G354 E-Reading How does one dress to buy Dragonfruit? True Stories of Expat Women in Asia edited by Shannon Young

General Information:


Name of Book: How does one dress to buy Dragonfruit? True Stories of Expat Women in Asia

ISBN: 978-988-12195-6-5

Publisher: Signal 8 Press

Year it was published: 2014

Overall theme:

"As you read these stories, put yourself in their shoes, their dresses, their motorcycle boots. These women are making choices every day. They must ask: Who am I in this culture, this place? Follow along as they explore the balance they've found in themselves and in their homes abroad." (From foreword.)

Summary:

In this collection, twenty-six women reveal the truth about expatriate life in modern East Asia through original works of memoir and creative non-fiction. Their experiences are varied and unique, demonstrating that expat women's lives go far beyond the stereotypical. The writers hail from a dozen different countries and walks of life. Some are well-known; others are fresh voices adding nuance to the expat conversation. Through deeply personal accounts, they explore what they have learned about themselves and the world through their lives abroad. Together, they create a portrait of the modern expatriate experience that will both resonate and inspire.

With contributions by...

Susan Blumberg-Kason (22)
Jocelyn Eikenburg (16)
Leza Lowitz (23)
Suzanne Kamata (9)
Dorcas Cheng-Tozun (2)
Pamela Beere Briggs (5)
Kaitlin Solimine (6)
Christine Tan (14)
Stephanie Han (10)
Edna Zhou (21)
Kathryn Hummel (26)
Ember Swift (24)
Nicola Chilton (20)
Eva Cohen (11)
Catherine Rose Torres (15)
Coco Richter (25)
Jenna Lynn Cody (7)
Saffron Marchant (18)
Jennifer S. Deayton (4)
India Harris (17)
Philippa Ramsden (19)
Sharon Brown (8)
Neha Mehta (3)
Shannon Dunlap (1)
Barbara Craven (12)
Michelle Borok (13)

1. Forwarding Addresses 

Author: Shannon Dunlap 


About the author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Shannon Dunlap is a writer of fiction and creative nonfiction. While living in Cambodia, she was a regular columnist for The Phnom Penh Post and created the blog Forwarding Addresses with Jason Leahey. They now edit the blog Pitch Knives & ButterForks, telling stories of food from the seed to the platter. Shannon currently lives in Brooklyn and is working on a novel for young adults." (20 on my sony e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Cambodia

Message:

Through emails to various people as well as different seasons and experiences in Cambodia, Shannon reflects on her feelings as well as her life in what it is like to be a foreigner in Cambodia as well as what Cambodian people are like.

2. The Weight of Beauty

Author: Dorcas Cheng-Tozun 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Dorcas Cheng-Tozun is a writer, blogger, and editor whose personal essays and short stories have been published in Hong Kong, the UK and the US. She is particularly passionate about telling true stories of the messiness and beauty of human connections, of sustainable social change, and of the unexpected ways in which we experience the sacred. She has written a full-length memoir about her experiences as a Chinese American living in the industrial city of Shenzhen, China, and is represented by Carrie Pestritto of Prospect Agency. " Her blog(page 29 of my e-reader.)

Country it takes place in: China

Message:

Dorcas Cheng-Tozun is an American of Chinese descent who moved with her husband to Middle Kingdom, and while living there, she is forced to adjust and get used to be seen as a different person. There she also meets a woman who teaches her Mandarin. The teacher seems like a perfect woman, except she has her own troubles.

3. Bangkok Through the Eyes of an Indian Girl

Author: Neha Mehta 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Neha Mehta is a freelance writer. She has a master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism and has worked with several newspapers and magazines. She ahs written articles for several medical portals like MedGure and MedIndia. Presently she is living in Bangkok and is working as a lecturer at Assumption University of Bangkok. She is also associated with Bangkok-based magazine Masala, which caters to the India community in Thailand." (35 from my e-reader.)

