"Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson. I was secretly thrilled that Sofia Coppola, who was panned for Godfather III, made such a triumphant movie so – it was so cool. I think it’s the single coolest movie I’ve ever seen. I haven’t revisited it in a long time, it just meant a lot to me at the time. Partially, I think it’s like I identified very strongly with the idea of being a stranger. I could talk to my therapist for a long time about this, but for me, it was like an Asian-American movie, because the idea of being a stranger in Asia was, to me, more of an Asian-American experience than it was a white American experience. That portrayal felt very inside baseball to me, and I identified very strongly with it. Perhaps it really is psychologically a commentary on me feeling Asian in white America, but I identified with that situation in a very personal way. It always meant more to me than I think the film should have, but I really have a lot of affection for it. I should revisit it, and I wonder if it’ll remain on my list, but I suspect it would."

"This felt so personal when I first read it, laugh out loud funny. One of the finest books, or actually any art form, to deal with the complexities of growing up being British and Asian. It’s about family, London, politics, art, relationships and the fascination with Eastern spirituality. I always shared the lead character's dream of escaping to NYC. "

"I was stunned when I read this book in the 1976, and not just because it was the first book I read by an Asian American woman. Hong Kingston wraps family history around myth and discovers the ghosts of woman who have traveled through time into her own life. I felt those ghosts and went looking for mine."