Cultural exploration Archives - Page 7 of 35

Japanese Folktales: Classic Stories from Japan’s Enchanted Past by Yei Theodora Ozaki, foreword by Lucy Fraser [in Booklist]

19 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Repost, Short Stories, Young Adult Readers

Nasty neighbors, otherworldly children, and malevolent monsters populate some of the 22 traditional Japanese folktales in Ozaki’s century-old collection, reissued with an introduction by Australian academic Lucy Fraser. In her 1903 preface, Ozaki – whose father was Japanese, mother, English – that her “stories are not...

The Court Dancer by Kyung-sook Shin, translated by Anton Hur [in Booklist]

16 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Man Asian Literary Prize-winning Kyung-sook Shin (The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness, 2015) alchemizes a brief mention in a French diplomat’s book about his turn-of-the-century Korean tenure into a gorgeous epic that seamlessly combines history and fiction to create a hybrid masterpiece. In 1888, France’s first...

My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder by Nie Jun, translated by Edward Gauvin [in Booklist]

12 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Chinese, Fiction, French, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW When young Yu’er laments, “People think I’m different,” her grandfather’s immediate response, “Oh, who cares what they think!” sets her free to be just that and more. She’s different because she’s physically challenged, but Grampa ensures her mobility via push cart, wooden chair on...

Core Collection: Refugee Stories [in Booklist]

06 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Arab, British, Cuban, Cuban American, European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Iranian, Iraqi, Italian, Jewish, Lists, Memoir, Middle Eastern, Nonfiction, Repost, Syrian, Translation, Vietnamese, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

More than 65 million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, have been forced to leave their homes. Whether they are made refugees in another country or displaced internally, 2017 UN data shows that “nearly 20 people are forcibly displaced every minute as a...

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton [in Library Journal]

07 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Cuban, Cuban American, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost

In 1959 Havana, as Fidel Castro claims absolute power, the sugar-rich Perez family's vast wealth marks them as targets, necessitating their escape to Miami, FL. With her three sisters and their parents, 19-year-old Elisa Perez leaves Cuba forever. Almost 60 years later, Marisol Ferrara arrives in...

When the World Was Steady by Claire Messud [in Library Journal]

30 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Australian, British, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Following the collapse of her marriage, not-quite-50-year-old Emmy arrives in Bali from Sydney, Australia, where she's built her life after leaving her native England almost three decades prior. Now unfettered, she finds herself in the hostel-like home of local guide (and lothario) Buddy, all the...

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo [in Shelf Awareness]

25 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Korean American, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, South American, Young Adult Readers

That Clara Shin's favorite place – a hilltop overlooking her native Los Angeles – was made famous by the classic movie Rebel Without a Cause is perfectly fitting. Since getting suspended freshman year for smoking, 16-year-old Clara's been all about causing mayhem – just because. Nominated for...

The Heart Is a Shifting Sea by Elizabeth Flock [in Library Journal]

17 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Indian, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, South Asian

Journalist Elizabeth Flock's intention to write about "the Indian love story" – "because it seemed more honest and vulnerable," especially when compared to her parents' multiple failed marriages – began in 2008 when she first lived in Mumbai. Although a spinal injury unexpectedly sent her...

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal [in Shelf Awareness]

20 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost, South American

For Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela, her oversized moniker is "'so long ...

A 21st-Century Filipino American Fiction Reader [in The Booklist Reader]

30 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Filipina/o, Filipina/o American, Repost, Short Stories, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American

Originally published in 1943, Carlos Bulosan’s America Is in the Heart is a cornerstone of classic Asian American literature. Drawing on Bulosan’s Filipino boyhood, his immigration to the United States, and the challenges he faced as a first-generation Asian American, it remains a notable inspiration, most recently...

What a Wonderful Word by Nicola Edwards, illustrated by Luisa Uribe

26 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

Earlier this year, the National Book Foundation announced the addition of a fifth National Book Award: the National Book Award for Translated Literature. The news made me positively giddy: such specific recognition feels long overdue because I'm convinced translators do some of the hardest literary...

Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee [in Library Journal]

08 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Chinese American, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost, South American

Mira T. Lee’s impressive debut – both a celebration and mourning of the bond between two sisters, the younger afflicted with mental illness, the elder desperate to save her – deserves better aural interpretation. The full cast (in rare recognition, a who-was-who is added at...

The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon [in Library Journal]

27 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Jordanian, Middle Eastern, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

After introducing a stupendous community of left-behind stateside military wives in her debut collection, You Know When the Men Are Gone, Siobhan Fallon presents in her first novel two women who have accompanied their U.S. Army husbands to Jordan. Shared circumstances ease Cassie and Margaret...

A Transracial Adoption Reader [in The Booklist Reader]

10 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Black/African American, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Indian American, Korean, Korean American, Latin American, Latina/o/x, Lists, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, South Asian American, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Now-adult adoptees who arrived in the United States from other countries are learning that their U.S. citizenship can’t be assumed. Two recent tragedies have highlighted the shocking realization: the May 2017 suicide of Phillip Clay, adopted at eight by a Philadelphia family and deported to Seoul 29...

My Brother’s Husband (Volume 1) by Gengoroh Tagame, translated by Anne Ishii

29 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Canadian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Talk about a new kind of family ...

The Goddess of Mtwara and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2017, with an introduction by Lizzy Attree [in Booklist]

28 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Fiction, Short Stories, Translation

The Caine Prize is regarded as “Africa’s leading literary award.” The 18th Caine Prize was selected from 148 entries from 22 African countries. This resulting collection highlights the five short listers, with 11 additional stories chosen from the Caine Prize workshop, a 12-day retreat for...

A Bride’s Story (vols. 8-9) by Kaoru Mori, translated by William Flanagan

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

Without a doubt, A Bride's Story is the most intricately detailed, magnificently exquisite graphic series currently on my shelves. Every volume is a lavish gift to pore over, to enthusiastically applaud, to be gobsmackingly impressed by again and again and again. Superlatives just aren't enough. To...

10 Diverse Debut Story Collections [in The Booklist Reader]

16 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Arab, Black/African American, British, British Asian, Caribbean, Chinese American, Fiction, Korean, Latina/o/x, Lists, North Korean, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian, South Asian American, Translation

Short-story collection The Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri’s first published book, won the Pulitzer Prize. Phil Klay’s debut collection, Redeployment, got him the National Book Award. Even Tom Hanks got in on the short story game with his debut book, Uncommon Type, out last month. Right now, eyes are...

Queen of the Hanukkah Dosas by Pamela Ehrenberg, illustrated by Anjan Sarkar [in Shelf Awareness]

15 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Indian American, Jewish, Repost, South Asian American

Being part of a Jewish and South Asian Indian family surely has delicious perks: "Making Indian food that my mom ate as a kid for a Jewish holiday that my dad grew up with – that was a lucky combination." For the first-night-of-Hanukkah meal, a...

Mad Country: Stories by Samrat Upadhyay [in Library Journal]

30 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nepali, Nepali American, Repost, Short Stories

*STARRED REVIEW Vikas Adam’s remarkable chameleonic range proves ideal for Samrat Upadhyay’s (Arresting God in Kathmandu) latest superb collection, set mostly in Nepal. Exceptionally gifted with accents, Adam could easily be mistaken for a multi-person cast; he's effortlessly convincing as a disappointed father, a female inmate,...

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