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BookDragon Sex and violence Tag

Ruby by Cynthia Bond

24 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction

How surprised was I to hear earlier this month that Oprah's latest Book Club 2.0 pick just happened to be on my iPod! I suppose the fact that I always have no fewer than a couple dozen books on my phone at all times makes...

Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano, translated by Matt Thorn

07 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

Long before the latest translated-into-English title from award-winning transgender manga creator Inio Asano is due to hit shelves (fabulous Seattle-based publisher Fantagraphics lists an unspecified February pub date; Amazon lists March 19, 2014 and B&N March 5 for available shipping), the internet has been abuzz...

Barbara by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Ben Applegate, foreword by Frederik L. Schodt

20 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

For readers familiar with Astro Boy, Buddha, or Black Jack – a few of 'godfather of manga' Osamu Tezuka's signature titles – Barbara might present quite the surprise. This is definitely not your kiddie fare: the front cover warns "explicit content"; the back cover is marked with...

A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison

02 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian, Nonethnic-specific, South Asian

Of the debut novels by non-Asian men writing about Asia and Asian characters that I've read thus far this year, three stand out: Adam Johnson's The Orphan Master’s Son, Brandon Jones' All Woman and Springtime, and most recently this title by Virginia attorney Corban Addison. The one...

All Woman and Springtime by Brandon W. Jones [in Christian Science Monitor]

04 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Nonethnic-specific, North Korean, Repost

Just as North Korea’s presence in news headlines has proliferated of late – thanks to the installation of the third-generation round-faced despot; nuclear tests; failed missiles; blatant threats – book shelves, too, have seen an increase in North Korea-themed titles, predominantly written by non-Korean authors. In...

No Longer Human (vol. 3) by Usamaru Furuya, based on the novel by Osamu Dazai, translated by Allison Markin Powell

16 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

The three-part manga adaptation of Dazai Osamu's classic semi-autobiographical novel of human disconnect concludes here with utter fear and loathing. To catch up to this point, click here for the first two volumes. Yozo Oba, now 22, is living so blissfully with his lovely young wife Yoshino...

No Longer Human (vols. 1-2) by Usamaru Furuya, based on the novel by Osamu Dazai, translated by Allison Markin Powell

06 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

What does it take to update a 60+-year-old story? In the case of Usamaru Furuya's 21st-century manga adaptation of the literary classic Ningen Shikkaku, a semi-autobiographical novel by Dazai Osamu (published in 1948 in Japan, translated into English as No Longer Human in 1958), an...

On Black Sisters Street by Chika Unigwe

15 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, European, Fiction, Translation

Four women, living together in a house in Antwerp, Belgium, are "[t]hrown together by a conspiracy of fate and a loud man called Dele." They have escaped their lives in Africa, but only at the cost of their freedom; Dele, who orchestrated their immigration, now...

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin

18 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

In less than a week, you can be holding 1Q84, Haruki Murakami's long-awaited spectacular title finally available in English, which hits shelves on October 25. You might choose to hold out until November 8 when the audible version is scheduled for release. All 944 pages (on paper...

The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine by Somaly Mam

12 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Cambodian, Cambodian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American

Before you open Somaly Mam's astonishing memoir, you need to be prepared to bear witness to some of the most horrific acts a human being can commit against another, especially helpless young girls. Once you begin, the frank, unmitigated writing will not allow you to...

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel [in Library Journal]

15 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW At the core of 1Q84 is a spectacular love story about a girl and boy who briefly held hands when they were both 10. That said, with the fiercely imaginative Murakami as author, the story’s exposition is gloriously labyrinthine: Welcome “into this enigma-filled world...

I Have the Right to Destroy Myself by Young-ha Kim, translated by Chi-Young Kim

20 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Translation

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...

The Paradise Bird Tattoo (or, Attempted Double-Suicide) by Choukitsu Kurumatani, translated by Kenneth J. Bryson [in Library Journal]

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

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...

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...

Wench: A Novel by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

15 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Fiction

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...

Innocent World by Ami Sakurai, translated by Steven Clark [in AsianWeek]

04 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

Innocent WorldInnocence lost: 17-year-old Ami is both schoolgirl and prostitute, pregnant by her mentally challenged older brother, brutally gang raped by a rock star and his groupies, but capable of restoring the dormant virility of...

Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara, translated by David Karashima [in AsianWeek]

04 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

Snakes and EarringsIf this 120-page novel rife with sex and violence were any longer, reading it would be unbearable. That it won Japan’s highest literary honor, the Akutagawa Prize, for its then 20-year-old author,...

Fresh Girls and Other Stories by Evelyn Lau [in What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature]

02 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories

Fresh Girls and Other StoriesA stark collection of 10 stories, mostly about a desperate young woman trapped in a life of prostitution, drugs, and sexual abuse. Author Evelyn Lau, a teenage runaway who...

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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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