My Favourite Wife by Tony Parsons

This is my latest completed read. Yes, this is the third book by Tony Parsons that I've read in the span of a month!

The story is set in Shanghai. Bill Holden, a lawyer, moves from London to Shanghai with his wife, Becca, and their four-year-old daughter, Holly, to seek a fortune and a better life.

They move into Paradise Mansions where many young "wives" are kept by rich men. Along with fortune comes temptation and Bill finds himself faced with temptation when Becca gets tired of it all and goes back to London on the pretense to help her ailing father. 

Bill then befriends and falls in love with Jin Jin Li, one of the "wives" living in Paradise Mansion. Soon, Jin Jin Li ends her relationship with her "husband" and becomes Bill's "wife". Bill then realizes that he is no different from all the other men who keep "wives".

This book portrays the gap between the haves and the have nots in booming China and what the have nots have to do to survive. 

Rich Brother Rich Sister by Emi Kiyosaki & Robert Kiyosaki

I just finished reading this book a week ago. This is more of an autobiography rather than one of Robert's Kiyosaki's financial education books.

This book is about the balance between what you do and the role that money plays in your life and how the balance between the two can bring happiness. As Robert Kiyosaki says, "I don't think the love of money is the root of all evil. What we do for the money may be evil. For instance if I grow drugs or if I shoot people for money that could be evil but money by itself isn't". So the lesson to be taken here is to use money for good purposes.

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

I've just finished reading this book. This is a dark tale that begins with the narrator of the story, Helen Knightly, killing her mother. There are many deaths in this book --- her mother's murder, her father's suicide, and a neighbour's child who was the victim of a hit and run incident which happened in front of the Knightly's home. In addition to the deaths, it seems like Helen and her parents were suffering from mental illnesses.

A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern

Sandy Shortt is anything but sandy or short. She has spent most of her life being obsessed about finding missing things. Where did the missing sock go when it's no longer in the washing machine?

Are we all defined to the things that we own?

Birthday Girls by Annabel Giles

Six women (with six birthdays) who are all connected to each other though they may not all be aware of how their lives are related.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

As always, I refuse to watch the movie without first reading the book. I enjoyed reading this book.

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

This is a biography of Martha Carrier, Kathleen Kent's great grandmother 10 generations  removed who lived in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692.

This is a story about the Salem witch trials which is told through the voice of Martha Carrier's daughter, Sarah Carrier.

Martha Carrier was accused of being a witch and was hanged because she told the truth, that she was not a witch. However, she told her daughter to lie and plead guilty and "admit" that she (Sarah) was a practising witch in order to be saved from death.

The book paints a picture of the torture and suffering that the people who were wrongly accused of witchcraft were subjected to while imprisoned.

This is a book that I'm glad I purchased.

Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern

This story explores the possibility of knowing someone when you receive something of theirs. Could it possibly connect two strangers who don't know anything about each other?

Donating blood was the last thing on Justin Hitchcock's to-do list but he was persuaded into doing it by a female doctor during a blood drive week on the campus where he was a guest lecturing.

A month later, Joyce Conway suffers a miscarriage and receives a blood transfusion in hospital. After she leaves hospital, she somehow knows things now that she didn't know before. She can suddenly rattle off facts about architecture which previously were unknown to her. She sees images of people in her mind and she doesn't know who they are, but yet, some part of her, knows them, loves them...

Is this mysterious connection only something that Joyce experiences or does Justin have similar experiences too? What is this mysterious connection that they share?

If Today Be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar

Tehmina's husband has just passed away and she is now in the US visiting her son and his family. She has now to decide whether to return to India where everything is familiar or to start anew in the US.

  

Crimson China by Betsy Tobin

A story about an illegal immigrant from China and a woman who was about to commit suicide when she saved the immigrant from drowning and how their lives are intertwined.

Bookends by Jane Green

I love Jane Green's novels.

This one's about a girl, her best friend (a boy) and once upon a time close friend who suddenly makes an appearance in their lives after many years.

The Bone Setter's Daughter by Amy Tan

Ruth, an American born Chinese, fears that she is losing her mother, LuLing, to dementia. Ever since she was young, Ruth's mother seemed to believe that she had the ability to communicate with the spirit world and with Precious Auntie's spirit.

LuLing was raised by a nursemaid, Precious Auntie, who was mute and burnt. LuLing's mother did not show much love towards her and seemed to prefer her younger sister Goa Ling. Precious Auntie, however, was devoted to caring for LuLing.

LuLing later learns, after Precious Auntie's death, that she is actually Precious Auntie's daughter and that the woman who she thought was her mother all along was actually her father's sister.

Luling is sent away to a Christian orphanage after Precious Auntie's death and later becomes a teacher. She and her sister, Goa Ling, later immigrate to the US and marry brothers.

This story is about Ruth's learning of her mother's past and gaining an understanding into her mother's behaviour.