A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
14 Jan, by in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction
An aborted suicide is probably not the most solid basis from which to start a lasting friendship ...
BookDragon Friendship Tag
Wandering Son (vol. 2) by Shimura Takako, translated by Matt Thorn
10 Jan, by in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers
The ongoing gender-bender adventures of Nitori Shuichi – a boy who wants to be a girl – and his best friend Takatsuki Yoshino – a girl who wants to be a boy – open with the beginning of the 6th-grade school year. What commenced as mostly cross-dressing fun in volume...
Sea of Poppies [Ibis Trilogy, Book 1] by Amitav Ghosh
05 Jan, by 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 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 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 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 ...
No Ordinary Day by Deborah Ellis
28 Dec, by in Canadian, Fiction, Indian, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers
Canadian author Deborah Ellis has harnessed the power of words to create miraculous results: her multi-award-winning Breadwinner Trilogy (The Breadwinner, Parvana's Journey, and Mud City) has raised over a million dollars in royalties for Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan and Street Kid International. With her...
The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh
23 Dec, by 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 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: "...
The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce, photography by Carl Hunter and Clare Heney
16 Dec, by in British, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Mongolian, Young Adult Readers
I know it says "Afterword" for a reason, but sometimes starting from the back of a book (must be an Asian thing!) feels just right. In this latest title from British author/screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce (Millions – which was also a pretty good film – and Framed), the...
The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje
04 Dec, by 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;...
Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami, translated by Alfred Birnbaum
01 Dec, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Translation
Haruki Murakami’s lesser-known-in-the-West "Trilogy of the Rat" continues with the second prequel to his breakout international bestseller, A Wild Sheep Chase. Both Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973, were nominated for the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, considered by many to be Japan's top literary honor, and...
The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
22 Nov, by 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...
My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store by Ben Ryder Howe
17 Nov, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Korean American, Memoir, Nonfiction
I swear this it not a spoiler because it's on the dedication page: Dwayne dies. His dates are right there before the book even starts: "1968-2009." Which is really quite sad, because inherited employee Dwayne Wright is one of the two most colorful Characters (capital...
Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami, translated by Alfred Birnbaum
16 Nov, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Translation
Life just seems better with a Haruki Murakami story stuck in my ears ...
On Black Sisters Street by Chika Unigwe
15 Nov, by in Adult Readers, African, European, Fiction, Translation
Four women, living together in a house in Antwerp, Belgium, are "[t]hrown together by a conspiracy of fate and a loud man called Dele." They have escaped their lives in Africa, but only at the cost of their freedom; Dele, who orchestrated their immigration, now...
Drawing From Memory by Allen Say and The House Baba Built by Ed Young [in The New York Times]
11 Nov, by in Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Japanese American, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Repost
What formative experiences make a great children’s book illustrator? In the case of Allen Say and Ed Young, both Caldecott medalists, the journey begins with unusual childhoods in wartime Asia. Connecting the dots from those beginnings to what would become long and successful careers, Drawing...
Whorled: Poems by Ed Bok Lee
09 Nov, by in Adult Readers, Korean American, Poetry
Timing is everything: I'm convinced my just-got-back trip from Korea gave me an especially empathetic appreciation for poetry slam artist/writer/playwright Ed Bok Lee's latest collection. I just wandered some of those same streets! And I definitely had to read it at 38,000-feet cruising altitude between there...
Tongue by Kyung Ran Jo, translated by Chi-Young Kim
07 Nov, by in Fiction, Korean, Translation
Here's what stands out most about this slim Korean novel for me: it's surprisingly not Korean. Except for the few Korean names, virtually no other Korean markers exist within these pages, which I found rather strange in a novel set in Seoul featuring the lives of...