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BookDragon Death Tag

Blue-Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu [in Booklist]

22 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

For always, Kalki – with his matching blue skin – has been told he’s a god, the tenth and final incarnation of Vishnu. His godliness supports the family’s Tamil Nadu ashram, where he lives with his controlling father, loving mother, uncle and his wife, and...

Hell of a Book by Jason Mott [in Booklist]

15 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Thanks to veteran narrator JD Jackson and newbie Ronald Peet, Mott’s fourth novel is also a “hell of an audiobook.” An unnamed writer (impeccably embodied by Jackson) embarks on his inaugural book tour because he’s written Hell of a Book. He’s been coached, trained,...

Whisper by Chang Yu-Ko, translated by Roddy Flagg [in Booklist]

14 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Repost, Taiwanese, Translation

Once upon a time, Wu Shih-sheng had a happy home with his wife and daughter. But then his daughter ran away and he fell heavily into debt after an accident; lost their home; took to sporadically driving a taxi; forced his wife, Kuo Hsiang-ying, into...

Perpetual West by Mesha Maren [in Shelf Awareness]

09 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Mexican, Repost

To compress Mesha Maren's exhilarating second novel, Perpetual West, into a quick description would be an injustice to her intricately plotted, unsettling narrative about two 21-year-olds unsure of who they really are. Whereas her debut, Sugar Run, had its characters return to Maren's home landscape of rural...

The Guncle by Steven Rowley [in Booklist]

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

*STARRED REVIEW Titles about lonely survivors with just the right balance of lightening humor and lasting gravitas make for an undeniably popular genre. Think international sensation A Man Called Ove, whose global mega-success probably fueled the popularity of acerbic-but-redeemable-left-behinds-who-get-happy-endings sort of books. Steven Rowley’s latest is a prime example, superbly improved...

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur [in Booklist]

01 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Korean Canadian June Hur’s enthralling debut, The Silence of Bones, vividly captured 19th-century fatal court intrigue during Korea’s Joseon Dynasty. Her follow-up is another tautly plotted thriller, set in 15th-century Joseon, and helmed by relative audiobook newbie Sue Jean Kim, who adroitly controls a sprawling...

Lemon by Yeo-sun Kwon, translated by Janet Hong [in Booklist]

30 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW The Western publishing world has taken a quarter-century to deliver one of Korea’s most lauded writers to English-reading audiences. Publishing and prize-winning since 1996, Yeo-sun Kwon is deftly translated by award-winning Korean Canadian Janet Hong. At 18, high-school senior Kim Hae-on “was perfection, bliss...

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue [in Booklist]

26 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Imbolo Mbue’s PEN/Faulkner-winning Behold the Dreamers unveiled immigrants chasing the American Dream; her searing sophomore title exposes U.S. destruction beyond its borders. In an unnamed African nation, oil giant Pexton has been poisoning the farming village of Kosawa – water, land, air, and people....

The Human Zoo by Sabina Murray [in Shelf Awareness]

23 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Filipina/o American, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost

Sabina Murray (The Caprices) has built a lofty career on her ability to craft intricately layered, thought-provoking fiction: what she initially presents as straightforward storytelling is intensified with piercing cultural, sociopolitical and historical nuances that encourage greater interaction for deeper satisfaction. The Human Zoo is yet...

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner [in Booklist]

16 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Hapa/Mixed-race, Korean American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Michelle Zauner’s mother Chongmi died in 2014 – she was just 56, Zauner 25. Her grief inspired her first album as Japanese Breakfast in 2016. Her viral 2018 New Yorker essay, “Crying in H Mart,” morphed into the first chapter of this, her dual author/narrator...

Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell [in Booklist]

14 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Argentinian, Audio, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories, South American, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Mariana Enriquez’s second collection, after 2017’s Things We Lost in the Fire, is insatiably addicting even as the dozen stories are gruesome, lurid, and utterly weird. As a Buenos Aires journalist, she witnessed true horror, the consequences of dictatorship, corruption, 30,000 disappeared; her literary...

A Play for the End of the World by Jai Chakrabarti [in Shelf Awareness]

12 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Eastern European, European, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American

Time, geographies, and backgrounds all seem to flow effortlessly through Jai Chakrabarti's exquisite debut novel, A Play for the End of the World. At its core is the provenance of a possible love story between two strangers in New York City. Interwoven into this uncertain...

Songs for the Flames by Juan Gabriel Vásquez, translated by Anne McLean [in Booklist]

11 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Colombian, Fiction, Short Stories, South American, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Prodigious author, journalist, and translator Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Reputations, 2016), one of South America’s most important writers, is once again deftly translated by award-winning Canadian Anne McLean. Four stories provokingly manipulate time. In “Woman on the Riverbank,” a war photographer briefly encounters a politician’s assistant...

Better Place by Duane Murray, illustrated by Shawn Daley [in Booklist]

05 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Canadian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Duane Murray, an actor, writer, and producer in film, makes his on-the-page graphic debut, nimbly realized by Canadian artist Shawn Daley. In a rallying example of the axiom “It takes a village,” a half-dozen graphic greats – including Jeff Lemire and Nate Powell – contribute...

The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga [in Booklist]

31 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Lebanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Next-door neighbors Cora Hamed and Quinn McCauley’s best-friendship began in toddlerhood, but they’ve spent the last 10 months in silence. Cora’s sister Mabel is dead. Quinn’s brother Parker murdered her; he took a gun to school and killed four people, including himself. Mourning defines the Hamed...

My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa [in Booklist]

29 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Repost, South Asian American, Sri Lankan American

Shifting back and forth between present-day San Francisco and a private orphanage in Sri Lanka in 2002, Jayatissa’s debut thriller takes every opportunity to lead readers astray. Paloma Evans was adopted at 12 by wealthy white parents. At 30, she’s living in a grim apartment,...

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas [in School Library Journal]

18 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Sure, reading is rewarding, but here you’ll want to listen in to share the delighted wonder of narrator Avi Roque and writer Aiden Thomas discussing their affirming #OwnVoices debuts as trans Latinx creators, a bonus at recording’s end. Deservedly lauded and awarded all over the...

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara [in Shelf Awareness]

15 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese American, Repost

The incarceration of 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II is undoubtedly one of the most egregious episodes in 20th-century U.S. history. Third-generation Japanese American Naomi Hirahara carves a little-known sliver from that grievous experience and layers it with mystery to create her...

Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca [in School Library Journal]

11 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Middle Grade Readers, Poetry, Repost, South Asian American, Verse Novel/Nonfiction

“I have two lives. / One that is Indian, / one that is not,” 13-year-old Reha introduces herself. During the week, she “swim[s] in a river of white skin” at school; “on weekends / [she] “float[s] in a sea of brown skin and black hair...

Colorful by Eto Mori, translated by Jocelyne Allen [in Booklist]

06 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Young Adult Readers

“I want to write a novel that will allow young people who are tired of living to have a break from their own lives.” This is the starting point for Eto Mori’s tale, first published in Japan in 1998 and now a classic. Issues challenging...

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Smithsonian Institution
Asian Pacific American Center

Capital Gallery, Suite 7065
600 Maryland Avenue, SW
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202.633.2691 | APAC@si.edu

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About BookDragon

Welcome to BookDragon, filled with titles for the diverse reader. BookDragon is a new media initiative of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), and serves as a forum for those interested in learning more about the Asian Pacific American experience through literature. BookDragon is inhabited by Terry Hong.

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