milieu,
her teaching career, and the community of medicine during her lifetime.
Nightingales: The
Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale –
Gillian Gill
Call #: 610.7309
Nightin Gill
Florence Nightingale was for a time the most famous woman in
Britain–if not the world. We know her today primarily as a saintly character,
perhaps as a heroic reformer of Britain’s health-care system. The reality is
more involved and far more fascinating. In an utterly beguiling narrative that
reads like the best Victorian fiction, acclaimed author Gillian Gill tells the
story of this richly complex woman and her extraordinary family.
Born to an adoring wealthy, cultivated father and a mother whose
conventional facade concealed a surprisingly unfettered intelligence, Florence
was connected by kinship or friendship to the cream of Victorian England’s
intellectual aristocracy. Though moving in a world of ease and privilege, the
Nightingales came from solidly middle-class stock with deep traditions of hard
work, natural curiosity, and moral clarity. So it should have come as no
surprise to William Edward and Fanny Nightingale when their younger daughter,
Florence, showed an early passion for helping others combined with a precocious
bent for power.
Far more problematic was Florence’s inexplicable refusal to marry
the well-connected Richard Monckton Milnes. As Gill so brilliantly shows, this
matrimonial refusal was at once an act of religious dedication and a cry for
her freedom–as a woman and as a leader. Florence’s later insistence on
traveling to the Crimea at the height of war to tend to wounded soldiers was
all but incendiary–especially for her older sister, Parthenope, whose
frustration at being in the shade of her more charismatic sibling often led to
illness.
Florence succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. But at the height
of her celebrity, at the age of thirty-seven, she retired to her bedroom and
remained there for most of the rest of her life, allowing visitors only by
appointment.
Combining biography, politics, social history, and consummate
storytelling, Nightingales is a dazzling portrait of an amazing woman,
her difficult but loving family, and the high Victorian era they so perfectly
epitomized. Beautifully written, witty, and irresistible, Nightingales
is truly a tour de force.
Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War – Stephen B.
Oates
Call #: 973.775 Barton Oates
When the Civil War broke out, Clara Barton wanted more than
anything to be a Union soldier, an impossible dream for a thirty-nine-year-old
woman, who stood a slender five feet tall. Determined to serve, she became a
veritable soldier, a nurse, and a one-woman relief agency operating in the
heart of the conflict. Now, award-winning author Stephen B. Oates, drawing on
archival materials not used by her previous biographers, has written the first
complete account of Clara Barton's active engagement in the Civil War.
By the summer of 1862, with no
institutional affiliation or official government appointment, but impelled by a
sense of duty and a need to heal, she made her way to the front lines and the
heat of battle. Oates tells the dramatic story of this woman who gave the world
a new definition of courage, supplying medical relief to the wounded at some of
the most famous battles of the war -- including Second Bull Run, Antietam,
Fredericksburg, Battery Wagner, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Petersburg.
Under fire with only her will as a shield, she worked while ankle deep in gore,
in hellish makeshift battlefield hospitals -- a bullet-riddled farmhouse, a
crumbling mansion, a windblown tent. Committed to healing soldiers' spirits as
well as their bodies, she served not only as nurse and relief worker, but as
surrogate mother, sister, wife, or sweetheart to thousands of sick, wounded,
and dying men.
Her contribution to the Union was incalculable and unique. It
also became the defining event in Barton's life, giving her the opportunity as
a woman to reach out for a new role and to define a new profession. Nursing,
regarded as a menial service before the war, became a trained, paid occupation
after the conflict. Although Barton went on to become the founder and first
president of the Red Cross, the accomplishment for which she is best known, A
Woman of Valor convinces us that her experience on the killing fields of
the Civil War was her most extraordinary achievement.
The Killing of Karen Silkwood: The Story Behind the Kerr-McGee
Plutonium Case – Richard L. Rashke
Call #: 346.7303
Rashke
Karen Silkwood, an employee of the Kerr-McGee plutonium
processing plant, was killed in a car crash on her way to deliver important
documents to a newspaper reporter in 1974. Silkwood was a union activist
concerned about health and safety issues at the plant, and her death at age
twenty-eight was considered by many to be highly suspicious. Was it
Kerr-McGee's revenge on a troublesome whistle-blower? Or was it part of a much
larger conspiracy reaching from the Atomic Energy Commission to the FBI and the
CIA? Richard Rashke leads us through the myriad of charges and countercharges,
theories and facts, and reaches conclusions based solely on the evidence in
hand.
