Interesting books about Vietnam-Don’t be missed to read
1. The House on Dream Street (Dana Sachs)- Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam
Have you ever felt the urge to leave your current life on hold and settle in Vietnam for a little while? Dana Sachs did just that. In 1989 while backpacking in Asia, Dana Sachs feel in love with Vietnam – a feeling that was to last a lifetime. She explains, that “Over the course of all these years, some part of my soul reserved itself for Vietnam. When I went there, it became alive again.When I left, it retreated.”
The House on Dream Street is the story of her sojourn in Vietnam; where she explores day to day life in Ha Noi. As she becomes intimately involved in the activities and lives of her circle of acquaintances – her landlords and their extended families, neighbors and the street cafes on Dream Street (where she lives), and ultimately her lover, she beings to see beneath the surface and to discover Vietnam as it is, rather than as she expected.
Readers will enjoy this personal account of life in Vietnam. Dana Sachs learns about things that most Vietnamese people have learned as children and take for granted – peasant cooking, rudimentary Vietnamese, cultural nuances, government omnipotence and struggle to overcome poverty. She has a gift for recounting each conversation verbatim, so that the account of her time flows swiftly as you read. Interspersed with the dialogue are her thoughtful comments on Vietnamese life and her personal reactions to events.
Anyone interested in current everyday life in Vietnam as seen through the eyes of an American will enjoy this book.
Review by Allison Martin from http://www.adoptvietnam.org/books/bkdreamstreet.htm
2. The Sorrow of War (Bao Ninh)- the obsession of Vietnam War
Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War is a hauntingly powerful Vietnam war novel. Much of it is clearly autobiographical, and the blurred distinction between the narrator and the protagonist, Kien, eventually collapses. It is structured as a series of reminiscences, jumping backwards and forwards in time between the events most salient in memory, events which take on a different hue each time they are examined. Kien looks back not just at his ten years at war, but at his final days at school, his work with an MIA team after the war, the slow disintegration of his life since, and the solace he finds in his writing. The Sorrow of War manages to convey not just the immediate horrors of war, but also the emotional damage it wreaks and the dislocation of lives it causes.
A book review by Danny Yee © 1995 http://dannyreviews.com/
3. Dragons on the roof (Carol Howland)- a one-year-experience in Vietnam of a Foreigner
Read it to know the real Vietnam under the eyes of Carol Howland-a writer who loves travelling and enjoys real experience.
Carol Howland’s book, Dragons on the roof, describing her one year experience of Vietnam, was published at the beginning of the year. She is an experienced travel writer, something that is clearly apparent in the quality of the writing.
Book review: http://www.thegioipublishers.com.vn/en/books/detail.php?idbooks=557
4. Hanoi of a thousand years (Carol Howland)- for 1000 years of Thang Long-Hanoi
The opening chapters of the book are built around Hanoi’s well-known districts, such as the HoanKiemLake, the Old Quarter, the French Quarter, the WestLake area, etc. with the author leading us down the streets and around the corners, to point out monuments, pagodas, unusual sites, remnants of ancient cultures and current curiosities. Along the way, she digresses lengthily into history, architecture, tales and fables, poetry, and personal observations. Into this hodge-podge is woven additional information about foods, customs, social conventions, and quirks of Hanoians. In some places the book reads like a historical treatise, elsewhere like a gossip column. Much of the information is drawn from previously published sources.
Book review:http://www.thegioipublishers.com.vn/en/books/detail.php?idbooks=611
5. Uniquely Vietnamese (James Edward Goodman)
To fill a gap in the knowledge of Vietnam and its people, for the world should know more about this side of the country, and to share my fascination and enthusiasm with the general public, I decided to write a book that introduced, described and explained what is original and indigenous to Vietnam, outside of Chinese influence, not part of Chinese tradition or Indeed that of any other country. It is this little-recognized aspect of Vietnamese culture that gives the country its special Identity. This theme should be obvious from the title I have given to the work- Uniquely Vietnamese.
Book review: http://www.thegioipublishers.com.vn/en/books/detail.php?idbooks=369
6. Tết – The Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Hữu Ngọc and Barbara Cohen)
This publication is devoted solely to the arts and ceremonies of the most significant holiday of the Vietnamese people – Tết. The diverse rites and traditions that mark this important time provide insights into the beliefs and arts, which are the core of Vietnamese traditional society. This book, like others on decoded myths and intellectual understanding of rituals, is important in studying the forms of Tết traditions.
Book review: http://www.thegioipublishers.com.vn/en/books/detail.php?idbooks=171
7. How to cook Vietnamese cuisine (Văn Châu)
The dishes introduced in this book are traditional, authentic and very common in family meals; they are widely served in restaurants, hotels and food shops. The ingredients are easy to find and simple to prepare yet still showcase typical Vietnamese dishes in all their variations in the northern, central and southern regions.
Book review: http://www.thegioipublishers.com.vn/en/books/detail.php?idbooks=675