Country it takes place in: Thailand

Message:

The author comes from India and she reflects at the difference at traveling at night in Bangkok versus traveling at night in India, as well as how respectful people in Bangkok are versus people in India as well walking at night in Bangkok versus that of India.

4. Bread And Knives 

Author: Jennifer S. Deayton 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Jennifer S Deayton currently writes and edits for travel shows, which you can find on NatGeo and Discovery TLC. She also likes to get together with friends to make short films. At her blog, she writes aobut music and parenting, and is a featured blogger on SassyMamaHk.com and ExpatBlog.com In a former life, Jennifer worked as an editor and technical director for CNN International. She recently finished her first novel and is in the middle of the excruciating rewrite process." (from page 42 on my e-reader.)

Country it takes place in: Hong Kong

Message:

The author and her husband who happen to be expatriates in Hong Kong are robbed and the police arrive to figure out what's going on. The author then begins to recall the day in full detail as well as what possibly happened and why the robbery occurred in the first place.

5. The Truth About Crickets

Author: Pamela Beere Briggs 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Born in Japan, Pamela Beere Briggs spent her first decade in Kobe. She moved "home" to Napa, California in 1968. Realizing years later that "Napa" is "Japan" spelled backwards without the J describes her memory of leaving: turned around with a missing piece. She went on to become an award-winning documentary filmmaker and has written essays for a variety of publications. She is currently working on three World War II novels for middle-grade readers and blogs with her teen daughter at this site." (from page 56 of my e-reader.)

Country it takes place in: Japan

Message:

Pamela and her family are expatriates in Japan at the time she was a child shortly after World War 2. While living there, Pamela vividly recalls the Japan and its people of her childhood as well as the fights her parents had over various issues. She also got a camera and begins to record her experiences through camera, one day catching something unexpected and trying to quiet her thoughts and making sure her mother never finds out about the picture.

6. Finding Yuanfen on a Chinese Bus

Author: Kaitlin Solimine


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Raised in New England, Kaitlin Solimine has considered China a second home since 1996. She's been a Harvard-Yenching scholar, Fullbright Fellow, and Donald E Axinn Scholar in Fiction at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. She wrote and edited Let's Go: China (St. Martin's Press) and her first novel, Empire of Glass, won the 2012 Dzanc Books/Disquiet International Literary Program award.Her writing has appeared in Guernica Magazine, National Geographic, Kartika Review, China Daily, and more. She is a co-founder of the curatorial website, Hippo Reads, and currently resides in Singapore." (From page 71 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: China

Message:

The author has left her boyfriend, Austrian Martin and decides to travel to Hong Kong by train and when that's not successful, she gets on a bus and while there she recalls her experiences in China as well as how she met Austrian Martin and her relationship with him and their plans for later on. As soon as the bus gets moving, she meets a woman who shares a story about her life and leans about sisterhood as well as what happened after the bus trip.

7. Gods Rushing In

Author: Jenna Lynn Cody 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Jenna Lynn Cody grew up in upstate New York, but has lived abroad for most of her adult life. After a semester in India and a year in China, she attempted to settle down in the USA. Unable to sit still, however, she took off again for Taipei, Taiwan, where she has lived for the past seven years with her husband, Brendan. She works as a corporate trainer and blogs at Lao Ren Cha." (From page 82 on e-reader.)
Country it takes place in: Taiwan

Message:

The author and her husband attend a local King Boat festival in Taiwan, and while there, she talks about the history of the festival as well as what its like celebrating it, as well as the worries that plague her mind about why she came back to Taiwan when she enjoyed India far more. She also makes a wish, one about permanent residency application, and another for Taiwan to be recognized as its own nation. More descriptions of the King Boat Festival in Taiwan as well as how people believed and belief is not important as rituals and how that's okay in Taiwan. She ends the story with women's rights and discrimination.

