If the Chinese New Year festivities this past weekend left you with an appetite not only for more dim sum but for some fictional discussion of it, you might want to head to Book Soup this Wednesday, February 17th, where author Ann Mah will be reading from her debut novel, Kitchen Chinese. Mah, a freelance journalist, writes for the South China Morning Post, Conde Nast Traveler, and the International Herald Tribune–and also has a food blog. Although she's based in Paris now, Mah's reading is a homecoming of sorts, as she grew up in Orange County. Mah will also be reading in Laguna Beach on Thursday and San Marino on Saturday.

Mah's novel centers on a Chinese-American woman who takes a job as food writer for Beijing NOW, despite a knowledge only of 'kitchen Chinese,' or the language spoken in the kitchen. Mah's novel was published this month by Avon/Harper Collins. Mah herself

moved from New York to Beijing in 2003 to become the dining editor for the expat magazine That's Beijing.

Book Soup: 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 17th; 8818 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 659-3684. Laguna Beach Books: 6:00 p.m., Thursday, February 18th; Suite 105, 1200 S. Coast Hwy., Laguna Beach; (949) 494-4779. Huntington Library: 2:30 p.m., Saturday, February 20th; 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino; (626) 405-2100.

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