BookDragon Immigration Tag

In the Sea There Are Crocodiles: Based on the true story of Enaiatollah Akbari by Fabio Geda, translated by Howard Curtis

01 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Afghan, Audio, European, Italian, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Although the cover bears the designation, "A Novel," Enaiatollah Akbari – whose name also appears on said cover (who is not the book's author, Fabio Geda) – is a real person. A kid, really. In case you need a face to place with the name, the back...

Black Flower by Young-ha Kim, translated by Charles La Shure

25 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Korean, Latin American, Translation

Earlier this year, I received an email from a Chinese Canadian author, May Q. Wong, inquiring about "a shipload of Koreans who sailed to Mexico to find a better life." Clueless, I forwarded her request to a few of my scholar friends and colleagues ...

Author Interview: Kim Thúy [in Bloom]

18 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Memoir, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Translation, Vietnamese, Vietnamese American

Kim Thúy is one tough writer to get to, although she declares in our first email exchange when I finally track her down, “I am not at all the kind who plays hard to get :-) .” Attempts to contact her included pleas to both her...

Author Profile: Kim Thúy [in Bloom]

16 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Memoir, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Translation, Vietnamese, Vietnamese American

Kim Thúy’s Ru: An Apple for the Reader Ah, well . . . better start with true confessions: my words appear on the back cover of the U.S. edition (at least the first printing) of Vietnamese Canadian author Kim Thúy’s debut novel, Ru. The blurb is...

The Caretaker by A.X. Ahmad

05 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, South Asian, South Asian American

For you DC-area-locals who were wondering, debut novelist A.X. Ahmad is one of us ...

A True Novel by Minae Mizumura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter and Ann Sherif [in Library Journal]

01 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

A Japanese writer, also named Minae Mizumura, recalls her privileged expatriate New York childhood, then witnesses her family devolve in adulthood. A Tokyo-based editor takes a countryside vacation and meets an older woman who shares fantastical memories of some of the inhabitants. A village girl...

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

28 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction

"We are on our way to Budapest," 10-year-old Darling announces as NoViolet Bulawayo’s 2013 Booker longlisted debut novel opens. 'We' includes "Bastard and Chipo and Godknows and Sbho and Stina," banded together with plans to steal guavas as they sneak out of Paradise, the ironically named...

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

12 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

Magic happens when narrator George Guidall says "and yet ...

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

17 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Audio, Fiction

Before this novel, Khaled Hosseini's third, even hit shelves on May 21, the world had already made it a bestseller; many months – more likely years – will pass before it fades from the international spotlight. Although I had the galley for months before, I kept it...

Beyond the Moongate: True Stories of 1920s China by Elizabeth Quan

17 Jun, by SIBookDragon in Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Children/Picture Books, Chinese, Memoir, Nonfiction

"Moongates dotted the landscape of Old China," the second of artist Elizabeth Quan's two-part childhood memoir begins. "Stepping through one of these doorways was to enter a world of peace and happiness ...

The Magic of Saida by M.G. Vassanji

10 Jun, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Indian African, South Asian American

Poisoned and hallucinating, a Canadian doctor lies in a hospital in the remote town of Kilwa in Tanzania. A stranger happens to hear a few brief details of the man's outrageous story, and decides to introduce himself to this doctor with an Indian name – Kamal...

Snow Hunters by Paul Yoon [in Library Journal]

04 Jun, by SIBookDragon in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Repost, South American

* STARRED REVIEW After surviving the Korean War, Yohan spends another year in a prisoner-of-war camp south of the new border that splits the country in two. Rather than return north, where no one awaits him, Yohan begins life anew in a faraway coastal Brazilian village as...

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

14 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Japanese American

You might choose to read Ruth Ozeki's latest novel as another engrossing, original story – because it clearly is. And if you decide to stick the novel in your ears, you'll be thrilled and grateful to know that Ozeki herself reads to you – her...

Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw [in Library Journal]

15 Apr, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, British Asian, Chinese, Fiction, Malaysian, Repost, Southeast Asian

* STARRED REVIEW Think of Tash Aw's third novel as an ingenious game called "How To Be a Billionaire." A how-to guide is interspersed with 30 rules that also serve as chapters, e.g., "Move to Where the Money Is," "Always Rebound After Each Failure," "Strive To...

Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots by Jessica Soffer + Author Interview [in Bookslut]

01 Apr, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Iraqi American, Jewish, Repost

It began with a story. I know, I know, that's what they all say. But Jessica Soffer's debut novel, Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots, really did begin with a short story she wrote in 2009 for a graduate school assignment. In sharp contrast to the novel's...

The Language Inside by Holly Thompson

25 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Cambodian American, Fiction, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Poetry, Southeast Asian American, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

This might be a spoiler of sorts: The advance galley is printed with a March 12, 2013 pub date, but when I went searching for an image of the book's cover to load here, online bookstores list a May date. Hmmm ...

Author Interview: Pauline A. Chen [in Bloom]

20 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Taiwanese American, Young Adult Readers

A couple of days after filing my feature on Pauline A. Chen, I got on the phone to ask her all the questions I couldn’t find answers to out there in the virtual world of google-ing. True confession moment: I admit I was a wee bit...

Message to Adolf (Part 2) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian

15 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

Official word of warning: this is NOT your kiddies' manga. Both in subject matter and graphics, Message is definitely for mature audiences. So if you have younger ones in the house, be careful not to leave the book lying around. The "godfather of manga" has...

Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds by Ping Fu with MeiMei Fox [in Bookslut]

05 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese, Chinese American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

This is not a spoiler: If you take a good look at the cover of the recent memoir Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds, you know the pages will deliver a happy ending ...

Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey by GB Tran

12 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonfiction, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

Both the inside and outside covers here are exactly the same: a mostly well-ordered, three-generation family tree ...