8. Our Little Piece of Vietnam 

Author: Sharon Brown 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Sharon Brown is a freelance writer and editor. She published her first essay on life abroad in Foreced to Fly II and is currently working on a book about expat life in Vietnam. Sharon has lived and traveled throughout Asia and Central America. She currently resides in the DC metro area in the US with her husband and two small children. More stories can be found her blog at Tales and Inspiration." (From page 93 of my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Vietnam

Message:

The author and her husband are expecting a baby girl in Vietnam, and she talks about how despite the humid weather, people cover themselves from head to toe. She also talks about how she and her husband fell in love with Vietnam and then the topic moves on to various birth options. Eventually she decides on an international hospital and they decide to go back to be closer to family and friends. Soon her waters break and her desire in having a natural childbirth didn't happen. She also gives information on how things are done in Vietnam as it relates to birth of the baby.

9. Love and Polka Dots 

Author: Suzanne Kamata 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Suzanne Kamata is the author of the novels Losing Kei (Leapfrog Press, 2008) and Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible (GemmaMedia, 2013) as well as the editor of three anthologies, including Call me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultral Parenting (Wyatt-Mackenzie Publishing, 2011.) She is currently working on a mother/daughter travel memoir, for which she was awarded a grant by the Sustainable Arts Foundation. She lives in Shikoku, Japan, with her family."(From page 100 of my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Japan

Message:

The author is planning a trip to Osaka to see Yayoi Kusama's paintings and is going to take her daughter Lilia with her. She also debates on whether or not her daughter is ready for the trip. Story about Yayoi Kusama is given, that she suffers from mental illness. Despite her own feelings, she wants to encourage her daughter who wants to become an artist that anything is possible. There is also description of the trip, and more about the exhibit.

10. Happy Anniversary

Author: Stephanie Han 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Stephanie Han (MA, MFA) is City University of Hong Kong's first PhD student in English literature. She received two grants from teh Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and has published poetry and prose in Kyoto Journal, Louisville Review, The South China Morning Post (fiction award), Nimrod International Literary Journal (fiction award), Women's studies Quarterly, Cha Online, KoreAm Journal, Disorient, Ampersand Review and other journals. Her writing ahs been anthologized in PEN-West's Emerging Voices Anthology Strange Cargo, the Asian-American Women Artists Anthology Cheers to Muses and will be included in anthologies The Tao of Parenthood and The Queen of Statue Square. Her literary criticism has appeared in contemporary Women's Writing, The Explicator, and is forthcoming in a 2014 volume by Beijing Foreign Studies University Press. She recently completed a poetry collection entitled "Expatriate". Her blog" (From page 108 of my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Hong Kong

Message:

Written in second person narrative, the author recounts on why she became an expatriate in Hong Kong as well as how it all began with her meeting a British man, on the day of handover of Hong Kong to China. Although there is separation, the two reconnect and get married. There is also description of the truths the author has learned while being an expatriate.

11. Jewish in China

Author: Eva Cohen 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Eva Cohen is a Canadian-American journalist from Edmonton, Canada, who is currently based in New York. Her bylines have appeared in publications including the Financial Times, Forbes, Vancouver Sun, Jerusalem Post, Foreign Policy's "Passport" blog, Seattle Globalist and a number of community papers. In stories Eva has published from China, she highlighted women's issues, including sports in China for local women, accessibility of lesbian centers in Beijing, and a special piece on exceptional businesswomen in Beijing for International Women's Day 2012. She received her B.A. in History at Carleton University in Ontario, Canada, and M.A. in International Journalism from the University of Leeds, England."(From page 121 of my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: China

Message:

The author, who also happens to be Jewish, recalls how Chinese react to her upon learning that she's Jewish, as well as the struggles and lessons that she learns from being Jewish in China. She also recalls about the anti-Judaism that she encounters in Canada as well as UK. Her writing career is also included and she even found out about the Jewish center in Nanjing China where students learn about Judaism as well as languages. Information about the professor, Xu Xin, is given and how he came to teach and learn about Judaism. She then visits Shanghai and describes what it is like there as well as people she met and the history of Jews in Shanghai along with how a young man has helped her out. Eventually she also gets a Chinese name thanks to a Chinese friend named Rachel: Mu Shuiya.

