#AAPI book recs

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 We shouldn't wait until May every year to delve into the beauty of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voices. In May, I shared a list of the NEWEST AAPI books out this year. To keep promoting AAPI authors, characters, and stories, here are a few Young Adult AAPI books you can add to your TBR for the remainder of the year!

🏮 The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han 🏮 My Summer of Love and Misfortune by Lindsay Wong 🏮 Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi 🏮 When We Were Infinite by Kelly Loy Gilbert 🏮 To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han 🏮 I Will Find You Again by Sarah Lyu 🏮 Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi 🏮 American Panda by Gloria Chao 🏮 When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon 🏮 Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman 🏮 Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao 🏮 Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao 🏮 Want by Cindy Pon 🏮 The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf 🏮 A Place to Belong by Cynthia Kadohata 🏮 Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon 🏮 Everyone Wants to Know by Kelly Loy Gilbert 🏮 A Pho Love Story by Loan Le 🏮 The Wild Ones by Nafiza Azad 🏮 Prepped by Bethany Mangle 🏮 The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn 🏮 Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi 🏮 Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim by Patricia Park 🏮 This is Not a Personal Statement by Tracy Badua 🏮 The Cartographers by Amy Zhang 🏮 The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim 🏮 This Place is Still Beautiful by Xixi Tian 🏮 Chasing Pacquiao by Rod Pulido 🏮 I'm Not Here to Make Friends by Andrew Yang 🏮 The Queens of New York by E. L. Shen 🏮 Hungry Ghost by Victoria Ying 🏮 These Infinite Threads by Tahereh Mafi 🏮 Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim 🏮 The Marvelous Mirza Girls by Sheba Karim 🏮 A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

#books #book recs #aapi authors #aapi representation #book blog #booklr #batty about books #battyaboutbooks

[rockislandadultreads]

Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month: Nonfiction Recommendations

Speak, Okinawa by Elizabeth Miki Brina

Elizabeth's mother was working on U.S.-occupied Okinawa when she met the American soldier who would become her husband. The language barrier and power imbalance defining their early relationship followed them to the predominantly white, upstate New York suburb where they moved to raise their daughter. There, Elizabeth grew up with the trappings of a typical American childhood, while feeling almost no connection to her mother's distant home and out of place among her peers. This account is a heartfelt exploration of identity and what it means to be an American.

Asian American Histories of the United States by Catherine Ceniza Choy

Original and expansive, this volume is a nearly 200-year history of Asian migration, labor, and community formation in the U.S. Reckoning with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge in anti-Asian hate and violence, historian Catherine Ceniza Choy presents an urgent social history of the fastest growing group of Americans. The book features the lived experiences and diverse voices of immigrants, refugees, US-born Asian Americans, multiracial Americans, and workers from industries spanning agriculture to healthcare.

Seeing Ghosts by Kat Chow

Born two years after her parents' only son died just hours after his birth, Kat Chow became unusually fixated with death. She worried constantly about her parents dying - especially her mother. Four years later when her mother dies unexpectedly from cancer, Kat, her two older sisters, and their father are plunged into a debilitating, lonely grief. In this memoir, Kat weaves together what is part ghost story and part excavation of her family's history of loss spanning three generations and their immigration from China and Hong Kong to America and Cuba.

Rise by Jeff Yang, Phil Yu, & Philip Wang

In this intimate, eye-opening, and frequently hilarious guided tour through the pop-cultural touchstones and sociopolitical shifts of the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and beyond, authors Yang, Yu, and Wang chronicle how we’ve arrived at today’s unprecedented diversity of Asian American cultural representation through engaging, interactive graphics, charts, graphic essays from major AAPI artists, exclusive roundtables with Asian American cultural icons, and more.

