The mysterious doctor is back to do more good with another set of miraculous adventures. Jack's late mentor and savior lends his voice from beyond to remind him once again, "don't underestimate the human body," as Jack attempts to chase a needle tip gone missing...
So it's not officially the start of summer by calendar date, but when temperatures get this hot, my eyeballs turn to lighter reading to soothe the heat-addled brain. Given my later-in-life appreciation for manga, Osamu Tezuka always proves to be a reliable go-to choice. In...
Okay, so I'm not quite sure of the U.S. publication date for Xinran's latest ...
Every time I close a Mas Arai mystery (this is my third – I know, I need to catch up), and in spite of the sometimes gruesome body count, I have to admit I miss the crotchety old man with his Japanese phrases mixed in...
By the time I actually met Sonya Chung, debut novelist of Long for This World, which hit shelves in March, I was already a groupie. Long was one of those suddenly-surprising-out-of-nowhere books that make you gasp. A publicist sent it to me initially and it...
Five years ago, Taipei-born Malaysian British Tash Aw landed in the media spotlight with The Harmony Silk Factory, complete with public speculations about an allegedly enormous debut advance. Decorated with multiple important prizes, including Commonwealth and Whitbread first novel awards, Aw’s Factory earned him both...
Warning: I can't find any promises of a volume 2 (or 3, 4, or more!) anywhere in, on, or around this book. Nothing in the publicist's note, either! Uh-oh ...
This weekend, I get to meet Kyoko Mori in livetime [I'm scheduled to moderate an Asian American literary panel on Sunday morning as part of the first-ever Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival, sponsored by the brand-new Asian American Literary Review). Anyone can join me,...
Timing is everything, right? Last weekend, I had our teenage daughter and a friend of hers wandering NYC, and we happened to do the fabulous, downloadable Soundwalk/Chinatown walking tour narrated by Chinatown native Jami Gong – all three of us were attached to one iPod...
What ironic timing to discover Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, the 2001 Cannes Film Festival Caméra d'Or Award winner about two Inuit brothers – one murdered, the other who escapes by running naked over vast ice – during the 2010 Snowpocalypse. One of Canada’s top 10...
Art director for an alternative city paper by day, comics artist whenever he has the time, SAM (Secret Asian Man, yes!) – not so unlike his own creator Tak Toyoshima – fights stereotypes when he can, makes biting commentaries when frustrated, and generally tries to...
What a fast-paced, can’t put-down, biting, over-the-top debut! You'll have to read it for the body count alone ...
Barbara Demick, currently the Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, spent five years as Seoul's bureau chief where she had unprecedented access to North Koreans. Her interviews, which began in 2001, eventually became Nothing to Envy, a mind-boggling, heartbreaking, surreal-ly humanizing portrait of six...
I don't know why the galley's back cover touts "shades of Slumdog Millionaire and The Namesake" because this book has no overlaps with either of those titles, much less their authors, or even locations! Really, not all brown people look alike – authors or their characters! Slumdog...
The adventures of Shizuka Shiroyama and her two best sidekicks, strong-willed Okouchi and ever-cheerful Tadami, continues in this third installment with some guilty feelings, a heartwarming wedding, and dealing with a meddlesome doctor's awkward attempts at matchmaking because she still can't get over her own...
How helpful to find a "For New Readers"-summary on the Table of Contents page! And it's so thorough that if you pick up volume 2 (or any after) before volume 1, you can still enjoy this touching series about the trials and travails of early...
Through the decades, Ruthanne Lum McCunn has built a lauded career giving voice to spirited, groundbreaking heroes of Asian descent. Growing up in a large, extended family in Hong Kong, McCunn, who is half Chinese and half Scottish American, was surrounded by strong, independent women...
I have old emails in my inbox from Jabari Asim, when he used to be a books editor at The Washington Post. I did a couple of book reviews for him, and pitched a few more ...
*STARRED REVIEW The title of Sonya Chung’s exquisite novel, Long for This World, seems to be missing a word: “not long for this world” would be the easy, expected phrase. But little is ‘easy’ or ‘expected’ in this multilayered story of two brothers – one Korean,...
In 1848 American English, "wench" referred to "[a] colored woman of any age; a negress or mulattress, especially one in service." Among far too many southern (utterly misnamed) 'gentlemen' (as these men exhibited nothing 'gentle' in their behavior), a wench's expected service was sexual in...
