I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that counting books are ubiquitous on kiddie shelves. And, alas, too many of them are just same old, same old: dressing up the familiar 1, 2, 3, is surely not an easy task. So when something clever...
Yu Hua's unforgettable tome requires a solid commitment in time and patience, yet your reward for finishing the final page will make your investment amply worthwhile. The opening paragraph begins with the end: "Baldy Li, our Liu Town's premier tycoon," sits contemplating his life on his...
Tashi’s beloved grandfather – her Popola – has been sick in bed for two weeks. “’The doctor’s doing all she can,’” her mother assures Tashi. But Tashi soon realizes that what will help Popola most may not be medical at all. Tashi asks Popola about how...
Ever feel like a total beast when you're soooo hungry? Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen surely understands midnight hunger: "the HAMPIRE left his pen / In quite an awful mood. / His belly growled. / 'I need,' he howled, / 'To sink my fangs in food!'" In spite of the danger...
In anticipation of tomorrow's frightfest, thought I should share some deathly dystopian manga – ikigami literally translating to 'death paper.' While each volume could potentially stand alone as a series of individual episodes that detail how the chosen spend their predetermined final 24 hours, you'll need to start from...
Check out the earnest determination on an oh-so-young Kenji's face as he announces, "Justice never dies." Four decades later, his surviving renegade friends are desperately trying to keep his prophetic, childhood words alive: "I'm saving this world from evil, no matter what happens!!" Two of the...
* STARRED REVIEW Krys Lee, whose peregrinations originated and are currently paused in Korea with formative stopovers in the U.S. and England, infuses the nine stories of her breathtaking debut with the consequences of dislocation – whether forced because of war, or chosen by virtue of...
Today's theme, I've decided, is families that come together in unexpected ways. I have good reason – I'm moderating an event at the Library of Congress on transracial adoption at noon (eek!) – and I have a gorgeous debut novel I must share (it's always about a...
Before I let myself even open Michael Ondaatje's newest title, The Cat's Table, which hit shelves earlier this month, I was determined to read his previous novels that I had somehow missed. The realization that I have now earned access to Table is rather bittersweet as...
For parents of a certain generation, Raffi was like the Pied Piper: he sang, kids listened, they often fell asleep. Back then, that was the mark of a miraculous, massively talented performer. In our house, Thing 1 had a serious preference for "Baby Beluga" at bedtime,...
I think someone clearly pushed the 'fast-forward' button and jammed it ...
As most Haruki Murakami fans as well aware, the countdown to the pub date of his latest 1Q84 ends after this weekend ...
Half-way through reading this debut autobiographical novel-in-verse, I had a lively conversation about the cover with a delightful new friend who happens to be a bonafide kiddie-book expert. We had just finished sharing our shock over the recent fiasco surrounding the one-too-many finalists for the 2011 National Book...
In less than a week, you can be holding 1Q84, Haruki Murakami's long-awaited spectacular title finally available in English, which hits shelves on October 25. You might choose to hold out until November 8 when the audible version is scheduled for release. All 944 pages (on paper...
Oh, those complicated but charming men who wander in and out of the kitchen, creating and serving the most toothsome fare at the Casetta dell'Orso ...
For those who missed the perennial chart-topper on the list of “Top ten most frequently challenged books of 2010” during the recent Banned Books Week 2011, feel free to click here. That's your eyebrow-raised warning right up front that even though these two delightful protagonists both have families, one...
Having been so enthralled by MacArthur "Genius" Fellow Yiyun Li’s debut collection, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, then her novel, The Vagrants, I admit I held off on this, her latest collection, for over a year. I seem to have difficulty immediately reading the newest book of...
No one has such an unpredictable, quirky, downright wacky imagination as Haruki Murakami. And even though your brain knows he's created an impossible universe, everything on the page seems so convincing, you'll go along for the ride – any ride with Murakami at the helm. Even almost...
Let the games continue! Volume 8 adds a new character to the roster – cousin Mizuki Asami returns to Japan from his mountaineering adventures with his world-famous father, and moves in with the Tsukishimas. As sweet, polite, and considerate as he is, he almost immediately announces...
All is definitely not fair in love and war ...
