Origin/Ethnic Background Archives - Page 30 of 232

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam [in Booklist]

11 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

What a striking confluence here: National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi’s co-writer, Yusef Salaam, was one of the Exonerated Five. Debut narrator Ethan Herisse portrayed the teenage Salaam in Ava DuVernay’s acclaimed dramatization of the aftermath of the Central Park jogger attack, When They See...

Luster by Raven Leilani [in Booklist]

10 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Edie is 23, has a bottom-tier publishing job, and inhabits a shabby sixth-floor Bushwick walk-up. Eric is 23 years older, a New Jersey archivist, and in an open marriage – with rules dictated by his wife. Their one-month online affair compels a first date...

Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn [in Library Journal]

09 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Repost

Hardworking Malia and Augie have plenty of love but can’t ever quite get ahead. In hopes of providing better opportunities for their three children, the pair relocate from Hawai'i to Oahu, but not before Augie insists the family share an adventure on a glassbottom boat...

The New Wilderness by Diane Cook [in Booklist]

08 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Veteran voice actor Stacey Glembowski – already seasoned with substantial science fiction experience – immediately commands Diane Cook’s (Man v. Nature) timely novel debut in which 20 desperate men, women, children abandon their depleting City lives to become the inaugural Community in the Wilderness State....

Sneeze by Naoki Urasawa, translated by John Werry [in Booklist]

06 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Repost, Translation

For Naoki Urasawa newbies, his latest collection (another satisfying English translation by popular manga-specialist John Werry) is a beckoning introductory primer. For aficionados, these eight stories (none titled “Sneeze”), originally published between 1995-2018, are an affirming reminder of his irrefutable genius. Urasawa’s most memorable stories feature...

Dancing in the Mosque: An Afghan Mother’s Letter to Her Son by Homeira Qaderi, translated by Zaman Stanizai [in Shelf Awareness]

05 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

During the 985 nights since she was cleaved from her then 19-month-old, still-breastfeeding son, Homeira Qaderi managed to escape her native Afghanistan and eventually settle in California. Her son, now 4, has been told his mother is dead. With this haunting memoir, Dancing in the...

Hokusai Manga by Katsushika Hokusai, edited by Kyoko Wada, translated by Polly Barton [In Shelf Awareness]

04 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

A continuous "runaway bestseller" for over two centuries, Hokusai Manga re-emerges in the U.S. in an irresistible boxed gift set. Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), renowned for his iconic The Great Wave Off Kanagawa print and the woodblock series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, created...

Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey [in Booklist]

03 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Hapa/Mixed-race, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey makes both her prose and narrating debut with a startling memoir that alchemizes neverending trauma into an exquisite memorial. On June 5, 1985, Trethewey’s mother, Gwendolyn Ann Turnbough, was murdered by former stepfather Joel Grimmett on Atlanta’s Memorial...

Nineteen by Ancco, translated by Janet Hong [in Booklist]

02 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Korean, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Short Stories, Translation, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Introduced to Western audiences with the internationally awarded Bad Friends (2018), Ancco returns with a five-years-in-the-making collection she wrote in her early 20s, originally published more than a decade ago in her native Korea. Translated by prize-winning Canadian Janet Hong, these 13 stories are largely...

Kimiko Does Cancer by Kimiko Tobimatsu, illustrated by Keet Geniza [in Booklist]

30 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Filipina/o American, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese American, Memoir, Repost

“I’m not a big fan of the common sentiment, ‘Cancer made me a better person,’” Kimiko Tobimatsu admits in her author’s note. “But then, cancer did make me a better person.” Diagnosed at 25 with “a rare form of breast cancer – mucinous,” Tobimatsu is...

10 Things I Hate about Pinky by Sandhya Menon [in Booklist]

29 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Vikas Adam is three for three (because he’s that good) in voicing Sandhya Menon’s bestselling rom-com series. Rematched with Soneela Nankani after the success of There’s Something about Sweetie (2019), the pair presents Menon's latest frothy confection. The eponymous Pinky is another of Menon's feisty heroines...

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré [in Library Journal]

28 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

If reading various dialects on the page is at all challenging, allow Adjoa Andoh to immediately immerse you in the mellifluous Nigerian English patois Abi Daré infuses into her empowering debut novel. At 14, Adunni is denied the education she so longs for, and is...

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell [in Booklist]

27 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Here’s what we might know – or agree on from limited historic documents and scholarly guessing research – about the Bard’s wife: she’s commonly named “Anne Hathaway” but her father referred to her as “Agnes” in his will; she was older than her still-teenage husband;...

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi [in Booklist]

26 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Indian African, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW With only a few audiobook credits each, Yetide Badaki and Chukwudi Iwuji might be considered audiobook newbies. Their extensive acting experience however – especially Iwuji with his substantial work on British stages – ensures that Nigerian-born, award-winning literary darling Akweke Emezi’s sophomore adult title...

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker [in Library Journal]

25 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Once upon a time, the Galvin family seemed perfect. Father Don's work with the Air Force brought the family to (coincidentally, presciently named) Hidden Valley Road in Colorado. There, mother Mary oversaw the raising and nurturing of their dozen children – 10 boys and...

Invisible Differences: A Story of Asperger’s, Adulting, and Living a Life in Full Color by Julie Dachez, illustrated by Mademoiselle Caroline, translated by Edward Gauvin [in Shelf Awareness]

23 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, French, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

In her enormously affecting comics debut, Invisible Differences, French activist Julie Dachez introduces her autobiographical stand-in, 27-year-old Marguerite. Marguerite's daily life is most comfortable when she abides by her familiar rituals: wear soft clothes, depart for work at 7:30 a.m., grab her daily spelt roll...

Beauty by Christina Chiu [in Library Journal]

22 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost

Judge Gish Jen anointed Beauty, Christina Chiu’s first fiction since her award-winning 2001 collection, Troublemaker and Other Stories, for the Santa Fe Writers Project’s James Alan McPherson Award, enabling publication from 2040 Books. A simple summary reveals Amy Wong's trajectory from an unmoored Manhattan 16-year-old...

Prefecture D: Four Novellas by Hideo Yokoyama, translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies [in Shelf Awareness]

21 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

Hideo Yokoyama (Seventeen) might not yet have a following in the U.S. like some of his compatriot mystery writers – Keigo Higashino and Natsuo Kirino, for example – but the acclaim he's earned in his native Japan will likely spread to English-language readers. With Jonathan...

Class Act by Jerry Craft [in Shelf Awareness]

20 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Black/African American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Repost

Welcome back to a new year at Riverdale Academy Day (RAD) School in Jerry Craft's entertaining follow-up to his 2020 Newbery Medal-winning debut, New Kid. Wannabe artist Jordan reunites with his closest friends: Liam, who arrives from his family's Riverdale mansion via chauffeur, and Drew, who...

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...

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