#asian american pacific islander heritage month #AAPI #AAPI authors #nonfiction #nonfiction reads #nonfiction books #Library Books #Book Recommendations #book recs #Reading Recs #reading recommendations #TBR pile #tbr #tbrpile #to read #Want To Read #Booklr #book tumblr #book blog #library blog

[ash-and-books]

Just received my ARC for "This Place Is Magic," and I'm bubbling with excitement! A huge shoutout to @irenewritesthings for crafting this cozy contemporary gem set to release on April 30th and to @literaryinspired for the chance to be part of the ARC and Street Team. It's a story where disillusion meets discovery, featuring K-Pop idols, light romance, and the warmth of found family.  A must-read for fans of Axie Oh, Maurene Goo, and Jenny Han, this novel promises a comforting escape into a world where authenticity triumphs, and magic lies in the most unanticipated corners. Want to join the adventure? Sign-ups are still open, so don't miss your chance! #LiteraryInspiredARCs

#LiteraryInspiredARCs #aapi read #aapi books #this place is magic #book recs #arc

[joyfuladorable]

🌻Hiya!🌻

🐦Twitter | 📖AO3 | 🖥️Twitch | 📺YouTube

Call me Sea! (they/them) I'm a Non-Binary Aromantic Asexual Filipino American and Full-Time Library Worker (currently in my late 20s)! In my spare time, I bounce from interest to interest while doodling and writing and exploring different aspects of storytelling. I tend to view things under a queer lens or have fun thinking about what if scenarios. You'll mostly see me posting fanworks, but every once in a blue moon I'll let my original work see the light of day.

I do not take commissions, but I will sometimes ask for doodle requests. DO NOT ask me to create anything that promotes incest, pedophilia, or acts of bigotry (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc) in any form (Don't Interact with me if you support that stuff either). I also don't create anything NSFW, but I'm usually fine seeing that kinda content (except fetish and heavy gore). I'm Very Fond of hurt/comfort scenarios, familial bonds, and sapphic romance, so absolutely talk to me about that stuff if you wanna!

‼️Important Posts and Tags:

🐢TMNT Fanworks Masterpost

+++Mikey-centric Fic Rec List for reasons

🐇Oresama Teacher Fanworks Masterpost

🕊️Legendlark Podcast Fanworks Masterpost

#My Art | #My Writing | #My Vid | #Informative Information

📚Book recommendations (just cuz):

Elemental Logic series by Laurie J. Marks

Delicious in Dungeon (manga) by Ryoko Kui

Moomin book series by Tove Jansson

Thirsty Mermaids (GN) and Snapdragon (GN) by Kat Leyh

Across a Field of Starlight (GN) and Meal (GN) by Blue Delliquanti

Witchy (GN series) by Ariel Slamet Ries

Wayfarer series by Becky Chambers

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Hakumei & Mikochi (manga) by Takuto Kashiki

Witch Hat Atelier (manga) by Kamome Shirahama

I Think Our Son is Gay (manga) by Okura

Beetle & the Hollowbones (GN) by Aliza Layne

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Magic Fish (GN) by Trung Le Nguyen

Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Our Dreams at Dusk (manga) by Yuki Kamatani

💖Forever interests (in no particular order):

Pokemon

Kingdom Hearts

Digimon

D&D

Legend of Zelda

TMNT

Oresama Teacher

👀Current Fixation(s): TMNT (2k3, Rise, & IDW) I'm very normal about my bestie '03 Mikey and Rise Casey (Sr) and just about every sapphic character in IDW

#new pinned post for AAPI month uwu #to be edited as I see fit #my art #my writing #my vid #sealfies #book recs #I actually have a LOT more recs but the list would've been even Longer lol #feel free to ask me for more specific recs! #not reblog-able cuz I just want this for my pin #yes that's 2k3 Mikey in the bg cuz the thought of him being on a poster promoting reading made me laugh so I did it #but also I'll fight anyone who says comics and graphic novels and novels with lots of illustrations don't count as 'proper' reading #as long as you're reading I'm proud of you #edited as of 10/8/2023

[revenge-of-the-shit]

Anyway Happy API month let's start a reblog chain with multimedia that features API leads

(Disclaimer: Given how this is a SW + Chinese rep blog, a lot of the recs on my first reblog will feature specifically those, but please please add more! I've also added some recs from reblogs but these are not vetted by me so pursue them as you will.)

