Best books…chosen

Novelist Yangsze Choo is the best-selling author of The Ghost Bride and The Night Tiger, both of which mixed history and folklore. In her new novel, The Fox Wife, a detective in 1908 Manchuria crosses paths with a murderous fox spirit.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo (2016). I read this short novel in a day, captivated by its spare, powerful prose. The story of Kim Jiyoung is that of many Korean women, born into families and a society that places sons on a pedestal at the expense of daughters. Kim Jiyoung’s growing invisibility and the sacrifices both she and her mother make for their families are visceral and thought-provoking.

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke (2017). This is a compelling mystery set in East Texas, about a Black Texas Ranger who investigates a murder in his hometown. Locke’s deft, insightful touch brings the setting and its characters to dazzling life, and captures a complicated dance between hatred and love.

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (2012). I bought this slim book on a whim and read it during a long plane ride, not realizing how moved I would feel by the end of it. Yes, it is a novel partly narrated by a cat. But it is also a deeply touching testament to love and relationships.

Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick & Easy Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (1996). This is one of my alltime favorite cookbooks, by an author I adore. I reach for this book to make turmeric rice, green lentils with cilantro and mint, and “The Most Delicious Meat Cubes”—on weeknights when I need to make a flavorful, spicy family dinner in a hurry.

Kitchen/Moonlight Shadow by Banana Yoshimoto (1988). I first read this book—really, two short novellas—many years ago, and I recently re-read it when I recommended it to my kids. It addresses death and love; the blurring of two worlds, particularly in Moonlight Shadow, is beautifully done and one of my writing inspirations.

‘The Kiss’ by Anton Chekhov (1887). Strictly speaking, this is a short story—but one that has dwelled in the back of my mind for many years. More than a century has passed since Chekhov wrote it, but the feelings and confusion incited by a single, mistaken kiss in a dark room remain the same, I suspect, for people everywhere.