San Diego selects 2011 One Book Title
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| Author thi-diem-thúy-lê at the Linda Vista Branch Library in 2006. | ||
Your online votes have been counted and the 2010 One Book, One San Diego selection is The Gangster We Are All Looking For by lê thi diem thúy.
Presented in partnership with KPBS, this program brings San Diego together to read and discuss the same book. Look for activities to start in early 2011.
This is a true-life novel about a Vietnamese refugee family in San Diego, told from the perspective of the family's daughter, who is just six years old when they arrive. The narrator and her parents struggle to adapt to life in an unfamiliar land, while simultaneously dealing with a troubled marriage, a father's mysterious past, and the loss of a brother, in this painful, magical, and poetic novel.
The author grew up in San Diego in the Linda Vista area and at one time wrote for the Union-Tribune. "I look forward to taking the book back to the city where my life in America began," she said. "It is especially meaningful to me that the San Diego Public libraries play such a large part in the One Book program. It was in the public libraries of San Diego that I learned to love being in the company of books, and experienced both the consolation of words, and their power to challenge and transport.
