BookDragon BookDragon Tag

The Drops of God (vol. 4) by Tadashi Agi, illustrated by Shu Okimoto, translated by Maya Rosewood

19 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

No oenophile am I, but I sure am addicted to this delicious new series. To catch up to this latest volume which hits shelves today, be sure to click here. The elusive chase continues between faux-siblings, Shizuku Kanzaki and his just-recently-adopted brother Issei Tomine, to identify...

People Are Strange: Stories by Eric Gamalinda

18 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Filipina/o, Filipina/o American, Short Stories, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American

Eric Gamalinda and I overlapped in New York City in the 1990s, when I knew (of) him more as a poet. I should know better (blame it on youth!) than to label him by genre, because clearly Gamalinda is a multi-faceted writer (as well as a playwright,...

Heroes for My Daughter by Brad Meltzer

17 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Biography, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

What an ideal post for today ...

The Red Chamber by Pauline A. Chen [in Library Journal]

15 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost, Taiwanese American

The 2,500-page, 18th-century classic, Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin, is regarded as China’s most important work of fiction. Pauline A. Chen (Peiling and the Chicken-Fried Christmas, for middle-grade readers) tackles the daunting task of adapting the revered original text, and her literary...

Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City by Dung Kai-cheung, translated by Dung Kai-cheung, Anders Hansson, and Bonnie S. McDougall [in Library Journal]

15 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Fiction, Repost, Translation

First published in 1997 – as an indirect response to the Hong Kong handover – Atlas marks Hong Kong native Dung’s English debut in translation. A self-described “verbal collection of maps” imagines the reclamation of a future city of Victoria (Hong Kong) through maps, memories,...

Getting Married and Other Mistakes by Barbara Slate

12 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific

I’ve been sitting on this fabulously fun title (which pubs today) for a while because I was afraid of even remotely jinxing a recent wedding (and what a gorgeous event it was for the perfectly matched couple, the young groom being one of my favorite...

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

10 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction

Two-thirds of the way through Julian Barnes' novel, which won the latest coveted Man Booker Prize, the protagonist's ex-wife quietly tells him, "'Tony, you're on your own now.'" Indeed, Tony Webster – middle-aged, retired, divorced (albeit rather amicably), his only child immersed with her own family – is seemingly...

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

09 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

Well, of course, Wendelin Van Draanen is a runner ...

Jinchalo by Matthew Forsythe

08 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Canadian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Korean, Young Adult Readers

By no means is Jinchalo your conventional manga/manwha/graphic work. Not to be going around in circles, but its title – which, in Korean, means something akin to 'really?' 'is that for real?' – works rather appropriately as a response to experiencing this adventure ...

Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti by Frances Temple

07 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Caribbean, Fiction, Haitian, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

If Youme's Sélavi, That is Life: A Haitian Story of Hope is a picture book for the youngest readers, then Taste of Salt is surely its companion title for older children and parents alike. The real-life Lanfami Sélavi – Jean-Bertrand Aristide's refuge for homeless children founded in 1986 – is...

Reel Cuisine: Blockbuster Dishes from the Silver Screen by Nami Iijima, photography by Elina Yamasaki

06 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Japanese, Nonethnic-specific, Translation

This cookbook is probably the most unusual little collection I've ever come across ...

between shades of gray by Ruta Sepetys

05 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Russian, Young Adult Readers

First of all, please do not confuse this spectacular title with that OTHER Shades of Grey. Not that any comparison is even merited, but gray – notice spelling difference – hit shelves more than a year before Grey (March 2011 vs. April 2012), and gray is indisputably...

Lulu in the Sky: A Daughter of Cambodia Finds Love, Healing, and Double Happiness by Loung Ung + Author Interview [in Bookslut]

04 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Cambodian, Cambodian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Young Adult Readers

When I recently met Loung Ung in person at one of her Washington, DC readings, we were the lone Asian women in the room. Yes, get ready with your "uh-oh." Within minutes, a random stranger asked if Ung and I were sisters. Surprisingly, I behaved...

The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays edited by Tara L. Masih, with an introduction by David Mura [in Bookslut]

04 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

As much as I enjoy collections populated by multiple contributors, I have yet to finish a multi-writer title in which every chapter from cover to cover is of memorable quality. That said, The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays, edited by Tara L. Masih, featuring 20...

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

03 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

For a couple of days, I went back and forth with The Snow Child stuck in my ears (which the inimitable Debra Monk  – one of my favorite stage actors ever! – happens to narrate, oh wow!) and reading Ruta Sepetys' between shades of gray on the page...

Avatar: The Last Airbender | The Promise (Parts One and Two) created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, script by Gene Luen Yang, art by Gurihiru, lettering by Michael Heisler

01 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Chinese American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Young Adult Readers

Reacting to the final page with 'oh, crud' is actually a good thing, especially if it's something like 'OH, CRUD ...

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler

31 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Chinese, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

Peter Hessler and I started out in the wrong voice – literally. I stuck River Town (the first of Hessler's "China Trilogy," made up of River Town, Oracle Bones, and Country Driving) in my ears and nearly threw the iPod off the cliffs in the first half...

Sélavi, That is Life: A Haitian Story of Hope by Youme, with an essay by Edwidge Danticat

29 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Caribbean, Caribbean American, Children/Picture Books, Haitian, Haitian American, Nonfiction

The first thing you need to know is that this story is real. And although it was first published eight years ago – and six years before the tragic January 12, 2010 Haitian earthquake – Sélavi is an even more urgent call for help for Haiti's children. A...

The Drops of God (vols. 1-3) by Tadashi Agi, illustrated by Shu Okimoto, translated by Kate Robinson

26 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

I'm the first to admit that I'm no oenophile, in spite of the years we lived in Northern California when we wandered the wineries of Napa, Sonoma, and even the tiny boutique arbors scattered through the Santa Cruz Mountains (the Loma Prieta earthquake on October...

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel

24 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Short Stories, Translation

Another confession: While recently listening to Rupert Degas narrate parts of Hari Kunzru's Gods without Men, I got such a nostalgic pang to hear Degas read Haruki Murakami (after experiencing A Wild Sheep Chase, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and select stories from The Elephant Vanishes thus far in Degas'...