… speaking of fantastic reads, Afterparties, Anthony Veasna So’s posthumous debut, arrives this week. Afterparties is a collection of loosely connected stories about Cambodian-Americans. They are all crafting new identities (or trying to find identities) in America, but the ghosts of the ancestors and the haunting memories of their homeland are never far away. So’s stories are both …
If you, like me, thought Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown was a terrific novel, funny, tragic, thought-provoking, insightful, all those good things, then here’s your next great read: Percival Everett’s Erasure. √ them out today. —Nancy Pearl on social media 5/18/20, reposted 5/18/21 One Nightstand is a reader-fueled feature, and you can be a contributor, too. Simply …
This is a true story about a girl who was sent to live in Japan with her grandmother for six months. Waka is very funny, and it was very interesting reading about what Japan was like for Japanese Americans in the ’80s. Definitely made we want to visit Japan someday! –Hailey, Liberty Bay Books, Poulsbo, …
In her book, Minor Feelings: an Asian American Reckoning, poet, critic and essayist Cathy Park Hong wrote: “For as long as I could remember, I have struggled to prove myself into existence.” For me, this line sets the tone for one of the most thoughtful and important books I’ve read in years. I had to …
This is a book that is uplifting, funny, charming, hopeful, and HELPFUL to tweens! The main character, Yumi, wants to do stand-up comedy. Her parents want her to go to SSAT tutoring to get into a private school and earn a scholarship. But when a bizarre opportunity that just requires some identity theft and a …
Superman Smashes the Klan is a update of a Golden Age radio drama that writer Gene Luen Yang and illustrator Gurihiru have updated to the modern age. Superman is an immigrant, by the way, and an orphan. Oh, and he’s an alien. So, yeah, the big blue schoolboy has more in common with the disillusioned and …
An agonizing must-read. Skewers the model-minority stereotype and creates space for the anger and trauma resulting from internment. Okada’s prose is haunting–perfectly suited to Ichiro’s sense of displacement (cultural, physical, moral). Sharp Seattle imagery and a fascinating publishing history (look up Shawn Wong at UW!). A vital history lesson, especially in today’s climate. –Ellen, Queen …
This is a beautiful story about an unlikely friendship between a Taiwanese-American college graduate from the Midwest and a young African-American student dropout from the Mississippi Delta who is convicted of murder. Michelle Kuo details her time with Teach For America in the deep south and her relationship with her prized student with careful observations …
