Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram, translated by Andrew X. Pham with an introduction by Frances FitzGerald [in Bloomsbury Review]
01 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Southeast Asian, Translation, Vietnamese
Already a runaway bestseller in Vietnam, this diary will break your heart – but offer you hope that in the worst of times, we human beings can be miraculously humane.
As a young doctor working for communist...
From the artist who brought you the inventively creepy 
Here’s an inventive new manga series, this one by a woman. It's set in the future when humans have all but destroyed planet Earth. Those who have survived the collapse have created the era of...
While teenage readers will surely enjoy this manga too, adults can learn a little something about teenage dynamics. Shizuka Shiroyama, a thoughtful, timid young girl, suffers from the mysterious “Translucent Syndrome,” which means she cyclically starts...
Forget pastoral countryside and quaint village life – this is post-Tiananmen China in which money rules and reinvention is the answer to survival in a new society defined by unleashed capitalism and greed. Six stories capture...
The latest from one of Japan’s leading novelists is another signature piece in which the unexpected should be anticipated. It’s just before midnight and teenaged Mari reads a thick, unnamed book in a well-lit Denny’s in...
Making the playground rounds in hopes of finding a community among stay-at-home moms and their children has left Sayoko lonelier than ever. When she gets a job offer from single, brash, energetic Aoi, she immediately signs...
Four short stories and a longer novella are linked together to create a mosaic of disparate voices that share a visceral longing for a time – and place – forever past. Chu adroitly leads readers through...
Considered to be one of the great writers of 20th-century China since she hit the literary scene in the 1940s with a mighty bang, Chang died in obscurity in Los Angeles in 1995. Recently rediscovered thanks...
Ruffling Feathers: An Interview with Novelist Sabina Murray
Sabina Murray’s published output over the past five years has been substantial by anyone’s standards: three books, five screenplays, umpteen short stories, and winning the prestigious 2003 PEN/Faulkner Award....
Written for an older audience of grade-school children, the recent sequel to Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship (February 2006) continues the inspiring story through fabulous photographs that follow the remarkable relationship...
One too many uses of what my kids call ‘the s-word” – as in ‘stupid’ – somewhat mars an otherwise entertaining tongue-in-cheek version of an age-old tale, this time narrated by a Chinese fisherman and his...
The final installment of a highly entertaining trilogy set in the same town, over the same three months, about the same three characters – each with three different perspectives about ‘how I spent my summer vacation.’...
Although based in part on the real-life experiences of Virginia Loh’s childhood in Northern Virginia, something about Dragon just doesn’t ring true. The premise seems unique and most definitely worthwhile – I can’t remember another middle-grade...
American teenager Sarah would much rather be hanging out with her friends back home in an air-conditioned mall than being stuck with her family vacationing in faraway Indonesia. When the massive tsunami of 2004 hits the...
Another precocious debut – this one by a Princeton freshman who began the novel at 15 and won the PUSH Novel Contest at 17. Big Man on Campus-Caesar (real name John, but called Caesar because all...
From the “godfather of manga” – who also had a medical degree! – comes the first English translation of the mysterious story of a dedicated young doctor, Kirihito Osanai, who is initially sent to a remote...
This Chinese American installment of the Sex in the City-genre features three 20-something childhood best-friends, each pursuing her own brand of happiness in Manhattan. While it starts off with a rather cringe-inducing visit to a Chinatown...
Reddi’s debut – absolutely one of the best short story collections this year – captures the nuanced, often contradictory lives of multiple generations of the Indian diaspora. From the cranky old judge convinced he has...
Seattle lifestyle guru Deirdre McIntosh’s life turns upside down when her Live Simple television show is suddenly cancelled, her live-in best friend decides to move in with his new soulmate and her bank account is about...