Books That Matter: Jade Chang on THE WOMAN WARRIOR by Maxine Hong Kingston

Welcome to the FictionMatters Podcast. I’m your host Sara Hildreth and this is Books That Matter. In this series, I’ll speak with writers I admire to learn about their lives as readers and deep dive into a book that matters to them.

Today, I’m joined by Jade Chang to talk about the nostalgia of childhood reading, the blurring of genres, and why The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston is a book that matters to her. Later we get into Jade’s sophomore novel What a Time to Be Alive, a thoughtful and pacey story about grief, grifting, and growing up set in an LA we don’t often see on the page. Jade shares about losing the original manuscript for this novel (I was shocked!) and why she values writing about how we actually live now.

You can listen to today’s episode without having read either book. There are a couple brief audio hiccups in this episode, but please bear with us as they don’t last long! As has become tradition, this episode is overflowing with books so be sure to check out the book list and links in the show notes. You can find What a Time to Be Alive and Jade’s debut The Wangs Vs. the World wherever you browse for books. Alright let’s get into my conversation with Jade Chang.

Books and Links

* The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

* In the Distance by Hernan Diaz

* Girl Woman Other by Bernardine Evaristo

* Arbitrary Stupid Goal by Tamara Shosin

* Shopsins

* My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff

* Just Kids by Patti Smith

* The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

* The Tattooed Potato by Ellen Raskin

* The Mysterious Disappearance of Noel (I Mean Leon) by Ellen Raskin

* From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

* Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

* The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

* The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald

* The Idiot by Elif Batuman

* Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

* Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

* Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Hadix

* Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

* Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal

* The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

* Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

* The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

* In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

* What a Time to Be Alive by Jade Chang

* The Wangs Vs. the World by Jade Chang

* Joan Didion

* Eve Babitz

* The Hours by Michael Cunningham

* A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham

* Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Alright readers I hope you enjoyed this episode of books that matter with Jade Chang. You can find links to What a Time to Be Alive, The Woman Warrior, and all the books mentioned in the show notes or substack post. If you want more FM podcast content consider becoming a paid Substack or Patreon subscriber. Paid subscribers get at least two additional podcasts each month, including my ranked reading recap and this month in books with Liz Hein. As always, thanks for listening and I’ll be back soon to help you find more books that matter.

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