BookDragon

Blood Feast: The Complete Short Stories of Malika Moustadraf by Malika Moustadraf, translated by Alice Guthrie [in Shelf Awareness]

16 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Moroccan, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Blood Feast: The Complete Short Stories of Malika Moustadraf is a crystalline collection by defiant Moroccan writer Malika Moustadraf (Wounds of the Soul and the Body), who died in 2006 at 37. Moustadraf's piercing 14 stories here, which challenge patriarchal expectations of gender and sexuality,...

Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani [in Booklist]

15 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

Polyglot Yoko Tawada, who writes in both Japanese and German, introduced an ursine character named Knut in Memoirs of a Polar Bear (2016) and opens her newest import with a same-named protagonist. Whether or not the two are related seems unlikely, yet in Tawada’s fascinating tale,...

Iranian Love Stories by Jane Deuxard, illustrated by Deloupy, translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger [in Booklist]

14 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, French, Iranian, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

“I assure you, this country is a paradise for women,” a covered figure insists, her arms raised in a victorious V. But this is Iran, and her declaration doesn’t quite resonate with the local population. Two journalists – a couple publishing under the collective pseudonym...

Quake by Auður Jónsdóttir, translated by Meg Matich [in Shelf Awareness]

11 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Icelandic, Repost, Translation

Quake, by Icelandic Literary Prize-winning author Auður Jónsdóttir (The People in the Basement), is an engrossing, multi-layered mystery in which memories – imagined, erased and recovered – determine the future of a fractured family. Jónsdóttir introduces the protagonist in various scenarios in the novel's opening...

City of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, translated by Lucia Graves and Carlos Ruiz Zafón [in Booklist]

10 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Repost, Spanish, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW In addition to Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s standalone Marina (2015), Daniel Weyman previously narrated The Labyrinth of the Spirits, considered the finale to the internationally bestselling Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. Weyman – his continuity is especially affecting – returns for Ruiz Zafón’s posthumous collection of...

The Verifiers by Jane Pek [in Booklist]

09 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Repost, Taiwanese American

Her boss calls Veracity “a personal investments advisory firm,” but to Claudia Lin, “a month into the job, it’s obvious to me that our clients think of us as a detective agency.” What she’s hired to do is verify details for clients who don’t quite...

Thank You, Mr. Nixon by Gish Jen [in Shelf Awareness]

08 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories

*STARRED REVIEW In Thank You, Mr. Nixon, her second irresistible collection of short fiction, Gish Jen (The Resisters) showcases 11 intricately linked stories spanning the East and West over a half-century. The titular opening story is a letter recalling the U.S. president's 1972 visit to China that...

The Red Palace by June Hur [in Shelf Awareness]

07 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

June Hur's self-described "obsessing over books about Joseon Korea" has made her a critically acclaimed author of historical Korean fiction. She follows The Silence of Bones and The Forest of Stolen Girls with another riveting thriller, The Red Palace, which transports readers to 1758 Hanyang (now Seoul), when murder...

Ish by Adam de Souza [in Booklist]

04 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Canadian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories

Canadian cartoonist/illustrator Adam de Souza gathers three previously published zines – ish (2017), and so you write it down (2018), and coda (2021) – to forge a loose journey confronting devastating loss and subsequent attempts at moving forward. In a narrative divided into brief vignettes, de Souza initially presents...

Manywhere by Morgan Thomas [in Shelf Awareness]

03 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories

Morgan Thomas's profound debut, Manywhere, is partly dedicated to "anyone who's gone looking for themself in the archives." In nine remarkable stories, Thomas adamantly and sublimely commits four centuries of the genderqueer/trans existence to the page. In "The Daring Life of Philippa Cook the Rogue,"...