Originally published in 1981, his book offers a vivid, edgy
picture of the tensions that racked this country in the 1970s. However, the
volume is not only an important historical document. Complex, fascinating
characters populate this compelling insider's view of the nuclear industry. The
issues it explores-whistle-blowers, worker safety, the environment, and nuclear
vulnerability-have not lost relevance today, twenty-six years after Silkwood's
white Honda Civic was found trapped in a concrete culvert near Oklahoma City.
For this second edition, Rashke has added a preface and three short chapters
that explore what has been learned about Silkwood since the book's original
publication, explain what happened to the various actors in the drama, and
discuss the long-term effects of the events around Silkwood's death.
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith
Call # PB McCall
Meet Mma Ramotswe, the endearing, engaging, simply irresistible
proprietress of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, the first and only detective
agency in Botswana. With persistent observation, gentle intuition, and a keen
desire to help people with the problems of their lives, she solves mysteries
great and small for friends and strangers alike.
1st to Die (Women’s Murder Club) – James Patterson
Call # Fiction
Patters James
Imagine a killer who thinks, "What is the worst thing anyone
has ever done?"--and then goes far beyond it. Now imagine four women --a
police detective, an assistant DA, a reporter, and a medical examiner --who
join forces as they sidestep their bosses to track down criminals. Known as the
Women's Murder Club, they are pursuing a murderer whose twisted imagination has
stunned an entire city. Their chief suspect is a socially prominent writer, but
the men in charge won't touch him. On the trail of the most terrifying and
unexpected killer ever, they discover a shocking surprise that turns everything
about the case upside down.
Kitchen Table Wisdom – Rachel Naomi Remen
Call # 610.92 Remen
Praised by everyone from Bernie Siegel to Daniel Goleman to Larry
Dossey, Rachel Remen has a unique perspective on healing rooted in her
background as a physician, a professor of medicine, a therapist, and a
long-term survivor of chronic illness. In a deeply moving and down-to-earth
collection of true stories, this prominent physician shows us life in all its
power and mystery and reminds us that the things we cannot measure may be the
things that ultimately sustain and enrich our lives.
My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge and
Belonging – Rachel Naomi Remen
Call # 296.7 Remen
In My Grandfather's Blessings, Rachel Naomi Remen,
a cancer physician and master storyteller, uses her luminous stories to remind
us of the power of our kindness and the joy of being alive.
Dr. Remen's grandfather, an orthodox rabbi and scholar of the
Kabbalah, saw life as a web of connection and knew that everyone belonged to
him, and that he belonged to everyone. He taught her that blessing one another
is what fills our emptiness, heals our loneliness, and connects us more deeply
to life.
Life has given us many more blessings than we have allowed
ourselves to receive. My Grandfather's Blessings is about how we can
recognize and receive our blessings and bless the life in others. Serving
others heals us. Through our service we will discover our own wholeness—and the
way to restore hidden wholeness in the world.
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – Marshall Goldsmith
Call #: 650.1 GOLDSMI
The corporate world is filled with men and women who have worked
hard to reach upper level management. They're intelligent, skilled, and even
charismatic. But only a handful of them will ever reach the pinnacle — and as
executive coach Marshall Goldsmith shows in this book, subtle nuances make all
the difference. These are small transactional flaws performed by one person
against another that, using Goldsmith's straightforward, jargonfree advice, are
easy behaviors to change.
The Brilliant Book of Calm – Tania Ahsan
For most of us, trying to find a moment of peace in our hectic
schedule is like searching for a needle in a haystack. When faced with a crisis
it's more likely that we'll fly into a panic than calmly assess the situation
and formulate a plan to deal with the problem. With the help of The brilliant
book of calm you can take charge of your life like never before, so that when
push comes to shove and the proverbial hits the fan, all you need to do is take
a deep breath before you deal with whatever life has thrown at you. Packed with
advice on how to slow down, calm down and find your inner Zen master, The
brilliant book of calm will help you find and maintain a balanced
perspective on life, so that you can deal with anything. Whether you're
permanently stressed-out or just in need of a bit of a push in a calmer
direction, Tania Ahsan's road-tested advice will enable you to live a calmer, richer
and happier life.
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms – Gail Tsukiyama
Call # Fiction Tsukiyam
Gail
It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms,
two orphaned brothers dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The
older boy, Hiroshi, shows early signs of promise at the national
obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of Noh
theater masks.