Books

The Poppy War Trilogy by R. F. Kuang

The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee

The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu

Star Wars: Ronin by E. M. Candon

The Hungry Ghosts by Shyam Selvadurai

Obasan by Joy Kogawa

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao

Where the Stars Rise: Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy

She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Warcross by Marie Lu (via @/neurodiversenerd)

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr (via @/neurodiversenerd)

American Betiya by Anuradha D. Rajurkar (via @/codenameraptor)

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi (via @/codenameraptor)

The Simoqin Prophecies by Samit Basu (the first of the Gameworld trilogy) (via @/codenameraptor)

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakurni (a spin on the Indian Hindu epic the Mahabharata from the PoV of Draupadi) (via @/codenameraptor)

TV Shows

The Untamed

Star Wars: Visions

"The Tribes of Tatooine" in The Book of Boba Fett

The Untamed

The new season of Bridgerton (via @/codenameraptor)

Sense8 (via @/codenameraptor)

Never Have I Ever (via @/codenameraptor)

We Are Lady Parts (via @/codenameraptor)

The second season of The Hot Zone (via @/codenameraptor)

Movies

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Turning Red

Bao

The Joy Luck Club

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Hero (2002)

In The Mood For Love

Infernal Affairs

(Anything with Wong Kar Wai and Tony Leung Chiu Wai, really)

Pacific Rim (via @/codenameraptor)

Koi Mil Gaya (via @/codenameraptor)

Million Dollar Arm (via @/codenameraptor)

Bend it Like Beckham (via @/codenameraptor)

Bulbbul (via @/codenameraptor)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (via @/neurodiversenerd)

#book recs #movie recs #tv recs #i've been notified the creator or Rurouni Kenshin is in fact a convicted criminal and has committed some rather atrocious crimes #so that rec has been removed #long post #api month #aapi heritage month

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

From the author's site:

In June 2001, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto went to Hiroshima in search of a deeper understanding of her war-torn heritage. She planned to spend six months there, interviewing the few remaining survivors of the atomic bomb. A mother of two young boys, she was encouraged to go by her husband, who quickly became disenchanted by her absence.

It is her first solo life adventure, immediately exhilarating for her, but her research starts off badly. Interviews with the hibakusha feel rehearsed, and the survivors reveal little beyond published accounts. Then the attacks on September 11 change everything. The survivors’ carefully constructed memories are shattered, causing them to relive their agonizing experiences and to open up to Rizzuto in astonishing ways.

Separated from family and country while the world seems to fall apart, Rizzuto’s marriage begins to crumble as she wrestles with her ambivalence about being a wife and mother. Woven into the story of her own awakening are the stories of Hiroshima in the survivors’ own words. The parallel narratives explore the role of memory in our lives, and show how memory is not history but a story we tell ourselves to explain who we are.

___

For anyone interested in a perspective on the Hiroshima bombings from Literally Anyone Besides The People Who Did It, I'd definitely recommend this book at least as a starting point. It does a really good job of balancing personal narrative with careful testimonies from the Hiroshima bombings from a wide array of perspectives, all while balanced with an exploration of post-Hiroshima Japan in the early aughts.

There's some truly beautiful language that dances across the line between poetry and prose, showing a dedication to the craft of writing, creating, feeling, and knowing that I really admire and respect. There's also a lot of fascinating stuff about the way different people come to terms with trauma and change, and the messy work that comes with believing in peace when the war never seems to fucking stop, all shit that feels as relevant now as it ever has

(tw include graphic descriptions of death and suffering, discussions of racism and xenophobia, brief segments involving victim blaming and mentions of sexual assault, discussions of pregnancy)

#book recs #nonfiction #aapi #aapi writers #writers of color #women writers #asian writers #asian american writers #oppenheimer #hiroshima #aapi authors #death mention #9/11 mention #hiroshima mention #japan #atomic bomb #books #woc writers #authors of color #japanese history #history #book recommendations #racism mention

[sambaldyke]

my vietnamese aapi heritage month booklist

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo

Wandering cleric Chih of the Singing Hills travels to the riverlands to record tales of the notorious near-immortal martial artists who haunt the region. On the road to Betony Docks, they fall in with a pair of young women far from home, and an older couple who are more than they seem. As Chih runs headlong into an ancient feud, they find themselves far more entangled in the history of the riverlands than they ever expected to be.