Call Me Cassandra by Marcial Gala, translated by Anna Kushner [in Shelf Awareness]

02 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Cuban, Fiction, Repost, Translation

Greek mythology's princess Cassandra was given the power of prophecy, but when she refused the advances of the god Apollo, she was cursed forever with disbelief. Millennia later, a slight, blond 10-year-old in Cienfuegos, Cuba, insists, "I don't want to be this Raúl, I want...

Amah Faraway by Margaret Chiu Greanias, illustrated by Tracy Subisak [in Shelf Awareness]

01 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Repost, Taiwanese American

*STARRED REVIEW Margaret Chiu Greanias's inviting Amah Faraway is a heartfelt homage to her Taiwanese heritage that binds multiple generations on either side of the globe. Tracy Subisak (illustrator of Shawn Loves Sharks) elevates the familiar bicultural narrative with vivacious multimedia illustrations. Kylie of San Francisco and Amah of...

Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto [in Booklist]

31 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Fiction, Indonesian American, Repost, Singaporean American

As the photographer for the extended Chan clan’s wedding business, Meddelin (a well-intentioned approximation of Madeleine) is intimately familiar with all manner of nuptial celebrations, even when they include accidental murder, as witnessed in Dial A for Aunties (2021), Jesse Q. Sutanto’s rollicking debut, which introduced Big...

The Final Case by David Guterson [in Shelf Awareness]

28 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

David Guterson (Ed King; Snow Falling on Cedars) returns to the courtroom with The Final Case. His opening note outlines the real-life 2011 trial of parents in Skagit County, Wash., charged with the death of their adopted daughter from Ethiopia. The author "attended the trial, and conducted...

Crushing by Sophie Burrows [in Booklist]

27 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, British, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW From just the cover, the color red immediately suggests a strangers-to-not narrative; that floating heart in the title underscores what’s to come. But knowing what happens doesn’t diminish in any way Sophie Burrows’ poignant, timely, mostly wordless graphic debut. Set in London, where Burrows also...

Seoulmates by Jen Frederick [in Shelf Awareness]

26 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Repost

Since Hara Wilson and Choi Yujun didn't quite get their happily-ever-after in Heart & Seoul, author Jen Frederick – a transracial Korean adoptee – returns with its addictive sequel, Seoulmates. In the first book, Korea-born, Iowa-raised adoptee Hara's loss of her estranged father prompted a...

How to Find What You’re Not Looking For by Veera Hiranandani [in Booklist]

25 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Indian American, Jewish, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, South Asian American

The second of Veera Hiranandani’s novels with geneses in the award-winning author’s Indian Jewish family history is ideally paired with versatile Priya Ayyar. For Hiranandani’s The Night Diary, Ayyar persuasively drew on her own South Asian heritage. Here Ayyar ciphers Hiranandani’s maternally-inspired latest, channeling her...

Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illustrated by Yas Imamura [in Shelf Awareness]

24 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Japanese American, Nonfiction, Repost

"This is a true story. Mostly," Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Squad) explains in her author's note in Love in the Library, both a revealing exposé of unjust history and an exceptional tribute to love. Tokuda-Hall's maternal grandparents are Tama, a librarian, and George, the library's most constant patron....

Bibliolepsy by Gina Apostol [in Booklist]

21 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Filipina/o, Filipina/o American, Repost

Philippines-born Gina Apostol has earned significant recognition for Insurrecto (2018) and The Gun Dealers’ Daughter (2012). Such success often inspires resurrection of older works, in this case, Apostol’s debut, which she began writing in 1983 at 19 and which won the 1997 Philippine National Book Award. “I changed nothing...

Uncle Rico’s Encore: Mostly True Stories of Filipino Seattle by Peter Bacho [in Booklist]

20 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Filipina/o American, Memoir, Repost, Short Stories

“Each morning when I rise, I pause to remember the preciousness of what I have lost, and I cherish it.” Septuagenarian Peter Bacho, whose first novel, Cebu (1991), won the American Book Award, commits those memories to the page in poignant, affecting “mostly true stories.” Bacho’s...

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