Travel Archives - Page 4 of 11

Stories of the Sahara by Sanmao, translated by Mike Fu [in Christian Science Monitor]

21 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese, European, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Taiwanese, Translation

Stories of the Sahara celebrates a singular voice in travel writing Sanmao electrified Chinese readers when her travelogue “Stories of the Sahara” was published in 1976 – now it has been translated into English. She had three names; traveled to more than 55 countries; studied in Germany,...

99 Nights in Logar by Jamil Jan Kochai [in Booklist]

14 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Audio, Central Asian, Fiction, Pakistani American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

During summer 2005, when “the American war was sort of dozing,” 12-year-old Marwand, his brother, and mother arrived in Logar, Afghanistan to visit extended family. The six years since Marwand’s last visit from the U.S. isn’t enough for Budabash – more wolf than dog –...

The Suspect by Fiona Barton [in Booklist]

11 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Repost

In Fiona Barton’s third “Kate Waters” full-audio-cast thriller, Susan Duerden assumes tenacious journalist Kate Waters from Mandy Williams who previously voiced Kate in The Widow and The Child. This time the mystery gets personal – and far-flung. Two British teens traveling in Thailand turn up as victims in...

Love from A to Z by S. K. Ali [in Booklist]

07 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Arab American, Audio, Canadian, Fiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

In an unusual narrative structure, S. K. Ali (Saints and Misfits, 2017) inserts herself directly into her latest #OwnVoices Muslim rom-com, making her aural debut. She opens by introducing two teens intrigued with “marvels” and “oddities” – whose alternating journal entries follow – then intervenes...

A Place to Belong by Cynthia Kadohata [in Booklist]

01 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW From ages eight to 12, Hanako lived in prison: She was one of 120,000 majority Americans of Japanese descent imprisoned during WWII by Executive Order 9066. “[N]ow that she was kind of free ...

Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad [in Booklist]

16 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Thai, Thai American

Slightly gravelly voiced Scottish actor Euan Morton takes immediate command here, crisply enunciating Bangkok-native, New-York based Pitchaya Sudbanthad’s ambitious debut. What initially reads like unrelated short stories reveals a broader overview of a city in constant flux, its past, present, and future represented by a...

The Parade by Dave Eggers [in Booklist]

07 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

As McSweeney’s founder Dave Eggers’ default narrator-of-choice for over a dozen titles, Dion Graham improves – again – Eggers’ original with his meticulous, mellifluous aural presentation. Eggers’ latest is a slim, tense title that, on the page, might read more didactic parable than affecting novel. Anonymity...

Dark Constellations by Pola Oloixarac, translated by Roy Kesey [in Booklist]

05 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Repost, South American, Translation

Justine Eyre takes a voyage around and through the world, voicing three centuries of enigmatic, peripatetic characters in Pola Oloixarac’s genre-defying latest. Divided into three distinct sections, the epic – a mere five hours in duration but dense as multi-layered allegory – opens in the...

The Sweetest Fruits by Monique Truong [in Booklist]

02 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Biography, European, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese American

*STARRED REVIEW He began life in 1850 as Patricio to his Greek mother, immigrating at two from the island of Lefcada to the Emerald Isle, his father’s birthplace, where he became Patrick. By 19, he landed in New York, made his way to Cincinnati, and married...

Talking with: Edward Gauvin … in full [in The Booklist Reader]

31 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Repost, Taiwanese American, Translation, Young Adult Readers

A truncated version (edited for printing space) of this interview was published in the July 2019 issue of Booklist. The full interview appears below. With over 300 publishing credits, Edward Gauvin might be the hardest-working French-to-English translator ever. That tenacity has earned him major awards, including the John Dryden...

Forward Me Back to You by Mitali Perkins [in Booklist]

29 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Soneela Nankani instills a just-under-the-surface rage in Kat, a biracial Oakland teen who barely escaped being raped by another student, and whose mother sends her to Boston to finish junior year home-schooled by a family friend’s great-aunt. For Robin Thornton, who’s struggling with his transracial...

The American Dream? A Journey on Route 66 Discovering Dinosaur Statues, Muffler Men, and the Perfect Breakfast Burrito by Shing Yin Khor [in Booklist]

15 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Malaysian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Southeast Asian American, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Malaysia-born, LA-dwelling Shing Yin Khor introduces the “two Americas” that were their obsessions growing up: a Los Angeles “full of beautiful people and sunlight and open roads” where 10 years of living has also added “lots and lots and lots of traffic,” and a...

Talking with Edward Gauvin [in Booklist]

11 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Children/Picture Books, European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Repost, Taiwanese American, Translation, Young Adult Readers

With over 300 publishing credits, Edward Gauvin might be the hardest-working French-to-English translator ever. That tenacity has earned him major awards, including the John Dryden Translation Prize (twice), and lauded NEA, PEN America, and Fulbright fellowships. His nimble skills have provided substantial attention to French graphic...

German Calendar No December by Sylvia Ofili, illustrated by Birgit Weyhe [in Booklist]

21 Jun, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost, Young Adult Readers

As the oldest daughter of a German mother and Nigerian father in a small Nigerian town where everybody knows everybody, Olivia has valued books as windows to a life beyond. While anticipating boarding school in big-city Lagos, Olivia dreams of “all kinds of adventures,” Enid...

Travelers by Helon Habila [in Booklist]

20 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Black/African American, European, Fiction, Repost

Reminiscent of Arthur Schnitzler’s late-19th-century play La Ronde (and the dozens of multi-genre adaptations since), Helon Habila’s (Oil on Water, 2011) fourth novel is a round-the-world journey that links disparate, desperate strangers. An unnamed African history scholar (his PhD pending) and his American wife, Gina, relocate from Arlington,...

Evening in Paradise: More Stories by Lucia Berlin [in Booklist]

19 Apr, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories

*STARRED REVIEW In 2015, A Manual for Cleaning Women collected 43 stories Lucia Berlin left before her 2004 death, making her an overnight – albeit posthumous – literary sensation. Here are 22 more, presented in some semblance of chronological order, mirroring Berlin’s own peripatetic exploits (Texas,...

Princess Bari by Sok-yong Hwang, translated by Sora Kim-Russell [in Booklist]

18 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Because she was the seventh daughter, Princess Bari – whose name means “abandoned” – was discarded as a baby only to return in triumph to save the world. Like her mythic Korean namesake, Bari is the unwanted seventh girl in a house desperate for sons....

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal [in Booklist]

04 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, British, British Asian, Fiction, Indian, Repost, South Asian

Sita Kaur Shergill is dying of cancer. She has “had enough of this ghastly life,” but before she goes, she leaves epistolary final wishes that her three British-born daughters journey together to India “on [her] behalf.” Her detailed itinerary is exacting, from serving others to...

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram [in Booklist]

08 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Iranian, Iranian American, Persian, Persian American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Sixteen-year-old loner Darius Kellner is an easy target at his Portland, Oregon, high school. He’s clinically depressed, a diagnosis he shares with his “Teutonic Übermensch” father. His nurturing comes mostly from his Iranian immigrant mother, and he’s close to his 8-year-old sister. For all that,...

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, translated by Philip Gabriel [in Booklist]

21 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW For those of us in need of a few hours of joyful catharsis, listen up. Despite a narrative driven by impending separation, the gratifying delight is well worth the tears. Narrator George Blagden effortlessly embodies this charming man-and-beast love story, so guilelessly gentle as...

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