Audio Archives - Page 45 of 56

I Am an Executioner: Love Stories by Rajesh Parameswaran

20 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Short Stories

To put a word so violent as Executioner next to a muzak-soundtrack-inducing subtitle like Love Stories, on a cover sporting a cutesy, heart-shaped tiger's tail is exactly the sort of unsettling experience you can expect from Rajesh Parameswaran's uniquely original debut story collection. Animals take control of their narratives...

The Likeness [Dublin Murder Squad 2] by Tana French

19 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Irish

In the second installment of Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, Cassie Maddox hasn't quite recovered from Operation Vestal of In the Woods, the series' debut. While she gained a caring, supportive, all-around good guy lover, she lost her partner who was also her very...

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

14 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Japanese American

You might choose to read Ruth Ozeki's latest novel as another engrossing, original story – because it clearly is. And if you decide to stick the novel in your ears, you'll be thrilled and grateful to know that Ozeki herself reads to you – her...

Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion by Alain de Botton

30 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

I refer to myself as a 'recovering Catholic,' and yet I can't stay out of churches for long. I enter as a tourist – admiration for architecture seems to be genetically coded into our extended family – but I linger to breathe deeply, clear the mind temporarily,...

Arcadia by Lauren Groff

27 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

Although I haven't read any actual reviews, I know from seeing this title included in so many Best-of-2012 lists that the lauded reactions have reflected both quantity and quality. Leave it to me to take a somewhat contrary position: while I went through the whole gamut of...

Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup

25 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian

First word of advice: read the page. Don't bother sticking this novel in your ears: narrator Lyndam Gregory's uneven cadences and random slurring will guarantee you won't get through the 17.5 hours of listening, not to mention his grating attempt at Texas twang might cause...

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

21 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

Eleanor Brown's eponymous "weird sisters" – introduced with a quote from the good Bard's Macbeth: "I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters" – are perhaps the most erudite characters I've encountered in a long time. Trained by a professor father who speaks to them mostly in...

Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber

18 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Arab American, Audio, Fiction

Hapa Jordanian American Diana Abu-Jaber established herself with her first three titles – novels Arabian Jazz and Crescent, and memoir The Language of Baklava – as a lauded, award-winning Arab American literary voice. She leaves her own origins off the page in this chilling psychological thriller – her first, but most likely not her last....

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

16 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Nonfiction, Syrian American

Clearly I waited too long to read this book, even though it sat ready on my shelves and on my iPod for years. Before I lament further, you should know that if you choose to go audible, Firdous Bamji doesn't disappoint; he remains one of the...

In the Woods [Dublin Murder Squad 1] by Tana French

14 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Irish

Okay, so Tana French’s website says that she won the coveted Oscar-for-mysteries Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 2007, but if you check the actual Edgars site (which has an 'I've never seen this anywhere else, but every award site should have one!'-database), that...

Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga

11 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British Asian, Fiction, Indian, Short Stories

For fans of Aravind Adiga's unforgettable 2008 Booker Prized first novel, The White Tiger, who were perhaps not as enthralled with his 2011 follow-up, Last Man in Tower, might I suggest you look backward a few more years to his very first book? Introduced to eager readers just after Adiga's Booker...

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

07 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction

Well, I've done it now. I've finished every Edward P. Jones book ever written ...

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

06 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

At 24, Susannah Cahalan, life was just about perfect. She was a budding journalist working for the New York Post, she went home to a tiny but cozy Manhattan studio, and she had just started a promising new relationship. And then the madness set in, starting...

The Wasted Vigil by Nadeem Aslam

27 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Audio, British, British Asian, Fiction

In both content and form, The Wasted Vigil is a book of extremes. For readers who have experienced Nadeem Aslam before (and the apt word really is 'experience'), you'll recognize (and be awed by) his mesmerizing prose ...

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

23 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

I think I was somehow predestined to read Mudbound when I did: just after I finished Barbara Kingsolver's mightily disappointing Flight Behavior, I turned next to Hillary Jordan's 2008 debut novel. While searching for an image of the book cover to load here, I noticed...

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

21 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

Once upon a time, I loved every book Barbara Kingsolver wrote: The Bean Trees grew into me, then Homeland and Other Stories, Animal Dreams (still my favorite), Pigs in Heaven. Heresy, I know, but Poisonwood Bible was not a favorite, but after surviving Animal, Vegetable,...

Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid

18 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Pakistani

Let's work ourselves from the outside in ...

Lost in the City: Stories by Edward P. Jones

17 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Short Stories

So first off, I read backwards (see yesterday's post) ...

All Aunt Hagar’s Children: Stories by Edward P. Jones

16 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Short Stories

Edward P. Jones takes up little space on library shelves. Over the last 20+ years, he's published three books: two story collections and a single novel. Proving the adage 'quality over quantity,' Jones' awards are considerably more extensive, from the PEN/Hemingway Award for his first...

The Hunger Games Trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

09 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

The day I stuck Hunger Games into my ears, Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress Oscar, albeit for her role in a different film, Silver Livings Playbook. I took that as a sign that I should finish the almost 35 hours (every bit admirably read by...

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