Lisa's Book Signing

Thursday night I took my mom and Barrett to my cousin Lisa's book signing at Border's in Sacramento. Before the reading and signing we all met at Jack's Urban Eats (yes, that meant two nights in a row for me...loved it both times). We had a nice but quick visit over dinner, got caught up on kids and other family members.

Several people have asked how this Japanese girl ended up with Chinese cousins. It is quite simple really. Lisa's grandmother was my Auntie Stella. Stella and my dad were caucasian. Stella was 20 years older than my dad and married Eddie who was half Chinese. When my dad was ten he went to live with his sister. Stella totally adopted her husband's culture and was very Chinese in her way of living so my dad had a very strong asian influence in his life. When he got older he met and married my mom a Japanese American. So there you have it. When my dad was alive we were very close to the Chinese side of the family. I felt that I was part Japanese and Chinese.

Mom really loved seeing Lisa and Lisa felt the same about mom. Family is very important to Lisa and her heart always seems touched by spending time with those from the past. Though we try to stay connected now in the present, our relationship really represents the past. When my dad died, it was very difficult for my Auntie Stella, so it was hard for her to see us. We lost the strong connection to the chinese side of the family. For all of us, our memories are from when Lisa and I were girls at family get togethers.

Lisa had to leave earlier than planned to sign books before the event, so we met up again at the store.

(More pictures coming)
The book signing itself was lots of fun. She spoke for a while and is very funny, natural and honest. She shared the history of the time in the book, the relationships of the characters, and shared some personal stories about getting the info from her book. Then she took questions and she talked about all kinds of things. Barrett particularly liked what she had to say about her research and writing process. She was tired, this was her last stop of a four week tour, but she was so gracious and poised for pictures with everyone who asked. When we left Barrett overheard someone who was so thrilled to have met her very favorite author ever! I am thrilled for Lisa that her books are so well received. I think that she really knows how to write women and women really can relate to her characters: the good, the bad and the ugly of women's relationships.