BookDragon

Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee – A Look Inside North Korea by Jang Jin-Sung, translated by Shirley Lee

05 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Korean, Memoir, Nonfiction, North Korean, Translation

While the majority of the nonfiction books about North Korea have focused on the extreme deprivation and unbearable suffering of the common citizen – for example, labor camps and slave children born to prisoners in Blaine Harden's Escape from Camp 14, numerous "ordinary lives" in Barbara Demick's...

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro [in Christian Science Monitor]

03 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British, British Asian, Fiction, Repost

The Buried Giant – the much anticipated seventh novel of Kazuo Ishiguro – does not disappoint The first question readers will most likely be asking about Kazuo Ishiguro’s seventh novel, The Buried Giant, will be, “Is it worth the decade-long wait?” The short answer is a...

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

02 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Indian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, South Asian American

Ah finally, I'm fully caught up with the good doc, having read each of Atul Gawande’s four bestsellers in published order. And how grateful am I to have followed through so methodically, because all that 'homework' certainly made this, his latest, an even fuller read. Here's...

Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger

01 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

These days, too many young folks know little of life before smart phones enabled virtual instant access. Last century – in the 1990s, that is – something called 'zines' gave voice to angry young voices ...

With the Might of Angels: The Diary of Dawnie Rae Johnson, Hadley, Virginia, 1954 by Andrea Davis Pinkney

28 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

On the morning of her 12th birthday, Dawnie Rae Johnson – named for the new day rising when she was born – wakes to find a surprise under her pillow: a diary made by her 8-year-old brother Goober. The year will turn out to be crucial, not...

My Neighbor Seki [Tonari no Seki-Kun] (vol. 1) by Takuma Morishige, translated by Yoshito Hinton

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

Okay, so parents might not be so thrilled about dealing with classroom distractions, but when this much imagination is involved, sometimes tossing rules and regulations aside can be very conducive to learning – in less traditional ways. Not that I'm encouraging this sort of behavior, ahem! Meet Seki....

Discontent and Its Civilizations: Dispatches from Lahore, New York, and London by Mohsin Hamid [in Christian Science Monitor]

26 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British, British Asian, Memoir, Nonfiction, Pakistani, Repost, South Asian

'Civilization and its Discontents' highlights the intertwined Pakistani, British, and American roots of Mohsin Hamid Thanks to Haruki Murakami, we won't have to wait as long for Mohsin Hamid’s future novels. Hamid's acclaimed first two, Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist, took seven years each. His...

Author Interview: Thrity Umrigar [in Bloom]

25 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

I was bad. I couldn’t keep up with my chaotic new year and kept missing deadlines. Thrity Umrigar got so fed up, she basically said, “This happens now, or not at all.” So you better believe I got my act together long enough for one...

Ruby by Cynthia Bond

24 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction

How surprised was I to hear earlier this month that Oprah's latest Book Club 2.0 pick just happened to be on my iPod! I suppose the fact that I always have no fewer than a couple dozen books on my phone at all times makes...

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar + Author Profile [in Bloom]

23 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Author Interview/Profile, Black/African American, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

Thrity Umrigar: “It’s a good time to be a writer” Perhaps I shouldn’t admit so blatantly to literary-personality preferences, but I must confess here: Thrity Umrigar is my very favorite person to run into at (dreaded) literary conferences. I know from experience how irreverently entertaining she can...

I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina 1865 by Joyce Hansen

22 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

For Patsy, literacy began "as a joke." On the Davis Plantation in South Carolina in the 1860s, Mistress Davis’ niece Annie told her aunt, "'We are only playing at school ...

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

21 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction

It's on top of all the bestseller lists on both sides of the Pond and far beyond, as well. You've seen it in every bookshop window. It's incessantly compared to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. Dreamworks already claimed it for the big screen last year even before it hit...

Prophecy (vols. 1-2) by Tetsuya Tsutsui, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian

20 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

His user name is "paperboy_1878." He rents booths at various Pit Boy internet café branches. He wears a newspaper mask that covers his whole head and a t-shirt with a smart phone screen. He posts video warnings. And then he carries out his own vigilante...

The Olive Tree by Elsa Marston, illustrated by Claire Ewart

18 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Lebanese, Middle Eastern, Nonethnic-specific

"For many years the house next to Sameer's had stood empty ...

Henshin by Ken Niimura, edited by Yumetaro Toyoda, translated by Ivy Yukiko Ishihara Oldford

13 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

If you're already a manga/anime aficionado, feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph. If this is the first time you're hearing the titular word, henshin, then stay with me for a few lines. In Japanese – 変身 – the characters literally mean "change" and "body," respectively, and...

47 by Walter Mosley

12 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

February marks African American Heritage Month. Do you know where your books are? I've been picking up older, missed titles the last couple of weeks, and discovering some unique treasures, especially those that highlight unusual or lesser-known historical experiences. Stay tuned for more ...

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

11 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Indian American, Nonfiction, South Asian American

In order to give myself permission to read the latest bestseller by Rhodes Scholar/surgeon/professor/MacArthur “Genius”/New Yorker/TED-anointed Dr. Atul Gawande (and yes, all his books are lauded, importantly nominated, finalist-ed, awarded bestsellers), I decided I had to first finish his previous titles in order. What might sound a bit like unnecessary pressure just to...

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

10 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Children/Picture Books, European, Nonfiction

For someone who uses a thesaurus incessantly, I was shocked to realize how little I knew of Peter Mark Roget. The Right Word is just the right discovery! At age 8, Roget began writing his first book, simply titled Peter, Mark, Roget. His Book: "instead of writing stories,...

The Accidental Apprentice by Vikas Swarup

09 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian, South Asian

Trust me, you're just going to have to go with the impossible premise right up front. If you need a little help, you can choose to go audible, because expert narrator Sneha Mathan will surely help you believe. Go ahead, check your doubts: you'll be amply rewarded by career diplomat...

My Love Story!! (vols. 1-2) by Kazune Kawahara, illustrated by Aruko, translated by JN Productions, English adaptation by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane

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

Valentine's Day is already next week: let this sweet reminder of young love inspire your own heartfelt plans. Takeo and Sunakawa have been best friends and neighbors forever. As close as they are, they couldn't be more different: Takeo is a boisterous, gentle giant with as large a...

BookDragon Books for the Diverse Reader