The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard

A transport ship discharged from military service after a traumatic injury, The Shadow's Child now ekes out a precarious living as a brewer of mind-altering drugs for the comfort of space-travellers. Meanwhile, abrasive and eccentric scholar Long Chau wants to find a corpse for a scientific study. When Long Chau walks into her office, The Shadow's Child expects an unpleasant but easy assignment. When the corpse turns out to have been murdered, Long Chau feels compelled to investigate, dragging The Shadow's Child with her.

Bronze Drum by Phong Nguyen

Vivid, lyrical, and filled with adventure, The Bronze Drum is a true story of standing up for one's people, culture, and country that has been passed down through generations of Vietnamese families through oral tradition. Phong Nguyen's breathtaking novel takes these real women out of legends and celebrates their loves, losses, and resilience in this inspirational story of women's strength and power even in the face of the greatest obstacles.

Water/Tongue by Mai C. Doan

Grappling with the shock of her grandmother’s suicide, mai c. doan undertook a writing project that might give voice to her loss as well as to grapple with memory, and the challenge of articulation and of documentation, in all of their contradictions and (im)possibilities. In the poems that comprise water/tongue, doan conjures visceral and intuitive elements of experience to articulate the gendered and intergenerational effects of violence, colonialism, and American empire. Breaking the silence surrounding these experiences, doan conjures a host of voices dispersed across time and space to better understand the pain that haunted her family—made tragically manifest in her grandmother’s death.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner’s In the Shadow of the Banyan, The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Trần family, set against the backdrop of the Việt Nam War. Trần Diệu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Nội, her young granddaughter, Hương, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Hồ Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that tore apart not just her beloved country, but also her family.

#aapi #diverse reads #book recs #vietnamese

[thegirlwiththelantern]

#recs #book recs #books #AAPI heritage month

[lakecountylibrary]

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Book Recs

Adults:

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou

To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

Kids:

One, Two, Three Dim Sum: A Mandarin-English Counting Book by Rich Lo

Grandpa Grumps by Katrina Moore

No Kimchi for Me! by Aram Kim

Eyes that Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho

Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao by Kat Zhang

The Most Beautiful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang

Teens:

Loveboat Reunion by Abigail Hing Wen

A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee

K-Pop Revolution by Stephan Lee

Once Upon A K-Prom by Kat Cho

This Place is Still Beautiful by XiXi Tian

Almost American Girl: an Illustrated Memoir by Robin Ha

See more of Kelley’s recs

#aapi heritage month #aapi books #aapi authors #book list #peach blossom spring #once upon a k-prom #a thousand steps into night #to paradise #traci chee #asian american and pacific islander heritage month #hanya yanigahara #the cartographers #abigail hing wen #peng shepherd #elaine hsieh chou #kelleysrecs #LCPL recs

[aroaessidhe]

22 days into may. and I have seen ONE “aapi book recs” booktok video with a pacific island book in it. embarassing.

#literally just now and it was a single book in a sea of asian ones #as someone who lives in new zealand the lumping together of asian and PI is extremely weird and confusing #regardless.....how hard is it to use your brain and look for one or two #or at the very least title your video asian book recs for aapi month #I literally. caved and searched booktok aapi and watched the first 10 videos and NONE OF THEM EITHER..... #(it's possible that there's been one or two books that I didn't recognise where the author was both aa & pi & not obvious from their name) #(but still........make an effort to find a bunch!! or just say that they're only asian ones!) #laya talks

[rockislandadultreads]

AAPI Authors: Fantasy Picks to Check out

A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee

In the realm of Awara, where gods, monsters, and humans exist side by side, Miuko is an ordinary girl resigned to a safe, if uneventful, existence as an innkeeper’s daughter. But when Miuko is cursed and begins to transform into a demon with a deadly touch, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life. Aided by a thieving magpie spirit and continuously thwarted by a demon prince, Miuko must outfox tricksters, escape demon hunters, and negotiate with feral gods if she wants to make it home again. But with her transformation comes power and freedom she never even dreamed of, and she’ll have to decide if saving her soul is worth trying to cram herself back into an ordinary life that no longer fits her… and perhaps never did.

