What are You Reading Now: December 27, 2025

Wrapping up The English and French Navies, 1500-1650. Will wrap up the year with Toward Eternity, Kiki Man Ray, and Below the Edge of Darkness. Starting the New Year with The Devils.

I'm reading the festive Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.

I'm reading We Called it Music: A Generation of Jazz, jazz guitarist Eddie Condon's delightful memoir, first published in 1947.

I finished Dash & Lily! I loved the series and wish there were more!

Now I'm reading The Twelve Even Stranger Days of Christmas by Syd Moore.

The Mysteries of Pendowar Hall by Syrie James
First installment in "The Audacious Sisterhood of Smoke & Fire" trilogy.

My Father Always Finds Corpses
Lee Hollis
This a new mystery book by Lee Hollis. Jarrod Jarvis was a former child star and now a sleuth. His daughter Liv is surprised by learning he solved some Hollywood real life murders. Now, Liv and her Zel, boyfriend are looking for her surrogate mother. Mystery

The Bride Price – Mai Neng Moua
3***

Subtitle: A Hmong Wedding Story

Moua was brought to the United States by her refugee mother when she was a young child. Her father had died in Laos, and her mother walked to a refugee camp in Thailand with Mai, her older brother Kai, their younger brother Yai, and some rice. The family ultimately settled in St Paul, Minnesota where Moua’s uncles lived, converted from the animist Hmong religion to Christianity (Baptist), and grew up more American that Hmong. After completing college and beginning a successful career, Mai fell in love with a Hmong man, Blong, an attorney. When they decided they wanted to marry, however, they ran up against an ancient tradition – the bride price.

Mai didn’t want to be “sold like a bunch of grapes,” and her husband agreed to abide by her wishes. But in the Hmong community they were not considered married without the traditional feast and the traditional bride price.

Their decision to go their own way caused a rift in the family, not just with Mai’s mother, but the extended family of uncles, cousins and even friends.

In this memoir, Moua tries to explain the cultural importance of these rituals, and her ultimate decision regarding these traditions. It’s a somewhat fraught memoir. I could totally understand her distress, anxiety, puzzlement, anger, and resignation. I also clearly understood the love she had for her family.

My only complaint about the book is the heavy use of Hmong language phrases. Yes, she explains what they mean … the first time a phrase is used. But there is no glossary, so pages (or chapters) later when the phrase came up again, I’d be lost for a moment until I could find the original reference to understand what was meant. I often could make an educated guess based on context, but still, a glossary would have been very helpful.

The new thread is up over here.

I finished one more before the end of the year, Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths
by John Layman and Alberto Ponticelli (Artist).