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January 2022
Bookclub – Tale of Kiều by Nguyễn Du
The Tale of Kieu by Nguyễn Du The Tale of Kiều - originally Đoạn Trường Tân Thanh "A New Cry From a Broken Heart”, but better known as Truyện Kiều "Tale of Kiều”- is the most famous epic poem and a classic in Vietnamese literature, written in verses by Nguyễn Du (1765–1820). The protagonist of the poem is Thúy Kiều, a beautiful and talented young woman, who sacrifice herself to save her father and younger brother from prison, selling herself into marriage with a middle-aged man,…
Find out more »February 2022
Bookclub – The General Retires & other stories
When it first appeared in 1987, the title story of this collection by Nguyễn Huy Thiệp caused a sensation in Vietnam. Written in spare, succinct prose, it captures the despair of an old general who, after many years of devoted service to his country, is alienated by the emptiness of the society into which he retires and ultimately flees. Thiệp probes similar themes in the stories that follow, from Cun, the moving tale of a crippled beggar, to A Drop…
Find out more »March 2022
Bookclub – Diary of a Cricket (aka Adventures of a Cricket) by Tô Hoài
In 1941, ‘Diary of a cricket’ was published for the first time and immediately aroused a strong interest in young readers. Tô Hoài’s cricket, which began hopping on the grass along Hanoi’s To Lich River, eventually crossed national borders to touch the hearts of children in over 40 countries around the world. Diary Of a Cricket is regarded as a classic children's novel across many decades. It describes the adventures of a cricket who leaves his nest and travels to…
Find out more »April 2022
Bookclub – ‘Spring Essence: The Poetry of Hô Xuân Huong’ and ‘Love Poems’ by Xuan Dieu
Ho Xuan Huong—whose name translates as "Spring Essence"— is one of the most important and popular poets in Vietnam. A concubine, she became renowned for her poetic skills, writing subtly risque poems which used double entendre and sexual innuendo as a vehicle for social, religious, and political commentary Love Poems by Xuân Diệu, a collection of translated poems on the theme of love composed by one of the most prolific and well-known poets of Vietnam. Throughout his career, Xuân Diệu, one…
Find out more »May 2022
Bookclub -The Sorrow of War by Bảo Ninh.
"The first critical portrayal of life in the North Vietnamese army ever to appear in Vietnam . . .”—Time “Vaults over all the American fiction that came out of the Vietnam War to take its place alongside the greatest war novel of the century, All Quiet on the Western Front. And this is to understate its qualities, for, unlike All Quiet, it is a novel about much more than war. A book about writing, about lost youth, it is also a beautiful,…
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