Here are a few new things I learned from Junot Díaz's 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winner that many of you already read long ago ...
To reduce this rich, complicated, multi-layered story into a few sentences seems almost disrespectful ...
In densely populated Seoul, a mysterious man makes a lucrative living by helping "clients" commit suicide. He’s not exactly Dr. Death Kevorkian offering physically depleted bodies reprieve; instead he has a special talent for finding lost, disconnected souls ready to leave behind their unfulfilling existence...
A major Japanese prize-winning book (Naoki, 1998) and film (Akame shijūya taki shinjū misui, 2003; in English, Akame 48 Waterfalls), Paradise is an unflinching meditation on late-20th-century disconnection. Middle-aged Ikushima, once again a self-described “corpse” in shoes and suit, recalls his drifting life 12 years ago: after...
Having read Luis Alberto Urrea's unforgettable Border Trilogy, I began the audible version of this novel that highlights illegal immigration with some trepidation. Alas, Urrea doesn't narrate this title; and although it's read with effective gusto by Susan Ericksen, I've gotten used to Urrea's flow, having...
If, like me, you don't like to know the whole story before you read the book (!!), then skip the family tree in these opening pages. Don't even glance at it. You can always go back to it after. Ahdaf Soueif's 1999 Booker Prize shortlister (J. M. Coetzee took...
In case you were unsure, that’s Jenny Han as in “Han Solo,” not Han as in “hand.” Befitting of the bestselling young adult author that she is, she can recite all the dialogue from the cult film Clueless, and she gladly admits her adoration for...
Leave it to master storyteller Louis Sachar (National Book Award and Newbery Medalist for his phenomenally successful Holes) to make bridge (yes, bridge! – as in the card game!) heart-thumping fun! Listening to Sachar himself read the audible version is definitely an added bonus, not to mention you get to...
Following up two unforgettable novels that earned her a MacArthur Fellows Program "Genius" Award (which comes with a no-strings-attached $500,000 "stipend" over five years!) in 2008 was surely going to be hard work. Last year, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie debuted her first short story collection ...
Sometimes, nothing satisfies like a sweeping family saga: convincing enough to believe the characters truly existed beyond the bound pages, long enough to feel like they've become a part of your lives, inspiring enough to mourn their company once the words are finished. Thus is Julie Orringer's...
Been waiting to exhale? Here it comes ...
The greatest strength of this series debut is, without a doubt, the art: the first spread, for example, captures the eponymous Lee gliding along on her bike, then the shock of a narrowly-missed collision with an elderly woman, and the embarrassed apology as she picks...
First things first: do NOT read further if you haven't read Part 1 of Jenny Han's sigh-inducing Belly-trilogy, The Summer I Turned Pretty. Why spoil this delicious experience? Trust me ...
Balanced with deft reminders of impermanence –from vivid dreams and outdoor art to once-a-year cherry blossoms and death – Banana Yoshimoto’s latest is a love story with a higher-than-usual satisfying-sigh factor. Chihiro, an artist, and Nakajima, a graduate student in genetics, finally meet after watching and...
With very good reason, Jennifer Egan's fifth title, A Visit from the Goon Squad, won the 2011 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction, announced earlier this month. As with most major award winners, I try to take a look or a listen (forget the cat; curiosity...
Everything about this multilayered title shouts fraud ...
As I've upped my running mileage (doggedly training for Leadville 100 in 2012!), my book consumption via iPod has increased dramatically. One of my favorite audible treats is to listen to the author read to me ...
Daytripper is a gift of unexpected brilliance. That's all you really need to know. And just as I soooooo appreciated knowing almost nothing about this title before I opened its enticing pages, I will try not to spoil a moment for you. If you're not ready to...
Miriam is a magical baker who makes her cinnamon bread last because it's her favorite. When Sebastian bicycles by her Alchemy Bakery with his violin, he's drawn in by her "sweet-smelling voice," and after a year of buying a loaf every single day, asks Miriam...
A toothsome distraction from the recent Tiger Mother hunt, journalist Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan offers A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family, which takes readers from Carnegie Hall into fragrant kitchens, trading threatened stuffed animals for pineapple tarts, Prokofiev for pandan. Tan's strong-willed...
