Central Asian Archives

99 Nights in Logar by Jamil Jan Kochai [in Booklist]

During summer 2005, when “the American war was sort of dozing,” 12-year-old Marwand, his brother, and mother arrived in Logar, Afghanistan to visit extended family. The six years since Marwand’s last visit from the U.S. isn’t enough for Budabash – more wolf than dog –...

A Bride’s Story (vols. 8-9) by Kaoru Mori, translated by William Flanagan

24 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Central Asian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Without a doubt, A Bride's Story is the most intricately detailed, magnificently exquisite graphic series currently on my shelves. Every volume is a lavish gift to pore over, to enthusiastically applaud, to be gobsmackingly impressed by again and again and again. Superlatives just aren't enough. To...

A Bride’s Story (vol. 7) by Kaoru Mori, translated by William Flanagan

11 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Central Asian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Thanks to his "fellow countryman," our peripatetic Turkey-bound Englishman, Mr. Smith, finds himself welcomed into a lavish Persian home. "I'm impressed, Boss," his guide and companion Ali remarks, "You sure know some powerful people." Momentarily glimpsed but intentionally hidden in the sprawling compound is Anis, the...

Discover WeNeedDiverseBooks with Cynthia Kadohata’s Half a World Away

03 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Central Asian, Fiction, Japanese American, Kazakhstani, Middle Grade Readers, WeNeedDiverseBooks, WNDB.SummerReadingSeries2015

Dance of the Banished by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

26 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Canadian, Central Asian, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Turkish, Young Adult Readers

The year is 1913. Zeynep and Ali are teenage lovers in Anatolia (once Asia Minor, now modern Turkey) who part with a lingering sense of bitterness: Ali's impending departure breaks their promise of escaping their village together. Feeling betrayed, Zeynep turns away: "I refuse to be your...

Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadohata

09 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Central Asian, Fiction, Japanese American, Kazakhstani, Middle Grade Readers

Still only 12, Jaden's life is about to undergo another major change: "his adoptive so-called parents were adopting another child, a baby boy from Kazakhstan. He figured he knew why they were adopting again: They weren't satisfied with him." Parents' hearts are going to be cringe-ing and...

A Bride’s Story (vol. 6) by Kaoru Mori, translated by William Flanagan

06 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Central Asian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

This thus-far six-parter has to be the most visually exquisite series in a long, long time. Every panel is an exercise in meticulously rendered details – whether fabric textures, the subtlest of facial expressions, fur moving in the wind, a hair out of place, a cloud...

A Bride’s Story (vol. 5) by Kaoru Mori, translated by William Flanagan

04 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Central Asian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Get ready to linger: every panel – and I do mean every! – is a wonder to behold, inducing that slack-jawed 'gawwww, how does she dooooo that?'-sort of reaction! If you've picked up this volume without first reading the previous others, I would definitely recommend going back. Following the...

On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome with Love and Pasta by Jen Lin-Liu

22 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Central Asian, Chinese, Chinese American, Memoir, Nonfiction

Just in case you're pressed for time, let me offer this short-cut alternative up front: if you're looking for a fabulous foodie book that takes you to unexpected corners of the world, bypass Noodle Road and try Jennifer 8. Lee's The Fortune Cookie Chronicles instead. If...

A Bride’s Story (vol. 4) by Kaoru Mori, translated by William Flanagan

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

Life along the Silk Road – 19th-century style, imagined by and translated from a 21st-century Japanese original – moves onward west, meticulously detailed in creator Kaoru Mori's breathtaking manga. To catch up, make sure to read the first three installments; you definitely need the back story of young...

A Bride’s Story (vols. 2-3) by Kaoru Mori, translated by William Flanagan

27 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Central Asian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

What began as a visual marvel in volume 1, surely does not disappoint in the continuing two volumes. 'Exquisite' still hardly does the panels justice, but just know that every page will make you want to linger to discover and enjoy the glorious details – the...

A Bride’s Story (vol. 1) by Kaoru Mori, translated by William Flanagan

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

Before you read a single word, you'll surely find yourself marveling at the breathtaking wonder of the artwork here. The word 'exquisite' hardly does the painstakingly detailed panels justice ...

Joe and Azat by Jesse Lonergan

08 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Central Asian, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Turkmen, Young Adult Readers

"Turkmenistan! It was a strange place," begins Jesse Lonergan's graphic travelogue based on his own experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in the central Asian former republic of the Soviet Union. Lonergan's alter-ego is "Joe" – as in average Joe Schmoe? – a bewildered American...

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