New book reviews and a poem from the Chinatown crowd

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Reviewed by Ashley Tan

Can human beings really see God? Their Eyes Were Watching God is written by Zora Neale Hurston. It talks about an African-American woman named Janie. She married three different men: Logan, Joe and Tea Cake. Logan was already 60 years old, but Janie was only 17 when she married him. She believed that marriage does equal love. But she was totally wrong. Logan just forces her to work on the farm, but that's not the definition of love in Janie's mind. However, when Joe Starks appeared, she knew that Joe was going to give her a better life, and she might find love between them. With that romantic dream, Janie ran away with Joe to another place to begin their new life. But after a few years, Joe changed, he became a violent person, and treated Janie badly. Janie realized her dream was going to disappear sooner or later. After Joe died, Janie met Tea Cake, who was only 34, but Janie was 47 years old. They did not care about what the porch people said, they trusted their love could beat out the problems and gain their peaceful life. Tea Cake really loved Janie more than anyone else. He could do everything for Janie. Janie thought her love really came. But God is not always fair, Tea Cake was killed by Janie..... Janie wouldn't feel lonely because she knew that their love would last forever.She was looking at the horizon, just like her dream, never reached...


Strange tales of Liaozhai edited & translated by C C Low & Associates
Reviewd by Mona Zhao

I love reading, and when I say that I love reading, I mean I love words. My love for reading had been there ever since the day I learnt my name. I read a wide variety of books, from comic to reading the little quote on the calendar. I am an Asian-American; my desire for reading became a push of learning my culture and my language. In other words, I started to learn Chinese when I was nine because I saw a lot of Chinese books in the public library that I couldn’t read. By looking at the pictures I was able to predict parts of the story but that was it. But enough of how and why I learnt Chinese, I learnt Chinese, I am proud of myself, but most of all, I read a book in Chinese that changed my life!
The book that is an all time classic is called Strange tales of Liaozhai / [edited & translated by C C Low & Associates]. It is in both Chinese and English version, and it is available in the public library. But I have known this book ever since I was a kid, I just never took the time to read it and understand it. This book was written in China by a famous writer named Pu, SongLing in the 1600’s. This book he wrote was a collection of short stories. These short stories are mostly spine-tingling and mind-boggling stories of those days and nowadays. This book’s short stories can not only entertain you, but also it contains themes like relationships between people and it also reflects what sort of society of China was in that era. One of my favorite short stories in there is about a man who meets this beautiful girl, but she turns out to be a blood-sucking demon! Well, of course I wouldn’t tell you what happens next because you got to read it yourself!


The Storyteller's Daughter by Cameron Dokey
Reviewed by: Huiting Gao

A retelling of the classic story "One Thousand and One Nights," or the "Arabian Nights," this book talks about how Shahrazad saved her own life by telling the king Shahrayar 1001 stories before going to bed. Telling a story every night but never finishing, she prolonged her life and ensured the safety of the kingdom's womanhood. Although everyone knows the story, the author added lovely twists that will leave your heart wanting more of Shahrayar and Shahrazad love. This is a very powerful novel, spoken in subtlety and gentleness, and the language woven in the cloth of love moves people in so many ways. From this book, I learned that no matter what kind of person you are, may you be a millionaire or a blind person, a deaf person or an artist, someone will always look up to you.


"Christmas Tree. San Francisco"
A Poem by Kristin Fong

It's cold.
It's raining.
It doesn't snow.
We live in San Francisco.
No I live in San Francisco.
Why doesn't it snow?
I see Christmas lights.
I see Christmas trees.
Are they real?
Are they fake?
Tourist flood the streets.
Of downtown.
They flood the streets.
Merry Christmas.
But wait, it isn't Christmas yet.