Shelf Awareness Archives - Page 6 of 19

Author and Illustrator Interview: Eva Chen and Sophie Diao [in Shelf Awareness]

03 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Author Interview/Profile, Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost

Eva Chen and Sophie Diao: A Collaboration of Joy and Empowerment Eva Chen and Sophie Diao have yet to meet in real life, but they already share important commonalities: both are American daughters of Chinese immigrants, both have multiple book credits, and both are multi-tasking multi-talents. Chen is a...

I Am Golden by Eva Chen, illustrated by Sophie Diao [in Shelf Awareness]

02 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost

An Instagram executive and Google Doodler might not seem to be a literary match, but author Eva Chen (Juno Valentine series) and illustrator Sophie Diao (I Am the Wind) prove to be an ideal pairing in their fabulous first picture book collaboration, I Am Golden. "We...

Search History by Eugene Lim [in Shelf Awareness]

20 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean American, Repost

For audiences in search of a quick slender read, Eugene Lim's surreally quirky Search History is not it. The pre-prologue to the prologue opens as "A Warning to the Reader" with various cautions and enlightenments; 152 dense pages later, gratification awaits. The story features a late Korean...

Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration by Sofija Stefanovic [in Shelf Awareness]

19 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Black/African American, Eastern European, European, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Repost, South Asian American, Southeast Asian American

*STARRED REVIEW The expectation of consistent quality among 36 global voices seems daunting, but editor Sofija Stefanovic admirably achieves this in a majority of these stories. Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration began on "one of the best-known stages of New York City" – the "plush...

This Is How I Disappear by Mirion Malle, translated by Aleshia Jensen and Bronwyn Haslam [in Shelf Awareness]

15 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Canadian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Twenty-something Clara could seem content with her life: caring friends, social invitations, cozy apartment, a career in publishing, even a book contract. But French Canadian cartoonist Mirion Malle (The League of Super Feminists) introduces her protagonist with a speech bubble – a disturbing confession revealing...

Night Fisher by R. Kikuo Johnson [in Shelf Awareness]

14 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hawaiian, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Lauded illustrator R. Kikuo Johnson's potent, career-making debut, Night Fisher – which won the prestigious Russ Manning Newcomer Award at the 2006 Eisner Awards – returns in a handsome hardcover edition. Originally published in 2005, Night Fisher was Johnson's antidote to Hollywood's Hawaii, "the backdrop for...

Brickmakers by Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott [in Shelf Awareness]

13 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Argentinian, Fiction, Repost, South American, Translation

Argentinian literary powerhouse Selva Almada's stupendous second novel (after The Wind that Lays Waste) opens and ends in a deserted fairground where death claims two young men predestined to hate each other. Pájaro Tamai is "sprawled on his back," although just earlier that evening his ribs...

It’s OK, Slow Lizard by Yeorim Yoon, illustrated by Jian Kim, translated by Chi-Young Kim [in Shelf Awareness]

11 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Korean, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Author Yeorim Yoon invites readers into a welcoming haven in the Korean import It's OK, Slow Lizard, gorgeously illustrated by Jian Kim. In an idyllic forest live five wonderful friends: Little Bird, Elephant, Rabbit, Monkey, and Slow Lizard. Basking in gentle sunlight, Slow Lizard enjoys...

The Strange Scent of Saffron by Miléna Babin, translated by Oana Avasilichioaei [in Shelf Awareness]

07 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Canadian, Fiction, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW At a mere 160 pages, Miléna Babin's The Strange Scent of Saffron might seem spare, but its sizable cast and numerous crisscrossing narratives produce a dense, intricate, utterly satisfying read. In the town of Le Bic, Quebec, two strangers meet over an exquisite meal at the...

A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett [in Shelf Awareness]

06 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Canadian, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories

*STARRED REVIEW Casey Plett's second collection, after A Safe Girl to Love and the novel Little Fish – both Lambda Award winners – once again features a spectrum of experiences lived by transgender women, from exhilarating to soul-crushing and all the quotidian moments in between. Among the exceptional dozen...

The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon [in Shelf Awareness]

05 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Uncategorized

What happens in The Days of Afrekete, the second novel by Asali Solomon (Disgruntled), takes just an evening: Liselle Belmont prepares for and hosts a dinner party to thank her husband Winn's loyal supporters, despite a failed political campaign. But Solomon deftly expands the defining event...

A Girl Called Rumi by Ari Honarvar [in Shelf Awareness]

04 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Iranian, Iranian American, Persian, Persian American, Repost

Journalist/artist/activist Ari Honarvar's promising debut, A Girl Called Rumi, memorializes the lifesaving power of storytelling through the darkest terrors. In 1981, the Iran-Iraq War was still new and a semblance of normalcy seemed possible for 9-year-old Kimia, who claims "Rumi" as part-time moniker. She's missing...

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout [in Shelf Awareness]

01 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout has the remarkable ability to engage audiences immediately with just a few opening sentences. Her marvelous eighth novel, Oh William!, is no different, made even more inviting by being the third in her Amgash series, which began with My Name...

The Rooftop by Fernanda Trías, translated by Annie McDermott [in Shelf Awareness]

30 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Repost, South American, Translation, Uruguayan

In the chilling, spare-but-oh-so-dense novel The Rooftop, Uruguyan writer Fernanda Trías introduces Clara – her name a sharp contrast to her uncertainty, her unknowing – as she recounts the life that she announces on the opening page "came to an end today." Once upon a time,...

Author Interview: Mesha Maren [in Shelf Awareness]

10 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Mesha Maren: 'Fear and Unease Can Be a Writer's Best Friend' Mesha Maren's 2019 debut, Sugar Run, took almost a decade to hit shelves. In the meantime, she published short stories in various prestigious journals (the Oxford American, the Southern Review) and won numerous prizes and fellowships (2015 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize,...

Perpetual West by Mesha Maren [in Shelf Awareness]

09 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Mexican, Repost

To compress Mesha Maren's exhilarating second novel, Perpetual West, into a quick description would be an injustice to her intricately plotted, unsettling narrative about two 21-year-olds unsure of who they really are. Whereas her debut, Sugar Run, had its characters return to Maren's home landscape of rural...

Author Interview: Kei Miller [in Shelf Awareness]

08 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Caribbean, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

Kei Miller: Many Different Writers Kei Miller commands genres – poetry, fiction, essays – as adroitly as he navigates identities as a Jamaican native son, a British academic, a global award-winning writer, and, most recently, a Miami professor. As poet, he's been shortlisted for the Costa...

Things I Have Withheld by Kei Miller [in Shelf Awareness]

07 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Caribbean, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

Literary chameleon Kei Miller (The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion) has produced award-winning short stories, novels, poetry, and essays. Things I Have Withheld is arguably his most stupendous title to date. These 14 exquisitely vulnerable essays explore his Jamaican heritage, his British...

Gordo by Jaime Cortez [in Shelf Awareness]

06 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost, Short Stories

As a visual artist and performer, Jaime Cortez has always been telling stories. He gets literal in his debut, Gordo, an impressive collection featuring the titular Gordo, a preteen middle child of Mexican American farm workers in California's 1970s Central Coast. Gordo is one of...

Both Sides Now by Peyton Thomas [in Shelf Awareness]

25 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Canadian, Fiction, Filipina/o American, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Peyton Thomas's auspicious YA debut, Both Sides Now, invites readers into the complicated transition year between parental reliance and university independence. Seniors Finch and Jonah are their Olympia, Wash., debate team headliners. Although they lose the state competition to their private school archnemeses, the pair still...

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