Happy Birthday, Amy Tan

Amy Tan was born February 19, 1952. She rocketed to fame when her first novel "The Joy Luck Club" hit the bestseller lists and was made into a 1993 movie of the same name. And unlike many debut novelists, actually wrote the screenplay as well.

I can remember when I was in college and the movie came out. Nearly every Asian girl I knew was going to the theater with their Asian mother to watch it. For them, like the themes of the novel, it was very much about mothers and daughters connecting. The book and the movie opened dialogues, and in some casese, helped resolved issues that had become walls between generations.

Since then, Tan has written several other bestselling novels, including "The Kitchen God's Wife", "The Hundred Secret Senses", "The Bonesetter's Daughter", and "Saving Fish from Drowning". She also wrote a collection of non-fiction essays entitled "The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings".

In addition to these, Tan has written two children's books I one day intend to look up and check out, "The Moon Lady" (1992) and "Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat" (1994).
Until Next Time,
Luckily Yours,
Michael