Celebrate Asian Authors With These Must-Read Books
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Celebrate Asian Authors With These Must-Read Books
While Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month might take place in May, these amazing books by Asian authors that reveal the complexities of the Asian experience should be celebrated year-round. Since nearly 60 percent of the total world population lives in Asia, novels by Asian writers are just as diverse as the authors themselves, as there are a variety of definitions and geographical data used for classifying the ethnic groups that make up the world’s largest continent.
So whether you're into nail-biting thrillers, historical adventures, or multi-generational family sagas, you're sure to find books written by and revolving around Asian and Asian American individuals in every genre. The best part: you might just learn something new about someone whose experience is totally unlike your own. Extending from East Asia to South Asia to America and from the distant past to the near future, these novels by Asian and AAPI authors should be required reading for everyone.
Hearst Owned - 2/36
'Lurkers' by Sandi Tan
Soho Press
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$24.84
Set in Los Angeles just a few years after 9/11, this darkly funny novel revolves around a cast of characters living in the same neighborhood, including Korean-American sisters who just lost their father to suicide, a white hippie mom with an adopted Vietnamese daughter, and a creepy drama teacher.
Bookshop - 3/36
'The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing' by Mira Jacob
Random House Trade Paperbacks
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$16.56
The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing tells the story of Amina, an American-Indian photographer who's coerced home after her mom claims her dad, a celebrated brain surgeon, is acting strangely. Once home, Amina is then pulled back into the painful past she tried to escape years earlier.
Bookshop - 4/36
'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous' by Ocean Vuong
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$15.64
Written in the form of a letter from a son to an illiterate mother, this moving novel traces one family's history from Vietnam during the Vietnam War to present-day America, centering around the son's fraught relationship with his single mom.
Bookshop - 5/36
'The Inheritance of Loss' by Kiran Desai
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$15.64
Set in 1986 during the Gorkhaland movement, The Inheritance of Loss tells the story of two very different individuals: a young orphan named Sai living with her grandfather in West Bengal, and an Indian man living illegally in New York City, whose father happens to work for Sai's grandfather.
Bookshop - 6/36
'Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982' by Cho Nam-Joo
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$13.75
In this slim novel, a millennial "everywoman" living in Seoul gradually succumbs to psychic deterioration while caring for her infant daughter, and the reason for Kim's unraveling becomes clear as she narrates her tale to a psychiatrist.
Bookshop - 7/36
'The Sympathizer' by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Grove Press
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$15.64
Narrated by a half-French, half-Vietnamese army captain (who happens to be double agent), this novel follows his journey to America after the Fall of Saigon, where he builds a life with other Vietnamese refugees... while still secretly reporting back to his communist superiors in Vietnam.
Bookshop - 8/36
'The Garden of Evening Mists' by Tan Twan Eng
Weinstein Books
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$16.55
Set in three different time periods, The Garden of Evening Mists revolves around a Malaysian woman who — after she's the lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp during World War II — ends up serving as an apprentice to a Japanese gardener in Cameron Highlands.
Bookshop - 9/36
'A Beginning At the End' by Mike Chen
MIRA
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$24.83
In this apocalyptic thriller, which takes six years after a global pandemic wipes out the majority of the planet, four survivors decide to band together in order to escape their pasts. The problem: there may be another outbreak on the way.
Bookshop - 10/36
'The Kiss Quotient' by Helen Hoang
Berkley
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$14.72
This swoon-worthy romance tells the story of Stella, an economist on the spectrum and the male escort she recruits to give her some sexual experience. Though Michael the escort attempts to keep his relationship with Stella as professional as possible, it isn't long before these two start falling for each other.
Bookshop - 11/36
'Sarong Party Girls' by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
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$14.99
Sarong Party Girls revolves around Jazeline "Jazzy" Lim, a 26-year-old working-class woman in Singapore who goes on a fervent quest to find a rich white husband before her 27th birthday. Spoiler alert: her hunt is lot more complicated than she expected.
Bookshop - 12/36
'Home Fire' by Kamila Shamsie
Riverhead Books
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$14.72
Inspired by Sophocles's play Antigone, this novel is told through five different perspectives: twin siblings Aneeka and Parvaiz, their older sister Isma, British Home Secretary Karamat, and Karamat's son Eamonn. Each of the characters privately struggles with their identity as British Muslims, torn between defending their ''Britishness'' or remaining loyal to their Pakistani backgrounds.
Bookshop - 13/36
'Five Star Billionaire' by Tash Aw
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$18.00
This novel turns Shanghai into a character itself as it follows four Malaysian strangers trying to make a new life for themselves in China's largest city. If you're looking for a rare look at New China through the eyes of outsiders struggling to find a way in, this is the book for you.
Bookshop - 14/36
'Everything Here Is Beautiful' by Mira T. Lee
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$14.72
In this novel, two Chinese-American sisters grow apart when the younger of the two, in denial of her debilitating mental illness, pushes her older sister away. Years later, Miranda leaves her new life in Switzerland behind in order to try to rescue Lucia once again, but she realizes she cannot offer help until Lucia is willing to accept it.
Bookshop - 15/36
'Interior Chinatown' by Charles Yu
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$23.87
Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, an aspiring actor who is only ever typecast as Generic Asian Man. Though he dreams of getting a bigger role, like that of Kung Fu Guy, his mom is the only one who believes he can land the role of a leading man.
