BookDragon Archives - Page 142 of 230

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang

25 May, by SIBookDragon in Chinese American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers

Talk about timing ...

Warp Speed by Lisa Yee

23 May, by SIBookDragon in Chinese American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

Here's proof that your questions really make a difference, at least to the imaginative Lisa Yee: "On one of her many school visits, a reader asked what happened to Marley from Stanford Wong, which inspired her to tell his story here," Yee's "About the Author" end-page...

Vatos | poem by Luis Alberto Urrea, photographs by José Galvez

22 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Latina/o/x, Nonfiction, Poetry, Young Adult Readers

Luis Alberto Urrea's "hymn to vatos who will never be in a poem" provides the lyrical frame onto which Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer José Galvez showcases the everyday challenges and celebrations of the Latino experience. This slightly sepia-ed homage to masculinity-on-the-fringe was a 2002 Quick Pick...

Netherland by Joseph O’Neill

21 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, British, European, Fiction, South Asian, Turkish

To reduce this rich, complicated, multi-layered story into a few sentences seems almost disrespectful ...

I Have the Right to Destroy Myself by Young-ha Kim, translated by Chi-Young Kim

20 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Translation

In densely populated Seoul, a mysterious man makes a lucrative living by helping "clients" commit suicide. He’s not exactly Dr. Death Kevorkian offering physically depleted bodies reprieve; instead he has a special talent for finding lost, disconnected souls ready to leave behind their unfulfilling existence...

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol

18 May, by SIBookDragon in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Russian American, Young Adult Readers

Unhappily distracted on her walk home – her immigrant mother's fatty cooking, her growing body, her less-than-ideal only friend, her unrequited love for the school jock, her disdain for that other Russian immigrant with whom she has absolutely nothing in common, no FOB is she! – Anya falls...

Dear Zari: Hidden Stories from Women of Afghanistan by Zarghuna Kargar

17 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Afghan, British, Memoir, Nonfiction

"'I hope other people – particularly women – listen to these stories and become kinder to their own sex,'" a woman laments, her life made unbearable by her female in-laws who condemn her because she literally flushed away the evidence of her virginal blood. "'I don't understand...

The Paradise Bird Tattoo (or, Attempted Double-Suicide) by Choukitsu Kurumatani, translated by Kenneth J. Bryson [in Library Journal]

16 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

A major Japanese prize-winning book (Naoki, 1998) and film (Akame shijūya taki shinjū misui, 2003; in English, Akame 48 Waterfalls), Paradise is an unflinching meditation on late-20th-century disconnection. Middle-aged Ikushima, once again a self-described “corpse” in shoes and suit, recalls his drifting life 12 years ago: after...

Carpe Diem by Autumn Cornwell

15 May, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Southeast Asian, Young Adult Readers

Vassar Spore is every Tiger Mother's dream come true. At 16, she's got her entire overachieving life perfectly planned out with the unwavering support of two control-driven-but-nurturing parents. The three seamlessly work together toward Vassar's goals: a 5.3 GPA – the new 4.0; a degree with...

The Other by David Guterson

14 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

I could cry over The Other. And not tears of the 'I'm so gratefully happy'-variety, alas; I'm talking truly disappointed waterworks. David Guterson writes quietly wrenching novels, including his bestselling Snow Falling on Cedars, and later East of the Mountains, which I actually found more effecting. The Other, too,...

The Grand Plan to Fix Everything by Uma Krishnaswami, illustrated by Abigail Halpin

13 May, by SIBookDragon in Fiction, Indian, Indian African, Middle Grade Readers, South Asian, South Asian American

My first reaction a few chapters into Uma Krishnaswami's latest middle-grade romp of a novel was, 'Take me, take me! I wanna move to Swapnagiri, too!' Dini and her family's South Indian adventures hadn't even started yet, and I was ready to pack my bags...

The Keep by Jennifer Egan

11 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

My contrary self is taking me through Jennifer Egan's oeuvre backwards, having started earlier this year with her latest, A Visit from the Goon Squad, just before she deservedly won both the 2011 National Book Critics Circle Award and 2011 Pulitzer for fiction. First things first about Egan's...

Level Up by Gene Luen Yang, art by Thien Pham

10 May, by SIBookDragon in Chinese American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

National Book Award-finalist Gene Luen Yang's latest title is a collaboration with a fellow high school teacher Thien Pham: their obviously convivial partnership is evident even before their comic begins. "Dedicated to our brothers Jon and Thinh, both of whom work in the medical field,...

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

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

Confession: Every once in a while, I do actually read mass-market bestsellers. I'll even admit this is my second Dan Brown – had to see what all the hubbub about The Da Vinci Code was about! Am still rolling my eyes over that one (egads! as if names...

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

08 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x

Having read Luis Alberto Urrea's unforgettable Border Trilogy, I began the audible version of this novel that highlights illegal immigration with some trepidation. Alas, Urrea doesn't narrate this title; and although it's read with effective gusto by Susan Ericksen, I've gotten used to Urrea's flow, having...

The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif

07 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Arab, Egyptian, Fiction

If, like me, you don't like to know the whole story before you read the book (!!), then skip the family tree in these opening pages. Don't even glance at it. You can always go back to it after. Ahdaf Soueif's 1999 Booker Prize shortlister (J. M. Coetzee took...

Orchards by Holly Thompson, illustrations by Grady McFerrin

06 May, by SIBookDragon in Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Poetry, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Holly Thompson’s novel-in-verse begins with a jarring slam: "One week after / you stuffed a coil of rope / into your backpack / and walked uphill into / Osgoods' orchard / where blooms were still closed fists // my father looked up summer airfares to...

No Biking in the House Without a Helmet by Melissa Fay Greene [in Christian Science Monitor]

04 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, European, Jewish, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

As her children grow, author Melissa Fay Greene decides to extend parenthood by adopting five more You just know that a book’s going to be good if you’ve already guffawed and the type has started to blur (even though you’re trying not to get overly emotional)...

Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China by Guy Delisle, translated by Helge Dascher

03 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Canadian, Chinese, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonfiction, Translation

The year is 1997 when Guy Delisle journeyed to Shenzhen, an industrial city in southern China, to oversee a production project for his French animation employer. His China gig would follow with another outsourced animation project that would lead to his Pyongyang: A Journey in North...

Author Interview: Jenny Han [in Bookslut]

02 May, by SIBookDragon in Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Korean American, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Young Adult Readers

In case you were unsure, that’s Jenny Han as in “Han Solo,” not Han as in “hand.” Befitting of the bestselling young adult author that she is, she can recite all the dialogue from the cult film Clueless, and she gladly admits her adoration for...

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