BookDragon Siblings Tag

A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return by Zeina Abirached, translated by Edward Gauvin

04 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Lebanese, Memoir, Middle Eastern, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Once again, I start from book's end, with the "About the Author" page which introduces war-child Zeina Abirached, whose first 10 years of life were spent surviving Beirut's civil war (1975-1990). As an adult, she happened upon a 1984 documentary that included "[a] woman whose...

Amulet | Book Five: Prince of the Elves by Kazu Kibuishi

01 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific

When's the last time you competed with one of your kids to read a book? Especially when said child is usually not so interested in anything without a screen? Good thing my bedtime is a little later than his, or else I'd never have gotten...

Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago

29 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Caribbean American, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Puerto Rican

I think I must have been a Boricua in a former life. I can't seem to stay away too long from La Isla del Encanto (especially my favorite Isla Culebrita), and I get the fiercest cravings for Bebo's and mofongo (it's all about a full...

20th Century Boys (vol. 22) by Naoki Urasawa, with the cooperation of Takashi Nagasaki, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller

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

Confession first: even though I'm posting after the fact, reading this was a little birthday present to myself. The older I get, oh how I loooovvvvve the manga that much more! Must be an age-escapist thing! The Friend has shockingly confessed that he's the mastermind behind...

We the Animals by Justin Torres

25 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Latina/o/x, Puerto Rican

As this debut novel is all of 125 pages (in hardcover), you have little excuse not to read it in a single sitting ...

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng [in Library Journal]

17 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Malaysian, Repost, Southeast Asian

* STARRED REVIEW Like his debut, The Gift of Rain (2007), Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng's second novel is exquisite and, like Gift, arrives stateside with Booker Prize longlist approval. Recently retired judge Teoh Yun Ling has at most a year before she will lose all language...

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng + Author Interview [in Bookslut]

04 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Japanese, Malaysian, Repost, Southeast Asian

I can count on one hand the books that I've given by the dozens to lucky relatives and friends over the decades. One of those counting fingers belongs to Tan Twan Eng's debut stunner, The Gift of Rain. With the impending American release this month of...

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

03 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction

As I look back on my post for Dreams of Joy's prequel, Shanghai Girls, I was clearly, quickly aware then that Janet Song was not the best choice for narrator. That I was somehow fooled into listening to Song again is surely a 'shame on...

Drama by Raina Telgemeier, with color by Gurihiru

31 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Drama/Theater, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific

Just so you have a little warning, tomorrow (September 1) is #DRAMADAY. That means veteran comics-maker Raina Telgemeier's latest book hits shelves tomorrow ...

Gold by Chris Cleave

26 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

Exactly two weeks have passed since the London 2012 closing ceremony; still feeling Olympic withdrawal? Might I suggest a literary antidote: Chris Cleave's latest novel, made even more timely as the Olympic sport of choice here is cycling (albeit indoors). Road cyclist Bradley Wiggins emerged...

Victory: Resistance Book 3 by Carla Jablonski, illustrated by Leland Purvis, color by Hilary Sycamore

25 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

Since today marks the 68th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris (August 25, 1944) during World War II, I thought that must be a sign to add the final installment of the Resistance trilogy here. The title, Victory, speaks volumes, not only for the history it represents, but for the...

The No-Dogs-Allowed Rule by Kashmira Sheth, illustrated by Carl Pearce

22 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Indian American, Middle Grade Readers, South Asian American

Ishan Mehra has CDS ...

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (vols. 11-12) by Eiji Otsuka, art by Housui Yamazaki, translated by Toshifumi Yoshida, edited by Carl Gustav Horn

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

I don't know how I never noticed before, but Kurosagi comes with a "Parental Advisory | Explicit Content" warning sticker (volume 11 had it on the outside plastic shrink-wrap; volume 12 got more serious and placed it on the actual book!). True enough that some...

March by Geraldine Brooks

09 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

"'I've always imagined paradise as something like a library,'" the titular March expounds. Is that not a perfect thought? Alas, while March is Geraldine Brooks' most award-winning – that yellow circle on the cover announces its 2006 Pulitzer Prize – I must confess it was my least favorite; if I had...

Home by Toni Morrison

08 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Korean

The legendary 1993 Nobel Prize-winning Toni Morrison begins her latest novel with a jarring disconnect of warning: the title is Home, and yet the first pages open with an unannotated verse – "Whose house is this? / ...

NonNonBa by Shigeru Mizuki, translated by Jocelyne Allen, afterword by Kimie Imura

03 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Translation, Young Adult Readers

The work of Shigeru Mizuki, a legendary 90-year-old manga artist in his native Japan, arrived Stateside last year with the first-ever English translation of the award-winning Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, which draws on Mizuki's own experiences during World War II when he was drafted into Japan’s...

Long Lost and Live Wire [Myron Bolitar series 9 and 10] by Harlan Coben

29 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

When the running gets tough (and long), I find my latest default stuck-in-the-ears choices to last me another 10, 20, 30 miles is something by Harlan Coben (because his Tell No One was my first pulp mystery ever and remains a favorite over a decade later) or Carl Hiaasen (because I get so...

The Black Isle by Sandi Tan

23 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Singaporean American, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American

She begins her life as Ling, the first-born twin of a well-to-do Shanghai family. Half the family is cleaved from the other, seeking new fortune on the British outpost called the Black Isle. During the sea voyage that takes Ling, her twin Li, and their father...

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones

20 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction

In mid-April, the literary world reeled with the news that no fiction title was awarded a Pulitzer this year; such an omission from the annual mega-prize list hadn't happened in 35 years, since 1977. Many opinions, articles, shouts, and protests followed, but a May New...

between shades of gray by Ruta Sepetys

05 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Russian, Young Adult Readers

First of all, please do not confuse this spectacular title with that OTHER Shades of Grey. Not that any comparison is even merited, but gray – notice spelling difference – hit shelves more than a year before Grey (March 2011 vs. April 2012), and gray is indisputably...