12. Kampong House

Author: Barbara Craven 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Barbara Craven lived for three years in Malaysia on a tourist visa. She has published over one hundred articles and short stories in the United States, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Her publishers include airline magazines, newspapers, lifestyle magazines, and literary journals. "Kampong House' is the true account on which the first chapter of her unpublished novel, One More Border to Cross, is based. She resides in Olympia, WA, United States." (From page 129 of my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Malaysia

Message:

The author is flying on airplane to interior of Malaysia and recalls what brought her here in the first place which includes losing everything and feeling that she doesn't have a life in America anymore. While on the plane, she describes a little bit of Malay culture which includes Muslim culture as well as what it is like to live in a house with Muslims during the stressful time of Gulf Wars, (it was 1991) which isn't as bad as she feared as well as the impact the visit had on her.

13. Giving in To Mongolia 

Author: Michelle Borok 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Michelle Borok is an American living in Darkhan, Mongolia with her husband and daughter. She moved to Mongolia from Los Angeles in 2012. When she's not editing The UB Post, or teaching English, she's spending time in the countryside with her Mongolian family. She writes about her life in Mongolia at Wonton Cruelty and also contributes to Giant Robot, ROads & Kingdoms, and other arts and culture websites."(From page  138 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Mongolia

Message:

The author a Korean/Portuguese woman describes her experience in riding a horse in Mongolia as well as what brought her there in the first place, how Mongolia was like and how she met Agii, a Mongolian man and how she came back to Mongolia and eventually made a change in her life which caused her to get a new life and drop her old one.

14. An Awkward Phone Call

Author: Christine Tan 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Christine Tan has lived in Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, and England. A graduate of the London School of Economics-Fudan University program in Global Media and Communications, she has written for CNN Travel, Matador Network, chinaSMACK, and The Atlantic. She and her husband currently divide their time between Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, and Minneapolis. Her blog"(From page  146 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: China

Message:

While the author is sleepless and watching Downtown Abbey, (she's married,) she gets a phone call from someone that at first she can't recall, but later recalls the person, David who only remembers her from a first meeting and unsuccessfully pursues her. He again tries to pursue her unsuccessfully.

15. How To Marry a Moonie 

Author: Catherine Rose Torres 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Catherine Rose Torres's prose has appeared in anthologies and periodicals in the Phillipines, Singapore, and the United States, including The Philippines Graphic, TAYO Literary Magazine, Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction and Motherhood Statements. Her work as a diplomat has taken her to postings in New Delhi and Singapore, together with her husband, Sohn Suk Joo, a Korean scholar and translator, and their son, Samuel. She is at work on her first collection of short stories." (From page  154 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Korea

Message:

The author, a woman of Philippine origins, has gotten married to a Korean guy. She talks of the difficulties she has experienced while dating the guy as well as some things about traditional Korean ceremony and about how Korean men are all seen as Moonies. She also ponders whether or not her life would have been easier had she married a Pinoy man instead.

16. Huangshan Honeymoon

Author: Jocelyn Eikenburg 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Jocelyn Eikenburg is the writer behind Speaking of China, a unique blog focused on love, family, and relationships in China which was inspired by her own marriage to a Chinese national. Her essay "Red Couplets" was pubilshed in the anthology Unsavory Elements and other true stories of foreigners on the loose in China. A Cleveland, Ohio native, Jocelyn discovered her passion for the written word while living and working in CHina, and has resided in the cities of Zhengzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai."(From page  163 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: China

Message:

The author and her husband are on their honeymoon in Huangshan, Yellow Mountain, along with the husband's father. While going through the honeymoon, the author reflects on importance of family in Chinese culture, as well how she and her father-in-law  eventually became close.

