May 2018 - BookDragon

The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers [in Library Journal]

31 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Arab, Arab American, Audio, Biography, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

Dion Graham has narrated 10 – which is almost all – of McSweeney's founding publisher and literary powerhouse Dave Eggers's books. Graham showcases his staggering genius for aural incarnations across gender, ethnicity, culture, age – whatever details Eggers writes, Graham inspiringly brings to listeners' ears. Their...

When the World Was Steady by Claire Messud [in Library Journal]

30 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Australian, British, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Following the collapse of her marriage, not-quite-50-year-old Emmy arrives in Bali from Sydney, Australia, where she's built her life after leaving her native England almost three decades prior. Now unfettered, she finds herself in the hostel-like home of local guide (and lothario) Buddy, all the...

The Burning Girl by Claire Messud [in Library Journal]

29 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Julia Robinson and Cassie Burnes found each other at age 4 in the middle of the nursery school playground, but their glorious best friendship crumbles when they're middle schoolers. Julia, with her supportive parents and a stable home, watches as Cassie, the only child of...

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo [in Shelf Awareness]

25 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Korean American, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, South American, Young Adult Readers

That Clara Shin's favorite place – a hilltop overlooking her native Los Angeles – was made famous by the classic movie Rebel Without a Cause is perfectly fitting. Since getting suspended freshman year for smoking, 16-year-old Clara's been all about causing mayhem – just because. Nominated for...

Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik [in Library Journal]

24 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Iranian, Iranian American, Persian, Persian American, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW With her eloquent contralto, Mozhan Marnò exquisitely embodies the Persian poet and filmmaker Forugh Farrokhzad – her experiences as a young bride, maturation as a writer, hesitant then strident steps toward independence, and refusal to be silenced through the violent horrors of the autocratic...

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan [in Library Journal]

23 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

An 11-year-old's daring 1934 dip at Brooklyn's Manhattan Beach introduces the tautly twisted threads of Jennifer Egan’s first novel since 2011's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad. This tripart historical hybrid – part family saga, part noirish mystery, part testimony to women's war-fueled...

Anglophoned Fiction Favorites [in Global Literature in Libraries Initiative’s “Japan in Translation” series]

22 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

My two unfinished almost-ABD-PhDs still makes my mother cringe. I know, I know: even in middle age, my tiger mother looms, not to mention I still have occasional nightmares about missing seminar with my beloved, last advisor. His passing remains my excuse for academic desertion,...

The Bishop’s Wife series by Mette Ivie Harrison + Author Interview [in The Booklist Reader]

21 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Talking Mormon Murder Mysteries with Mette Ivie Harrison Trust me: Linda Wallheim is a sleuth like no other. She’s a devout Mormon, for starters, and the wife of a respected Utah ward bishop. And yet her sense of justice gets her into plenty of trouble, especially...

Smile by Roddy Doyle [in Library Journal]

18 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Irish, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories

*STARRED REVIEW When an author is as spectacular reading his work as his writing is on the page, the result is a literary treasure. Having created these characters, Roddy Doyle (Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha) knows exactly who endures, who lashes out, who threatens, who flirts,...

The Heart Is a Shifting Sea by Elizabeth Flock [in Library Journal]

17 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Indian, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, South Asian

Journalist Elizabeth Flock's intention to write about "the Indian love story" – "because it seemed more honest and vulnerable," especially when compared to her parents' multiple failed marriages – began in 2008 when she first lived in Mumbai. Although a spinal injury unexpectedly sent her...

From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon [in Shelf Awareness]

16 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

At 16, Twinkle Mehra is the youngest junior at her Colorado Springs charter high school. She doesn't have a cell phone and she can't drive because she doesn't have her license (nor a car). Twinkle knows "[s]ome might call people like [her] losers," but Twinkle...

Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot [in Library Journal]

15 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Memoir, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Nonfiction, Repost

"Indian girls can be forgotten so well they can forget themselves." After reading Terese Marie Mailhot’s 160 pages or listening to not-quite-four hours narrated by Rainy Fields, forgetting is not an option. Presented as an essay collection, Mailhot's work lays bare her experiences as a...

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Casssara [in Library Journal]

14 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost

Emulating the larger-than-life characters in Joseph Cassara's debut novel, narrator Christian Barillas’s gender-defying performance vacillates smoothly from sass to introspection, rage to desperation, elation to detachment. During the 1980s New York City ball scene, the House of Xtravaganza was the first Latinx house, later made...

The Tale of Angelino Brown by David Almond, illustrated by Alex T. Smith [in Shelf Awareness]

11 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in British, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

After a decade of driving the same bus route, "Mr. Bertram Brown has had quite enough." He resents the old ladies, "old blokes," "dippy mothers," "babies puking," "lovey-dovey" lads and lasses "going coo coo coo," but "[d]on't get Bert started about kids! ...

Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li [in Booklist]

10 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost

When Chinese American immigrant Bobby Han died, entrusting his Beijing Duck House restaurant to the next generation, he couldn’t have fathomed how quickly his 30-year-old legacy would go up in flames. His younger son, Jimmy – dubbed “little boss” by the restaurant staff, many of whom...

The Boat People by Sharon Bala [in Library Journal]

09 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American, Sri Lankan, Sri Lankan American

*STARRED REVIEW In Canadian novelist Sharon Bala’s debut, a 60-meter freighter reaches British Columbia in 2009, carrying 500 survivors of Sri Lanka's brutal civil war. The arrivals are herded into detention centers by a government fearful of terrorists hidden among these "boat people." Mahindran and his six-year-old...

Dunbar [Hogarth Shakespeare] by Edward St. Aubyn [in Library Journal]

08 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Narrator Henry Goodman self-righteously sputters, resignedly accepts, viciously plots, frantically searches, and plays especially well the Fool – all in the service of expertly, effortlessly voicing the latest in the Bard-updated-by-famous-contemporary-authors "Hogarth Shakespeare" series. In Edward St. Aubyn's (Patrick Melrose series) wickedly compelling, guiltily provocative...

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori [in Booklist]

07 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW In nursery school, Keiko pragmatically suggested that the dead bird in the park could become a grilled treat for her father. In primary school, she ended a forbidden brawl by hitting a boy on the head with a spade. She stopped a teacher’s hysterics...

Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosley [in Library Journal]

04 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

The first thing Walter Mosley (Charcoal Joe) devotees will want to know is whether Joe King Oliver is getting a series of his own. That future seems currently unclear, but should King proliferate on the page, then Dion Graham must be conscripted to continue his...

My Twentieth Century Evening and Other Small Breakthroughs by Kazuo Ishiguro [in Library Journal]

03 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, British Asian, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Yes, reading the inimitable Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2017 Nobel Lecture is easy, but the better option is listening to his crisp, gentle voice instead. Perhaps Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, missed the memo on properly pronouncing Ishiguro's first name, but her introduction...

BookDragon May 2018