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, "These are the hands that buried my mother." For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu. When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life. But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

Gods of Want: Stories by K-Ming Chang

In “Auntland,” a steady stream of aunts adjust to American life by sneaking surreptitious kisses from women at temple, buying tubs of vanilla ice cream to prepare for citizenship tests, and hatching plans to name their daughter “Dog.” In “The Chorus of Dead Cousins,” ghost-cousins cross space, seas, and skies to haunt their live-cousin, wife to a storm-chaser. In “Xífù,” a mother-in-law tortures a wife in increasingly unsuccessful attempts to rid the house of her. In “Mariela,” two girls explore one another’s bodies for the first time in the belly of a plastic shark while in “Virginia Slims,” a woman from a cigarette ad comes to life. And in “Resident Aliens,” a former slaughterhouse serves as a residence to a series of widows, each harboring her own calamitous secrets. With each tale, K-Ming Chang gives us her own take on a surrealism that mixes myth and migration, corporeality and ghostliness, queerness and the quotidian. Stunningly told in her feminist fabulist style, these are uncanny stories peeling back greater questions of power and memory.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold the countryside in their choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace. But that god cannot be contained forever. With the aid of Jun, a guard broken by his guilt-stricken past, and Keema, an outcast fighting for his future, the god escapes from her royal captivity and flees from her own children, the triplet Terrors who would drag her back to her unholy prison. And so it is that she embarks with her young companions on a five-day pilgrimage in search of freedom—and a way to end the Moon Throne forever. The journey ahead will be more dangerous than any of them could have imagined. Both a sweeping adventure story and an intimate exploration of identity, legacy, and belonging, The Spear Cuts Through Water is an ambitious and profound saga that will transport and transform you—and is like nothing you’ve ever read before.

#Fantasy #High Fantasy #to read #tbr #reading recommendations #Book Recommendations #AAPI #aapi authors #asian american heritage month #asian american pacific islander heritage month #asian literature #booklr #booktok #book recs #library books #Ya books for adults

[dragpinkman]

my nook wont let me delete the harry potter books my dad put on when i was 9 this is torture

#i need room for more books #im fine with percy jackson and lotr i love that but not the hp it haunts me #i love being melodramatic #anyways should i post book recs for next month (jewish and aapi month)

[chanelslibrary]

ꔛ𝕄𝕪 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕎𝕣𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕕 ꔛ

✦This year I started my bookstagram and I have read so many wonderful books and fanfics, made some great mutual friends, found my love of reading again, and joined an awesome booksta community!

✦Since I wasn’t sure how much time I could dedicate to reading (while going back to school), and I didn’t think I would be able to reach my goal I set it at 20. But I passed it! 27/20✨

✦Fantasy was my most read genre…no surprise! Babel by R.F. Kuang was my favorite book of the year, although I read a lot of 5 star books

✦This year I intentionally read a majority of BIPOC authors/books because I realized that in the past I wasn’t reading a lot of diverse books

✦2024 goals:

continue reading diverse books

read more nonfiction books

increase my reading goal

I can’t wait to start the new year—mainly because I’m looking forward to so many book releases!!