17. The Rainiest Season

Author: India Harris 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"After seven years and two adventurous crossings of the Pacific Ocean on a ten-meter yacht, Canadian India Harris sailed into the Philippines in 2001, fell in love with the country, and became a landlubber. When not at her seaside home which she shares with a menagerie of pets, India can usually be found in some other exotic part of the world with her camera. She has also lived in Tokyo, Paris and Hawaii."(From page  176 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Philippines

Message:

The author, who has been married for ten years, finds out that her husband has been having numerous affairs with Pinoy women thus there is divorced, and just to show herself as being capable to do whatever she can, she decides to climb the biggest mountain with a friend.

18. Cross

Author: Saffron Marchant 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Saffron Marchant read English Literature and Language at Oxford in the early 1990s.In 2007 she began to study Creative Writing at Hong Kong University, and eventually graduated with distinction from its inaugural Master of Fine Arts. In the intervening years, she studied and practiced law in London, Paris, and New York, but now terms herself a "recovering solicitor." She now lives in Hong Kong with her husband, son, and daughter. "(From page  187 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Hong Kong

Message:

The author, who hopes for a child, arrives at Hong Kong as she and her husband go through various fertility treatments and she also becomes determined not to give up. Along with that is also a wave of hope and despair woven throughout the story.

19. Moving to the Tropic of Cancer 

Author: Philippa Ramsden 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Scotswoman Philippa Ramsden is a development and humanitarian professional, writing in any leisure time. She had been to Asia only once when she stepped off a plane in Kathmandu in 2000 to take up a new job, with no idea what to expect-and has been in Asia ever since. She has lived and worked in Nepal, Mongolia, India, Sri Lanka, and Burma/Myanmar. She is currently working on a memoir, and blogs as Feisty Blue Gecko."(From page  195 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Burma

Message:

When Monsoon season began, the author was taking a shower and felt a suspicious lump in her breast. She recalled the time it happed before but it was benign, thus she goes to the doctor and learns that she has cancer.

20. Five Weeks on

Author: Nicola Chilton


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Originally from Yorkshire, Nicola Chilton ahs lived and worked in Asia since 2008, with stints in Japan, Hong Kong, and currently Bangkok. "Five Weeks On," is based on a seven day journey to Tohoku in northern Japan to deliver food and clothing to villages devastated by teh March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The trip was organized by Kirby Fukunaga and a group of friends who all had a connection to Tohoku, and who all felt a need to do something to help. At the time, none of the major aid organizations was accepting volunteers, but there were still thousands of people struggling to live from day to day without the basic necessities."(From page  206 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Japan

Message:

In 2011, I think, when Japan was devastated by the Typhoon, the author and few others volunteer to help Japan out, mainly thanks to the surfer by name of Kirby Fukunaga. While traveling and helping out, the author describes Japan and its inhabitants as well as what's going on during that time and how people attempt to survive.

21. Token 

Author: Edna Zhou 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Edna Zhou is an American sports journalist and serial expat who first moved abroad at 18, then just kept moving. She ahs lived and worked in China, Singapore, Paris and Italy, and is always thinking about the next place to call home. She writes about her adventures at her blog."(From page  213 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: China

Message:

The author, a Chinese-American woman, is in China where she is being judged for not being Chinese enough as well as being discriminated against when it comes to some opportunites. She also talks about how different it feels to be part of a big wave in China as well as why she came there in the first place.

22. Ninety Minutes in Tsim Sha Tsui 

Author: Susan Blumberg-Kason


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)
"Susan Blumberg-Kason is the author of Good CHinese WIfe (Sourcebooks 2014), a memoir of her five-year marriage to a musician from central China and how she tried to adapt to Chinese family life as a wife, daughter-in-law and mother. She is also the books editor of Asian Jewish Life magazine and can be found online at her blog Remarried, Susan lives in suburban Chicago with her husband, three children, and a clingy cat. "(From page  220 on my e-reader)
Country it takes place in: Hong Kong

Message:

Shortly after the divorce, the author goes back to Hong Kong and begins to reminisce about her relationship with her ex-husband. Some snippets from her memoir, Good Wife in China are also there, namely how she met his first ex-wife and daughter, as well as her visit to a doctor where she learned devastating news.

