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FCC-STL Book Club

Below is a list of books and discussion dates. The group meets at a restaurant of the discussion leader's choice. Meetings usually beginning at 6:30pm with dinner and a discussion, and finish by 8pm.

This is a fun and causal group; do not take the terms 'Meeting' and 'Discussion Leader' too seriously. If fact, if you haven't read the book but would like to join us for dinner - please do so! Often times our discussions lead into parenting, family, and/or adoption chatter.

Any questions regarding the FCC-STL Book Club, can be directed to Ame Krippner.

Current Schedule

Wednesday, February 7, 2024  6:30pm

"Lady Tan's Circle of Women" by Lisa See
"The latest historical novel from New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, inspired by the true story of a woman physician from 15th-century China—perfect for fans of See's classic Snowflower and the Secret Fan and The Island of Sea Women."
--- goodreads.com
"According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient." 
--- amazon.com



Discussion Leader: Laura Mackinson
Location: the B A O, 14 N Central Ave, Clayton, MO 63105


If you plan to attend, please send an email to Ame Krippner so that a proper sized table can be reserved.

Wednesday, May 1, 2024  6:30pm

"The Expatriates" by Janice Y.K. Lee
"In the glittering city of Hong Kong, expats arrive daily for myriad reasons—to find or lose themselves in a foreign place, and to forget or remake themselves far from home. Amidst this hothouse atmosphere, a tragic incident causes three American women’s lives to collide in ways that will rewrite every assumption of their privileged world" 
--- amazon.com



Discussion Leader: Ame Krippner
Location: Mai Lee8396 Musick Memorial Dr, Brentwood, MO 63144


If you plan to attend, please send an email to Ame Krippner so that a proper sized table can be reserved.

Wednesday, August 7, 2024  6:30pm

"Crying in H Mart: A Memoir" by Michelle Zauner

"In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food."
--- amazon.com



Discussion Leader: Mary Robinson
Location: Seoul Garden10441 Olive Blvd, Creve Coeur, MO 63141


If you plan to attend, please send an email to Ame Krippner so that a proper sized table can be reserved.

Wednesday, November 6, 2024  6:30pm

"Mika in Real Life" by Emiko Jean
"In this brilliant new novel by from Emiko Jean, the author of the New York Times bestselling young adult novel Tokyo Ever After, comes a whip-smart, laugh-out-loud funny, and utterly heartwarming novel about motherhood, daughterhood, and love—how we find it, keep it, and how it always returns."
--- goodreads.com



Discussion Leader: Laura Mackinson
Location: TBD


If you plan to attend, please send an email to Ame Krippner so that a proper sized table can be reserved.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025  6:30pm

"The Mountains Sing" by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai 
The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Trần family, set against the backdrop of the Việt Nam War. Trần Diệu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Nội, her young granddaughter, Hương, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Hồ Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that tore apart not just her beloved country, but also her family.
--- goodreads.com



Discussion Leader: Ame Krippner
Location: DD Mau20 Allen Ave, Webster Groves, MO 63119


If you plan to attend, please send an email to Ame Krippner so that a proper sized table can be reserved.

Wednesday, May 7, 2025  6:30pm

"If I Had Your Face" by Frances Cha
“Powerful and provocative . . . a novel about female strength, spirit, resilience—and the solace that friendship can sometimes provide.”
--- The Washington Post
A debut novel set in contemporary Seoul, Korea, about four young women making their way in a world defined by impossibly high standards of beauty, secret room salons catering to wealthy men, strict social hierarchies, and K-pop fan mania. 
--- goodreads.com



Discussion Leader: Mary Robinson
Location: TBD 


If you plan to attend, please send an email to Ame Krippner so that a proper sized table can be reserved.

Wednesday, August 6, 2025  6:30pm

Interior Chinatown" by Charles Yu
"A deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play."
--- goodreads.com
"Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. Or is it?"
--- amazon.com



Discussion Leader: Laura Mackinson
Location: TBD 


If you plan to attend, please send an email to Ame Krippner so that a proper sized table can be reserved.

Wednesday, November 5, 2025 6:30pm

'The Library of Legends" by Janie Chang
"China, 1937. When Japanese bombs begin falling on the city of Nanking, nineteen-year-old Hu Lian and her classmates at Minghua University are ordered to flee. Lian and a convoy of students, faculty and staff must walk 1,000 miles to the safety of China’s western provinces, a journey marred by the constant threat of aerial attack. And it is not just the refugees who are at risk; Lian and her classmates have been entrusted with a priceless treasure: a 500-year-old collection of myths and folklore known as the Library of Legends.

-- www.goodreads.com
Discussion Leader: Ame Krippner
Location: Toyko Sushi, 3729 S Lindbergh Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63127

If you plan to attend, please send an email to Ame Krippner so that a proper sized table can be reserved.

 

Past Reads

In case you missed them the first time around, but are looking for a good book to read:

"The Last Chinese Chef" by Nicole Mones; Great book for those who enjoy books about world travel and food.

"Women Of The Silk" by Gail Tsukiyama; China 1926 - a sisterhood amidst the reeling silk factory machines.

"Death Of A Red Heroine" by Qiu Xiaolong; First book in the Inspector Chen mystery series set in Shanghai. The author is a professor at Washington University who emigrated to the U.S. after Tiananmen Square.

"Mao's Last Dancer" by Li Cunxin; An inspiring story of passion and resilience among the harsh reality of Mao's communist China.

"Bound" by Donna Jo Napoli; A Chinese Cinderella story suitable for young readers (estimated age range: grades 7 - 12).

