Booklist Archives - Page 26 of 39

Silence of the Chagos by Shenaz Patel, translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman [in Booklist]

15 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Fiction, Indian African, Repost, South Asian, Translation

Forced expulsions have long been part of man’s history, motivated by politics, prejudice, geography, human-made disasters, and natural forces. Virtually unknown is the full-scale eviction of the Chagossians, a Creole-speaking native ethnic group with African and Asian ancestry, from Diego Garcia, the largest island in...

Parade: A Folktale by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Allison Markin Powell [in Booklist]

14 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW The presentation is exquisite: slightly smaller than a single hand, Hiromi Kawakami’s spare text is interrupted by Takako Yoshitomi’s delightful two-color illustrations of mostly geometric shapes with anthropomorphized additions. Subtitled “A Folktale,” these less-than-100 pages easily stand alone as a parable about memory, mythic...

There’s Something about Sweetie by Sandhya Menon [in Booklist]

11 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Vikas Adam has deservedly earned the title of Sandhya Menon’s male voice of choice, assuming hero status in all her titles thus far. He affably returns here as Ashish, the younger brother of Rishi from When Dimple Met Rishi (2017), and he’s about to get a Bollywood-worthy romance of...

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi [in Booklist]

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

Both the title and characters Gretel and Hansel might lead readers to make assumptions about Oyeyemi’s latest. Fairy tales fueled her Boy, Snow, Bird and Mr. Fox, and familiarly fantastical places, creatures, and themes abound here, too, although readers will also notice the easy weaving...

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay [in Booklist]

09 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Filipina/o, Filipina/o American, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Until his cousin Jun was murdered, Jay thought little of his Filipino heritage. A Michigan senior headed to university in the fall, Jay’s been on auto-pilot for most of his 17 years. Similar in age, Jun and Jay stayed avid pen pals after childhood...

The Matchmaker’s List by Sonya Lalli [in Booklist]

08 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

At 29, Raina’s known true love, but also debilitating heartbreak when happily-ever-after didn’t happen. Still single, she reluctantly agrees to meet the men of her grandmother’s choosing. Not that her family is particularly marriageable: Nani seemed more servant than partner to Raina’s late grandfather, her...

Love from A to Z by S. K. Ali [in Booklist]

07 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Arab American, Audio, Canadian, Fiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

In an unusual narrative structure, S. K. Ali (Saints and Misfits, 2017) inserts herself directly into her latest #OwnVoices Muslim rom-com, making her aural debut. She opens by introducing two teens intrigued with “marvels” and “oddities” – whose alternating journal entries follow – then intervenes...

Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration by Bryan Caplan, illustrated by Zach Weinersmith [in Booklist]

04 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Borders, walls, detention camps, caged children ...

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors [The Rajes series, Book 1] by Sonali Dev [in Booklist]

03 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Lauded for sweeping Bollywood-esque multicultural family dramas, Sonali Dev debuts an Austen-inspired series starring the Indian royalty-descended, Northern California-established Raje family. Her first installment riffs on P&P with an added gender mix-and-match. Second Raje daughter Trisha is an extraordinary Stanford neurosurgeon, but her personal relationships have...

A Place to Belong by Cynthia Kadohata [in Booklist]

01 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW From ages eight to 12, Hanako lived in prison: She was one of 120,000 majority Americans of Japanese descent imprisoned during WWII by Executive Order 9066. “[N]ow that she was kind of free ...

Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno [in Booklist]

29 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Cuban American, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Despite calling the small coastal community of Port Coral ‘home,’ Rosa has always avoided the water. She – and maybe the rest of the town – believes she’s been cursed by tragedy, since both her grandfather and father drowned as young men. Raised mostly by...

Five More to Go: Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King [in The Booklist Reader]

26 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Biography, Black/African American, Fiction, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste Maaza Mengiste’s indelible debut, Beneath the Lion’s Gate (2010), put Ethiopian historical fiction on countless best-of, must-read, and award lists. Her monumental new novel draws inspiration from her great-grandmother, who as the eldest – and in Mulan-style! – answered Emperor...

The Farm by Joanne Ramos [in Booklist]

24 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Filipina/o American, Repost, Southeast Asian American

*STARRED REVIEW New mother Jane is a struggling Filipina immigrant desperate to do the best for her daughter. Jane’s older cousin Ate has worked tirelessly for decades to provide for her children on the other side of the world. Mae, born to a Chinese immigrant father...

Three Flames by Alan Lightman [in Booklist]

22 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Cambodian, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Novelist and physicist Alan Lightman (Einstein's Dreams) has traveled twice yearly since 2003 to Cambodia to work with his Harpswell Foundation which empowers women leaders in Cambodia and Southeast Asia. In his first novel in seven years, Lightman’s opening dedication directly spotlights Harpswell’s “strong and...

Listen Up: Listen While You Work Out [in Booklist]

20 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Lists, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

Audiobooks hold a distinct place in the sports and fitness book realm – they’re the only ones you can read while exercising. The authors of “Holding The Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym” (Management Science, 2014) cite research proving that listening to audiobooks can actually...

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood [in Booklist]

19 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW In her September 16, 2019, cover article for Time magazine, Atwood recalls informing the showrunner for the Emmy-winning Hulu adaptation of her iconic The Handmaid’s Tale, “You absolutely cannot kill Aunt Lydia, or I will have your head on a plate.” Aunt Lydia, it...

Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen [in Booklist]

18 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost

By 2142, “generations of interracial partnerships from the twenty-first century onward [have] rendered [names] meaningless” as markers of ethnicity. Time-traveling Agent Kin is named after quinoa; his fellow agent Markus Fernandez is a pale Brit/northern Californian. Author Mike Chen is Chinese American and channels Idris Elba...

Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad [in Booklist]

16 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Thai, Thai American

Slightly gravelly voiced Scottish actor Euan Morton takes immediate command here, crisply enunciating Bangkok-native, New-York based Pitchaya Sudbanthad’s ambitious debut. What initially reads like unrelated short stories reveals a broader overview of a city in constant flux, its past, present, and future represented by a...

A Walking Life: Reclaiming Our Health and Our Freedom One Step at a Time by Antonia Malchik [in Booklist]

13 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

C’mon: grab that headset, hit play, get out, and let Antonia Malchik and Eliza Foss convince you why you should be walking. Foss is an ideally persuasive companion to journalist Malchik, whose debut title proves how “walking is essential to our physical health and creativity,...

Last of Her Name: A Novella & Stories by Mimi Lok [in Booklist]

12 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Fiction, Hong Kongese, Repost, Short Stories

As co-founding (with Dave Eggers) executive director of the human rights and oral history organization, Voice of Witness, Mimi Lok channels her intimate observation of human relationships into an astute first story collection. The titular story features a dual narrative of extreme circumstances as experienced...

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