The Joy Luck Club - Finished

This morning, I finished reading The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, and I just had to watch the movie! This is one of my favorite books and movies. I love the multi-generational story told from multiple points of view, and that this story spans so many hopes and joys, disappointments and sorrows.

Although the novel is about a group of Chinese women and their mothers, I believe it transcends nationality or generationality, but I wonder how much it appeals to or is truly understandable by men. Guys, chime in here! I recall reading it in a high school English class, but I really don't recall what anyone thought about it. I was so in love with the novel, even then, that I don't recall what anyone else thought.

I loved The Joy Luck Club as a teenager and young woman, but now that I've read it a few times as a mother, I have a totally different understanding of the novel. That understanding and appreciation has deepened as my son and I have gotten older. Although it is a tale of mothers and daughters, it has appeal for mothers of sons as well.

I was waiting to finish the novel before starting Amy Tan's memoir, The Opposite of Fate. I will be starting The Opposite of Fate today.

As I type this post, I am watching the movie version of The Joy Luck Club. It is one of the few novel to movie adaptations I have enjoyed. From the opening scene of the movie:

A fantastic conversation with Amy Tan:
I also have read a bit more of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am almost 40 pages in, and I have begun to actually enjoy it! The first 30 pages were challenging, but now I'm starting to appreciate the multiple layers that Dostoevsky has stitched together to create a full picture. I can hear and smell and feel the different textures and layers of the main character's life.

What to read next?

The first few books I have read for my Rory Gilmore Reading List challenge have left me so overwhelmed emotionally that for a few days I haven't been able to pick up anything new. I did start Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevski recently, but it is looooooong with dense prose — a daunting read! I picked up several other books and read the first few lines of each only to put them down again. It hasn't helped that my son and I were both ill for several days.

After laying about in bed and on the couch, and after binge watching every episode of "Raising Hope" on Netflix (I had forgotten how much I like Martha Plimpton), I decided to try again. Last night I picked up The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. I adore this book. I've read it probably five or six times. It was definitely the right choice! I'm not terribly far in yet (only about 30 pages) since I'm trying to pull the house back together after several days of neither of us doing any housework due to being sick, but I'm in love with this book. This is a book that leaves me feeling connected to my own family even though my family is so different from the families in The Joy Luck Club. This is a book that feels like falling in step with old friends I haven't seen in years but feeling like no time has passed at all. Do you know that feeling? That is the feeling of comfort and belonging.

Four covers for The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

I will continue to read Crime and Punishment, chapter by chapter, and will add some poetry as well (maybe a poem or two per day?). There are a few poets on the list. Regardless, I'm so glad I started this challenge. I adore reading. I think that after I finish The Joy Luck Club, I will likely dive into The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life, also by Amy Tan. I think I've read it before, but I'm not entirely certain.

Once I've marked five books as finished, I will be making my first donation of books to literacy causes (I haven't decided on the particular charity yet, but am open to suggestions). A friend recently messaged to say that she and her husband were inspired by my blog and donated several books to a literacy charity and have more that they will be donating soon. YAY!