But as the ripples of war spread to their quiet
neighborhood, the brothers must put their dreams on hold—and forge their
own paths in a new Japan. Meanwhile, the two young daughters of a
renowned sumo master find their lives increasingly intertwined with the
fortunes of their father’s star pupil, Hiroshi. The Street of a Thousand
Blossoms is a powerfully moving masterpiece about tradition and change, loss
and renewal, and love and family.
Dreaming Water – Gail Tsukiyama
Call # Fiction Tsukiyam
Gail
Bestselling author Gail Tsukiyama is known for her poignant,
subtle insights into the most complicated of relationships. Dreaming Water
is an exploration of two of the richest and most layered human connections that
exist: mother and daughter and lifelong friends.
Hana is suffering from Werner's syndrome, a disease that makes a
person age at twice the rate of a healthy individual: at thirty-eight Hana has
the appearance of an eighty-year-old. Cate, her mother, is caring for her while
struggling with her grief at losing her husband, Max, and with the knowledge
that Hana's disease is getting worse by the day.
Dreaming Water is about a mother's courage, a daughter's
strength, and a friend's love. It is about the importance of human dignity and
the importance of all the small moments that create a life worth living.
Women of the Silk – Gail Tsukiyama
Call # Fiction Tsukiyam
Gail
In Women of the Silk Gail Tsukiyama takes her readers back to
rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amidst the
reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn
to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women
use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the
freedom they could never have hoped for on their own. Tsukiyama's graceful
prose weaves the details of "the silk work" and Chinese village life
into a story of courage and strength.
The Language of Threads – Gail Tsukiyama
Call # Fiction Tsukiyam
Gail
Readers of Women of the Silk never forgot the moving, powerful
story of Pei, brought to work in the silk house as a girl, grown into a quiet
but determined young woman whose life is subject to cruel twists of fate,
including the loss of her closest friend, Lin. Now we finally learn what
happened to Pei, as she leaves the silk house for Hong Kong in the 1930s,
arriving with a young orphan, Ji Shen, in her care. Her first job, in the home
of a wealthy family, ends in disgrace, but soon Pei and Ji Shen find a new life
in the home of Mrs. Finch, a British ex-patriate who welcomes them as the
daughters she never had. Their idyllic life is interrupted, however, by war,
and the Japanese occupation. Pei is once again forced to make her own way,
struggling to survive and to keep her extended family alive as well. In this
story of hardship and survival, Tsukiyama paints a portrait of women fighting
the forces of war and time to make a life for themselves.
Night of Many Dreams – Gail Tsukiyama
Call # Fiction Tsukiyam
Gail
As World War II threatens their comfortable life in Hong Kong,
young Joan and Emma Lew escape with their family to spend the war years in
Macao. When they return home, Emma develops a deep interest in travel and sets
her sights on an artistic life in San Francisco, while Joan turns to movies and
thoughts of romance to escape the pressures of her real life. As the girls
become women, each follows a path different from what her family expects. But
through periods of great happiness and sorrow, the sisters learn that their
complicated ties to each other--and to the other members of their close-knit
family--are a source of strength as they pursue their separate dreams.
The Circuit – Francisco Jimenez
Call # J/ PB Jimenez
After dark in a Mexican border town, a father holds open a hole
in a wire fence as his wife and two small boys crawl through.
So begins life in the United States for many people every day.
And so begins this collection of twelve autobiographical stories by Santa Clara
University professor Francisco Jiminez, who at the age of four illegally
crossed the border with his family in 1947.
"The Circuit," the story of young Panchito and his
trumpet, is one of the most widely anthologized stories in Chicano literature.
At long last, Jiminez offers more about the wise, sensitive little boy who has
grown into a role model for subsequent generations of immigrants.
These independent but intertwined stories follow the family
through their circuit, from picking cotton and strawberries to topping
carrots--and back again--over a number of years. As it moves from one labor
camp to the next, the little family of four grows into ten. Impermanence and
poverty define their lives. But with faith, hope, and back-breaking work, the
family endures.
Breaking Through – Francisco Jimenez
Call # J/ PB Jimenez
At the age of fourteen, Francisco Jiménez, together with his
older brother Roberto and his mother, are caught by la migra. Forced to leave
their home, the entire family travels all night for twenty hours by bus,
arriving at the U.S. and Mexican border in Nogales, Arizona. In the months and
years that follow, Francisco, his mother and father, and his seven brothers and
sister not only struggle to keep their family together, but also face crushing
poverty, long hours of labor, and blatant prejudice. How they sustain their
hope, their goodheartedness, and tenacity is revealed in this moving sequel to
The Circuit. Without bitterness or sentimentality, Francisco Jiménez finishes
telling the story of his youth.
