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From KQED.

I'm very from kQED from kQED from kQED i'm grace wan in san francisco i'm grace Wan in Fermina Kim. Coming up on forum, Connie Wang never intended to write a book about her mother.

It felt almost too cliched, the first-generation immigrant writing about her parents' sacrifice.

But in her new memoir, Oh My Mother, Wang documents the travel she has taken with her mom,

from Vegas to Versailles and places in between. Along the way, Wang shares lessons learned from her mother, like why two creme brulets comprise the perfect meal, and how Magic Mike XXL might be the perfect movie. Wang joins us next after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Grace Juan in today for Mina Kim. In Chinese, the phrase, oh my God, literally translates to, oh, my mother. This bit of translation's serendipity perhaps highlights the larger-than-life role mothers play in Chinese culture. And oh my mother, turned out to be the perfect title for journalist Connie Wang's new memoir about her own larger-than-life mom, Ching Lee.

It's never easy to capture a parent on the page, but Wang had help. Her mother was the book's first reader and edited every page, which tells you a little bit about Wang's mom.

But rather than me explaining it to you,

Connie Wang joins us this morning to talk about her new book, which is at turns poignant and hilarious. Welcome to Forum, Connie. Thanks for having me. It's so good to be here. Well, I have given

this big buildup to your mom, and I have so many questions about her and your adventures and misadventures with her.

But I think many listeners may have first encountered your mom in a recent piece you wrote for the New York Times.

And that article, which was titled Generation Connie, centers around your name.

And so Connie isn't your original first name.

...