Lists and Suggestions
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List: Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Voices
Frangipani
Vaite, Célestine Hitiura, 1966-
Materena Mahi is one of the spunkiest, wisest, lovingest women on the island of Tahiti. With her co... More
Materena Mahi is one of the spunkiest, wisest, lovingest women on the island of Tahiti. With her combustible husband missing after a minor domestic squabble, Materena learns she's pregnant with a daughter. What will she do? Move on-until Pito moves back, of course. Less
America Is Not the Heart
Castillo, Elaine, author.
After fleeing the Philippines, Hero De Vera arrives at her uncles where she is given a fresh start.... More
After fleeing the Philippines, Hero De Vera arrives at her uncles where she is given a fresh start. He asks no questions about her disturbing political past, but his daughter, the first American-born family member, is unable to resist her curiosity especially about her cousin's damaged hands. Less
Home Remedies: Stories
Wang, Xuan Juliana, 1985- author.
"Stories about love, family, and identity in the unexplored lives of Chinese-American millenni... More
"Stories about love, family, and identity in the unexplored lives of Chinese-American millennials"-- Less
The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing
Jacob, Mira, 1973-
"Brain surgeon Thomas Eapen's decision to shorten his visit to his mother's home in ... More
"Brain surgeon Thomas Eapen's decision to shorten his visit to his mother's home in India has consequences that reverberate two decades later as he starts conversing with the dead and daughter Amina must sort through the family's past to help him."-- Less
How I Became a North Korean
Lee, Krys, author.
Three young people struggle to make new lives for themselves in the dangerous region where China bo... More
Three young people struggle to make new lives for themselves in the dangerous region where China borders North Korea. Less
How to Pronounce Knife: Stories
Thammavongsa, Souvankham, 1978- author.
"In her stunning debut, Souvankham Thammavongsa captures the day-to-day lives of immigrants an... More
"In her stunning debut, Souvankham Thammavongsa captures the day-to-day lives of immigrants and refugees in a nameless city, illuminating hopes, disappointments, love affairs, and above all, the pursuit of a place to belong. An ex-boxer turned nail salon worker falls for a pair of immaculate hands; a mother and daughter harvest earthworms in the middle of the night; a country music-obsessed housewife abandons her family for fantasy; and a young girl's love for her father transcends language. Uncannily and intimately observed, written with prose of exceptional precision, the stories in How to Pronounce Knife speak of modern location and dislocation, revealing lives lived in the embrace of isolation and severed history - but not without joy, humour, resilience, and constant wonder at the workings of the world."-- Less
In the Country: Stories
Alvar, Mia, 1978- author.
"Mia Alvar's ... debut gives us a vivid ... picture of the Filipino diaspora: exiles and ... More
"Mia Alvar's ... debut gives us a vivid ... picture of the Filipino diaspora: exiles and emigrants and wanderers uprooting their families to begin new lives in the Middle East and America--and, sometimes, turning back"-- Less
Chemistry
Wang, Weike, author.
"A novel about a young Chinese woman whose graduate studies in chemistry go off track and lead... More
"A novel about a young Chinese woman whose graduate studies in chemistry go off track and lead her to discover the truths about her goals and desires"-- Less
How Much of These Hills Is Gold
Zhang, C Pam, author.
Newly orphaned children of immigrants, Lucy and Sam are suddenly alone in a land that refutes their... More
Newly orphaned children of immigrants, Lucy and Sam are suddenly alone in a land that refutes their existence. Fleeing the threats of their western mining town, they set off to bury their father in the only way that will set them free from their past. Along the way, they encounter giant buffalo bones, tiger paw prints, and the specters of a ravaged landscape as well as family secrets, sibling rivalry, and glimpses of a different kind of future. Less
Days of Distraction
Chang, Alexandra, 1988- author.
"The plan is to leave. As for how, when, to where, and even why--she doesn't know yet. So... More
"The plan is to leave. As for how, when, to where, and even why--she doesn't know yet. So begins a journey for the twenty-four-year-old narrator of Days of Distraction. As a staff writer at a prestigious tech publication, she reports on the achievements of smug Silicon Valley billionaires and start-up bros while her own request for a raise gets bumped from manager to manager. When her long-time boyfriend, J, desides to move to a quiet upstate New York town for grad school, she sees an excuse to cut and run. Moving is meant to be a grand gesture of her commitment to J and a way to reshape her sense of self. But in the process, she finds herself facing misgivings about her role in an interracial relationship. Captivated by the stories of her ancestors and other Asian Americans in history, she must confront a question at the core of her identitiy: How do you exist in a society that does not notice or understand you?"-- Less
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Vuong, Ocean, 1988- author.
"Brilliant, heartbreaking, tender, and highly original -- poet Ocean Vuong's debut novel ... More
"Brilliant, heartbreaking, tender, and highly original -- poet Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a sweeping and shattering portrait of a family, and a testament to the redemptive power of storytelling. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born--a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam--and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity"-- Less
The Yoga of Max's Discontent
Bajaj, Karan, 1979- author.
