For China, I read Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang, and I loved this book. I learned so much about China (and in the process, realized just how little I know) and now I want to read more books by Chinese authors. After all, 1.42 billion people live there! That’s a lot of voices with a lot of different stories and perspectives. I could spend the rest of my life reading books by Chinese authors and never get bored. (Except I could never abandon this quest. Or Brazil.)

Wild Swans beautifully blends biography, memoir and a history of China during the twentieth century from 1903 to 1978 (shortly after Mao’s death). The story begins with a biography of the author’s grandmother, who was a war lord’s concubine and then continues with a biography of the author’s mother, who was a member of the Communist elite, and then dives into the author’s own life growing up in China under Mao. Throughout the book, the author weaves in explanations of life in China and relevant history and masterfully included details and anecdotes that immersed in her experiences.

I had to stop and tell Nathan stories from this book so many times because I just couldn’t believe the horrors of life under Mao. It was like a whole country was turned into a cult, and over a billion people are still processing this trauma. The book should have been depressing because it showed the dark side of humanity, but in the end, I was inspired by the author’s resilience and courage.

I’m still processing this book. I think I’ll be digesting it for a long time. Like, I could sit her for the next year, and write about all the thoughts I’m having and all the things I learned, and all the things I now want to study, and I still will have a million more things to say. I’m so grateful this book has been a huge success since the 1990s and already sold over 13 million copies worldwide.