Listen to the Squawking Chicken: When Mother Knows Best, What's a Daughter to Do?

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, April 2014: "You look like dried monkey flakes." Canadian TV personality and blog gossip gal Elaine Lui doesn't ease us into her mother's bold personality. "The Squawking Chicken," as her Hong Kong-born mother is known, is loud, opinionated, and fearless -- characteristics Lui celebrates in all their cringe-worthy glory, and for which she provides context through her mother's history. That upbringing was one of hardships and perseverance, informing a unique philosophy that she instilled in her daughter. At first (to Westerners, at least), this mother/daughter relationship may seem jarring, unbelievable. But in a book that ultimately acts as both a personal memoir and her mother's fascinating biography, Lui confidently peels back the layers to reveal that there is, in fact, a beautiful bond borne of tradition, sacrifices, pain, and, above all, love. --Robin A. Rothman