Learn about Asian and Pacific Islander cultures with the following book titles:
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
"In memories that rise like wisps of ghosts, LuLing Young searches for the name of her mother, the daughter of the Famous Bonesetter from the Mouth of the Mountain. Trying to hold on to the evaporating past, she begins to write all that she can remember of her life as a girl in China. Meanwhile, her daughter Ruth, a ghostwriter for authors of self-help books, is losing the ability to speak up for herself in front of the man she lives with and his two teenage daughters. None of her professional sound bites and pat homilies works for her personal life: she knows only how to translate what others want to say." #China #ChineseAmerican #daughters #immigration #mothers
The Undaunted Women of Nanking: The Wartime diaries of Minnie Vautrin and Tsen Shui-fang
During the infamous "Rape of Nanking," a brutal military occupation of Nanking, China, that began in December 1937, it is estimated that Japanese soldiers killed between 200,000 and 300,000 Chinese and raped between 20,000 and 80,000 women. In response to the atrocities, a group of westerners organized the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone and attempted to shelter refugees. Among these humanitarian heroes was Minnie Vautrin, an American missionary and acting president of Ginling College. #China #diaries #history #Japan #nonfiction #sanctuary #war #eBook
A Long Way Home: A Boy's Incredible Journey from India to Australia and Back Again by Saroo Brierly
"The miraculous and triumphant story of a young man who rediscovers not only his childhood life and home ... but an identity long-since left behind."
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
When seventeen-year-old Jay Reguero learns his Filipino cousin and former best friend, Jun, was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, he flies to the Philippines to learn more.
Almost American Girl: An Illustrated Memoir by Robin Ha
"A powerful and moving teen graphic novel memoir about immigration, belonging, and how arts can save a life--perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and Hey, Kiddo. For as long as she can remember, it's been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn't always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together. So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation--following her mother's announcement that she's getting married--Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn't understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends in Seoul and has no access to her beloved comics. At home, she doesn't fit in with her new stepfamily, and worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to--her mother. Then one day Robin's mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined." #biography #daughters #graphicnovel #memoir #mothers #teenagegirls
If I Had Your Face: A Novel by Frances Cha
Kyuri is an electrically beautiful woman with a hard-won job at a Seoul "room salon," an exclusive underground bar where she entertains businessmen while they drink. Though she prides herself on her cold, clear-eyed approach to life, an impulsive mistake threatens her livelihood. Kyuri's roommate, Miho, is a talented artist who grew up in an orphanage but won a scholarship to study art in New York. Returning to Korea after college, she finds herself in a precarious relationship with the heir to one of Korea's biggest conglomerates. Down the hall in their building lives Ara, a hairstylist whose two preoccupations sustain her: an obsession with a boy-band pop star, and a best friend who is saving up for the extreme plastic surgery that she hopes will change her life. And Wonna, one floor below, is a newlywed trying to have a baby, thought she and her husband have no idea how they can afford to raise it in Korea's brutal economy. Together, their stories tell a gripping tale at once unfamiliar and unmistakably universal, in which their tentative friendships may turn out to be the thing that ultimately saves them. #friendship #neighbors #SalonGirls #SouthKorean #women
The Flowers of War by Geling Yan; Translated by Nicky Harman
"December 1937. The Japanese have taken Nanking. A group of terrified schoolgirls hides in the compound of an American church. Among them is Shujuan, through whose thirteen-year-old eyes we witness the shocking events that follow. Run by the Father Engelmann, an American priest who has been in China for many years, the church is supposedly neutral ground in the war between China and Japan. But it becomes clear the Japanese are not obeying international rules of engagement. As they pour through the streets of Nanking, raping and pillaging the civilian population, the girls are in increasing danger. And their safety is further compromised when prostitutes from the nearby brothel climb over the wall into the compound seeking refuge. Short, powerful, vivid, this beautiful novel transports the reader to 1930s China." #Americans #Chinese #historical #InspiredbyTrueEvents #Japanese #women #eBook
The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen
A collection of stories, written over a twenty-year period, examines the Vietnamese experience in America as well as questions of home, family, and identity.