"The Children of Huang Shi" This 2008 movie stars Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Yun-Fat Chow, and Michelle Yeoh. A young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.

"The Man from Beijing" by Henning Mankell; A mass murder in Sweden leads a relative of one of the slain (who is a judge) from Sweden back to Beijing when it determined there is a historical link between the current day and the year 1863.

"Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See; A novel about two sisters, two cultures, and the struggle to find a new life in America while bound to the old.

"After Isaac" by Avra Wing; Written by an FCC member in New York, this book tells the story of a family who adopts a child from China after their youngest son Isaac dies. Isaac's older brother Aaron is going through a tumultuous time in his life and this story is about the family healing itself.

"Pretty Woman Spitting" by Leanna Adams; A story of one American woman's teaching experience in China

"The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan; Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories

"Dreams of Joy" by Lisa See; The sequel to Shanghai Girls; the story continues in 1957 with New Society of Red China.

"The Man Who Loved China" by Simon Winchester; The story of the brilliant Cambridge scientist Joseph Needham and his love of China.

"The Bonesetter's Daughter" by Amy Tan; the novel is layered with stories that have been written down by mothers for their daughters, passing along secrets that cannot be said out loud but must not be forgotten.

"The First Chinese American: The Remarkable Life of Wong Chin Foo" by Scott D. Seligmann; with his masterful storytelling and meticulous research, the author reveals new insights into the Asian-American life.

"Crazy Rich Asians" by Kevin Kwan; A novel about the uber-wealthy Asian life-style in Singapore.

"Home is a Roof Over a Pig: An American Family's Journey in China" by Aminta Arrington; a personal account of a family with 3 small children who uproot their lives and live in China.

"The Scavenger's Daughters" by Kay Bratt; inspired by a true story, and set against the backdrop of a country in transition, this novel is a sweeping present day saga of triumph in the face of hardship, and the unbreakable bonds of family against all odds.

"Beijing Red" by Alex Ryan; A bio-terrorism triller that find the hero Nick Foley racing against time while racing through the streets of Beijing... sometimes racing through the tunnels in the city below the city.

"China Rich Girlfriend" by Kevin Kwan; a follow-up to Crazy Rich Asians, still rich and still crazy!

"The Tea Girl of Hummigbird Lane" by Lisa See; A powerful story about two women separated by circumstance, culture, and distance.

"Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford; A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, it gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war.

"Hong Kong Black" by Alex Ryan; The second Nick Foley bioterroism novel. This time Nick and friends find themselves in Hong Kong.

"Rich People Problems" by Kevin Kwan; This third book in the series is a great summer read... still crazy and still rich!

"China Dolls" by Lisa See; Set in 1938 in San Francisco, three young women become fast friends while performing at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub.

"The Leavers" by Lisa Ko; A story of how one boy comes into his own when everything he has loved has been taken away -- and how a mother learns to live with the mistakes of her past.

"Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng; In modern day Shaker Heights, Ohio, long time residents, The Richardson Family meet and are drawn to new tenants single Mom Mia and her daughter Pearl.

"Chinese Cooking for Diamond Thieves" by Dave Lowry; A glance into the kitchens of Chinese restaurants, a sprinkle of eastern martial arts, the bang of Chinese mobsters and FBI agents... oh, and Saint Louis as a back drop!

"Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate; Based on one of America's most notorious adoption scandals.

"Departures" a Japanese film, English Subtitled, PG13; In this Academy Award-winning drama, a newly unemployed cellist undergoes a profound and sometimes comical journey with death after taking a job at a funeral home.

“Parsley & Coriander: Life in China with Italian flavor” by Antonella Moretti; a thrilling peak inside the emotional rollercoaster of being a trailing spouse in China.

“The Bride Test” by Helen Hoang; a man with autism confronts his relationship fears after his mother sets in motion an arranged marriage.

“The Island of Sea Women” by Lisa See; on an island off the South Korean coast, an ancient guild of women divers reckons with the depredations of modernity from 1938 to 2008.

“All You Can Ever Know” by Nicole Chung; a profound, moving chronicle of surprising connections and the repercussions of unearthing painful family secrets.

“Song of the Jade Lily” by Kristy Manning; a lush, provocative, and beautiful story of friendship, motherhood, the price of love, and the power of hardship and courage that can shape us all.

“Beijing Payback” by Daniel Nieh; a fresh new thriller, bursting with personality and pathos, swift-moving action, and plenty of surprises.

"The Book of Salt" by Monique Truong; a mesmerizing tale of yearning and betrayal, the author explores Paris from the salons of its artists to the dark nightlife of its outsiders and exiles.

"Found" (movie) Amanda Lipitz's documentary “Found” follows three American teenage girls adopted from China who learn through DNA testing that they are cousins.

"Minor Feelings:  An Asian American Reckoning"  Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose the truth of racialized consciousness in America.

"The Kiss Quotient" by Helen Hoang is a heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

"Bullet Train" by Kotaro Isaka is a fast paced thriller. Five killers find themselves on a bullet train from Tokyo competing for a suitcase full of money. Who will make it to the last station?

"The Kimono Tattoo" by Rebecca Copeland takes readers on a journey into Kyoto’s intricate world of kimono design.

"The Heart Principle" bestselling romance by Helen Hoang.

"The Farewell " movie PG - 2019 - Drama/Comedy-Drama -1h 40m; Billi's family returns to China under the guise of a fake wedding to stealthily say goodbye to their beloved matriarch.

'The Flower Boat Girl' by Larry Feign is based on a true story of a woman who, against all odds, shaped history on her own terms.