I can count on one hand the books that I've given by the dozens to lucky relatives and friends over the decades. One of those counting fingers belongs to Tan Twan Eng's debut stunner, The Gift of Rain. With the impending American release this month of...
As I look back on my post for Dreams of Joy's prequel, Shanghai Girls, I was clearly, quickly aware then that Janet Song was not the best choice for narrator. That I was somehow fooled into listening to Song again is surely a 'shame on...
Now that we're in the final weekend of summer, I figured today was the right day to choose what was apparently the title this season (yes, I do open the occasional mega-bestseller, the few times I crawl out from under my rock). Since Reese Witherspoon's production company...
Just so you have a little warning, tomorrow (September 1) is #DRAMADAY. That means veteran comics-maker Raina Telgemeier's latest book hits shelves tomorrow ...
Winner of this year's South Asian Book Award from the South Asia National Outreach Consortium [SANOC], Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw's latest is a whimsical, delightful exploration of friendship, family, and cultures ...
Soccer-loving fifth-grader Skye lives in Virginia, just outside DC, with her American mother and her Japanese father. Her best friend recently moved to San Francisco, but Skye's getting to know her All-Star teammates better now that she's finally made the team. On the other side of...
Exactly two weeks have passed since the London 2012 closing ceremony; still feeling Olympic withdrawal? Might I suggest a literary antidote: Chris Cleave's latest novel, made even more timely as the Olympic sport of choice here is cycling (albeit indoors). Road cyclist Bradley Wiggins emerged...
Since today marks the 68th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris (August 25, 1944) during World War II, I thought that must be a sign to add the final installment of the Resistance trilogy here. The title, Victory, speaks volumes, not only for the history it represents, but for the...
Charles Yu's stories are indescribable. Really. Every time I picked up this recent collection, my face broke out in a goofy, uncertain grin, because I was totally unsure of what I might encounter next. Here's what I can tell you ...
Ready for the frenzy of going back to school? So long, summer … hello, morning rush! I shudder ...
Ishan Mehra has CDS ...
I don't know how I never noticed before, but Kurosagi comes with a "Parental Advisory | Explicit Content" warning sticker (volume 11 had it on the outside plastic shrink-wrap; volume 12 got more serious and placed it on the actual book!). True enough that some...
* STARRED REVIEW The recipient of international accolades – including Canada’s coveted Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction (2010) for its original Canadian debut in French – this extraordinary first novel unfolds like ethereal poetry. The enigmatic title means “a small stream and, figuratively, a flow, a discharge—of...
Self-made Mumbai real estate mogul Dharmen Shah is determined to build his iconic structure, the Shanghai, a "super-luxury" residential skyscraper, named to reflect his admiration for "all the will power in the world" he associates with the rising global power of the Chinese. In order...
Six children, six different faiths … while their holy days and festivals vary, the one thing they share – that we all share, regardless of the specifics of our backgrounds – are special foods we share with family and friends to celebrate memorable occasions. Francesca is...
As the e-publishing world is shrinking our stories into little mobile devices, storyteller, teacher, and author Steve Light brings back some delightful heft with his new Storybox collection that features classic tales from around the world that your youngest readers can bring immediately to life ...
"'I've always imagined paradise as something like a library,'" the titular March expounds. Is that not a perfect thought? Alas, while March is Geraldine Brooks' most award-winning – that yellow circle on the cover announces its 2006 Pulitzer Prize – I must confess it was my least favorite; if I had...
The legendary 1993 Nobel Prize-winning Toni Morrison begins her latest novel with a jarring disconnect of warning: the title is Home, and yet the first pages open with an unannotated verse – "Whose house is this? / ...
In between "Long, long ago ...
Remember that gorgeous film, Red Violin, which tells the story (backwards) of the creation and fantastical 300-plus-year-history of the eponymous instrument? People of the Book uses a similar structure to reveal the story of a 500-year-old illuminated manuscript known as the Sarajevo Haggadah. That haggadah is very real;...
