Quick Recap: Books I read between February-September 2025
Oops, I accidentally forgot to update my reading journey. I was reading--I finished Jerald Walker's book--but then I got busy with weddings! I got married in early spring and mid-summer this year sooo I definitely wasn't prioritizing reading this summer. But!
A quick recap via my BlueSky (including some books I have mentioned already here before).
Kao Kalia Yang's memoirs. One of the first Hmong writers I read in college, she writes emotional & beautiful memoirs. Haven't read the last two in a while, but "Where Rivers Part" was heartbreaking. I had forgotten some things about the Hmong experience; this reminded me of stories from my parents.
Putsata Reang was born in Cambodia & raised in rural Oregon. I have an affinity for writers from rural places. This book resonated: growing up in white spaces, a particular protectiveness over mom, & having one's partner rejected by parents. Also, I learned more about Cambodian refugees' history. ["Ma and Me"]
Ly navigates life while helping her parents make a life in the '90s in Queens. With worsening eyesight & no support, it leads to other issues…I had some questions, but overall, resonated with me: the shattering self-image, the anxiety from parents' expectations while understanding their trauma. ["House of Sticks" by Ly Tran]
Borrowed from a friend, I read this #Hmong book last week. Though not titled a memoir, it essentially is one, chronicling his young years w/ family escaping & then growing up in Minnesota. Then, desperate to achieve his dreams, he makes mistakes and ends up in state & federal prison. ["Thoughts From Prison: A Hmong Boy's Journey from the Mountains of Laos to the American Urban Jungle" by Chance Chang Vang]
Read this earlier this year based on a rec from a friend. Heartbreaking, painful to read at times, but the author's journalistic personal inquiry into complex trauma was enlightening and interesting. ["What My Bones Know" by Stephanie Foo]
Heartbreaking. Bittersweet. Painful. This chapters-long letter of a book addressing a mother that she can no longer reach--despite the mother being alive--because of so many reasons…utterly full of regret and aching and pleas. This book honestly broke me. ["They Called Us Exceptional" by Prachi Gupta.]
I took a couple months off of reading after the June wedding since I also went on my honeymoon in July. I finally had some time to read in August and September, helping me finish "All You Can Ever Know" by Nicole Chung, a 2018 memoir.
Chung, who is a Korean American adoptee, details life growing up wondering why her biological parents gave her up. I bought the book on a whim a few years ago, but never got around to finishing it. I got maybe 40 pages in and then just didn't have the time. However, I was able to check out the audiobook version on Libby and finally finished it during my work commute. It ended up being a bit different than I thought. For some reason, my assumption was that this book might dig into the adoptive system more, especially for Korean babies--and even more so because now there's stories about how Korean mothers were forced to give away their children. However, I have to remember that this story written before those recent 2024/2025 revelations. This book was written in 2018. Anyhow, I think the memoir is still written compellingly and with themes that resonates for anyone who's felt all too conscious of their differences when compared to Whiteness.
After finishing, I noticed that Nicole also had a second memoir about her adoptive parents, published in 2023. So, post-pandemic. Listening to the audiobook, the narrating voice of Nicole is still clearly hers. The style and candence are definitely hers. And this one is quite more devastating than the first. It's about how she lost both her adoptive parents to illness and cancer. Losing her father first (pre-pandemic) and then her mother (during pandemic) is truly painful.