Our Land Was a Forest: An Ainu Memoir by Kayano Shigeru
"This book is a beautiful and moving personal account of the Ainu, the native inhabitants of Hokkaido, Japan's northern island, whose land, economy, and culture have been absorbed and destroyed in recent centuries by advancing Japanese. Based on the author's own experiences and on stories passed down from generation to generation, the book chronicles the disappearing world--and courageous rebirth--of this little-understood people. Kayano describes with disarming simplicity and frankness the personal conflicts he faced as a result of the tensions between a traditional and a modern society..." #Ainu #IndigenousPeoples #Japan #eBook
Cook Korean!: A Comic Book with Recipes by Robin Ha
"A charming introduction to the basics of Korean cooking in graphic novel form, with 64 recipes, ingredient profiles, and more, presented through light-hearted comics. Playful and instructive, Cook Korean! is the intersection of cookbook and graphic novel in one easy-to-use package dedicated to this increasingly popular Asian cuisine. Illustrator Robin Ha presents colorful, humorous comics that fully illustrate all the steps and ingredients necessary for all 64 recipes in a clear, concise presentation (with no more than 2 pages per recipe on average). Recipes featured include Easy Kimchi (Makkimchi), Spicy Bok Choy (Cheonggyeongche Muchim), and Seaweed Rice Roll (Kimbap), among many other dishes. Each chapter includes personal anecdotes and cultural insights from Ha, providing an intimate entry point for those looking to try their hand at this cuisine. Perfect for beginners and seasoned cooks alike, Cook Korean! is accessible, fun, and inviting." #cookbook #recipes #SouthKorean
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb
"When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize. This is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons. This story will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world." #civilrights #education #girls #misogyny #Pakistan #survivors #terrorists #womensrights
Death Note (Black Edition) v. 1 by Tsugumi Ohba; art by Takeshi Obata; translation and adaptation, Tetsuichiro Miyaki
"Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects--and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami (death god). Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. Will Light's noble goal succeed, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?"
This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer; translated and with an afterword by Max Lane
"Drawn into the mysterious mansion of a wealthy Javanese family in the 1890s, Minke, a young student, finds love with Annelies and a teacher in Annalies' mother, a brilliant and charismatic concubine." #fiction #historical #Indonesia #youngmen
Alternative Alamat: An Anthology : Myths and Legends From the Philippines
"Fans of speculative fiction (Neil Gaiman and Rick Riordan) and Asian mythology will love this new collection of short stories, featuring the work of over a dozen contemporary writers including Budjette Tan (Trese) and Eliza Victoria (Dwellers). "Alamat" are legends, and this anthology is stocked with a mythic dip into the rich trove that is Philippine folklore. Richly imagined realms where powerful gods and supernatural creatures are responsible for the random twists and turns of fate in the lives of ordinary people. These and more await readers of this canonical collection of fantasy stories from the Philippines! Myth and legend collide in this anthology, where: The multi-layered Skyworld, where weapons fight their own battles -A ship pulled to Paradise through roiling tides controlled by a giant crab -A proud monarch, Maryam of Marinduque, who refuses to bow to patriarchy -Lapu Lapu, the chieftain who repelled Magellan forces, and the changes brought by the Battle of Mactan -The diwata Maria Makiling, who finds romantic partners in the human world -And much more! Fusing folklore, myth and magic, these stories are by more than a dozen well-known and award-winning authors. Each myth-based tale is reimagined for a modern sensibility and reinvented for the current generation of fantasy fiction lovers."
Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone by Richard Lloyd Parry
"On March 11, 2011, a 120-foot-high tsunami smashed into the northeast coast of Japan, leaving more than eighteen thousand people dead. It was Japan's single greatest loss of life since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945. Richard Lloyd Parry, an award winning foreign correspondent, lived through the earthquake in Tokyo and spent six years reporting from the disaster zone. Ghosts of the Tsunami is the intimate account of an epic tragedy, told through the perspectives of those who lived through it."
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