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BookDragon San Francisco Chronicle Tag

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua [in San Francisco Chronicle]

08 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother did more than speak to me. It screamed, shouted and lectured me. It made me simultaneously laugh with empathy and cringe with embarrassment and exasperation. "This is a story about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs," the...

This Is All I Choose to Tell: History and Hybridity in Vietnamese American Literature by Isabelle Thuy Pelaud [in San Francisco Chronicle]

26 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Nonfiction, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese American

What's wrong with this scenario? Robert Olen Butler's A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain wins the Pulitzer Prize despite "his portrayal of sweet and off-beat Vietnamese American caricatures,"...

Quiet As They Come by Angie Chau [in San Francisco Chronicle]

17 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese American

Through 11 dovetailing stories that begin in the 1980s and move toward today, Angie Chau's absorbing debut collection, Quiet As They Come, follows three branches of an extended family that has miraculously escaped the Vietnam War. The 12 refugees attempt to adapt and survive the...

Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa [in San Francisco Chronicle]

13 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

If you're looking for the quirky, original Yoko Ogawa, her latest, Hotel Iris, is probably not for you. Go back to your bookstore or library and check out the delightfully inimitable The Housekeeper and the Professor (2009), about a genius math professor with only an 80-minute...

The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West by Christopher Corbett [in San Francisco Chronicle]

20 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Nonfiction, Repost

The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West, by Christopher Corbett, is an oddly disturbing read, not so much for its content but for its publication as a historical text about Asian American pioneer woman Polly Bemis, Corbett's eponymous "poker bride." Problems with historical...

Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie [in San Francisco Chronicle]

17 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center 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,...

Delhi Noir edited by Hirsh Sawhney [in San Francisco Chronicle]

11 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Indian, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian

Whenever my kids start singing "Crazy Kiya Re," still one of their favorite songs after multiple trips to India, I find myself having to leave the room. Since reading the 14-story anthology Delhi Noir, I can't disassociate the Bollywood hit from the police officer who...

I Loves Yous Are for White People: A Memoir by Lac Su [in San Francisco Chronicle]

02 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese American

Lac Su is a survivor of things so harrowing that just recounting some of those experiences, even from the distance of a keyboard tapping out a review of his memoir, I Love Yous Are for White People, makes the heart wince. As a 5-year-old immigrant to...

Once the Shore: Stories by Paul Yoon [in San Francisco Chronicle]

27 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Repost, Short Stories

I have to say it: ‘Yoon’ rhymes with ‘swoon’ for a reason! ...

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer [in San Francisco Chronicle]

17 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British, European, Fiction, Indian, Repost, South Asian

Geoff Dyer's latest novel, teasingly titled Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, is quite the mind game. To play, you obviously have to read the book. Here's the initial setup: two distinct parts with a few overlapping similarities. In the first, "Jeff in Venice," London journalist...

Riverbig: A Novel by Aris Janigian [in San Francisco Chronicle]

23 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Armenian American, Fiction, Repost

Far too many immigration stories begin with an escape from tragedy – everything from economic hardship to devastating wars. The Armenian American experience is tragically rooted in the Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1918, the systematic massacre of an estimated 1 to 2 million Armenians. A...

China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation by Xinran, translated by Nicky Harman, Julia Lovell, and Esther Tyldesley [in San Francisco Chronicle]

16 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Nonfiction, Repost

Since the 2002 best-seller The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices, Beijing-born London journalist Xinran has emerged as an international dynamo reclaiming the voices of neglected citizens throughout her homeland. Her subsequent titles – Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet, What the Chinese Don't Eat, Miss Chopsticks, and even her...

The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs, translated by Hester Velmans [in San Francisco Chronicle]

30 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Awful Duds, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Translation

angel-maker1Belgian-born Stefan Brijs' novel The Angel Maker seemingly has all the necessary elements to be a success with U.S. readers. It's already an international bestseller, with 80,000 copies sold in Holland alone, according to the pre-publication...

World Ball Notebook by Sesshu Foster [in San Francisco Chronicle]

24 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Hapa/Mixed-race, Poetry, Repost, Young Adult Readers

world-ball-notebook1The cover of Sesshu Foster's latest title, World Ball Notebook – with its leering skeleton partially superimposed on a photograph of children playing soccer on a city street flanked by abandoned buildings – is...

Heirlooms: Letters From a Peach Farmer by David Mas Masumoto [in San Francisco Chronicle]

04 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Japanese American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

heirlooms2As I write, I'm into the ninth of 16 hours that make up the audio version of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Learning about the degrading...

Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat [in San Francisco Chronicle]

10 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Caribbean, Caribbean American, Haitian, Haitian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

brother-im-dying1Something magical happens when prize-winning novelist Edwidge Danticat strings words together. From the most trivial details to breathtaking moments of enormous gravity, Danticat uses words as charms that gently beckon readers into her world and make...

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo [in San Francisco Chronicle]

23 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British, Chinese, Fiction, Repost

concise-chinese-english-dictionary2Alas, summer's over, but that doesn't mean the fun reads have to be thrown aside for more serious fare. If anything, some depth mixed with light fun might make for the ideal transitional book. A Concise Chinese-English...

Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam [in San Francisco Chronicle]

12 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories

bloodletting3Vincent Lam's first book of fiction, Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures, comes to the United State an already proven deal. The story collection won Canada's prestigious Giller Prize in 2006, the first time a premiere...

Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter by Shoko Tendo, translated by Louise Heal [in San Francisco Chronicle]

06 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

yakuza-moon Schadenfreude, of German origin, means joy at someone's distress or misfortune – surely not the best of human reactions. But publishers have turned misery into a veritable gold mine with an endless array of voyeuristic best-sellers....

San Francisco’s International Hotel: Mobilizing the Filipino American Community in the Anti-Eviction Movement by Estella Habal [in San Francisco Chronicle]

19 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Filipina/o American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Southeast Asian American

san-franciscos-international-hotel This is not a spoiler: Estella Habal's San Francisco's International Hotel: Mobilizing the Filipino American Community in the Anti-Eviction Movement is a story with a happy ending. Proof positive is the 2-year-old International Hotel, which stands...

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Welcome to BookDragon, filled with titles for the diverse reader. BookDragon is a new media initiative of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), and serves as a forum for those interested in learning more about the Asian Pacific American experience through literature. BookDragon is inhabited by Terry Hong.

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