BookDragon Adult Readers

NonNonBa by Shigeru Mizuki, translated by Jocelyne Allen, afterword by Kimie Imura

03 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Translation, Young Adult Readers

The work of Shigeru Mizuki, a legendary 90-year-old manga artist in his native Japan, arrived Stateside last year with the first-ever English translation of the award-winning Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, which draws on Mizuki's own experiences during World War II when he was drafted into Japan’s...

The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna

01 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, African, Audio, Fiction

Months (maybe longer) have passed since I finished Aminatta Forna’s third and latest title, exquisitely narrated by British actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. I think I just didn't want to let it go by posting a review ...

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel

31 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Fiction

A full decade has passed since Yann Martel won the coveted Booker Prize for his Life of Pi. I confess I had to force myself to finish that book when it first appeared; I admit to being befuddled to learn of its Booker win and the...

back alleys and urban landscapes by Michael Cho

30 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir

You could flip through Michael Cho’s new graphic title in just a few minutes and pronounce it 'read.' But you'd be missing the whole point of the book ...

Long Lost and Live Wire [Myron Bolitar series 9 and 10] by Harlan Coben

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

When the running gets tough (and long), I find my latest default stuck-in-the-ears choices to last me another 10, 20, 30 miles is something by Harlan Coben (because his Tell No One was my first pulp mystery ever and remains a favorite over a decade later) or Carl Hiaasen (because I get so...

Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea, translated by Rajaa Alsanea and Marilyn Booth

27 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Arab, Audio, Fiction, Young Adult Readers

Sometimes the best thing that can happen to a book is to get banned. REALLY. Just ask Rajaa al-Sanea (yes, the spelling of her name is different on the cover of her book from what she has on her personal website – which has two variations of...

20th Century Boys (vol. 21) by Naoki Urasawa, with the cooperation of Takashi Nagasaki, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller

25 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

As this is the penultimate volume in the 22-part series, I suppose I should have savored it ...

The Black Isle by Sandi Tan

23 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Singaporean American, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American

She begins her life as Ling, the first-born twin of a well-to-do Shanghai family. Half the family is cleaved from the other, seeking new fortune on the British outpost called the Black Isle. During the sea voyage that takes Ling, her twin Li, and their father...

The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing: A Vish Puri Mystery by Tarquin Hall

14 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Indian, South Asian

I always feel a twinge of guilt chuckling over murder mysteries – how can I be laughing in the midst of grisly, graphic slashings and shootings? But Vish Puri – "India’s Most Private Investigator" – is, for all his quirky habits (sneaking food when the wife's not looking, spouting centuries-old...

The Case of the Missing Servant: A Vish Puri Mystery by Tarquin Hall

13 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Indian, South Asian

While I do enjoy a clever mystery now and then, I confess the real reason I randomly picked up the Vish Puri – "India's Most Private Investigator" series – is because I was so taken with the title for #3: The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken, which hit...

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer

08 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

I debated for a couple of weeks over posting about this book (no, I really don't post every title I read) ...

5 Centimeters per Second by Makoto Shinkai, illustrated by Yukiko Seike, translated by Melissa Tanaka

06 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

The copy of this story I hold in my hands is apparently the fourth iteration of a Japanese modern classic-in-the-making – it debuted in 2007 as an animated film, was then adapted (and expanded) as a novel in late 2007, became a manga in 2010, and...

The Collective by Don Lee + Author Interview [in Bookslut]

02 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Korean American, Repost

Don Lee is definitely a good news-bad news sort of guy, albeit all in the same breath. Good news: he's not going to Texas this summer, because his fourth and latest book, The Collective, is published this month and he's going on a book tour so...

I’ll Give It My All … Tomorrow (vols. 3-4) by Shunju Aono, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller

30 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

  Nope, tomorrow still hasn’t arrived for midlife slacker Oguro. As volume 3 opens, Oguro continues to struggle with his manga-making, his disappointed father isn’t above smacking him since “just telling [him] isn’t doing it,” and his teenage daughter has little choice than to detachedly watch...

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

27 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

When a book is this original, this heartfelt, this inspiring, this real, I find myself babbling in cliché: Wonder is truly wondrous. Auggie Pullman is 10. He's about to start fifth grade after being homeschooled, and he's more than a little nervous: "I know I’m not an...

Aerogrammes and Other Stories by Tania James

25 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian American, Short Stories, South Asian American

Thankfully, 'sophomore slump' is not part of Tania James’ vocabulary. In fact, her second book is even better than her 2009 debut novel Atlas of Unknowns. And as rare as consistency can be in collections, James manages to sustain an unwavering level of resonating quality throughout each of the...

Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me by Harvey Pekar and JT Waldman, with an epilogue by Joyce Brabner

21 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Jewish, Memoir, Nonfiction

I don't know if this is linguistically correct, but I'm going with it: my recent discovery of indie comic-book legend Harvey Pekar is posthumous – that is, Pekar passed away two years ago (although I'm still kicking), and I'm just reading his work for the first...

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones

20 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction

In mid-April, the literary world reeled with the news that no fiction title was awarded a Pulitzer this year; such an omission from the annual mega-prize list hadn't happened in 35 years, since 1977. Many opinions, articles, shouts, and protests followed, but a May New...

The Drops of God (vol. 4) by Tadashi Agi, illustrated by Shu Okimoto, translated by Maya Rosewood

19 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

No oenophile am I, but I sure am addicted to this delicious new series. To catch up to this latest volume which hits shelves today, be sure to click here. The elusive chase continues between faux-siblings, Shizuku Kanzaki and his just-recently-adopted brother Issei Tomine, to identify...

People Are Strange: Stories by Eric Gamalinda

18 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Filipina/o, Filipina/o American, Short Stories, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American

Eric Gamalinda and I overlapped in New York City in the 1990s, when I knew (of) him more as a poet. I should know better (blame it on youth!) than to label him by genre, because clearly Gamalinda is a multi-faceted writer (as well as a playwright,...