BookDragon

Sandalwood Death by Mo Yan, translated by Howard Goldblatt [in Library Journal]

07 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese, Fiction, Repost, Translation

This recent novel-in-translation by the 2012 Nobel Laureate Mo Yan, originally published in China in 2004, embodies a labyrinthine web of changing alliances and terrifying vengeance. Set during the Boxer Rebellion, the turn-of-the-20th-century Chinese uprising against Western imperialism, it features pivotal figure Sun Meiniang, who...

The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from Around the World by Linda Lau Anusasananan, art by Alan Lau, foreword by Martin Yan

05 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese, Chinese American, Memoir, Nonfiction

How come no one is out there cooking their way through all the recipes of an Asian cookbook and blogging about it, then making a movie with ...

The Stamp Collector by Jennifer Lanthier, illustrated by François Thisdale

03 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Canadian, Children/Picture Books, Chinese, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

Here's how this mesmerizing book begins ...

Delicate Edible Birds and Other Stories by Lauren Groff

02 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Short Stories

If the name Lauren Groff sounds familiar, that might be because her latest title, Arcadia, appears on oh-so-many Best-of-2012 lists. I admit I haven't yet read Arcadia (it's high in my 'must-read' pile), but if I have the option among an author's titles, short stories are usually my first choice. Just...

A Chinese Life by Li Kunwu and Philippe Ôtié, translated by Edward Gauvin

28 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonfiction, Translation, Young Adult Readers

No other word than epic describes this almost 700-page tome. It's epic in content: six decades of one ordinary man's extraordinary life, told through detailed, rich depictions in swirling black-and-white pen and ink that never seem to still. It's epic in context: 60 years of...

Odette’s Secrets by Maryann Macdonald

27 Feb, by SIBookDragon in European, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Poetry, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

I'm compelled to start backwards with a number: 84. As children's writer (more than 25 times over) Maryann Macdonald explains in her ending "Author's Note," 84% of French children survived the horrors of World War II; in fact, "more children survived in France than in any other...

The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine

26 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

1958, Little Rock, Arkansas: A year has passed since nine courageous African American students – history's "Little Rock Nine" – integrated Central High School. Just days before the new school year is scheduled to begin that September 15, then-Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus closed the city's three high...

Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking by Fuchsia Dunlop

25 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, British, Chinese, Nonfiction

How's this for a fabulous first line? "The Chinese know, perhaps better than anyone else, how to eat." Think about any little small town in the U.S. alone ...

Irises by Francisco X. Stork

24 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Young Adult Readers

First things first: choose the page, not the headset. Carrington MacDuffie's voice is just too old to narrate the inner lives of two teenage sisters – no lilting resonance, no youthful lightness. Might I suggest that the better options for aurally appreciating the extraordinary Francisco X. Stork would be Marcelo...

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

23 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Audio, British, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

How I chose this: It actually had nothing to with that shiny 2005 Michael L. Printz Award sticker on the cover. The narrator, Kim Mai Guest, made me do it! Guest, who is apparently 43 (so says her Wiki bio), has one of those eternal voices, always...

The Flowers of Evil (vol. 4) by Shuzo Oshimi, translated by Paul Starr

22 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Before you read further, you'll need to click here to catch up on the first three volumes of this creepy, obsessive, love-triangle-of sorts. While the three protagonists are tweenaged middle-schoolers, this is definitely not your kiddie manga: abusive language aside, the deviant psychological manipulations are shocking,...

Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet by Andrea Cheng, woodcuts by the author

21 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Biography, Black/African American, Chinese American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Poetry, Verse Novel/Nonfiction

Absolute details surrounding the life of Dave the Potter are limited and uncertain. What remains of his life story almost two centuries later, is scattered with uncertain words, including 'sometime,' 'about,' 'believed to be,' 'might,' 'possibly,' and other such noncommittal qualifiers. The few surviving documents...

Author Interview: Pauline A. Chen [in Bloom]

20 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Taiwanese American, Young Adult Readers

A couple of days after filing my feature on Pauline A. Chen, I got on the phone to ask her all the questions I couldn’t find answers to out there in the virtual world of google-ing. True confession moment: I admit I was a wee bit...

Heathy Kids by Maya Ajmera, Victoria Dunning, Cynthia Pon, foreword by Melinda French Gates

19 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

"All children, regardless of where they live, should have the opportunity to grow up healthy and lead a productive life," writes Melinda Gates in her foreword to this, the latest "A Global Fund for Children Book." As she shares the wrenching statistic that over seven million...

The Red Chamber by Pauline A. Chen + Author Profile [in Bloom]

18 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost, Taiwanese American

When the teenaged Pauline Chen arrived in Harvard Yard, her intention was to become a writer. The American-born daughter of Taiwanese parents, she grew up amidst Long Island’s endless strip malls and was determined – she wrote in July 2012 at Tribute Books – to shed her “provincial” upbringing....

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

17 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Armenian American, Audio, Fiction

I think at least a decade has passed since I read a Chris Bohjalian title (Midwives remains my favorite). Two shocks came with this, his latest: 1. He's got 15 books out already; and 2. He's of Armenian descent (yes, I should have connected that '-ian'...

Carry the One by Carol Anshaw

16 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

A couple of months ago, one of my trusty literary friends with whom I often share must-read titles told me about seeing 'everyone' carrying this novel around last fall. So she decided to see for herself what the hubbub was about. Once she started, she...

Message to Adolf (Part 2) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian

15 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

Official word of warning: this is NOT your kiddies' manga. Both in subject matter and graphics, Message is definitely for mature audiences. So if you have younger ones in the house, be careful not to leave the book lying around. The "godfather of manga" has...

Global Baby Girls by The Global Fund for Children

14 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

"Cherish baby girls around the world," the back cover rightfully demands. And who could possibly resist the red-cheeked cuddlebug from Russia, the laughing wonder from Peru, the bejeweled bundle from India, the kitty-hugger (never mind the beast himself) from New Zealand, the intrepid explorer (with...

Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder

13 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Short Stories, Translation

What are the chances ...

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