Library Journal Archives - Page 2 of 17

The Girl Who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury, translated by Ros Schwartz [in Library Journal]

18 Apr, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, French, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Translation

Despite living in glorious Paris, Juliette's daily life is mundane. Her real estate job isn't fulfilling, her closest friend is flighty coworker Chloe, and her love life currently nonexistent. The day's highlight is her Métro commute, when she can commune with books – both the...

Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup [in Library Journal]

30 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian, Repost, South Asian

*STARRED REVIEW “I am not well read, nor am I a craftswoman of language,” the Mumbai-based journalist/educator Shubhangi Swarup insists in an author’s note to her editor. And yet her debut novel will certainly be one of the most wondrous literary achievements to hit the shelves...

Frankissstein: A Love Story by Jeanette Winterson [in Library Journal]

13 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Lake Geneva in 1816 is home (in two rented properties) to five English travelers, three made eternal through their writing, one among that trio renowned for creating (inhuman) life, literally. Mary Shelley conceived Frankenstein there, accompanied by her poet husband Percy Shelley, fellow poet Lord Byron,...

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha [in Library Journal]

09 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Korean American, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW The story might sound familiar – the 1991 L.A. riots – but Steph Cha ("Juniper Song" series) alchemizes headlines into a riveting thriller about two families colliding over injustice, while narrators Glenn Davis and Greta Jung transform the written word into mesmerizing performances. Shawn Matthews...

How To Pronounce Knife: Stories by Souvankham Thammavongsa [in Library Journal]

10 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories, Thai American

*STARRED REVIEW In under 200 pages, Canadian poet Souvankham Thammavongsa showcases 14 spectacular stories in her fiction debut. Born to Lao parents in a Thai refugee camp and raised and educated in Toronto, Thammavongsa parses her own culturally amalgamated heritage through most of her narratives here,...

New Waves by Kevin Nguyen [in Library Journal]

06 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese American

Once upon a time – before social media, before digital traces and imprints – death meant an end. Not so much for Lucas after his friend Margo dies by speeding taxi. The unlikely (nonromantic) pair – coworkers at a tech start-up where Margo is the...

Beside Myself by Sasha Marianna Salzmann, translated by Imogen Taylor [in Library Journal]

04 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Repost, Translation, Turkish

Be forewarned: identity, nationality, and gender are all fluid here – histories intertwine and conflict, narrators change and prove unreliable, and pronouns are a challenge throughout. “I don’t know where we’re going,” the first sentence reveals, setting up a story already fully in motion. Ali...

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara [in Library Journal]

13 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, British Asian, Fiction, Indian, Repost, South Asian

Life in India’s basti (slums) has rules all its own – about toilets, water, hierarchies, privileges. The police either ignore the inhabitants, making crime reporting meaningless, or threaten to raze their ramshackle homes. Meanwhile, some 180 children go missing in India every day, reports British-based...

Best World Literature 2019 [in Library Journal]

02 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Chinese, European, Fiction, French, Japanese, Korean, Lists, Repost, South American, Syrian, Translation

For the second year, I got to read along with two fabulously erudite co-horts – my Library Journal editor Barbara Hoffert and fellow LJ reviewer Lawrence Olszewski – to compile this 10-title list of remarkable, unforgettable, best-of translated world literature. We all read voraciously throughout the year,...

Black Forest by Valérie Mréjen, translated by Katie Shireen Assef [in Library Journal]

26 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, French, Translation

This English-language debut from French writer/filmmaker Valérie Mréjen opens with a nameless suicide: a man “decides he’s old enough” and replaces the disco ball with rope. The story, however, begins with a divorced father who determines that his children are lacking suitable New Year’s Eve...

Kitchen Curse: Stories by Eka Kurniawan, translated by Annie Tucker, Tiffany Tsao, Maggie Tiojakin, and Benedict Anderson [in Library Journal]

18 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indonesian, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

Eka Kurniawan, the first Man Booker International Prize-nominated Indonesian writer (he was long-listed in 2016 for Man Tiger), makes his collection-in-English debut, with the majority of the 16 stories translated by Annie Tucker, his PEN/Heim Translation Fund-awarded Beauty Is a Wound translator; three of the...

The Far Field by Vijay Madhuri [in Library Journal]

23 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American

Sometimes, pushing "stop" before a book's end might be the best course of action. Seasoned reader Sneha Mathan provides her usual nuanced, affecting narration throughout the 14 hours here, yet even her resonating performance can't prevent the frustration of a stupendous story that veers fatally...

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong [in Library Journal]

13 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW The cover calls this a novel, but the autobiographical overlaps are many: a gay Vietnamese American poet, an October birth outside Saigon, an other-side-of-the-world escape, a biracial single mother, a Hartford, CT, upbringing, a New York City education. In his prose debut, T.S. Eliot-prized,...

Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman [in Library Journal]

12 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Elliot Ackerman’s (2017 National Book Award finalist for Dark at the Crossing) latest might be just three-and-a-half hours long, but the dramatic effects will surely last longer. MacLeod Andrews – his voice slightly growly, controlled enough as if control is necessary – narrates from...

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas [in Library Journal]

11 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Filipina/o American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Southeast Asian American

"After twenty-five years of living illegally in a county that does not consider me one of its own, this book is the closest thing I have to freedom." When Pulitzer Prize-winning Jose Antonio Vargas declared his undocumented status in 2011, Bill O'Reilly labeled him "the...

That Time I Loved You: Stories by Carrianne Leung [in Library Journal]

29 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Toronto’s suburban Scarborough becomes home to diverse families ready to build a neighborhood together. Initially, everyone invited everyone else to “planned things like fireworks and barbecues,” observes 11-year-old June – the only daughter of Hong Kong Chinese immigrants – until “people decided who their...

Where Reasons End by Yiyun Li [in Library Journal]

04 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Fiction, Memoir, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW “My mom is an immigrant so she speaks English with an accent,” Yiyun Li’s son introduces her to his kindergarten class. “Thank you my dear,” she responds, “but I still make a living by writing in English.” Despite significant literary accolades, hers is not...

The White Book by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith [in Library Journal]

03 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Repost, Translation

White, not black, is the color of mourning in Han Kang’s home country of South Korea, as well as other parts of Asia. This latest from Han, whose The Vegetarian was the 2016 Man Booker International Prize winner, is a meditative exploration of the limitless...

The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding [in Library Journal]

28 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Without glossing over more difficult subjects – fat shaming, homophobia, parental (non)acceptance, matters of consent – Amy Spalding's (The New Guy [and Other Senior Distractions]) latest is a charming contemporary love story, complete with blogs, social media, rating apps, and more. For the summer before senior...

The April 3rd Incident: Stories by Yu Hua, translated by Allan H. Barr [in Library Journal]

12 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

Clearly the internationally lauded Yu Hua's translator of choice, Pomona professor Allan H. Barr anglophones seven early stories Yu (Brothers) wrote between 1987 and 1991. In his edifying introduction, Barr explains that during China's "post-Mao liberalization" (from the late 1970s into early 1980s), "writers devoted...

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