1AnnieMod
We are closing 2025 with a non-fiction author (which is a bit unusual for this group): Jung Chang. Born in China in 1952, she had been living in UK since 1978.
What do you plan to read in December?
What do you plan to read in December?
2Maura49
>1 AnnieMod: Good call given her new book, Fly, wild swans which I certainly plan to read.
3lilisin
I said I wouldn't participate in this one as I just read her biography about the Soong sisters. But that was back in July, and by the time December comes up 5 months will have gone by so I'm started to be tempted. If I were to join (again, no promises) I will be reading Wild Swans as that is the only one left of her books I have to read before, of course, the sequel comes out.
5lochiegirl64
I am reading Wild Swans which I am already finding very interesting.
6john257hopper
I was going to read Big Sister, Little Sister, but now I've just downloaded Fly, Wild Swans for 99 pence on a Kobo deal, I might read that instead.
7MissWatson
I’ve got her biography of Empress Cixi standingy by.
8thebetaedit
Hello everyone,
I recently joined the platform and I'm curious about where to find active authors to read their book. Can someone help me with this please, I'm looking for book to read?
I recently joined the platform and I'm curious about where to find active authors to read their book. Can someone help me with this please, I'm looking for book to read?
9MissWatson
And I have finished Empress Dowager Cixi which was eye-opening in many ways. Given the constraints she lived under, she achieved amazing things. I am quite curious now to read more Chinese history.
10john257hopper
I started Fly, Wild Swans yesterday and am enjoying it.
11john257hopper
I read the Cixi book a few years ago and she certainly lived a fascinating life. I also read Pearl S Buck's fictionalised biography of Cixi Imperial Woman before that.
12MissWatson
>11 john257hopper: I read Imperial Woman as a teenager in German translation and would love to read the original, to compare it to this modern biography, but it’s hard to find here.
13john257hopper
I have today finished Fly, Wild Swans.
Here she brings her story up to date by focusing mostly on her life after she first came to Britain as a 26 year old student on a scholarship in 1978. We learn about her early adapting to life in Britain, her marriages to a Singaporean pianist, then later to Jon Halliday, co author of her biography of Mao. We read about her approach to gathering evidence for, and writing, Wild Swans and her biographies of Mao and the 19th century dowager Empress Cixi, affected by the fluctuating attitudes of the Chinese communist authorities to her historical researches and attempts to interview key figures. Most of all though this is the story of her relationship with her mother, who has done everything to encourage all her children to pursue their own lives without letting their actions be dictated by the behaviour and reactions of the Chinese Communist Party. In the latter parts of the book we read about how her attempts to visit her mother and family are also shaped by the changing attitudes of the Chinese authorities, putting various bureaucratic and sometimes more sinister obstacles in the way of her visits. The relative liberalism of the 1990s gives way to a somewhat harder attitude in the 2000s, except around the lead up to and during the 2008 Olympics. However, she was still able to visit. Things got worse from 2012 when the new and current leader Xi Jinping came to power. Jung has not seen her mother since 2018 because of this new attitude (and for part of the time due to COVID as well of course). It’s a moving mother and daughter story. There is some repetition of material from Wild Swans here, but not too much, I didn’t think. Another great read by this author.
Here she brings her story up to date by focusing mostly on her life after she first came to Britain as a 26 year old student on a scholarship in 1978. We learn about her early adapting to life in Britain, her marriages to a Singaporean pianist, then later to Jon Halliday, co author of her biography of Mao. We read about her approach to gathering evidence for, and writing, Wild Swans and her biographies of Mao and the 19th century dowager Empress Cixi, affected by the fluctuating attitudes of the Chinese communist authorities to her historical researches and attempts to interview key figures. Most of all though this is the story of her relationship with her mother, who has done everything to encourage all her children to pursue their own lives without letting their actions be dictated by the behaviour and reactions of the Chinese Communist Party. In the latter parts of the book we read about how her attempts to visit her mother and family are also shaped by the changing attitudes of the Chinese authorities, putting various bureaucratic and sometimes more sinister obstacles in the way of her visits. The relative liberalism of the 1990s gives way to a somewhat harder attitude in the 2000s, except around the lead up to and during the 2008 Olympics. However, she was still able to visit. Things got worse from 2012 when the new and current leader Xi Jinping came to power. Jung has not seen her mother since 2018 because of this new attitude (and for part of the time due to COVID as well of course). It’s a moving mother and daughter story. There is some repetition of material from Wild Swans here, but not too much, I didn’t think. Another great read by this author.
14lochiegirl64
I am currently reading Fly, Wild Swans and love the Chinese history, culture and basically everything! I will probably finish in January, but I like to read and really absorb what I am reading especially non fiction books. But I will do a review when I am finished.
*I ended up dnfing this book, not because I didn't enjoy it, but because I found myself getting overwhelmed by its length. From what I read (the history, culture, the family situations), I really enjoyed reading.
*I ended up dnfing this book, not because I didn't enjoy it, but because I found myself getting overwhelmed by its length. From what I read (the history, culture, the family situations), I really enjoyed reading.
