"'Who is Malala?'" the gunman demanded on that fateful day, October 9, 2012, before he shot three bullets into a bus carrying teenage girls to school. Unable to answer then, Malala answers now in her new memoir for all the world to read: "I am...
"Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person," Anne Tyler's oldie-but-goodie begins, especially enhanced with the inimitable Blair Brown as welcome, familiar narrator. "How on earth did I get like this? How? How did I ever...
Determined to become a clinical psychologist, young Futaba arrives in an unnamed city to begin college. Before he even gets to his lodgings – arranged through a friend of his father's – he helps a young woman who collapses in a crowded plaza. While he can't deny...
Before discussing content, I must start with a warning about presentation – think of it as a public service announcement: Choose the page, choose the page, choose the page! Although narrator Sumalee Montano (an American actress of Filipina and Thai/Chinese descent with a Harvard degree) lists...
Here's what a fairly recent (pubbed September 2013) bestseller looks like. It hasn't gotten any major nominations or awards (perhaps I should add 'yet,' as author Jamie Ford's debut, Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, garnered a few nods); nevertheless, it's certainly sold plenty of...
Every once in a while, only the very best schmaltz will do. Earnest and endearing, this just-arriving-in-translation sequel to the international mega-bestseller, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, is a through-the-night read that will leave you sighing and swooning. Okay, so we're not talking Nobel-quality: "'I speak of a...
*STARRED REVIEW What is most haunting in Kupersmith's nine multi-layered pieces are not the specters, whose tales are revealed as stories within stories, but the lingering loss and disconnect endured by the still living. With an American father and a Vietnamese "former boat refugee" mother, the...
*STARRED REVIEW In her first title since she received a 2010 MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, Yiyun Li again explores the far-reaching repercussions of a single person's death. While her mesmerizing The Vagrants (2009) revolved around the execution of a young political victim, here, three childhood friends take...
Above all else, Janie is a survivor. She escaped the horrifying deaths that took her entire family in her native Cambodia. She's outlived her adoptive Canadian mother who passed away just last year. She's built a fulfilling career as a scientist specializing in brain research. She's...
According to a recent article, "The Book(s) of the Year" in PublishersLunch, "the clear consensus for the 2013 'book of the year' has ended in ...
At 13, Se-young is on the brink of manhood, but the person who should be his primary role model – his father – left some five years ago. Se-young’s seamstress mother works hard to support the abandoned pair in their small, remote village. Their constricted...
This new year couldn't start off with a better title. At a mere 134 pages, it's perfect to read in a single sitting, although the story's loving spirit is sure to linger. It's also the ideal gift to share with anyone and everyone who holds...
Well, goodness gracious, looks sure can be deceiving: here's your official warning – this dressed up girl is anything but saccharine-sweet, that pink-toned cover comes printed with an "18+" warning, although those turned-in toes actually do belie a twisted sort of innocence ...
What a year 2013 has been for Rainbow Rowell, beginning and ending with two bestsellers (!) – eleanor & park (oh, be still my heart) and Fangirl (a virtual world I never even knew about!). How lucky for me to have discovered a third Rowell title, her...
For readers familiar with Astro Boy, Buddha, or Black Jack – a few of 'godfather of manga' Osamu Tezuka's signature titles – Barbara might present quite the surprise. This is definitely not your kiddie fare: the front cover warns "explicit content"; the back cover is marked with...
'Sprawling' barely begins to describe journalist/editor Leslie Helm's ambitious family history that spans nearly a century-and-a-half, three continents, and the titular five generations of a German Japanese American family with current branches spread throughout the rest of the world. Prompted by the death of his difficult...
From the very first page, you'll learn that one lover is dead, while the other survives: "My love, when you read these words I will have left this world." Emma is in transit to Clementine's childhood home to retrieve Emma's diaries: "I asked my mother...
A few months ago when I came upon this fascinating article, "The One Thing White Writers Get Away With, But Authors of Color Don't" by PolicyMic's Gracie Jin, I started trolling around for authors venturing into unexpected 'color'-ful fictional territory. I was fascinated to find two bestselling writers...
Spare, lean, restrained, dare I say ...
In just her protagonist's name alone, author Nina Schuyler imbues linguistic magic in her latest novel about language, communication, understanding, and ultimately, the bonds of family. Schuyler's leading lady is Hanne Schubert, a 53-year-old woman who speaks seven languages including Japanese, German, along with her...
