BookDragon

Kitchen Curse: Stories by Eka Kurniawan, translated by Annie Tucker, Tiffany Tsao, Maggie Tiojakin, and Benedict Anderson [in Library Journal]

18 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indonesian, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

Eka Kurniawan, the first Man Booker International Prize-nominated Indonesian writer (he was long-listed in 2016 for Man Tiger), makes his collection-in-English debut, with the majority of the 16 stories translated by Annie Tucker, his PEN/Heim Translation Fund-awarded Beauty Is a Wound translator; three of the...

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian [in Booklist]

17 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Persian American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW It’s 1989 and AIDS is a death warrant, but first love knows no limits. Despite a teeny little blip when Lauren Ambrose mispronounces “Audre Lorde,” the cast of Abdi Nazemian’s latest presents in near-perfect pitch. Ambrose is fashion-forward creative genius Judy (named after Garland),...

Tiny Feet Between the Mountains by Hanna Cha [in Shelf Awareness]

16 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Korean American, Repost

Being a child in the adult world presents all sorts of challenges, but size is perhaps the most obvious, immediate hurdle. For young Soe-In, the "once upon a time"-hero in Hanna Cha's delightful debut picture book, Tiny Feet Between the Mountains, her smallness even determined...

Silence of the Chagos by Shenaz Patel, translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman [in Booklist]

15 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Fiction, Indian African, Repost, South Asian, Translation

Forced expulsions have long been part of man’s history, motivated by politics, prejudice, geography, human-made disasters, and natural forces. Virtually unknown is the full-scale eviction of the Chagossians, a Creole-speaking native ethnic group with African and Asian ancestry, from Diego Garcia, the largest island in...

Parade: A Folktale by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Allison Markin Powell [in Booklist]

14 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW The presentation is exquisite: slightly smaller than a single hand, Hiromi Kawakami’s spare text is interrupted by Takako Yoshitomi’s delightful two-color illustrations of mostly geometric shapes with anthropomorphized additions. Subtitled “A Folktale,” these less-than-100 pages easily stand alone as a parable about memory, mythic...

There’s Something about Sweetie by Sandhya Menon [in Booklist]

11 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Vikas Adam has deservedly earned the title of Sandhya Menon’s male voice of choice, assuming hero status in all her titles thus far. He affably returns here as Ashish, the younger brother of Rishi from When Dimple Met Rishi (2017), and he’s about to get a Bollywood-worthy romance of...

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi [in Booklist]

10 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Repost

Both the title and characters Gretel and Hansel might lead readers to make assumptions about Oyeyemi’s latest. Fairy tales fueled her Boy, Snow, Bird and Mr. Fox, and familiarly fantastical places, creatures, and themes abound here, too, although readers will also notice the easy weaving...

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay [in Booklist]

09 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Filipina/o, Filipina/o American, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Until his cousin Jun was murdered, Jay thought little of his Filipino heritage. A Michigan senior headed to university in the fall, Jay’s been on auto-pilot for most of his 17 years. Similar in age, Jun and Jay stayed avid pen pals after childhood...

The Matchmaker’s List by Sonya Lalli [in Booklist]

08 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

At 29, Raina’s known true love, but also debilitating heartbreak when happily-ever-after didn’t happen. Still single, she reluctantly agrees to meet the men of her grandmother’s choosing. Not that her family is particularly marriageable: Nani seemed more servant than partner to Raina’s late grandfather, her...

Love from A to Z by S. K. Ali [in Booklist]

07 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Arab American, Audio, Canadian, Fiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

In an unusual narrative structure, S. K. Ali (Saints and Misfits, 2017) inserts herself directly into her latest #OwnVoices Muslim rom-com, making her aural debut. She opens by introducing two teens intrigued with “marvels” and “oddities” – whose alternating journal entries follow – then intervenes...

Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration by Bryan Caplan, illustrated by Zach Weinersmith [in Booklist]

04 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Borders, walls, detention camps, caged children ...

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors [The Rajes series, Book 1] by Sonali Dev [in Booklist]

03 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Lauded for sweeping Bollywood-esque multicultural family dramas, Sonali Dev debuts an Austen-inspired series starring the Indian royalty-descended, Northern California-established Raje family. Her first installment riffs on P&P with an added gender mix-and-match. Second Raje daughter Trisha is an extraordinary Stanford neurosurgeon, but her personal relationships have...

The Moose of Ewenki by Gerelchimeg Blackcrane, illustrated by Jiu Er, translated by Helen Mixter [in Shelf Awareness]

02 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Chinese, Fiction, Mongolian, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW From the Reindeer Ewenki people of remote, mountainous Inner Mongolia comes a glorious tale about an aging hunter and the baby moose that followed him home. During an all-night hunting trip, Gree Shek killed a moose, not knowing she had calved out of season....

A Place to Belong by Cynthia Kadohata [in Booklist]

01 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW From ages eight to 12, Hanako lived in prison: She was one of 120,000 majority Americans of Japanese descent imprisoned during WWII by Executive Order 9066. “[N]ow that she was kind of free ...

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson [in Shelf Awareness]

30 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Families of the particularly dysfunctional variety seem to be Kevin Wilson's forte, whether artistically constructed as in The Family Fang or experimentally psychological as in Perfect Little World. Despite a sense of head-shaking impossibility, Wilson somehow manages to make his make-believe believable – in between the inappropriate laughing...

Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno [in Booklist]

29 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Cuban American, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Despite calling the small coastal community of Port Coral ‘home,’ Rosa has always avoided the water. She – and maybe the rest of the town – believes she’s been cursed by tragedy, since both her grandfather and father drowned as young men. Raised mostly by...

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, adapted and illustrated by Kristina Gehrmann, translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger [in Shelf Awareness]

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

Despite the gruesome images depicting the workings of Chicago slaughterhouses and meatpacking factories in the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, Kristina Gehrmann's graphic adaptation is a surprisingly gentler, kinder read than Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel. Credited with inciting the public outcry...

Five More to Go: Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King [in The Booklist Reader]

26 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Biography, Black/African American, Fiction, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste Maaza Mengiste’s indelible debut, Beneath the Lion’s Gate (2010), put Ethiopian historical fiction on countless best-of, must-read, and award lists. Her monumental new novel draws inspiration from her great-grandmother, who as the eldest – and in Mulan-style! – answered Emperor...

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal [in Shelf Awareness]

25 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Nonfiction, Repost

While Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story is recommended for audiences ages 3 to 6, it's undoubtedly a book that will last on shelves well into readers' double digits. Kevin Noble Maillard – co-editor of Loving v. Virginia in a Post-Racial World, Syracuse University law professor and...

The Farm by Joanne Ramos [in Booklist]

24 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Filipina/o American, Repost, Southeast Asian American

*STARRED REVIEW New mother Jane is a struggling Filipina immigrant desperate to do the best for her daughter. Jane’s older cousin Ate has worked tirelessly for decades to provide for her children on the other side of the world. Mae, born to a Chinese immigrant father...

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