Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter by Shoko Tendo, translated by Louise Heal [in San Francisco Chronicle]
06 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation
Schadenfreude, of German origin, means joy at someone's distress or misfortune – surely not the best of human reactions. But publishers have turned misery into a veritable gold mine with an endless array of voyeuristic best-sellers....
Written for an older audience of grade-school children, the recent sequel to Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship (February 2006) continues the inspiring story through fabulous photographs that follow the remarkable relationship...
This welcome companion title to Chin-Lee’s 
A beautifully illustrated, lullaby-like retelling of baby hippo Owen, who lost his entire family pod in the great tsunami of December 2004, and chose a 130-year-old giant tortoise named Mzee, meaning “old man” in Swahili, to...
Interweaving his own multigenerational family history, Thant thoughtfully presents the troubled story of his homeland from ancient times to its colonized modern legacy. Thant’s grandfather, U Thant, figures prominently in the title, once a small town...
Using food as an engaging trope to tell her poignant story – from Pringles to Big Macs to Bubble Yum and Little Debbies – Nguyen takes the reader on a vicarious munching session, recounting her experiences...
The renowned cooking guru and award-winning actress presents an inviting memoir – complete with family recipes, of course! – about growing up in the sprawling family compound in Delhi, surrounded by extended family members, literally climbing...
A collection of 13 illuminating essays about the so-called “Urban Generation” of young filmmakers who came of age in post-Tiananmen Square China, creating an alternative, independent cinema eschewing the demands of the still-powerful state-owned studios. Zhang...
“This book is a corrective action,” insist the three adoptee editors of this recent collection of essays and memoirs about growing up as a transracial adoptee. “Over the past fifty years, white adoptive parents, academics, psychiatrists,...
The long-awaited biography – even if it’s a tad bit on the academic side – on Hayakawa, a trailblazing Asian American film pioneer, who in his silent heyday was one of the most recognizable, lauded actors,...
A spectacularly rendered coffee-table collection of the history of how some the best designed Japanese products – from furniture to appliances to toys to even the ubiquitous drip-free soy sauce bottle – ever got made. My...
An expansive, statistics-filled look at why 600,000 to a million North Koreans died in the mid-1990s during one of the worst famines of the 20th-century. In spite of so-called government reforms and the push for growing...
While Tokyo is undoubtedly one the world’s most modern cosmopolitan centers, traditional neighborhoods of bygone eras still exist within the sprawling city – you just need an expert to show you where. With inviting photographs and...
Yes, it’s pricey, but if you ever wanted a one-stop primer on Asian American theater, this is definitely it. Besides, I – yes, me, yours truly, don’t be so surprised! – get a very sweet nod...
While not itself a graphic novel, Mechademia is an inevitable – and arguably necessary – byproduct of the manga and anime craze, imported from Japan and embraced by the West, having now established itself into the...
Here’s the updated second edition of what was already considered the definitive overview of modern Chinese literature in English translation, with representative writing from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. With China poised to become a...
Marjane Satrapi on the "Axis of Evil," Cheese, and Exploring Family History
Marjane Satrapi changed my reading life. Before I picked up 
This is not a spoiler: Estella Habal's San Francisco's International Hotel: Mobilizing the Filipino American Community in the Anti-Eviction Movement is a story with a happy ending. Proof positive is the 2-year-old International Hotel, which stands...
This is one of those life-changing books. Truly. I read it just before my first-ever trip to India (hoping to also go to Bangladesh at some point, but hasn't happened...