23. Here Comes the Sun

Author: Leza Lowitz 


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

" Excerpted from a memoir-in-progress entitled Here comes the Sun: A Memoir of Adoption, Yoga, and the Samurai Spirit. Leza Lowitz is a writer and yoga teacher in Tokyo. Her debut young adult novel, Jet Black and the Ninja Wind (Tuttle, 2013) received the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in the Young Adult category. Portions of her memoir in progress have appeared in the New York Times online, The Huffington Post, Shambhala Sun, Best Buddhist Writing 2011, and Yoga Journal. Lowitz's Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By, was a #1 Amazon bestseller. Her blog"(From page  234 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Japan

Message:

The author and her husband have attempted multiple times to get pregnant without success, thus they decided to adopt in Japan. The story details how they meet their son, Yuto and how through patience and time they all became a family as well as how much emphasis the Japanese place on bloodlines and there is reluctance when it comes to adoption.

24. Chinese Stonewalls 

Author: Ember Swift


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Ember Swift is a Canadian musician, songwriter, performer, and writer. She has released eleven independent album recordings since 1996, one live DVD project, and continues to perform regularly in both North America and China. Now based in Beijing with her Chinese husband and two children, she maintains three popular blogs through her website and is a contributing writer for Women in China Magazine, Herizon's Magazine, Mami Magazine, Beijing Kids Magazine, China.org and InCulture Parent, an online portal for cross-cultural parenting."(From page  243 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: China

Message:

The author, who is a songwriter and a lesbian from Canada, falls in love with a man, and the story talks about her feelings when falling in love with a Chinese guy as well as how Chinese see and view homosexuality. She also mentions some portents that she saw on her first trip to China.

25. Waiting for Inspiration

Author: Coco Richter


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Coco Richter is from the US, where she practiced law for 18 years. She moved to Hong Kong in 2008 with her family and now writes fiction. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Hong Kong in 2011. Her writing has previously appeared in multiple editions of Imprint, The Annual Anthology of Women in Publishing Society Hong Kong."(From page  251 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Hong Kong

Message:

The author and her family live in Hong Kong as expatriates. Feeling purposeless, she finds out that there's a part-time job that may be right for her skills thus she attempts to get it. There is a comparison between different classes, that of expatriate families versus the poor people who serve as their servants.

26. Charting Koenji 

Author: Kathryn Hummel


About the Author: (Summary taken from the book)

"Kathryn Hummel's fiction, non-fiction, poetry and photography have appeared in publications and anthologies from Australia, New Zealand, the US, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India. Recently she has completed a major work of narrative ethnography, drawing on memory and conversations with women in Bangladesh. Kathryn was a writer in residence in 2011 for the Cafe Poet Program (Australian Poetry) and for the Forever Now projects (Aphids and Vitalstatistix,) featured during Adhocracy 2013."(From page  262 on my e-reader)

Country it takes place in: Japan

Message:

The author reflects on what it means to be an expatriate in Japan and writes it in a story-telling form. The author is a writer and also reflects on what brought her to Osaka, as well as what its like to live there and have personal spots such as a place to drink and so forth.

Personal Opinion:

I've honestly liked almost all of the stories, although my favorites included The Weight of Beauty, Bangkok Through the Eyes of an Indian Girl, The Truth About Crickets, Love and Polka Dots, Giving in To Mongolia,  and Here Comes the Sun. Although not a favorite, Being Jewish in China does speak deeply to me because I'm also Jewish and can understand what Eva Cohen went through, especially when she talked about being a minority and feeling like one. I often feel like that too, all the time one can say. A very beautiful collection for women of all shapes and colors, as well as for those that live abroad with their families.

Quick Notes: I would like to thank the wonderful Jocelyn from SpeakingofChina blog for giving me a chance to read and review this wonderful anthology 

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)