The LA Times runs an interesting feature today tracing the journey of Amy Tan’s book, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, from novel to opera libretto.

The story, drawn from Tan’s life, explores an American-born Chinese woman’s relationship with her aging immigrant mother and ghostly Chinese grandmother. Composer Stewart Wallace had to persuade an initially reluctant Tan to join him in making the opera, which debuts Saturday in San Francisco.

“I was drawn to the idea that we carry within our bones our histories whether we like it or not,” says Wallace, whose 1995 opera, “Harvey Milk,” dwells on similar ideas. “It’s the telling of stories from the past that allows you to transcend them.”

Read more here.

Another family legacy: San Francisco author Chris Colin writes about being the grandson of the famous Gerber Baby and his uncertainty about having a child of his own. Women’s Health.