#book blog #book aesthetic #bookworm #books #bookstagram #bookblr #book #reading #reading wrap up #reading wrapped #2023 wrapped #bipoc book #aapi authors #book recs #book recommendation #book rec

[pickledandjarred]

book recs for aapi heritage month 🕺🕺

a bit late, but happy aapi heritage month! i’ve been getting back into reading this past year after my pandemic slump, so here’s some books that i really enjoyed by aapi authors 

the poppy war trilogy by rf kuang - this series is a fantasy based on 19th-20th century china. it’s hilariously written with some of my favorite characters of all time, and deals with some really heavy topics like colonialism, the effects of warfare, and classism in a brutally honest fashion. i have so much to say about it but that’s for a much longer post-

babel: an arcane history by rf kuang - at this point i will read this woman’s grocery list, she is such a skilled writer and genius storyteller. babel is set in an alternate 1800s oxford university, in a world which the british empire’s power is built upon magic silver. babel unpacks the intrinsic ties between academia and empire from the perspective of someone on the inside and the concept of resistance. it also really hits home to the feeling of disconnect from your native language as a bilingual/third culture kid- overall just brilliant book imo. the magic system is also really interesting (as is that of rf kuang’s other work)- she builds upon the real world to create a fantasy that is engaging, but also very representative of the motifs of her work?? idk how to explain it but 🙏rebecca🙏

you’re the only one i’ve told: the stories behind abortion by meera shah - you’re the only one i’ve told is a collection of stories about abortion entrusted to shah, a medical practitioner who works as an abortion provider. the book humanizes these people and their experiences from a variety of different backgrounds and circumstances, and is a really compelling read. 

we have always been here: a queer muslim memoir by samra habib - we have always been here is a memoir about  habib’s experience growing up as an ahmadi muslim in pakistan, coming to canada as refugees in their teenage years, and grappling with queer identity within an environment where their body and personhood was thought to have been needed to be controlled. habib discusses faith, sexuality, and love through a lens of self discovery and finding community that you didn’t know existed. 

the henna wars by adiba jaigirdar - this book is set in dublin, and follows a young bangladeshi girl named nishat. nishat has fallen for an estranged childhood friend, flávia, who just so happens to be her rival in an upcoming school business competition. and by some luck, they both have chosen to create the same business; henna tattoos. i’m a sucker for fluff so this book got me, but it also deals with appropriation and queer romance (particularly from a 3rd culture experience) quite delicately. nishat’s relationship with her sister was also so well written, and i think was one of the most compelling bonds in this book!

this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar - okay i’m still in the process of finishing this book, but it has been so good so far! this is a story about two rival agents moving through a war that stretches across time, fighting tooth and nail for their own victory in a vaguely apocalyptic world. they begin a correspondence that spills into something that could change the course of time extremely literally. the writing style and descriptions are gorgeous, and the fragmented format of letters jumping across thousands of years is a really interesting reading experience. very cool book!

on earth we’re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong - god this man is such a talent- everything good you’ve heard about his work is true and you should go read it rn. on earth we’re briefly gorgeous is written in the form of a letter from a son to his illiterate mother, and tells a story that crosses over 3 generations with it’s epicenter rooted in vietnam. the narrator unpacks how the effects of warfare, immigration and generational trauma have shaped his relationship with his mother and his own life. i’m not doing it justice (not for any of these rlly i cannot elevator pitch books), but vuong’s writing is so beautiful and intimate yet quiet? 💃💃🙏🫶👍🙏👌💃

that’s all i have for now, if you have any recs pls do tell!! to my fellow asian/pacific islander americans, your voices and stories deserve to be uplifted and celebrated without being fetishized, appropriated or pigeonholed. have a great may! 

#book recommendations #books #literature #bookblr #rf kuang #ocean vuong #babel #tpw #on earth we're briefly gorgeous #samra habib #adiba jaigirdar #the henna wars #amal el mohtar #aapihm #aapi authors #aapi books #holy shit that was a lot of tags #hi my favorite person if you read through this #love my internet corner where i post to exactly one person #aapi

[5chatzi]

Okay I'm going to send you some partly-solicited recs for queer literature and classics because I have a decent amount of exposure to both~~

My qualifications include a degree in English and now being halfway towards my MLIS lol this is what I was made for

For queer lit, sometimes it depends heavily on your own orientation, like bi people want to read books with bi representation, etc. But those preferences notwithstanding, here are some generally quality titles:

Zenovia July by Lisa Bunker: A trans girl solves a cyber crime. Mystery, YA, contemporary setting, trans rep

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: a gay man who lives a boring government-worker life travels to an island in order to monitor the family of magical children who live there. Fantasy, found family, adult fiction (it has some kid's book vibes but does contain mild sexual content and mild swearing), gay representation.

