On the books-you-may-have-missed shelf: a young Hmong girl and western medicine
Lia Lee
Nora Flaherty just sent me a NY Times obituary for Lia Lee, who died August 31 at the age of 30. Never heard of her? Well, unless you’ve read Anne Fadiman‘s 1997 National Book Circle Award-winning The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, or, attended medical school in the past 20 years, there’s really no way Lia Lee would have crossed your radar. The book explores the conflict between Hmong immigrant culture and American medical practice. But that is really too simplistic.
About ten years ago, my son and a college friend were reading Fadiman’s extraordinary work of narrative non-fiction and were so moved by it, they shared it with everyone they knew, including me. I would have missed it otherwise. If you missed it, find it at your library or bookseller or download it. It’s been in continuous print and reprint since 1997.
Let’s consider this blog a place where you can add titles we may have missed…and shouldn’t have. Let’s compile a list of “go back and find these.” Tell us why you still think and care about a book you may have read years or decades ago–a book that many of us may not have read back when it was first published.
About
Without books, history is silent, literature is dumb, science is crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. –Barbara Tuchman
The R&W Book Club is a place for us to talk about books—with each other and, from time to time, with the authors of featured titles. We’ll read fiction, non-fiction and poetry. We encourage your suggestions for authors and books to include. There are a few limitations on what we’ll consider: books must be by living authors, have broad audience appeal, and be readily available at libraries, bookstores or via download. If you’d like to suggest authors or titles, go here. If you’d like your local book club or library included in our email early-notification group, go here.
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Books at NCPR
- Book review: "Peak Experiences"(May 14, 2013) The mountains of the northeast attract hikers to their rocky summits. What happens, though, when something goes wrong? Carol Stone White collected over 50 essays in her new book, Peak Experiences - Danger, Death, and Daring in the Mountains of the Northeast. Betsy Kepes as this review. [full story] […]
- Books: "Friends in a Storm"(May 9, 2013) A new children's book by Canton writer Mary Sue Seymour includes illustrations by a young artist from Ogdensburg. Friends in a Storm tells the story of Squirrel, who gets locked out of his house during a rainstorm, and is befriended by Owl. Todd Moe spoke with author Mary Sue Seymour and 12-year-old artist Samantha Flynn, who created the i […]
- Readers & Writers: Terry Tempest Williams, "When Women Were Birds"(Apr 30, 2013) Our guest is well-known essayist and poet Terry Tempest Williams, talking about her most recent book, When Women Were Birds, Fifty-Four Variations on Voice - a collection of short essays on memory, faith and voice. Williams' work is steeped in the landscape and lore of Utah and the West where she has lived and worked most of her life. Ell […]
Books at NPR
- Three-Minute Fiction Reading: 'Plum Baby' May 18, 2013NPR's Susan Stamberg reads an excerpt of one of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. She reads Plum Baby by Carmiel Banasky of Portland, Ore. […]
- 'Waiting To Be Heard' No More, Amanda Knox Speaks Out May 18, 2013Less than two months into her study abroad program in Italy, Amanda Knox was accused and eventually convicted of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher. After her conviction was overturned, Knox returned home to Seattle — and now faces a potential retrial. Knox tells her story in a new memoir. […]
- Author Elliott Holt Says: 'Go West, Young Woman' May 18, 2013In this Q&A, author Elliott Holt discusses her six favorite novels about expatriates. She also talks about what it's like to be in your 20s, and the importance of travel and exploration. […]
- 'That's That': A Memoir Of Loving And Leaving Northern Ireland May 18, 2013Colin Broderick's new memoir, That's That, chronicles his childhood in Northern Ireland during the modern-day "Troubles." Broderick says growing up in what was essentially a war zone seemed normal to him at the time. […]