BookDragon Archives - Page 122 of 230

The Drops of God: New World by Tadashi Agi, illustrated by Shu Okimoto, translated by Vertical, Inc.

21 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

I must confess that I've been loathe to post about this latest volume of The Drops of God – an intoxicating, ongoing race between faux-siblings to identify 13 bottles of phenomenal wines (“The Twelve Apostles,” plus the eponymous “Drops of God”) as chosen by their late legendary...

Suddenly, a Knock on the Door by Etgar Keret, translated by Miriam Shlesinger, Sondra Silverston, and Nathan Englander

20 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Israeli, Short Stories, Translation

In spite of quite the impressive creative output including on the page (books, graphic novels, articles) and on celluloid (as both writer and director), I discovered Etgar Keret because of a house – the narrowest house (four feet at its widest!) in the world, wedged...

Tune | Book 1: Vanishing Point by Derek Kirk Kim

19 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Korean American, Young Adult Readers

At 18, Andy Go "had life all figured out," but then so much for best-laid plans: "None of it came true, of course. Not a single damn thing." One morning he wakes fully clothed on his bed, in his room, in his (parents') house ...

Mimi’s Village: And How Basic Health Care Transformed It by Katie Smith Milway, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

18 Dec, by SIBookDragon in African, Canadian, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific

When Mimi and her little sister Nakkissi go to fetch the family's water from the stream one hot day, Mimi does something she knows she shouldn't: she realizes that tired Nakkissi can't walk all the way home without a drink, so she gives her "two handfuls...

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

17 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples

"Just yesterday a white guy asked me if I was a real Indian. No, I said, Columbus made a mistake. The Indians are in India." Presented as humor during a community festival, the deep irony remains striking throughout Louise Erdrich's award-winning, bestselling books that explore...

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (vol. 13) by Eiji Otsuka, art by Housui Yamazaki, translated by Toshifumi Yoshida, edited by Carl Gustav Horn

16 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

For someone who eschews horror films, I sure am addicted to (certain) scary manga. Devoted groupie that I am for the Kurosagi team, I just hope the series isn't ending anytime soon! For anyone new to the series, rather than starting at (unlucky) #13, might...

Count Me In! A Parade of Mexican Folk Art Numbers in English and Spanish by Cynthia Weill, illustrated with ceramics by the Aguilar Sisters: Guillermina, Josefina, Irene, and Concepción

15 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Latin American, Latina/o/x, Mexican, Mexican American, Nonethnic-specific

Come one, come all: the Guelaguetza festival is about to begin. Guelaguetza means ‘to share’ in the Zapotec language, and every July, the people of Oaxaca, Mexico gather to ‘guelaguetza’ their dancing, singing, and music. One man with a balloon announces the welcoming parade has...

Paradise Kiss (vols. 1-2) by Ai Yazawa, translated by Vertical, Inc.

14 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have spent all my time studying and done all the things I really wanted to do,” thinks Yukari Hayasaka, dramatically believing she’s about to die. As a diligent 18-year-old preparing for high school final exams, her academic goals have thus...

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich

12 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples

Only when Louise Erdrich won this year's National Book Award for The Round House, did I learn that House is the middle of a planned trilogy that begins with The Plague of Doves which, most serendipitously, was already loaded on my iPod. A bit of...

Sumo by Thien Pham

10 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

Last seen on bookshelves sharing cover credit with National Book Award-finalist Gene Luen Yang on Yang's latest, Level Up, Thien Pham makes his solo debut with this slim heartbreaking-to-heart-recovering tale across continents and cultures. "What am I doing here," Scott wonders as he wakes to another...

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

09 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

OMG. Think gruesome wreck you can't turn away from and you probably won't even get close to the horrors of Gillian Flynn's debut novel, which pubbed six years before her mega-breakout Gone Girl, which is currently turning up on new major 'best-of' lists daily. So freaked out...

Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns by John Green and Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

08 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

Runners/walkers/movers: in case you ever wondered – yes, a gluttonous John Green-binge stuck in the ears really makes the miles fly by (public displays of sudden, extreme emotion notwithstanding). I began backwards with the latest of the JG-oeuvre, the incomparable, luminous The Fault in Our...

I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941 by Lauren Tashis, illustrated by Scott Dawson

07 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Fiction, Hawaiian, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific

Today – December 7, 2012 – is the 71st anniversary of the "date which will live in infamy," as named by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in describing the assault on the Pearl Harbor Naval Base and launching the United States into World War II. That the attackers...

Nighttime Ninja by Barbara DaCosta, illustrated by Ed Young

06 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

The draw here (couldn't resist, ahem!) is the ever-spectacular art of Caldecott Medal-winner Ed Young, this time using "cut paper, textured cloth, string, and colored pencil" to give dramatic motion to Barbara DaCosta's debut kiddie title. As the clock strikes midnight and everyone sleeps, the nighttime ninja climbs,...

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger

05 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Bangladeshi, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

Here's my 'why-I-read-this-book-scenario': a 21st-century equivalent to the mail-order bride from Bangladesh, her middle-class white American engineer sponsor hubby, the suburban New York life they attempt to share ...

Hands Around the Library: Protecting Egypt’s Treasured Books by Susan L. Roth and Karen Leggett Abouraya, illustrated by Susan L. Roth

04 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Egyptian, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

Surely this deserves some sort of supreme irony award: Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's recently ousted president, was one of the leading champions of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, completed in 2002 where the greatest library of the ancient world – the original Library of Alexandria – once stood some 2300 years ago....

Publisher Interview: Sunyoung Lee and Kaya Press [in Bookslut]

03 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Chinese American, Fiction, Japanese American, Korean American, Pan-Asian, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Poetry, Repost, Translation

Early this year, at almost 18 years old, Kaya Press flew the nest. Leaving behind the comfort and familiarity of New York's publishing world, the non-profit indie specializing in "books from the Asian diaspora," moved offices across the country to Los Angeles. Now comfortably ensconced...

Captain Long Ears by Diana Thung

02 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Australian, Australian Asian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Indonesian, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

So enthralled by Diana Thung's August Moon earlier this week, I immediately ordered Captain (her first and only other title thus far), and was delightfully tickled to find a blurb on the back cover from Gene Luen Yang (of first-ever National Book Award graphic novel finalist-fame for American Born Chinese): "Goofy and endearing...

Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America by David H.T. Wong

30 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Canadian Asian Pacific American, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Canadian eco-architect David H.T. Wong's debut defies simple categorization: while clearly a graphic work for younger readers (much of the language is soooo totally tweenage vernacular), Escape covers some 200 years of history through the fictional story of a Chinese Canadian American family, also named Wong, whose experiences...

The Rose Hotel: A True-Life Novel by Rahimeh Andalibian

29 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Iranian, Iranian American, Memoir

In the genre of memoirs (which includes based-on-a-true-story, autobiographical novels), I've noticed two distinct categories: the titles you read for the importance of the story, and the memoirs that also turn out to be fabulous examples of great literature. Psychologist Rahimeh Andalibian's writing debut represents the former;...

BookDragon BookDragon Tag