New York Times - Top Stories

In Hong Kong, you know you’re passing a mahjong parlor because of the distinct clacking of little green and white tiles, a sound that gave the game its Cantonese name: sparrow. It’s fast and unrelenting. You need to know all the rules. But it’s never just about the tiles you hold. Luck plays a big role.

I wish I could spend a day in Ken Liu’s imagination. Each tale in this collection exists in another world that unfolds as you read. A woman whose soul is a single, melting ice cube. Origami animals that come to life, becoming poignant reminders of unrequited love. I return to these worlds when life feels heavy.

This documentary about Play De Record, a vinyl store in my hometown, Toronto, shows how it became the lifeblood of an underground hip-hop and house scene that helped create some of Canada’s most famous musicians. Eugene Tam, the protagonist and the store’s founder, is unassuming and funny. The soundtrack is a treat for the ears.

When the fashion photographer Frank Horvat visited Hong Kong in 1963, he came away with the impression that the city had a “fear of empty space.” His black-and-white images of it teem with life and motion. He traveled there for the German magazine Revue, but most of the images were never published before this book came out. It’s like traveling back in time.