"Max Pzoras is the poster child for the American Dream. The child of Greek immigrants who grew... More
"Max Pzoras is the poster child for the American Dream. The child of Greek immigrants who grew up in a dangerous New York housing project, he triumphed over his upbringing and became a successful Wall Street analyst. Yet on the frigid December night he's involved in a violent street scuffle, Max begins to confront questions about suffering and mortality that have dogged him since his mother's death. His search takes him to the farthest reaches of India, where he encounters a mysterious night market, almost freezes to death on a hike up the Himalayas, and finds himself in an ashram in a drought-stricken village in South India. By turns a gripping adventure story and a journey of tremendous inner transformation, The Yoga of Max's Discontent is a contemporary take on man's classic quest for transcendence."-- Less
A Burning
Majumdar, Megha, author.
"After a fiery attack on a train leaves 104 people dead, the fates of three people become inex... More
"After a fiery attack on a train leaves 104 people dead, the fates of three people become inextricably entangled. Jivan, a bright, striving woman from the slums looking for a way out of poverty, is wrongly accused of planning the attack because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir, a slippery gym teacher from Jivan's former high school, has hitched his aspirations to a rising right wing party, and his own ascent becomes increasingly linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely, a spirited, impoverished, relentlessly optimistic hjira, who harbors dreams of becoming a Bollywood star, can provide the alibi that would set Jivan free--but her appearance in court will have unexpected consequences that will change the course of all of their lives. A novel about fate, power, opportunity, and class; about innocence and guilt, betrayal and love, and the corrosive media cycle that manufactures falsehoods masquerading as truths--A Burning is a debut novel of exceptional power and urgency, haunting and beautiful, brutal, vibrant, impossible to forget"-- Less
Forgotten Country
Chung, Catherine.
Learning on the night of her sister's birth that a daughter has been lost in every generation ... More
Learning on the night of her sister's birth that a daughter has been lost in every generation of her Korean family, Janie assumes a protective role over her sister while learning more cautionary stories from her optimistic father and mythology-minded mother. Less
The Sympathizer
Nguyen, Viet Thanh, 1971- author.
Follows a Viet Cong agent as he spies on a South Vietnamese army general and his compatriots as the... More
Follows a Viet Cong agent as he spies on a South Vietnamese army general and his compatriots as they start a new life in 1975 Los Angeles. Less
The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir
Bui, Thi, author, artist.
"Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child... More
"Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family's daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves"--Publisher description. Less
Pachinko
Lee, Min Jin, author.
"A new tour de force from the bestselling author of Free Food for Millionaires, for readers of... More
"A new tour de force from the bestselling author of Free Food for Millionaires, for readers of The Kite Runner and Cutting for Stone. Pachinko follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them all. Deserted by her lover, Sunja is saved when a young tubercular minister offers to marry and bring her to Japan. So begins a sweeping saga of an exceptional family in exile from its homeland and caught in the indifferent arc of history. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, its members are bound together by deep roots as they face enduring questions of faith, family, and identity"-- Less
We That Are Young
Taneja, Preti, author.
"A stunning debut novel, a modern-day King Lear set in contemporary India: the tale of a battl... More
"A stunning debut novel, a modern-day King Lear set in contemporary India: the tale of a battle for power within a turbulent family, for status within a nation in a constant state of transformation, and for the love and respect of a father disappearing into dementia Jivan Singh, the bastard scion of the Devraj family returns to his New Delhi childhood home at the age of twenty-three after fifteen years in the United States. His arrival coincides with the unexpected resignation of the founder and aging patriarch of the Company--its simple name belying its vast holdings across industry and entertainment, and the family's national renown. On the same day, Sita, Devraj's youngest daughter, disappears--refusing to marry the man her father wants for her. Now, Radha and Gargi, Sita's older sisters, are given the Company--and a brutal struggle for power begins. Set against the backdrop of the anti-corruption riots that spread across India in 2011 and 2012, We That Are Young is brilliant in its fierce, incandescent storytelling and the energy of its prose. It tells a deeply insightful tale of India today, the pace of life in one of the world's fastest growing economies, the clash of youth and age, and the ever-present specter of death. But more than that, it is a novel about the human heart--and its inevitable breaking point"-- Less
The Namesake
Lahiri, Jhumpa.
Meet the Ganguli family, new arrivals from Calcutta, trying their best to become Americans even as ... More
Meet the Ganguli family, new arrivals from Calcutta, trying their best to become Americans even as they pine for home. The name they bestow on their firstborn, Gogol, betrays all the conflicts of honoring tradition in a new world -- conflicts that will haunt Gogol on his own winding path through divided loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. The Namesake brilliantly illuminates the immigrant experience and the tangled ties between generations. Less
Run Me to Earth
Yoon, Paul, author.
"Alisak, Prany, and Noi--three orphans united by devastating loss--must do what is necessary t... More
"Alisak, Prany, and Noi--three orphans united by devastating loss--must do what is necessary to survive the perilous landscape of 1960s Laos. When they take shelter in a bombed out field hospital, they meet Vang, a doctor dedicated to helping the wounded at all costs. Soon the teens are serving as motorcycle couriers, delicately navigating their bikes across the fields filled with unexploded bombs, beneath the indiscriminate barrage from the sky. In a world where the landscape and the roads have turned into an ocean of bombs, we follow their grueling days of rescuing civilians and searching for medical supplies, until Vang secures their evacuation on the last helicopters leaving the country. It's a move with irrevocable consequences--and sets them on disparate and treacherous paths across the world"-- Less
