Online Book Club: The Mountains Sing

Online Book Club – what is it?

Join us for a book club that’s an entirely online experience.  All titles will be available as on-demand eBooks from Hoopla. They may also be available in other downloadable and physical formats.

We’ll use Zoom to meet virtually on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 PM to discuss our chosen book.

Our meeting is on Tuesday, September 20, 2022.

Can’t make the meeting?

If you can’t make the meeting, that’s OK! Participate by reading the book, learning more about it from this post, and sharing your thoughts in the comments.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

About The Mountains Sing

The multigenerational tale of the Trân family, set against the backdrop of the Vit Nam War. Trân Diu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Ni, her young granddaughter, Huong, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Ho Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that will tear not just her beloved country but her family apart.

Provided by publisher.

Check out the book

Nguyen Phan Que Mai

About Nguyen Phan Que Mai

Born and raised in Việt Nam, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is the author of the international bestseller THE MOUNTAINS SING, runner-up for the 2021 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, winner of the 2020 BookBrowse Best Debut Award, the 2021 International Book Awards, the 2021 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and the 2020 Lannan Literary Award Fellowship for Fiction.

She has published twelve books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction in Vietnamese and English and has received some of the top literary prizes in Việt Nam including the Poetry of the Year 2010 from the Hà Nội Writers Association. Her writing has been translated into twenty languages and has appeared in major publications including the New York Times.

She has a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. Quế Mai is a tireless advocate for the rights of disadvantaged groups in Việt Nam and has founded several scholarship programs. She was named by Forbes Vietnam as one of 20 inspiring women of 2021.

Visit her website for more information.

Readalikes for The Mountains Sing

The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim

The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim

The story of two sisters separated by the Korean War follows Miran, who grows up living with her parents in a prosperous American suburb, and her sister Inja who struggles with life in war-torn Korea and ties to a family she doesn’t remember.

And the Mountains Echoed by
Khaled Hosseini

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe–from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos–the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.

Some Luck by Jane Smiley

Some Luck by Jane Smiley

An epic novel that spans thirty years in the lives of a farm family in Iowa, telling a parallel story of the changes taking place in America from 1920 through the early 1950s.

In conclusion

Enjoy chatting about books with other readers from the comfort of home when you join the Online Book Club. Join our Zoom chat on Tuesday, September 20, at 7 PM. Or share your thoughts below in the comments about The Mountains Sing.

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