Ace by Angela Chen -- nonfiction, part memoir exploration of what it means to be asexual, for the author personally and for society generally.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo -- a Chinese-American girl in 1950s San Francisco comes to terms with being a lesbian. Historical fiction, adult fiction (or might be YA?? There is what I'd call mild sexual content), lesbian representation, AAPI representation

Jeanette Winterson is a queer author whose work I generally like!(don't have specific title recs though) (I have read The Passion, and she has a couple biographies shelved in the queer library in which I volunteer. The Passion is not very explicitly queer from my memory but it is very good regardless.

For classics, here are titles that I personally Actually Enjoyed Reading and found relatively accessible:

To Kill a Mockingbird (and I also like the film-- I should have added that to my answer to your ask)

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is my absolute favourite classic novel, but I won't pretend it's for everyone, or that it's especially accessible. It's written in a heavily Modernist style that involves a quite lyrical, non-linear plot. But the prose is breathtakingly gorgeous and it has a really moving anti-war message.

Also, Orlando by Woolf as well, and this one is also queer! Features a genderqueer/trans/otherwise gendernonconforming character.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is very long, but it's a mystery, and I found it engaging. The section narrated by the character Marianne is the best, and I headcanon her as asexual or possibly a lesbian.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is what I would call poignant, and it's fairly short. Be warned that it contains some SA content, racism, and AAVE dialect that could be hard to understand.

Macbeth or Twelfth Night or King Lear are my favourite Shakespeare works to recommend. But with Shakespeare, it's better if you can see a film or live performance, since just reading the script can be difficult to follow.

Little Women!!! God, I love Little Women. Honestly not sure how that wasn't the first one I thought of.

Oh thanks so much for the thorough response!

I’ll admit most of these are wildly outside my normal genre, but I’m always willing to try new things.

I have read Macbeth in school but it’s been ages and I am pretty sure I’ve read Little Women but I can’t remember it would have been a long time ago. Oh and To Kill a Mockingbird. I think everyone has read that in school but don’t think I’ve read it since.

I’m gonna write them down and check them out and see how it goes. I pretty much exclusively read non fiction so should be interesting 😅

#meg answers mail

[accidentalspaceexplorer]

May Monthly Recap:

Like April, I read a whole lot of books in May! I read 17 books, 3 of which were DNFs. I also read a lot of books I loved - I devoured the Paradox series by Rachel Bach, had many feelings about Unclaimed by Courtney Milan, and learned so much from Fuzz by Mary Roach. I also tried to prioritize AAPI reads, and did pretty well - 8 of the books I read this month were by AAPI authors.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher: 4.5/5

The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso: 4/5

Ice Cream Lover by Jackie Lau: 2.75/5

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho: 4/5

The Ippos King by Grace Draven: 2/5, dnf

Wanted and Wired by Vivien Jackson: 2/5, dnf

Unveiled by Courtney Milan: 4.75/5

Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach: 5/5

Honor’s Knight by Rachel Bach: 5/5

Heaven’s Queen by Rachel Bach: 5/5

Unclaimed by Courtney Milan: 5/5

Dawn by Octavia E. Butler: 3.5/5

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge: 2/5, dnf

Fuzz by Mary Roach: 5/5

The Donut Trap by Julie Tieu: 2.75/5

First Comes Like by Alisha Rai: 3.75/5

Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller: 1.5/5

Edit: more goals!

22 in 2022: 8

Read 100 Books: 64

Read 40% AOC: 39%

Completing Series: 9 series completed/caught up vs. 9 started

Translated Works: 1

Books in Spanish: 0

Numbered TBR: 5

Discworld: 0

Books by an Indigenous Author: 1

Physical TBR: 8

Storygraph Recs: 3

#monthly recap #may 2022 #book review