Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness by Tracy Kidder
06 Oct, by in Adult Readers, African, Audio, Black/African American, Nonfiction
Words of warning ...
BookDragon Nonfiction
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis
29 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Biography, Black/African American, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers
I rarely ever say this: skip the book, and go see the film version of The Blind Side (which got Sandra Bullock her much-deserved Oscar win). The story of Michael Oher – a massive young man estranged from his addict mother, his dysfunctional siblings, and lost to...
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
24 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction
Seth Godin has written a dozen worldwide bestsellers. I admit I'm late in discovering him; this is my first Godin title, which Godin himself read to me (it's loaded on my iPod so I can take it on my training runs – Leadville 100 in...
East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres by Andrew Lam
23 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Memoir, Nonfiction, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese American
Unlike the rest of Andrew Lam’s relatives who only want to bombard him with questions about meeting Hiroyuki Sakai of Iron Chef fame (I don't watch TV and I hate to cook), what I want to know is, 'how's the love life?' Some might say...
YUMMY: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke
19 Sep, by in Black/African American, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers
True stories about kids with tragic endings are undoubtedly effective in fueling parents' worst nightmares. This one proves especially haunting. Six years ago today, "Yummy" Sandifer made the cover of Time magazine. Along with his mugshot were the words, "The Short, Violent Life of Robert 'Yummy'...
The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough by Katie Smith Milway, illustrated by Sylvie Daigneault
14 Sep, by in Children/Picture Books, Latin American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction
María Luz's family is in trouble. Their land in the hills of Honduras, which provides them with the corn and beans they need to live, has "lost its goodness." In order for the family to survive, María Luz's father must leave home and find work....
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel
13 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Translation
For decades now, Haruki Murakami has been one of my all-time favorite novelists ever; back when my grad-schooled brain was more nimble, I even read a few of his titles in their original Japanese. While this mind has considerably weakened since then, at least the muscles are...
Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
10 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Israeli, Memoir, Nonfiction, Palestinian
On this eve of 9/11, I'm in a frustrated funk. Regardless of political, religious, cultural, or ethnic affiliations, I think most Americans are shaking their heads at the state of the world, and definitely not shaking enough hands; not enough of us have been able...
African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility, 1900-1960 by Charlene Regester [in Library Journal]
04 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Biography, Black/African American, Nonfiction, Repost
Charlene Regester (African & Afro-American studies, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill) documents the lives and careers of nine African American actresses working before the Civil Rights era whose “contributions to mainstream cinema have been either minimized or erased in the histories of Hollywood cinema.” Madame...
The Hidden Girl: A True Story of the Holocaust by Lola Rein Kaufman with Lois Metzger
25 Aug, by in European, Jewish, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers
Lola Rein Kaufman's "'memory button'" got turned on on September 17, 1939, when Russian tanks, trucks, and soldiers entered her small hometown of Czortków in what was then Poland. She was not yet 5 years old. Before she reached her 10th birthday, she lost her...
A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb by Amitava Kumar [in Christian Science Monitor]
17 Aug, by in Adult Readers, Indian, Indian American, Nonfiction, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American
If Rip Van Winkle were to read A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb upon waking, he would most likely shake his head and dismiss it as farce. Alas, you’ll only find this title in the “non-fiction” section of bookstores and...
In Celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage: A Survey of New & Notable Books [in Bloomsbury Review]
10 Aug, by in Adult Readers, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Repost, Young Adult Readers
I've been doing an annual New & Notable roundup of APA titles for The Bloomsbury Review for more than a few years now. This year's installment is running a little later than usual. I know you can't see it here, but the roundup is referenced...
Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language by Deborah Fallows [in Christian Science Monitor]
04 Aug, by in Adult Readers, Chinese, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost
In the book of Exodus in the King James Version of the Bible, Moses first called himself a “stranger in a strange land.” From then on up through Robert A. Heinlein’s 1961 novel of the same phrase, the “stranger in a strange land”-genre has been...
Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men by Leonard Sax
30 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction
If you're a parent, go get this book and start reading NOW. Even if you don't have a son. While you're ordering, make sure to also include Leonard Sax's latest, Girls on the Edge, another life-changing read. If you're a parent, truly, you owe it...
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina
27 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers
That it has taken me months to write this specific post is NOT an indicator in any way that this book was not informative, entertaining, useful, and often just downright fun. I also 'read' most of it via iPod, which I'd also highly recommend because...
Fugitive Visions: An Adoptee’s Return to Korea by Jane Jeong Trenka
25 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Korean, Korean American, Memoir, Nonfiction
Jane Jeong Trenka's follow-up to her phenomenal debut memoir, The Language of Blood, is a searing, disturbing account of why transracial adoption does not work. Newly divorced, having severed her relationship with her adoptive parents, escaping from a violent stalker now in jail, Trenka arrives in Korea having...
Kindergarten Day USA and China by Trish Marx and Ellen B. Senisi
22 Jul, by in Children/Picture Books, Chinese, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction
Here's some flip-flop reading fun in honor of my little nephew's birthday today – which makes him old enough to start preK next month ...
American Babies by The Global Fund for Children
21 Jul, by in Children/Picture Books, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction
Here's another adorable chunky book for the youngest chubby little hands to hold ...
Lucky Girl: A Memoir by Mei-Ling Hopgood
20 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Memoir, Nonfiction, Taiwanese, Taiwanese American, Young Adult Readers
The first reaction to finishing Lucky Girl is 'lucky readers.' Definitely of the 'you can't make this stuff up'-genre, journalist Mei-Ling Hopgood's debut memoir is one lucky surprise after another. Paced just right to keep you reading, the Taiwanese-born Hopgood reveals a remarkable story of her Midwest...
Sharing Our Homeland: Palestinian and Jewish Children at Summer Peace Camp by Trish Marx, photographs by Cindy Karp
19 Jul, by in Arab, Children/Picture Books, Israeli, Jewish, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Palestinian
Too often, media headlines are filled with Arab/Palestinian and Jewish/Israeli conflict and tragedy. Here's a resonating anecdote filled with images of real-life kids from both sides of the religious/political/historical borders, enjoying a real-life camp where "...