
It is a brand new year, and a we’ve got a brand new episode of The Stacks!
We’ve brought back Vanessa Hua (A River of Stars) to discuss Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li, a novel about a family restaurant and the drama that comes along with it. We talk about how books are edited and streamlined, immigrants working in food industries, and what it means to be authentic.
There are spoilers on this episode.
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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

- Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li
- A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua
- Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang
- David Chang
- Center Stage (Nicholas Hytner, 2000)
- Deceit and Other Possibilities by Vanessa Hua
- “A River of Stars” (Vanessa Hua, Guernica)
- If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim
- “Ep. 36 If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim — The Stacks Book Club (Aja Gabel)” (The Stacks)
- “The Short Stacks 1: Crystal Hana Kim//If You Leave Me” (The Stacks)
- What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan
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