BookDragon Family Tag

No Longer Human (vols. 1-2) by Usamaru Furuya, based on the novel by Osamu Dazai, translated by Allison Markin Powell

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

What does it take to update a 60+-year-old story? In the case of Usamaru Furuya's 21st-century manga adaptation of the literary classic Ningen Shikkaku, a semi-autobiographical novel by Dazai Osamu (published in 1948 in Japan, translated into English as No Longer Human in 1958), an...

Sea of Poppies [Ibis Trilogy, Book 1] by Amitav Ghosh

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

Get to know these characters well – they will surely prove to be worth every page of their three-book investment: Deeti, the young wife of a detached opium addict whose startling grey eyes see well beyond her vision; Zachary Reid, a mixed-race freeman from Baltimore...

Only the Mountains Do Not Move: A Maasai Story of Culture and Conservation by Jan Reynolds

04 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in African, Children/Picture Books, Nonfiction

Surely this is one of the most dramatic before-and-after reading experiences I've ever had: I read Mountains last fall when it first landed on my desk and then again just recently after I landed back from East Africa. What a difference a few thousands of miles...

The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar + Author Interview [in Bookslut]

03 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

Here's a moment of literary serendipity: on the morning my Bookslut interview with Luis Alberto Urrea went up, I happened to be finishing the galley of Thrity Umrigar’s latest novel, The World We Found. Amazingly, here's what appears in the penultimate paragraph on the very...

The Year of the Dragon: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac by Oliver Chin, illustrated by Jennifer Wood

01 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Fiction

Well, FINALLY, it's my turn! The rest of the family got their Rabbit, Tiger, and Rat editions over the last few years ...

Love Twelve Miles Long by Glenda Armand, illustrated by Colin Bootman

25 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Nonfiction

Trust me on this one: Debut author Glenda Armand’s Love Twelve Miles Long is THE perfect book to share today. "This was a special night," the story begins, "Mama had come to visit ...

The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh

23 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, South Asian, South Asian American

When Firdous Bamji – a veteran narrator – reads Amitav Ghosh’s haunting novel in his 'normal' voice, he's hardly memorable. But as soon as he 'becomes' the searching Piya, the sophisticated Kanai ("'[s]ay it to rhyme with Hawaii'"), the contemplative Nirmal, the grounded Nilima, and the many, many...

Irena’s Jars of Secrets by Marcia Vaughan, illustrated by Ron Mazellan

20 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Children/Picture Books, European, Jewish, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction

On his deathbed, Irena Sendler's father taught her the lesson that would guide her life. At age 7, she internalized his dying words: "...

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada, translated by Michael Hofmann

18 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Translation

In early 1940s wartime Berlin, an official letter arrives for Otto and Anna Quangel with the unbearable news that their only son is dead. Anna immediately rejects "'those common lies ...

20th Century Boys (vol. 18) by Naoki Urasawa, with the cooperation of Takashi Nagasaki, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller

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

"Guta-rara ...

Seasons of Flight by Manjushree Thapa

13 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nepali, Nepali American, South Asian, South Asian American

Nepal-born Manjushree Thapa, herself a peripatetic hybrid of East and West with an American education and Canadian ties, is one of a handful of Nepali authors successfully writing in English. This, her latest novel (and only her second in her almost two-decade writing history with seven titles...

Grandpa Green by Lane Smith

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

From the genius creator of It's a Book (still my personal battle cry!) comes another delightful low-tech celebration of things that don't require electricity! "He was born a really long time ago," the tale begins, "before computers or cell phones or television." Imagine that sort...

China in Ten Words by Yu Hua, translated by Allan H. Barr

08 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Translation

Yu Hua is a grand master of subversion. Just as his title – China In Ten Words – promises, Yu “compress[es] the endless chatter of China today into ten simple words ...

The Submission by Amy Waldman

07 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian American, South Asian American

This is one of those spectacular titles that the less you know about it, the better your read. The amazing levels of meaning contained in the title alone makes it worth your utmost attention. Of course, if you haven't been hiding under a rock (like me),...

Author Interview: Luis Alberto Urrea [in Bookslut]

05 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost

Earlier this year at that sprawling, unnavigable, kvetchfest known as AWP – the annual conference of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs – I got to introduce and moderate the very best panel of the long weekend (the title alone was the most memorable: "I Am Not...

The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje

04 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, European, Fiction, South Asian, South Asian American, Sri Lankan, Sri Lankan American

With utter certainty, I can claim that I've never ever been remotely disappointed by a Michael Ondaatje title. Until now, alas. Here's my very best advice to you about this, his long-awaited new title, The Cat's Table: read it page by page for yourself only;...

Reaching by Judy Ann Sadler, illustrated by Susan Mitchell

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

It's another weekend ...

Stargazing Dog by Takashi Murakami, translated by Atsuko Saisho and Spencer Fancutt

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

Much to my children's dismay (and longing), we don't have a dog (allergies). I am, however, so lucky to have a regular canine companion, Z, whose mother brings her on our twice-a-week hikes through the woods. As I was sniffling and snuffling through this heartfelt...

A New Year’s Reunion by Yu Li-Qiong, illustrated by Zhu Chen-Liang

24 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Chinese, Fiction, Translation

The simple things in life always deserve our greatest gratitude: Today, this day of turkeys and thanks, those of us with our families close by are quite possibly the luckiest people on earth. Take the small family of three in this gorgeous yet bittersweet story …...

The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht

22 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction

With the gushing acknowledgement of her debut novel – 2011 Orange Prize, 2011 National Book Award finalist, enthusiastic thumbs up from the New Yorker, New York Times, and too many starred reviews to count – Téa Obreht is already a renowned wunderkind. Always curious about that level of fuss, I...