Saturday, February 27, 2021

Lower tolerance for racial slurs in books and movies

 I just realized that it has been months since I've shared a review or an opinion.  We're getting ready to move homes and I've been sorting through my books. There are so many that I collected but hadn't finished, many of which I'd been drawn to because of the author or the blurb.  

As I winnow down my collection, I've decided that even if I enjoy the writing or the book, I'm not keeping the book if the author chose to include a racial slur or belittling description of an "Oriental" or Asian character.  This helps me reduce the number of books in our new home. It took me a while to decide to do this but I figure that there is only so much space in a NYC home and there are so many other books and authors that can take up space in my head.


Here are a few of the books that I'm leaving on the curb:

Frog Music by Emma Donoghue - Chapter 1, p33 "Hoodlums roaming the countryside, or them slit-eyed gurriers from Chinatown for all we know, and I amn'y supposed to turn a hair"  


Here are some books and authors that I'd love to share with you. I'll continue to update this list.

Vivien Chien - A Noodle Shop mystery series - the newest is  Fatal Fried Rice.  

Blurb: Lana Lee returns for another delectable cozy set in a Chinese restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio in Vivien Chien's Fatal Fried Rice


Lana Lee runs her family’s Chinese restaurant in Cleveland’s Asia Village like nobody’s business. When it comes to actual cooking, however, she’s known to be about a step up from boiling rice. So Lana decides to go to culinary school on the sly—and prove that she has what it takes in the kitchen after all. But when course instructor Margo Chan turns up dead after class, Lana suddenly finds herself on the case, frying pan in hand.

Since she was the one who discovered the body, Lana must do double duty in finding the killer and clearing her name. Now, with or without the help of her boyfriend Detective Adam Trudeau, Lana launches her own investigation into Margo’s life and mysterious death. Doing so leads her on a wild goose chase to and from the culinary school—and all the way back to the Ho-Lee noodle shop, where the guilty party may be closer than Lana thinks.

Ovidia Yu - her Auntie Lee series is set in Singapore and is a true delight!