Operation Monsoon by Shona Ramaya [in AsianWeek]
26 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian, South Asian American
A striking, original collection of multi-layered short stories about life caught between the old and modern, between expectations and hopes, between dreams and reality. The opening story, “Gopal’s Kitchen,” is especially poignant about a...
Eleven essays capture almost a half-century of Nobel Prize-winning Naipaul’s literary life. The final essay, “Two Worlds,” which he begins and ends by invoking Proust, is the lecture he gave when accepting the Nobel...
The long-awaited debut novel by the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, begins in 1968 with newlyweds-by-arrangement Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli living in Cambridge, Mass. They name their first child Gogol,...
In another British import of a debut novel, Manicka draws from her own history to create a family saga of four generations and 70 years. At the family’s core is its matriarch, Lakshmi, who...
Hong Kingston’s much awaited new book begins with the calamitous fires in the Oakland-Berkeley hills of October 1991 that strike as she is driving home from her father’s funeral –...
Capturing her rollicking journey through India’s phenomenal Bollywood industry, journalist Hardy recounts the glitz and glitter of stars, their starlets, directors and various groupies as she searches for elusive pretty-boy, mega heartthrob Hrithik Roshan.
Review:...
What might be considered a companion collection to 
A runaway bestseller in its native Britain and quickly climbing the charts on this side of the pond, Ali’s assured debut novel follows the life of Bangladeshi-born Nazneen, who arrives at age 18 in...
One of the three newest additions to the Girls of Many Lands series [click 
In his excitement over building his new kite, young Ping-Li flies his creation unfinished. The emperor of the sky tells Ping-Li his unpainted, undecorated kite is the most boring in the sky, so Ping-Li...
A touching story about an immigrant Muslim family of five from Egypt, which shows details from their everyday lives. The book is especially relevant now, in order to expose young readers to...
Born Hiranyagabha Chakraborti in 1857 during the time of the Indian Mutiny (when Indians rebelled against the ruling British) on the same day of his father’s death, Hiran (as he comes to be called)...
Her Bum Is on Fire: Jessica Hagedorn debuts with her latest novel
After years of chatting on the phone and sending various e-mails back and forth, I finally got the chance to meet writer extraordinaire...
Read Different. Read Vertical.
So there seems to be two basic types of readers of Japanese fiction: those who revere the classic writers like Kawabata, Tanizaki, Ōe, and maybe Mishima with an occasional contemporary foray into Haruki...
Living in the Space of 'In-Between': In any language, author Yoko Tawada is easily understood
If I wanted to make my mother truly proud, I would finally complete either of the...
Building Character: Susan Choi re-emerges with her second novel, American Woman
In many ways, Susan Choi’s life has been a series of unpremeditated choices. “I didn’t set out to bring my life into line with...
Forget your stereotypical visions of the meek and timid Japanese housewife who waits for her salaryman husband with slippers in hand and dinner on the table. Meet Masako and her fellow night-shift food processing plant co-workers...
The woman who inspired the Taj Mahal had all but been lost to history until Sundaresan recreated her in her historical novel The Twentieth Wife, released earlier this year in paperback. Sundaresan...
The follow-up to the award-winning A Bridge Between Us, Shigekuni's newest novel tells the haunting story of Lily Soto, a young Japanese American woman who appears to have the perfect life with her adoring...
An intriguing collection of interviews with one of the most brilliant minds today. Originally broadcast on KGNU in Boulder, Colo., the interviews cover such topics as the so-called peace process, the 2000...