BookDragon

07-Ghost (vols. 1-4) by Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara, translated by Satsuki Yamashita

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

Since we're talking four volumes here, allow me attempt to offer a set-up without too many spoilers. "One thousand years ago," a boy named Teito Klein (not sure of the kanji for 'Teito,' but his last name means "small" auf Deutsch – you'll find many German-inspired references throughout)...

Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China by Yu Hua, translated by Allan H. Barr

15 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Fiction, Short Stories, Translation

* STARRED REVIEW Recipient of the James Joyce, Prix Courrier International, and Premio Grinzane Cavour awards for novels such as To Live (adapted to film by director Zhang Yimou) and Brothers, shortlisted for the 2008 Man Asian Prize, Yu Hua is an international sensation. His latest...

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

13 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

So here's the last of my recent unintentional assemblage of end-of-World-War-II novels that began with Elizabeth Wein’s wrenching Rose Under Fire, and progressed with Chris Bohjalian's desperate Skeletons at the Feast and continued with his latest, the vengeful The Light in the Ruins. Of this week's quartet, Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins (how about that...

The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian

10 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Armenian American, Audio, European, Fiction

This, Chris Bohjalian's latest, is one to stick in the ears ...

Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian

09 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Armenian American, Audio, European, Fiction, Jewish

Every so often, I seem to get on a specific reading spree on a topic not exactly of my choosing – that is, the books seem to serendipitously line up on their own. The latest batch of they-chose-me-titles have been set during the final brutal months...

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

08 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British, European, Fiction

Confession: If I didn't have to read Elizabeth Wein's follow-up to her breath-wringing adventure, Code Name Verity, I would have kept Rose Under Fire under wraps, hidden somewhere amidst my must-read pile, and just be content with basking in the potential promise of a satisfying 'gawwww' sometime...

A Handbook to Luck by Cristina García

07 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Caribbean American, Cuban, Cuban American, Fiction, Iranian, Latin American, Latina/o/x

Tell me if you've heard this one before: a Cuban, an El Salvadorean, and an Iranian land on the page and spend decades trying to find their place in the world. Yes? Then, you must have read Cristina García’s A Handbook to Luck. No? Then read...

Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb

06 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Audio, British, Canadian, Fiction

Raised as a Roman Catholic convinced of at least one past life as a Jewish grandmother, I find myself in my old age utterly wary of institutionalized religions, repeatedly alarmed at what we human beings commit upon one another in the name of various (one-and-only)...

The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup by Patricia Polacco

05 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Jewish, Memoir, Nonfiction, Russian

Although published a quarter century apart, these are two books that tell a single tears-of-joy-inducing family story. If chronology is important, you might read Patricia Polacco's multi-generational family epic out of publication order – that is, Blessing Cup (out this year) first, and then Keeping Quilt (which debuted in...

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...

Together Tea by Marjan Kamali

03 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Iranian, Iranian American

"In the car, Mina turned on the news. 'Iran' was mentioned in the same breath as 'terrorist' and 'rogue.' Just once, Mina wanted to hear the name of her old country mentioned in the same breath as 'joy' or 'freedom' or 'gentle goodness.'" What Mina...

Mira in the Present Tense by Sita Brahmachari

02 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in British, British Asian, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

On the evening of her 12th birthday, Mira Levenson receives three life-changing (death-defying) gifts: a diary, a charm, and her period. As one-quarter of a school writing class (led by an author named Miss Print!), Mira finds her voice – silently at first through the diary...

In the Sea There Are Crocodiles: Based on the true story of Enaiatollah Akbari by Fabio Geda, translated by Howard Curtis

01 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Audio, European, Italian, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Although the cover bears the designation, "A Novel," Enaiatollah Akbari – whose name also appears on said cover (who is not the book's author, Fabio Geda) – is a real person. A kid, really. In case you need a face to place with the name, the back...

I dreamt … A book about hope by Gabriela Olmos, translated by Elisa Amado

30 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Children/Picture Books, Latin American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Sometimes, it takes a village to create a book this magnificent. Award-winning author and publisher Gabriela Olmos gathered "[s]ome of Mexico's best illustrators" who donated their art to create this stunning prayer for peace. "I dreamt of pistols that shoot butterflies ...

FArTHER by Grahame Baker-Smith

28 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, British, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

Certain books make me terribly selfish – because once I finish a post, the book gets cleared off my desk and either shelved or shared. British author/artist Grahame Baker-Smith's FArTHER – the many meanings in the title alone, achieved with just the lower-casing of that single 'r' provokes goosebumps...

Beirut 1990: Snapshots of a Civil War by Sylvain Ricard, Bruno Ricard, illustrated by Christophe Gaultier, translated by Anna Provitola, edited by Alex Donoghue

27 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Lebanese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Almost a quarter century has passed since two French brothers – in their early 20s at the time – decided to visit their Aunt Thérèse in Lebanon. In September 1990, the country is a 15-year-old war zone, but the brothers plan to deliver supplies, medicine, and a...

The Problem with Being Slightly Heroic by Uma Krishnaswami, illustrated by Abigail Halpin

26 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Indian American, Middle Grade Readers, South Asian American

You could just start reading Uma Krishnaswami's recent middle grade cross-cultural adventure and thoroughly enjoy it, but why have only half the fun? To maximize the knowing giggles, make sure to start with Dini's 2011 debut in The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. Then check out...

Black Flower by Young-ha Kim, translated by Charles La Shure

25 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Korean, Latin American, Translation

Earlier this year, I received an email from a Chinese Canadian author, May Q. Wong, inquiring about "a shipload of Koreans who sailed to Mexico to find a better life." Clueless, I forwarded her request to a few of my scholar friends and colleagues ...

Ling & Ting Share a Birthday by Grace Lin

24 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers

The inimitable Grace Lin is at it again ...

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

23 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Cambodian, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Southeast Asian

Allow me to begin with an intriguing tidbit and a cringe-inducing warning ...

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