SIBookDragon, Author at BookDragon

Serena Singh Flips the Script by Sonya Lalli [in Booklist]

25 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American

Actor/dancer Ulka Simone Mohanty confidently makes her solo debut and is clearly poised to become a chosen voice for contemporary South Asian American protagonists. Her versatility is immediately clear as she effortlessly ciphers Sonya Lalli’s (Grown-Up Pose, 2020) diverse cast: beyond career-driven exec Serena Singh,...

Amphibians by Lara Tupper [in Shelf Awareness]

24 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories

Mobility, adaptability, and colorful changes are confronted by the girls and women in Lara Tupper's nimble interlinked collection, aptly titled Amphibians. Although each memorable story easily stands alone, to seek and recognize the deft connections intensifies the reading experience. Unnamed narrators bookend the collection, requiring...

I’m Waiting for You: And Other Stories by Bo-Young Kim, translated by Sophie Bowman and Sung Ryu [in Shelf Awareness]

23 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

As impressive as Kim Bo-Young's intriguing stories are, their literary provenance is equally entertaining. "I wrote 'I'm Waiting for You' for one person to read and one person to hear, with no ambitions of it ever being published," Kim reveals in her author's note. An...

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge [in Shelf Awareness]

22 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Kaitlyn Greenidge wowed the literary world with her disturbingly delightful debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman; her follow-up, Libertie, shows no hints of sophomore slump. Inspired by Susan Smith McKinney Steward, New York's first Black female doctor (and the third U.S. Black woman...

We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire by Joy McCullough [in Booklist]

19 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Latina/o/x, Nonethnic-specific, Poetry, Repost, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Invoking the shocking Chanel Miller case, Joy McCullough introduces a mixed Guatemalan/presumed-to-be-white family in which older daughter Elinor is brutally raped; although found guilty, the rapist is released for “time served.” Despite best intentions, younger daughter Marianne’s social justice-driven public outrage only causes further damage...

Illegal: A Disappeared Novel by Francisco X. Stork [in School Library Journal]

17 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Mexican, Mexican American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Narrators Roxana Ortega and Christian Barillas resume the high-octane energy of the Zapata siblings introduced in Francisco X. Stork’s heart-thumping Disappeared. Separated after surviving the treacherous crossing over the U.S. border, former journalist Sara remains imprisoned in the Fort Stockton Detention Center, while teen Emiliano...

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia [in School Library Journal]

16 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Repost

Following the success of her lauded “We Set the Dark on Fire” duology, Tehlor Kay Mejia makes her middle grade debut, proving mothers are always right, ghosts exist, and La Llorona is legit. From 12 to eternal, desperate parent to dismissive cop, madwoman to murderer,...

Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Browne [in Booklist]

15 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Poetry, Repost, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Mahogany L. Browne takes aural control of her novel-in-verse – a first novel for the prolific poet and writer (Black Girl Magic, 2018) – enhancing her story with soft, determined rhythms. “ME & LAY LI AIN’T TALKING,” Browne opens, “cause she think she cute / cause...

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson [in Library Journal]

12 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Before the story even begins, the recording opens with a content warning for sexual abuse, rape, assault, child abuse, kidnapping, and opioid addiction. Tiffany D. Jackson’s (Let Me Hear a Rhyme) latest has all that and worse: the gruesome opening chapter introduces 17-year-old Enchanted Jones...

My Tree by Hope Lim, illustrated by Il Sung Na [in Shelf Awareness]

11 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Korean American, Repost

Author/illustrators Hope Lim (I Am a Bird) and Il Sung Na (The Dreamer) form an ideal #OwnVoices Korean American partnership in My Tree, which follows an immigrant child's quest for "home." In the backyard of the new house stands "an old tree. Tall, crooked, quiet." Reminded...

Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir by Elizabeth Miki Brina [in Shelf Awareness]

10 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Japanese American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Elizabeth Miki Brina claims her voice with resounding clarity in her memoir, Speak, Okinawa. As the daughter of a U.S. soldier with Jamestown ancestry and an Okinawan immigrant mother, Brina's identity was always a negotiation of race, class, privilege. By opening her stupendous book...

Anxious People by Frederik Backman, translated by Neil Smith [in Library Journal]

09 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Swedish, Translation, Uncategorized

*STARRED REVIEW Marin Ireland has a mere couple dozen audio credits – the majority of them in the last few years – yet she’s undoubtedly one of the industry’s most versatile, consistently stupendous narrators. Returning for her third Fredrick Backman pairing, Ireland superbly brings to life...

Seven Special Somethings: A Nowruz Story by Adib Khorram, illustrated by Zainab Faidhi [in Shelf Awareness]

08 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Persian, Persian American, Repost

Persian American Adib Khorram joyfully and playfully celebrates his heritage in Seven Special Somethings, his picture book debut, following his award-winning Darius the Great YA duology. Khorram is partnered with fellow debut picture book creator Zainab Faidhi, an Iraq-born artist whose animation background provides each page...

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia [in Booklist]

04 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Cuban, Cuban American, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Mexican, Mexican American, Repost

Gabriela Garcia turns her MFA thesis for Purdue University (where she studied with the revered Roxane Gay) into her widely buzzed first novel. Presented in 12 chapters that read more like interlinked stories, Garcia channels her Miami-based Cuban-Mexican American heritage into five generations of a...

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro [in Booklist]

02 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, British, British Asian, Fiction, Repost

With echoes of themes in his internationally lauded Never Let Me Go (2005) – that life can be manufactured, bartered, bought – Booker-ed, Nobel-ed, and knighted Kazuo Ishiguro presents a bittersweet fable about the human heart as “[s]omething that makes each of us special and...

Are You Enjoying by Mira Sethi [in Booklist]

01 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Pakistani, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian

*STARRED REVIEW Mira Sethi showcases her literary lineage as the daughter of internationally renowned, award-winning journalists Najam Sethi and Jugnu Mohsin, and the younger sister of lauded author and musician Ali Sethi. Already an established actor and journalist, Sethi makes her fiction debut with six partially...

At the End of the Matinee by Keiichiro Hirano, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter [in Booklist]

25 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

The I-narrator of the opening prologue, presented rather like an author’s note, sets up a revealing frame for the love story to come even as he inserts, then immediately elides himself. “If I were absolutely faithful to the truth, I myself would have to make...

Floating in a Most Peculiar Way: A Memoir by Louis Chude-Sokei [in Shelf Awareness]

24 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Black/African American, Caribbean, Caribbean American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Once upon a time, Louis Chude-Sokei's parents were known as "the JFK and Jackie O of Biafra," a former West African nation "that had disappeared or been 'killed.'" Half a century later, Chude-Sokei examines what it meant to be "the first son of the...

Listen-Alikes: Tell Me a (Short) Story [in Booklist]

22 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Chinese American, Fiction, Indian American, Japanese, Jewish, Korean American, Latina/o/x, Lists, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian American, Translation

Short stories can be the perfect antidote to these days of winter blues, pandemic panic, and cabin fever. Deesha Philyaw’s debut short-story collection – The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, a much-lauded, National-Book-Award-finalist – illuminates the lives of nine Black woman with a performance from Janina...

The Night Marchers and Other Oceanian Tales edited by Kate Ashwin, Sloane Leong, and Kel McDonald [in Shelf Awareness]

19 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Fiction, Filipina/o, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hawaiian, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories, Southeast Asian, Young Adult Readers

The Night Marchers and Other Oceanian Tales is the fourth installment in Iron Circus Comics' geographically specific Cautionary Fables & Fairytales series: African tales in The Girl Who Married a Skull, Asian stories in Tamamo the Fox Maiden, and European fare in The Nixie of the Mill-Pond. Volume four...

BookDragon Author: SIBookDragon