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Dishing out Family Drama: India Sweets and Spices & Eat with Me

10 May

The family table can be both a source of connection and a source of drama; here are two picks that prove that point; which are representative as we recognize Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Click on the links to learn more about AAPI Heritage Month and the Hoboken Library’s events celebrating it.

India Sweets and Spices
India Sweets and Spices is about Alia, played charmingly by Sophia Ali, an UCLA student, who returns home from school to her Indian family in a wealthy NJ community and finds herself at odds with her parents and her Aunties’ visions of her future. The movie is broken up in to chapters following different lavish parties being held in her family’s social circle. As she finds romance with a local shop keeper’s son (their store provides the title of the movie), she discovers some buried family secrets from the past and present. I found the movie both touching and funny. I also could relate to both Alia who is wanting to break free from the small town of her childhood, but also Alia’s mother, played with complexity by Manisha Koirala, who is looking back at her own dreams that she deferred to make a better life for her children. Those hungering for more Indian family drama may want to check out 1999’s Chutney Popcorn about a woman whose girlfriend breaks up with her after she agrees to be a surrogate for her sister’s child.

Eat with Me
Eat with Me is a comedy-drama from 2014 about a gay chef, Eliot, and his mother who become closer leading up to the possible foreclosure of the Chinese restaurant inherited from another family member. Elliot, played by Teddy Chen Culver, is just beginning a new relationship, while his mother, played by Sharon Omi, has just separated from Eliot’s father and come to live with him. This is a charming story of acceptance and building bridges through food. Always a favorite of mine, George Takai has a small role in the film and Nicole Sullivan provides a lot of laughs as Eliot’s quirky neighbor who befriends his serious mom. If you enjoy this film you may also want to check out The Wedding Banquet another touching film centered around a gay son and his Chinese family. Stay tuned for our May 31 picks for two romance novels perfect for Pride Month.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Super Secret Society Speculative Fiction: London Séance Society, Backpacking through Bedlam, and Kaiju Preservation Society

8 Mar

London Séance Society
by Sarah Penner
London Seance Society is by Sarah Penner, the bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary. It has a little of everything: mystery, romance, supernatural elements, and nonstop drama. This is a novel with many twists. You will be wondering throughout who are the trustworthy charterers and who are the villains. Set in the Victorian era during the height of Spiritualism it is the tale of both charlatans and true believers along with those caught up in their machinations. Leanna Wickets joins renowned spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire in attempting to solve the murder of her sister as well as the death of Vaudeline’s friend, The President of the exclusive male only London Séance Society. As they struggle to survive their investigations of the spirit world as well as mortal men, romance between the two begins to spark. This is a gothic tale with a modern sensibility, which kept me guessing till the end. For those fascinated by the time period, there are some interesting bonuses at the end including historical notes, instructions on making a candle, and Victorian funeral cookie and punch recipes. I received early copies of London Séance Society and Backpacking Through Bedlam through Netgalley and the publishers in order to provide our readers with honest opinions about the titles.

Backpacking Through Bedlam
by Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid series just gets better and better with each book. The Price Family were once part of the Covenant of St. George, monster hunters who first set about to rid the world of dragons and who then began to remove anything they deemed “unnatural” even non human, sentient beings, who are harmless. Now the Price family are at odds with their old allies and parts of their own family tree, working as cryptozoologists trying to preserve the creatures, their family once hunted. Different books in the series follow various family members. Backpacking Through Bedlam follows Alice as does the previous book in the series Spelunking Through Hell; I would definitely recommend reading that book prior to this one. Alice became a bounty hunter in order to get access to the magic she would need to find her husband who was taken and hidden by the Crossroads in another dimension. The previous novel deals with her quest and this one takes a peak at what comes after the happily ever after in a moving and poignant way, beyond what you might expect from a series with Gothic Lolita Shapeshifters and ghostly babysitters. Though there is humor and fun in the books, the deep family relationships including those by birth and found family are the heart of the novels. Included, as have been in previous books, is a bonus novella dealing with other members of the Price family, in this case “The Mysteries of the Stolen God and Where His Waffles Went” which gives more insight into the lives of the Aeslin Mice, who co-habitat with the Price family and worship them as deities.

Kaiju Preservation Society
by John Salzi
The Kaiju Preservation Society was a book we read as part of the Hoboken Public Library’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Discussion Group in February. Much like the InCryptid series, it manages to weave in some humor with its fantastic elements; several times it had me laughing out loud. I enjoyed it even more than Redshirts, another book we read as part of the discussion group, which is also a fun read. The books starts just as the Covid-19 Pandemic is starting to be felt in New York. Jaime is out of work and willing to take just about anything to make ends meet. Little could our narrator expect that their flight to Greenland was only the beginning of their adventure. Jaime learns that there is another dimension where the Kaiju from Japanese Monster Movies are real and they must now aid in their study and preservation (in the novel Jamie’s gender is never defined by the author). The novel takes a satirical look at our current society, which adds some depth for me, to what is overall a terrific popcorn book; though I know one other reader felt some of those moments felt a bit forced. Fans of Jurassic Park, Pacific Rim, and of course Japanese Kaiju films will enjoy. Next Month the Discussion Group will be reading The Daughter of Doctor Moreau.

Written by:
Aimée Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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