The Children Who Loved Books by Peter Carnavas
26 Aug, by in Absolute Favorites, Australian, Children/Picture Books, Fiction
Check out the fabulous cover ...
BookDragon Siblings Tag
Avatar: The Last Airbender | The Search (Parts Two and Three) created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, script by Gene Luen Yang, art by Gurihiru, lettering by Michael Heisler
23 Aug, by in Chinese American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Young Adult Readers
Okay, for the latest full Avatar experience, might I suggest you do a bit of catch-up homework first: To find out what prompts this eponymous ‘search,’ you’ll need to read the three-part Promise which reveals why family relationships matters so much, especially to Aang and Zuko; then...
Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
21 Aug, by in Adult Readers, African, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific
Even before Naomi Benaron's debut novel hit shelves last year, it earned a substantial literary gold sticker as the winner of the biennial 2010 Bellwether Prize – the largest monetary award for unpublished fiction in North America, which was rebranded in 2011 as the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially...
When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard
20 Aug, by in Canadian, Children/Picture Books, Memoir, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Nonfiction
Although she "knew many things when [she] was eight," what Olemaun didn't know was "how to read the outsiders' books. It was not enough to hear them from my older sister, Rosie. I longed to read them for myself." Against her father's wishes – "[h]e knew things...
Out of This Place by Emma Cameron
19 Aug, by in Australian, Fiction, Young Adult Readers
Oooh, am I sucker for novels in verse, even though I'm embarrassingly inept with poetry. Who knows why ...
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri [in Library Journal]
15 Aug, by in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American
*STARRED REVIEW Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri's (The Interpreter of Maladies) unparalleled ability to transform the smallest moments into whole lives pinnacles in this extraordinary story of two brothers – so close that one is "the other side" of the other – coming of age in the political...
An Infidel in Paradise by S.J. Laidlaw
13 Aug, by in Canadian, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Pakistani, Young Adult Readers
Emma is hardly the typical Canadian teenager. At 16, she's lived all over the world, thanks to her career diplomat mother, who Emma currently blames for all the latest terrible events in her life: she's in yet another new country – this time Pakistan with some...
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell
04 Aug, by in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Irish, Nonethnic-specific
Alas, this was the last Maggie O'Farrell I had left. Ever since discovering The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (my first and still favorite, I admit), I've moved her books to the top of the top of the To-Be-Read piles with regularity. Now that I've...
The Twin Knights by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Maya Rosewood
02 Aug, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers
In order to fully enjoy this manga, you first need to read its prequel, Princess Knight (in two volumes in English translation). Come back when you're finished ...
The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, translated by Lucia Graves
29 Jul, by in European, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Spanish, Translation, Young Adult Readers
The offer of a new job in a small resort town on the coast of Normandy allows the recently widowed Simone Sauvelle the chance for her and her two children to escape a poverty-stricken life in Paris. As the assistant to brilliant toymaker Lazarus Jann,...
As Fast As Words Could Fly by Pamela M. Tuck, illustrated by Eric Velasquez
21 Jul, by in Biography, Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Fiction
In segregated Greenville, North Carolina, 14-year-old Mason Steele has the rare talent to transcribe his father's impassioned descriptions of civil rights incidents into effective business letters determined to educate and change people's minds. His father's civil rights group rewards young Mason's efforts with a typewriter....
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
17 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Audio, Fiction
Before this novel, Khaled Hosseini's third, even hit shelves on May 21, the world had already made it a bestseller; many months – more likely years – will pass before it fades from the international spotlight. Although I had the galley for months before, I kept it...
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
09 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, South Asian, South Asian American
Reading four novels, each set in a major Indian city, one after another over a single week or so, has made the stories feel as if they might overlap, dovetail, conflate, creating quite the enriching literary experience. In the midst of A Fine Balance, I...
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters (Book 2), Allergic to Birthday Parties, Science Projects, and Other Man-Made Catastrophes (Book 3), Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals, and Other Fatal Circumstances (Book 4), Allergic to Babies, Burglars, and Other Bumps in the Night (Book 5) by Lenore Look, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
08 Jul, by in Chinese American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Vietnamese American
As part of appreciating the versatile art of LeUyen Pham – who with her hubby Alex Puvilland imbued Friday's post, Templar, with such swashbuckling energy – I thought I should keep a good thing going by adding a few more Pham-tabulously illustrated titles this bright new Monday. [Truth be told, I...
Rainbow Stew by Cathryn Falwell
03 Jul, by in Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific
This week has been especially stormy and wet, so I thought I needed to throw in a rainbow in the midst of bursting clouds. The waking glee of three young children staying with their grandfather quickly turns to "[w]himper, sigh, cloudy sky," when their plans for...
The Blind Man’s Garden by Nadeem Aslam + Author Interview [in Bookslut]
01 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Afghan, Author Interview/Profile, British, British Asian, Fiction, Pakistani, Repost
From the opening few pages of reading a Nadeem Aslam novel, I knew his writing was something to treasure and behold. Serendipitously, I used my then-day job to bring the Pakistan-born, British-educated-and-domiciled Aslam over the Pond to be a featured guest at the then-annual South...
Shelter and Seconds Away [Mickey Bolitar series] by Harlan Coben
30 Jun, by in Fiction, Jewish, Young Adult Readers
If you're needing a Myron Bolitar fix – Harlan Coben, the first author to win an Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony (three of the top awards for mystery writers), seems to be taking a break from his most persistent protagonist after 10 volumes – then this new series...
Beyond the Moongate: True Stories of 1920s China by Elizabeth Quan
17 Jun, by in Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Children/Picture Books, Chinese, Memoir, Nonfiction
"Moongates dotted the landscape of Old China," the second of artist Elizabeth Quan's two-part childhood memoir begins. "Stepping through one of these doorways was to enter a world of peace and happiness ...
The Night Ferry by Michael Robotham
16 Jun, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Australian, British, British Asian, Fiction
If I had not stuck Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad thrillers in my ears, I might never have discovered Australian journalist-turned-bestselling novelist Michael Robotham – French's The Likeness (I think) ended with the 'if you liked x, then try y'-recommendation that led me to Night Ferry. Contrarian that I am, however,...
Broken Harbor [Dublin Murder Squad 4] by Tana French
08 Jun, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Irish
With Broken Harbor finished, my Tana French days are over ...