BookDragon

The Delight of Being Ordinary: A Road Trip with the Pope and the Dalai Lama by Roland Merullo [in Booklist]

05 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Italian, Repost, Tibetan

Once adventurous Paolo de Padova has aged into the cautious first assistant to his cousin, the pope. Just before the Dalai Lama’s Vatican visit, His Holiness asks Paolo for a nearly impossible favor: to plan “an unofficial vacation” that includes the Dalai Lama. Initially Paolo thinks...

what did you eat yesterday? (vol. 11) by Fumi Yoshinaga, translated by Jocelyne Allen

03 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Oh, how I've missed my favorite Tokyo lovebirds! Not to mention the chance to salivate over their too-toothsome meals. If only they'd invite me over! If you're just tuning in to this tasty domestic drama, make sure to click here to catch up. Shiro's already well-stocked...

Stop North Korea! A Radical New Approach to the North Korean Standoff by Shepherd Iverson

01 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Korean, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, North Korean, Repost

Korean studies professor Shepherd Iverson, who describes his eight-year residency in South Korea as having “gone native,” promises a “monograph ...

The Harlem Charade by Natasha Tarpley [in Shelf Awareness]

28 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Black/African American, Fiction, Korean American, Middle Grade Readers, Repost

Twelve-year-old Jin Yi records "interesting moments and details" in her memory notebook while watching customers shop in her Korean American family's Harlem bodega: "[P]eople will tell you their stories in the way that they move, how their faces look, how they speak." Observing turns to...

The Impossible Fairy Tale by Han Yujoo, translated by Janet Hong [in Booklist]

27 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Repost, Translation

Making her American debut in translation, Korean writer Han presents a spare novel in two distinct parts seemingly set 15 years apart. Part 1 focuses on two children among 35 fifth-grade students as a new year begins in March 1998 (Korean schools restart in spring). Mia...

Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty by Ramona Ausubel [in Library Journal]

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

Once upon a time, Fern and Edgar were impoverished young rebels in love, proving their independence from the vast wealth of their respective families. Eventually, as their own children arrived, they settled into their roles as a "son and daughter of ease and plenty" in...

American Street by Ibi Zoboi [in Shelf Awareness]

23 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Black/African American, Caribbean, Caribbean American, Fiction, Haitian, Haitian American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Arriving with her mother from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, at Kennedy Airport, "holding hands for courage," 17-year-old Fabiola Toussaint, a U.S. citizen by birth, is ushered through Customs while immigration officials detain Manman. Fabiola is forced to leave her behind in New York, and lands alone in...

White Tears by Hari Kunzru [in Booklist]

22 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, British Asian, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Two young white men from disparate, dysfunctional family backgrounds meet in college, bond over an obsessive devotion to black music, and create an in-demand production studio in Brooklyn. Their pièce de résistance is a clever hoax: an outdoor recording of a singer that’s remixed to...

Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang + Author Interview [in Bloom]

21 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost

Ever since she was a child, Janie Chang was steeped in family tales she inherited from her parents about the generations that came before. For decades, she remained the family’s repository until, at age 53, she presented the world with her debut novel, Three Souls,...

The Accusation by Bandi, translated by Deborah Smith [in Booklist]

15 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, North Korean, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Initially published in South Korea in 2014, The Accusation continues to make international history as the first literary work smuggled out of repressive North Korea, now headed for shelves around the world. Bandi – whose pseudonym is derived from firefly, an obvious nod to...

The Glorious Heresies by Gloria McInerney [in Library Journal]

14 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Irish, Repost

This may be Lisa McInerney’s debut novel, but the author has had plenty of practice chronicling daily life in her lauded blog, "Arse End of Ireland." Arriving stateside, already impressively awarded (2016 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction), Heresies melds wrenching reality with bitter comedy, taking...

The Devourers by Indra Das [in Library Journal]

13 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American

Equal parts romance, fairy tale, horror, history, travelog, and treatise on the transformative power of storytelling, Indra Das’s debut combines a dual narrative about the developing relationship between two strangers with a fantastical tale set seemingly long ago. One December evening in Kolkata, Alok, a history...

Ladivine by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump [in Library Journal]

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

Race, class, and identity all loom large in Marie NDiaye's (Three Strong Women) latest superb title as generations of mothers and daughters attempt to deny and reclaim one another with onerous consequences. The original Ladivine immigrates to France from an unnamed country, cleaning houses to...

Olive Witch by Abeer Y. Hoque [in Christian Science Monitor]

09 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Bangladeshi, Bangladeshi American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American

'Olive Witch' is the memoir of an outsider on a quest for belonging “bow echo,” the very first words of Abeer Y. Hoque’s raw, unblinking, urgent-in-these-times memoir, Olive Witch, is an easy-to-miss clue. Followed by a temperature (73°F) and what looks like a diary entry, the...

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron [in Library Journal]

08 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW A full decade has passed since William Styron (Sophie's Choice, The Confessions of Nat Turner, As I Lay Dying) died at 81 in 2006. He might have died 21 years earlier by suicide, but he escaped that "near-violent dénouement." With raw, unflinching openness, Styron shared...

LaRose by Louise Erdrich [in Library Journal]

07 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW In rural North Dakota, Landreaux and Ravich are friends and neighbors, further bound by their wives who are half sisters. With a single gunshot, their lives change forever, when Landreaux aims at a buck at the edge of a field bordering both properties and...

Music of the Ghosts by Vaddey Ratner [in Library Journal]

06 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Cambodian, Cambodian American, Fiction, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American

After nearly a quarter-century spent in Minnesota, Teera returns to her native Cambodia, fulfilling her aunt's dying wish that part of her ashes be delivered home. Having witnessed, decades earlier, the decimation of the rest of her family, Teera is now completely alone. She seeks the...

Unbecoming by Jenny Downham [in School Library Journal]

03 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Audio, British, Fiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Mary, Caroline, and Katie are three very different generations in the same family; finding themselves unexpectedly under the same roof forces them to confront a complicated past that has kept them estranged for decades. Mary is the grandmother, newly widowed, fighting the dementia that...

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid [in Library Journal]

02 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, British Asian, Fiction, Pakistani, Pakistani American, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American

*STARRED REVIEW "We are all migrants through time," observes Man Booker Prize short-lister Mohsin Hamid (The Reluctant Fundamentalist). The impulses driving such movement, especially when rooted in violent conflict, is at the core of Hamid's exceptional fourth novel. In an unnamed city (not unlike the author's native...

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