Coming-of-age Archives - Page 26 of 55

Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano, translated by Matt Thorn

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

Long before the latest translated-into-English title from award-winning transgender manga creator Inio Asano is due to hit shelves (fabulous Seattle-based publisher Fantagraphics lists an unspecified February pub date; Amazon lists March 19, 2014 and B&N March 5 for available shipping), the internet has been abuzz...

Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

22 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Chinese American, Fiction

Here's what a fairly recent (pubbed September 2013) bestseller looks like. It hasn't gotten any major nominations or awards (perhaps I should add 'yet,' as author Jamie Ford's debut, Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, garnered a few nods); nevertheless, it's certainly sold plenty of...

Wandering Son (vol. 6) by Shimura Takako, translated by Matt Thorn

17 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Our daughter, now a senior at one of the most progressive of progressive schools where she's been a 'lifer,' was recently trying to explain the specifics of what 'gender-fluid' means using a classmate's evolving, changing behavior as descriptive examples. We old folks were still a...

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

12 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

According to a recent article, "The Book(s) of the Year" in PublishersLunch, "the clear consensus for the 2013 'book of the year' has ended in ...

Stingray by Kim Joo-young, translated by Inrae You Vinciguera and Louis Vinciguerra (Library of Korean Literature, vol. 1)

07 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Translation

At 13, Se-young is on the brink of manhood, but the person who should be his primary role model – his father – left some five years ago. Se-young’s seamstress mother works hard to support the abandoned pair in their small, remote village. Their constricted...

Razia’s Ray of Hope: One Girl’s Dream of an Education by Elizabeth Suneby, illustrated by Suana Verelst

30 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Afghan, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

The newest title in Canada’s Kids Can Press' vital CitizenKid series – "books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens" – is also quite possibly the best thus far. "'This is where my school once stood ...

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

29 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

What a year Benjamin Alire Sáenz has had: in the adult market, he made literary history last May as the first Latino writer to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for his seven-story collection, Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club; his latest young adult title...

pink by Kyoko Okazaki, translated by Vertical, Inc.

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

Well, goodness gracious, looks sure can be deceiving: here's your official warning – this dressed up girl is anything but saccharine-sweet, that pink-toned cover comes printed with an "18+" warning, although those turned-in toes actually do belie a twisted sort of innocence ...

If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman

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

That the film version of If I Stay is currently in production is reason enough to read the book before Hollywood leaves its indelible imprint too soon. Trust me: 99.9% of the time, the book is better. The intensity and ferocity that author Gayle Forman offers with...

Yokohama Yankee: My Family’s Five Generations as Outsiders in Japan by Leslie Helm

17 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Japanese American, Memoir, Nonfiction

'Sprawling' barely begins to describe journalist/editor Leslie Helm's ambitious family history that spans nearly a century-and-a-half, three continents, and the titular five generations of a German Japanese American family with current branches spread throughout the rest of the world. Prompted by the death of his difficult...

Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh, translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger

13 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, French, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Translation, Young Adult Readers

From the very first page, you'll learn that one lover is dead, while the other survives: "My love, when you read these words I will have left this world." Emma is in transit to Clementine's childhood home to retrieve Emma's diaries: "I asked my mother...

The Fences Between Us: The Diary of Piper Davis, Seattle, Washington, 1941 by Kirby Larson

07 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

How’s this for new math: the first 286 pages hold about the same weight as the final 25 pages. The fictional diary expounds and entertains, revealing a 13-year-old’s West Coast experiences during World War II; the ending “Life in America in 1941” section illuminates and...

The City of Death [Ash Mistry Chronicles, Book 2] by Sarwat Chadda

05 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in British, British Asian, Fiction, Indian, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

Okay, so we're skipping ahead here, because I had to read this for a book judging requirement – and, in reading out of order, also confirm that it can narratively stand alone even without its prequel. I can't reveal any trade secrets, but I can...

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

30 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

Even though the Yoko Ono comment made by an angry daughter about her hapless father's extramaritally knocked-up girlfriend gets apologized for some 40 pages later – "'I called her Yoko Ono that night because she was the one who broke up the Beatles. Not because she's...

Tune | Book 2: Still Life by Derek Kirk Kim and Les McClaine

22 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Korean American, Young Adult Readers

Okay, so both Book 1 and Book 2 of this intergalactically stupendous series start out almost the same (Book 2 has an extra, well-placed, close-up "Gyaaaaah!" thrown in), but don't be misled into thinking you've already read it, done that, check! "What's next for Andy Go?" the...

A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea by Dina Nayeri

19 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Iranian, Iranian American

Before she is even a teenager, Saba Hafezi reveals herself to be quite the unreliable narrator. Telling stories, however, is what will save her youthful soul ...

On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee [in Library Journal]

15 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean American, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Once revealed in context, this book's title alone is an astonishing feat of encapsulated genius from the inimitable Chang-rae Lee. Control, individuality, nature, perfection, reality, society – all that and more fill this dystopic treatise about a not-so-futuristic, ruined America. At the beginning, 16-year-old Fan simply...

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

04 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

Cath and Wren are twins – how they got their name is just too entertainingly clever. They've been each other's best friend their whole lives, sharing the same room which also serves as a near-shrine to Simon Snow (à la Harry Potter, who does get a...

Wandering Son (vol. 5) by Shimura Takako, translated by Matt Thorn

01 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

If you don't like spoilers, might I suggest you click here to catch up. This series is so uniquely delightful, you really shouldn't miss a volume; trust me, they do need to be read in order. This latest installment officially hits shelves tomorrow. Welcome to junior high school...

The Flowers of Evil (vols. 5-7) by Shuzo Oshimi, translated by Paul Starr

25 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

First, to catch up: click here for previous volumes (all of which, of course, you need to read for yourself). If these covers placed next to each other above are a bit jarring, I think I might have unintentionally, wrongly grouped the latest volumes together. Let me...

BookDragon Coming-of-age Tag