Korean American Archives - Page 3 of 17

The Prince of Mournful Thoughts and Other Stories by Caroline Kim [in Christian Science Monitor]

19 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Repost, Short Stories

Korean American experience resonates in The Prince of Mournful Thoughts The longing for connection, for belonging, is woven throughout a dozen short stories in Caroline Kim’s superlative debut collection. "There is so much I wish to make my daughter understand, but cannot,” an immigrant father muses...

Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness by Catherine Cho [in Shelf Awareness]

19 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Korean American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Ultimately, Inferno is a love story: raw, unfiltered, wrenching, lifesaving. Catherine Cho, a Korean American literary agent living in London, makes her debut with a scorching memoir about the postpartum psychosis that nearly destroyed her – but didn't. On November 4, 2017, Cho and husband, James,...

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller [in School Library Journal]

02 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Korean American, Middle Grade Readers, Repost

Keller's narrative can't be faulted – the story is achingly gorgeous. A widowed Korean American mother and her two mixed-race daughters move from California to Washington to live with their glamorous, unconventional Halmoni – grandmother" in Korean. Older sister Sam – suffering from sullen teenagerhood...

Brother’s Keeper by Julie Lee [in Shelf Awareness]

27 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

For debut author Julie Lee, the Korean War is deeply personal: her mother was 15 and living in North Korea when the war commenced on June 25, 1950. Drawing on her mother's memories of her north-to-south escape and relocation, Lee's Brother's Keeper is a compelling #OwnVoices...

Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim [in School Library Journal]

15 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Korean American, Middle Grade Readers, Repost

Greta Jung energetically embodies 11-year-old Yumi Chung's evolution from quiet odd-girl-out to feisty stand-up-comedian-in-the-making. At her exclusive L.A. private school, Yumi is rarely noticed, except by the bully harassing her as "Yu-MEAT" (for her barbecue-scent-infused clothing from helping at her family's Koreatown restaurant) or "Top...

I’ll Be the One by Lyla Lee [in Shelf Awareness]

23 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Korean American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Helmed by director Nahnatchka Khan (Netflix's Always Be My Maybe), an HBO Max adaptation of Lyla Lee’s I'll Be the One was announced six months prior to the book's publication date. Before Hollywood hijacks your imagination, though, get to know Skye off-screen in this delectable...

Skin Deep [Siobhan O’Brien Book 1] by Sung J. Woo [in Library Journal]

16 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean American, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Despite her Asian features, her father really is Irish, her mother Norwegian. Her name is Siobhan O’Brien, never mind everyone’s surprise when trying to gauge the incongruity between her face and that moniker. Short answer: Siobhan is a Korean-born, upstate New York–raised transracial adoptee. At...

Diversifying the Audiobook Industry: Four Asian American Narrators Take the Mic [in Library Journal]

11 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Author Interview/Profile, Chinese American, Indian American, Korean American, Lists, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

The publishing industry has been hard hit by COVID-19: festival and conference cancelations, library and bookstore shutterings, disappearing book tours, publishers’ office closings, production delays – especially with international printers – and, alas, probably more obstacles to come. But digital audiobooks can be the ideal,...

The Silence of Bones by June Hur [in Shelf Awareness]

05 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Young Adult Readers

June Hur's gripping debut re-creates the Joseon Dynasty, when Korea relied on brutality to contain the spread of foreign Catholicism. During this bloody time, 16-year-old Seol's irrepressible curiosity is about to become her best asset for solving crime ...

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha [in Booklist]

18 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW As former travel and culture editor for CNN in Seoul, U.S.-Hong Kong-South Korea-raised and Brooklyn-domiciled Frances Cha writes exactingly of what she knows in her first novel. With unblinking focus, she confronts some of the darkest consequences of contemporary gender inequity by targeting the...

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park + Author Interview [in Shelf Awareness]

16 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Author Interview/Profile, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Korean, Korean American, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Fan Fiction, 50 Years Later Almost two decades have passed since Linda Sue Park became the first Korean American – and only the second Asian American – to win the Newbery Medal, in 2002 for A Single Shard. She's since published dozens of titles (Gondra's Treasure; Forest of...

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha [in Library Journal]

09 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Korean American, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW The story might sound familiar – the 1991 L.A. riots – but Steph Cha ("Juniper Song" series) alchemizes headlines into a riveting thriller about two families colliding over injustice, while narrators Glenn Davis and Greta Jung transform the written word into mesmerizing performances. Shawn Matthews...

Frankly in Love by David Yoon [in Booklist]

25 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Korean American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Frank Li witnessed his older sister be perfect: she got into Harvard, then Harvard Law, then graduated into an enviably lucrative career. For their Korean immigrant parents, Hanna could do no wrong – until she did: She fell in love with a non-Korean ...

Diary of a Murderer and Other Stories by Young-Ha Kim [in Booklist]

11 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Short Stories, Translation

Author Young-Ha Kim, translator Krys Lee (herself an award-winning writer; Drifting House), and actor David Shih repeat the triumvirate success of Kim’s I Hear Your Voice to deliver his latest collection of four chilling, engrossing stories. The eponymous, novella-length “Diary of a Murderer” – the best of an...

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong [in Booklist]

30 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Korean American, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Title aside, nothing is minor about Cathy Park Hong’s taut, sharp collection. The award-winning poet’s prose debut will elicit comparisons to contemporary race-conscious luminaries – think Claudine Rankine, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Roxane Gay – but Hong’s singular voice expresses both reclamation and declaration: “For...

Five More to Go: Paul Yoon’s Run Me to Earth [in The Booklist Reader]

29 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Arab, Audio, British, Cambodian, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, European, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Lists, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Sri Lankan American, Translation, Vietnamese, Vietnamese American

Run Me to Earth by Paul Yoon Traversing countries and continents during a half-century, Paul Yoon’s (The Mountain, 2017) second novel unfolds decades of unrelenting loss and meaningless brutality, balanced – somehow – by exquisite kindness and unbreakable bonds. In war-torn Laos, a country brutalized by...

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim [in Booklist]

23 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Korean American, Repost

For those looking for alternate therapies, the Miracle Submarine in Miracle Creek, Virginia, provides HBOT – hyperbaric oxygen therapy – believed to treat such conditions as autism and infertility. Despite the many ‘miracles,’ the venture is anything but: a mysterious explosion kills two patients and...

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha [in Booklist]

12 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Korean, Korean American, Memoir, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW “The End of the World as I Know It” – Robin Ha’s first chapter heading – happened when she was 14. As a student in 1995 in Seoul, Korea, Ha was mostly a typical teenager, enjoying close friendships, studying hard, and obsessed with reading...

Run Me to Earth by Paul Yoon [in Booklist]

05 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean American, Laotian, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW The story begins and ends with Alisak, one of three inseparable Laotian orphans in 1969, who, in the final pages, will have become an almost-content Spanish shopowner on his way to a birthday celebration in 2018. Traversing countries and continents during a half-century, Paul...

The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung [in Booklist]

01 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Korean American, Repost

“I suppose I should warn you that I tell a story like a woman: looping into myself, interrupting,” announces Catherine Chung’s protagonist Katherine. “Things have never seemed straightforward to me; the path has never been clear.” As the child of a WWII veteran father and...

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