Cultural exploration Archives - Page 5 of 35

Stories of the Sahara by Sanmao, translated by Mike Fu [in Christian Science Monitor]

21 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, European, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Taiwanese, Translation

Stories of the Sahara celebrates a singular voice in travel writing Sanmao electrified Chinese readers when her travelogue “Stories of the Sahara” was published in 1976 – now it has been translated into English. She had three names; traveled to more than 55 countries; studied in Germany,...

All the Lives We Never Lived by Anuradha Roy [in Booklist]

06 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian, Repost, South Asian

In his mid-60s, Myshkin is finally about to understand what he’s been yearning to know almost his entire life. Since age 9, he’s been “known as the boy whose mother had run off with an Englishman,” never mind that he is actually German. Except for...

Arid Dreams by Duanwad Pimwana [in Booklist]

30 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories, Thai, Translation

One of Thailand’s most prominent writers, Pimjai Juklin – who publishes as Duanwad Pimwana – presents 13 resonating stories featuring the everyday lives of Thai citizens of diverse backgrounds, each confronting entrapment physically, emotionally, and socially. In “The Attendant,” an elevator operator enclosed daily in a...

The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao [in Shelf Awareness]

17 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Australian, Fiction, Indonesian, Repost, Southeast Asian

Since comparisons to Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians seem unavoidable, here's what might be familiar: yes, crazy, rich, Asian characters populate Tiffany Tsao’s The Majesties. Differences, however, immediately overshadow superficial similarities, most obviously from the very first sentence: "When your sister murders three hundred people,...

Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay [in Shelf Awareness]

13 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in British Asian, Fiction, Filipina/o, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Southeast Asian

Growing up in the Philippines, Candy Gourlay (Tall Story) "wondered why all the books she'd ever loved didn't resemble her steamy, tropical home in Manila." As she explains in her author bio, it took years as a journalist and author for Gourlay, who now lives...

Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine [in Booklist]

30 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Repost, Short Stories

*STARRED REVIEW A half-dozen Latinx readers voice Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s superb 11-story debut collection, which features mostly Colorado-domiciled Latinx/Indigenous characters hoping, demanding to be seen and acknowledged by a society in which women are routinely dismissed, threatened, and destroyed. Aural aficionados will especially thrill at the “read...

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu [in Booklist]

28 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Although the cover claims Yu’s (Sorry Please Thank You, 2012) latest is “A Novel” – the description insistently written out in both Chinese and English lettering – his fiction, as always, defies easy labels. This hybrid conflates history, sociology, and ethnography with the timeless...

The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan, translated by N Kalyan Raman [in Booklist]

20 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian, Repost, South Asian, Translation

Success nearly killed Perumal Murugan. Longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award for Translated Literature, his cult novel, One Part Woman, was viciously condemned and publicly burnt in his native India for revealing the culture of his remote village to the outside world. Murugan declared...

My Asian Kitchen: Bao * Salad * Noodle * Curry * Sushi * Dumpling by Jennifer Joyce [in Shelf Awareness]

14 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Pan-Asian, Repost

When London-based, U.S.-raised food writer Jennifer Joyce began traveling in Asia in the 1990s, she "discovered the staggering deliciousness of authentic Asian cooking," she writes in the introduction to My Asian Kitchen. She presents an antidote to the "limited ...

Small Days and Night by Tishani Doshi [in Booklist]

13 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian, Repost, South Asian

Grace was unaware of her sister’s existence until their mother’s death revealed the family’s three-decades-plus secret. Grace returns to her native Madras from America, where she’s been living since college, working in customer service and watching her marriage implode over progeny disagreements. She’s jet-lagged but...

Now Hear This: Priya Ayyar [in Booklist]

12 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Arab American, Audio, Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Indian American, Middle Grade Readers, Persian American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

“Bringing these diverse books to life” is why Priya Ayyar does what she does. She narrates the books she didn’t have when she was growing up – books that resonate with her experiences as a California-born Indian American. “To think that someone who’s Muslim American...

A Match Made in Mehendi by Nandini Bajpai [in Booklist]

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

When Simi’s habitual klutziness leads (surprise!) to the unlikely pairing of her recently single cousin with the furniture store owner’s lawyer-to-be son, her mother and masi – mother’s sister – have irrefutable proof that Simi’s inherited the family talent: matchmaking. For three generations, the women...

Land of the Rising Cat: Japan’s Feline Fascination by Manami Okazaki [in Shelf Awareness]

05 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Japanese, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

According to a 2014 shocking reveal by creator Sanrio Japan, Hello Kitty isn't actually feline, she's a British child. Nevertheless, "this culture of anthropomorphic kitties is one of the reasons feline fever has taken so many forms," including – a Japanese historical first! – cat-owners...

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...

The Moose of Ewenki by Gerelchimeg Blackcrane, illustrated by Jiu Er, translated by Helen Mixter [in Shelf Awareness]

02 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Chinese, Fiction, Mongolian, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW From the Reindeer Ewenki people of remote, mountainous Inner Mongolia comes a glorious tale about an aging hunter and the baby moose that followed him home. During an all-night hunting trip, Gree Shek killed a moose, not knowing she had calved out of season....

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal [in Shelf Awareness]

25 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Nonfiction, Repost

While Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story is recommended for audiences ages 3 to 6, it's undoubtedly a book that will last on shelves well into readers' double digits. Kevin Noble Maillard – co-editor of Loving v. Virginia in a Post-Racial World, Syracuse University law professor and...

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga [in Booklist]

06 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Arab American, Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Syrian, Syrian American, Verse Novel/Nonfiction

When violent unrest arrives in Syria, Jude’s family is cleaved in half as she and her pregnant mother leave behind her father and older brother to live with her uncle’s family in Ohio. Jude perseveres with English, an unfamiliar (sometimes unwelcoming) culture, establishing new friendships,...

My Grandma and Me by Mina Javaherbin, illustrated by Lindsey Yankey [in Shelf Awareness]

21 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Iranian, Iranian American, Memoir, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW For a little girl growing up in Iran, her grandmother is her beloved conduit to the rest of the world. "I followed her everywhere," she explains. "When she swept, I swept. When she cooked, I cooked. When she prayed, I prayed like her, too."...

The Parrot and the Merchant by Marjan Vafaeian, translated by Azita Rassi [in Shelf Awareness]

03 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Persian, Repost, Translation

An avid collector, Persian merchant Mah Jahan's most precious possessions are her birds. Despite her devotion, "she kept them in cages or chains so that they couldn't fly away and leave her." Most beloved is "a beautiful bright parrot," favored because "the parrot had learned...

Travelers by Helon Habila [in Booklist]

20 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Black/African American, European, Fiction, Repost

Reminiscent of Arthur Schnitzler’s late-19th-century play La Ronde (and the dozens of multi-genre adaptations since), Helon Habila’s (Oil on Water, 2011) fourth novel is a round-the-world journey that links disparate, desperate strangers. An unnamed African history scholar (his PhD pending) and his American wife, Gina, relocate from Arlington,...

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