Kartography by Kamila Shamsie
11 Nov, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Pakistani, South Asian
Oh, how sad to think this is the very last book by Kamila Shamsie I had left to read ...
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The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
28 Oct, by in Adult Readers, Armenian American, Audio, Fiction, Turkish
Even before this book hit U.S. shelves, French-born Turkish author Elif Shafak was charged with insulting "Turkishness" in violation of Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code because one of her characters refers to the large-scale massacre of Armenians that began in 1915 in Turkey as...
Salt and Saffron by Kamila Shamsie
23 Oct, by in Adult Readers, British Asian, Fiction, Pakistani, South Asian
First an interruption: I learned a very entertaining meaning for a certain common(-ish) word on the first page of Shamsie's second novel: 'bugaboo.' "It's a word that demands to be said out loud," writes Shamsie, "particularly among bilingual Pakistanis who recognize its resemblance to 'baghal...
The North Star by Peter H. Reynolds
22 Oct, by in Adult Readers, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers
Picking up a Peter H. Reynolds book is always transporting. "What wondrous things books can be," he writes in a lovely letter-as-introduction in his new edition to his 1977 classic, The North Star. "My favorites are the ones that move me – to laughter, to...
The Seeing Stick by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini
20 Oct, by in Children/Picture Books, Chinese, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific
Without a doubt, the most remarkable part of this striking new edition of Jane Yolen's 1977 title are the pictures. The story is simple: a Chinese emperor's daughter, blind since birth, learns to "see" with the help of a wise old man and his mysteriously...
What a Wonderful World! (vol. 1) by Inio Asano, translated by JN Productions
19 Oct, by in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers
Growing up is hard to do, especially in this detached, disconnected 21st century-world. Presented as nine "tracks," the vaguely linked stories are reminiscent of the loud, incoherent music intermittently spilling out a young person's ear buds ...
A Good Fall by Ha Jin [in Library Journal]
15 Oct, by in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories
With an enviable literary reputation built on award-winning titles set in China, poet/novelist/short story writer Jin recently debuted his first U.S.-based novel, A Free Life, about the Americanization of a Chinese immigrant family. While the 12 stories in his latest release continue to explore familiar...
Shantaram: A Novel by Gregory David Roberts
04 Oct, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Australian, Fiction, Indian, South Asian
Forty-three (yes, 43!) hours is a major commitment to a single book. And in spite of the most eye-rolling, not-so-nicely-talking back to a continuously babbling (for 43 hours, 3 minutes to be exact!) iPod that I have ever done, I will actually admit that Shantaram is...
Monster (vol. 1) by Naoki Urasawa, English adaptation by Agnes Yoshida, translated by Satch Watanabe
28 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers
So I'm jumping on the Monster bandwagon a little late (which debuted in 1995 in Japan to multiple awards but took another 11 years to arrive Stateside in translation) ...
The Calligrapher’s Daughter: A Novel by Eugenia Kim
25 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American
Historical works about Korea in English – especially during the tragic years of the Japanese occupation (officially 1910-1945) – seem few and far between. So I really wanted to fall madly in love with this debut novel by fellow Korean American Eugenia Kim. While I was grateful for...
The Heart’s Traffic by Ching-In Chen
24 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Poetry
The "traffic" in Chen's collection revolves around broken love, made even more jarring by a literal jaggedness on the page with the layout of her words. The protagonist, Xiaomei, loses love too many times. In childhood, her first loss is her father who "disappeared into...
Tofu Quilt by Ching Yeung Russell
16 Sep, by in Chinese, Chinese American, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Poetry, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers
Based on the Ching Yeung Russell's own path toward becoming a writer, Tofu Quilt is one delicious free-verse memoir. In the summer before she starts kindergarten, Yeung Ying is a rambunctious young child who cannot sit still, but can effortlessly recite the difficult classical poems...
X-Men 1: Misfits by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman, art by Anzu
12 Sep, by in Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers
The already well-established X-Men franchise of books (and films) gets a somewhat peculiar makeover in the first of a new series designed for the middle grade/13+ crowd. "Don't fix what ain't broke," comes to mind. But that might be an old-age reaction ...
The Writer as Migrant by Ha Jin
08 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Nonfiction
In spite of a spare not-quite 100 pages, Ha Jin's first nonfiction – and must-read – title is filled with fascinating, challenging ideas about writers living in countries and creating in languages not originally their own. Best known for his 1999 National Book Award winning novel, Waiting,...
Starting Point: 1979-1996 by Hayao Miyazaki, translated by Beth Cary and Frederik L. Schodt, foreword by John Lasseter
31 Aug, by in Adult Readers, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction
With the adorably acclaimed Ponyo now out in theaters nationwide with its dubbed all-star Hollywood cast (Miley Cyrus' little sister? one of the Jonas Brothers?), a whole new young audience is enjoying the latest from anime maestro Hayao Miyazaki, creator of the spectacularly successful My Neighbor...
Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie [in San Francisco Chronicle]
17 Aug, by in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Chinese, Fiction, Repost, Translation
If you see a book cover with the name Dai Sijie on it, read the book. Dai's delightful 2001 debut, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, about two young boys who discover a love for literature while sequestered in a re-education camp during Mao's Cultural Revolution,...
North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
14 Aug, by in Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Young Adult Readers
I have to confess that had my teenaged daughter not handed me the book and said, "it's great, I loved it," I probably wouldn't have finished this latest title from Justina Chen Headley whose debut, Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies), remains...
The East-West House: Noguchi’s Childhood in Japan by Christy Hale
31 Jul, by in Biography, Children/Picture Books, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese American, Nonfiction
Born in Los Angeles to a Scotch-Irish American mother, Leonie Gilmour, and a missing Japanese father, the young boy who would grow up to be Isamu Noguchi moved as toddler to Japan to join his estranged father. When Gilmour realized that the older Noguchi already had...
Beautiful as Yesterday by Fan Wu
25 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction
Told in the three alternating voices of a Chinese mother and her two Chinese American daughters, Fan Wu's second novel weaves a family tapestry filled with the multiple layers of intermixed cultures and generations. Mary, once Guo-Mei, now lives comfortably in Silicon Valley with her American-born...
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
23 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction
Since Lisa See's latest has been sitting high on all the best bestseller lists for many weeks, presumably many have already read the story of two sisters and their odyssey from China to LA's Chinatown. I probably should have done the same – read the...