Category Archives: book reviews

“The Boy at the Gate” memoir is a poignant song

Posted on October 13, 2013 by moonbridgebooks

At the age of eight, Danny Ellis was separated from his siblings and dropped off at the most notorious orphanage in Ireland. The Artane Industrial School housed 800 orphans and delinquents that nobody wanted—a noisy, ragtag bunch of “humanity’s lost … Continue reading →

Posted in bad memories, book reviews, book talk, multicultural | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Canton Elegy: Astonishing memoir of Chinese history and a father’s love

Posted on September 29, 2013 by moonbridgebooks

Recently I finished reading an advance copy of Canton Elegy by Stephen Jin Nom Lee. It is one of the most beautiful memoirs I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a LOT of memoirs. I wrote about Canton Elegy in April 2012 when I saw … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, book talk, grandparents, history, inspiration, letters, multicultural, war stories, WWII | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

More on making family stories and genealogy come alive: “Yokohama Yankee”

Posted on August 18, 2013 by moonbridgebooks

The story begins at a funeral marking the “fading presence in Yokohama of a family that witnessed Japan’s transformation from a feudal nation ruled by samurai into one of the world’s greatest industrial powers.” Yokohama Yankee: My Family’s Five Generations … Continue reading →

Posted in adoption, book reviews, book talk, heritage, history, memoir writing, multicultural | Tagged , , | Leave a comment