Booklist Archives - Page 18 of 39

Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan [in Booklist]

02 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Chinese American, European, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost, Singaporean, Singaporean American

Following the über-success of his three-part Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan returns with another over-the-top bestseller, this time contemporizing and diversifying E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View. Lydia Look, narrator for previous Kwan titles, ushers the characters through a (practically) royal East/West wedding in Capri, then a...

A Room Called Earth by Madeleine Ryan [in Booklist]

01 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Australian, Fiction, Repost

Madeleine Ryan’s novel covers less than 24 hours, but by book’s end, readers are left feeling remarkably bonded with this fiercely independent young woman who thinks, acts, and lives differently from the so-called norm. What actually happens over 300-plus pages is relatively minimal: she prepares...

Likes by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum [in Booklist]

31 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost, Short Stories

Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum’s (Ms. Hempel Chronicles, 2008) prowess here lies in her ingenious ability to elevate seemingly minor moments into the pivotal crux of a narrative. Take, for example, in “Julia and Sunny,” perhaps the most affecting of Bynum’s nine stories, “a small square of silky, pale blue material” that...

The Marriage Game by Sara Desai [in Booklist]

27 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

Soneela Nankani continues to grow her resume as the South Asian American rom-com narrator-of-choice, once again convincingly transforming truculently mismatched sparks into eternally burning flames. In Canadian Sara Desai’s debut, Nankani introduces sparring partners, Layla and Sam, suddenly forced to share a San Francisco office...

A World Between by Emily Hashimoto [in Booklist]

25 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Indian American, Japanese American, Repost

Eleanor and Leena meet in 2004 in a Boston college-dorm elevator. Eleanor is a hapa Californian – her mother is white, her father Japanese American. Leena’s traditionally immigrant Indian American family is a few towns over in Lowell. That fall semester is spent intensely falling,...

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine [in Booklist]

24 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW As early as age 8, Adrian Tomine (Killing and Dying) publicly announced exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up: “A famous cartoonist,” he told his Fresno class in 1982. He confused his teacher, who thought perhaps he aspired to be Walt...

Happiness Will Follow by Mike Hawthorne [in Booklist]

23 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Nonfiction, Puerto Rican, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Born Michael Anthony Hawthorne, his last name was “swiftly pilfered from [his] father” by his Puerto Rican mother “to keep [him] safe in ways she never was.” Yet surviving into adulthood was a near-superhuman feat: his single mother’s fierce love came with horrific stipulations...

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen [in Booklist]

17 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, South Asian American, Southeast Asian, Vietnamese, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW The magic happens here on every page, the perfection personified by debut author/artist Trung Le Nguyen’s autobiographical homage to the infinite power of storytelling. The opening page ingeniously distinguishes three interwoven narratives with three color palettes: red is the urgent now, about young Tiến...

The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata [in Booklist]

16 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Caribbean, Caribbean American, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost

Besides sharing a Dominican background with titular Adana Moreau, Coral Peña seems rather miscast for first-time novelist Michael Zapata’s predominantly male cast. Having made her notable aural debut (serendipitously!) with Angie Cruz’s lauded Dominicana (2019), Peña’s sophomore performance feels more determined than inspired. Zapata’s novel flows through...

Mujirushi: The Sign of Dreams by Naoki Urasawa, translated by John Werry [in Booklist]

13 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Kamoda can’t stop making detrimental decisions: dodging taxes results in losing the family’s sandals business, agreeing to mass-manufacture caricature masks of a U.S. presidential candidate (who looks surprisingly like Trump) takes everything else. Kamoda’s wife has already fled, leaving their daughter, Kasumi, as the only voice...

The Case of the Reincarnated Client: A Vish Puri Mystery by Tarquin Hall [in Booklist]

12 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Indian, Repost, South Asian

*STARRED REVIEW Nearly seven long, long years have passed since the eminent Vish Puri, India’s most private investigator, has had a high-profile case. Utmost gratitude gushes, not only for his return, but for Sam Dastor’s in the fifth title in Tarquin Hall’s delectable Delhi-based mystery series. This time,...

Moms by Yeong-shin Ma, translated by Janet Hong [in Booklist]

10 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Korean, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Experiencing the tedious difficulty of household chores, Yeong-shin Ma writes in his must-not-skip author’s note, is what made him “think more deeply about [his mother] and her life.” That empathic appreciation inspired him to present her with an expensive notebook, requesting, “If you want...

Spellbound: A Graphic Memoir by Bishakh Som [in Booklist]

07 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Indian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, South Asian American

Earlier this year, Bishakh Som debuted her dazzling graphic collection, Apsara Engine, the genesis of which is found here – inseparably entwined with Som’s own unique origin story. Som introduces herself in a narrative frame, bordering the memoir’s beginning and end: “I wanted to clue...

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi [in Booklist]

06 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

Following her spectacularly lauded, bestselling historical and ancestral debut, Homegoing (2016), Yaa Gyasi turns to the contemporary, tracing the dissolution of a Ghanaian immigrant family. By the time Gifty leaves Alabama for Harvard, she’s resolved to “build a new Gifty from scratch” by shedding the...

Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Phuc Tran [in Booklist]

03 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Repost, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW What you might miss if you opt for the audiobook is a rather unexpected table of contents page, on which every chapter title is a (western) literary classic, from The Picture of Dorian Gray to The Iliad. Books, indeed, guide debut author Phuc Tran’s life, especially as...

Tiananmen 1989: Our Shattered Hopes by Lun Zhang and Adrien Gombeaud, illustrated by Ameziane, translated by Edward Gauvin [in Booklist]

31 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese, French, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Lun Zhang was there during “the largest spontaneous gathering in all of Chinese history,” surrounded by “the joys and smiles of Beijing’s youth” hoping to achieve freedom and democracy. At 26, he was older than his student counterparts; he had “lived through the regime’s most...

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett [in Booklist]

30 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Brit Bennett was widely awarded for The Mothers (2016), and her highly-anticipated sophomore title – regardless of medium – won’t disappoint. With exacting nuance, narrator Shayna Small immediately distinguishes one Vignes twin sister from the other. Desiree, the “fidgety twin...

Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham [in Booklist]

29 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

Nigerian-born, Iowa Writers’ Workshop-MFA-ed Tola Rotimi Abraham’s devastating debut covers almost two decades of a Lagos family navigating dysfunction and trauma. The comfortable lives of twin sisters Bibike and Ariyike and younger brothers Andrew and Peter disintegrate when their father falls victim to a financial...

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight [in Booklist]

26 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Never mind the feeble supposed-to-be atmospheric opening music, pay immediate and exacting attention as Sarah Zimmerman takes the Prologue – because already, you’ve got your first unreliable narrator, with many more to come. Controlled with just-under-the-surface panic, Zimmerman resonates as Lizzie, a former federal prosecutor...

The Shape of Family by Shilpi Somaya Gowda [in Booklist]

23 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

Once upon a time, the Olander quartet was just about perfect: white American Keith and Indian-born cosmopolitan Jaya fall madly in love in London and eventually settle in northern California to raise their two children. When eight-year-old Prem drowns in the family’s pool, 13-year-old Karina...

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