The Joy of Reading

I was suprised recently when I attended a talk by Lisa See at the Encinitas Library. Lisa is the critically acclaimed author of several books, her most famous being Sunflower and the Secret Fan. She is on a book tour to promote her new book, Dreams of Joy. What surprised me is that she doesn't look Chinese, speak Chinese or ever lived in China. Her great grandfather was Chinese. The rest of her direct descendents are Caucausian, yet she has focused on her Chinese heritage in all of her books. She's such a small, unassuming woman that I was pleasantly surprised when she starting talking, and was completely immersed in storytelling for the next hour.

Lisa does extensive research before even starting the outline for a book. She may go to a small village in China and live for several weeks, to learn about the history and culture of rural China. As she says, each area of China is different from the other, so you may go 200 miles in any direction and meet people speaking a different dialect.

The book she is working on now will again be set in a small village. As she was getting ready to start her research for Dreams of Joy, she got a call from her friend Amy Tan. Amy was going to a small village where she would be staying in a 29 room villa, and asked Lisa if she'd like to go too. Lisa said yes, and they spent several weeks together in China. Each was gathering background information for their new books. Lisa's book is already out. It's called Dreams of Joy. Amy's book will be out shortly. I will definitely want to read it too. I want to see how two wonderful authors who went to the same village to get background for their books, used the information. It should be very interesting.

Lisa See is a wonderful story teller. She has a great sense of humor, and she's not afraid to tell funny stories about her own family. She is a history buff, so when she hears about a little known piece of Chinese history, she researches it and tries to incorporate it into her book. That's exactly what she did with the subject of foot binding in Snowflower and the Secret Fan.

One interesting aspect of Chinese culture in America that Lisa talked about was what became known as The Chop Suey Circuit. In the 1930's and 1940's Chinese burlesque, vaudeville and musical variety shows starring Chinese Americans were very popular, mostly in San Francisco but also in New York. They performed in clubs similar to the Cotton Clubs. Both had ethnic acts on stage performing for an almost all white audience. There was a circuit that performers followed, going from nightclub to nightclub, and they called it the Chop Suey circuit. When the war broke out in Japan and many Japanese were interred in camps, many of the vaudeville and burlesque acts were untouched. It's an interesting piece of history that most of us know nothing about.

Lisa went on to tell us many stories about China, all of which the audience found fascinating. I'm sure some of these pieces of history will find their way into future books.

Reading takes me to a different place, often a different time and land. Meeting the author and hearing stories about how she came to write it and why, make it that much more interesting. Thanks to the Encinitas Library that brought Lisa See to our community, and to all the libraries that stimulate our interest in reading.