Bookshop - 16/36
'Days of Distraction' by Alexandra Chang
Ecco Press
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$24.83
In Days of Distraction, a 24-year-old first-generation American with Chinese parents is forced to make a tough decision: stay with her long-term white boyfriend, J, or begin a new life without him, one where her Asian identity is celebrated rather than misunderstood.
Bookshop - 17/36
'The Marriage Game' by Sara Desai
Berkley
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$14.72
This rom-com revolves around Layla, a recruitment consultant who returns home to her family in San Fransisco after losing both her job and her boyfriend. Little does she know that her father has taken it upon himself to find her a new suitor or that she'll be sharing her new office space with a really cute (but infuriating) CEO.
Bookshop - 18/36
'Soy Sauce for Beginners' by Kirstin Chen
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$14.95
Soy Sauce for Beginners follows the journey of Gretchen, a woman from San Francisco who returns to her parents' home in Singapore after her marriage falls apart. There she is thrown back into the world of her father's artisanal soy sauce business, and she must decide whether to return to her life in San Fran or desert it all for the family business.
Bookshop - 19/36
'What We Were Promised' by Lucy Tan
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$14.71
This novel tells the story of the Zhen family who, after years spent chasing the American dream in suburban America, return to a radically transformed Shanghai. There the Zhens beome members of an elite community, and it's only when the family's estranged son joins them in Shanghai that they question the choices they made to become members of the upper crust.
Bookshop - 20/36
'Crazy Rich Asians' by Kevin Kwan
Anchor
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$14.72
The first novel in a trilogy, Crazy Rich Asians tells the story of a New Yorker who agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend's family. Unfortunately, her boyfriend forgot to mention that his family is crazy-rich, and he's also the most eligible bachelor in the country.
Bookshop - 21/36
'Severance' by Ling Ma
Picador
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$15.64
In this apocalyptic novel, first-generation American Candace tries to cope with the recent death of her Chinese immigrant parents by throwing herself into her dull Manhattan office job. Of course, she never expects that Shen Fever will sweep the city, or that she'll suddenly find herself part of a ragtag group of survivors.
Bookshp - 22/36
'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness' by Arundhati Roy
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$15.59
Spanning over several decades and locations, including Delhi and Kashmir, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness follows a series of strangers through some of the most violent episodes of modern Indian history, such as the Kashmir insurgency and the Godhra train burning.
Bookshop - 23/36
'The Book of M' by Peng Shepherd
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$15.62
In The Book of M, a mysterious pandemic causes people to start losing their shadows (as well as their memories), which breaks society into two factions: the shadowed and the shadowless. Married couple Max and Ory attempt to escape the "Forgetting" by hiding out in a remote hotel in Virginia, but it isn't long before the plague finds them.
Bookshop - 24/36
'Killing Commendatore' by Haruki Murakami
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$15.64
The tome of a novel revolves around an unnamed 30-something painter who, after his wife leaves him, decides to live in seclusion in the mountain home of a famous artist. There he makes a surprising discovery in the attic: a never-before-seen painting with mysterious powers.
Bookshop - 25/36
'Little Fires Everywhere' by Celeste Ng
Penguin Books
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$15.64
Little Fires Everywhere revolves around the Richardson family, whose seemingly perfect life comes apart at the seams after a mysterious single mother, Mia Warren, rents their home across town with her teenage daughter. The already-strained relationship between the two mothers becomes even more tense when Elena Richardson's friend attempts to adopt a baby that was taken from Mia's coworker, Bebe Chow.
Bookshop - 26/36
'The Lowland' by Jhumpa Lahari
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$15.64
This family saga revolves around two brothers, Subhash and Udayan, who set out on very different paths after Subhash moves to America to study science and Udayan becomes involved in the Communist Naxalite movement. Though Udayan is willing to risk everything for what he believes in, his actions eventually affect his family in devastating ways.
Bookshop - 27/36
'The Leavers' by Lisa Ko
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$14.67
The Leavers tells the story of Deming, the son of an undocumented Chinese immigrant who finds himself adrift after his mother doesn't return home one day from her job at a New York City nail salon. Deming is then adopted by a well-meaning white couple in Upstate New York who rename him Daniel, though they can't erase his desire to return to the life he once knew.
Bookshop - 28/36
'A Place for Us' by Fatima Farheen Mirza
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$15.64
In this novel, an Indian-American Muslim family is brought together for the first time in years to celebrate the wedding of Hadia, the family's oldest daughter. Once reunited, parents Rafiq and Layla are forced to come to terms with the choices Hadia and their two other children, Huda and Amar, have made in their lives.
Bookshop - 29/36
'If You Leave Me' by Crystal Hana Kim
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$14.71
If You Leave Me follows the saga of Haemi and Kyunghwan, childhood friends turned forbidden lovers, who are separated by civil war in Korea. Years later, after Haemi marries and starts a family with Kyunghwan's older cousin Jisoo, she must decide whether she's willing to give that all up to be with her childhood love.
Bookshop - 30/36
'A River of Stars' by Vanessa Hua
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$15.64
This novel tells the story of Scarlett, a woman who finds herself in trouble after becoming impregnated by her married boss at the factory where she works in China. To give their son a better life, Boss Yeung sends Scarlett to America, never expecting that Scarlett will find herself fleeing to San Francisco's Chinatown with another expecting woman.
Bookshop - 31/36
'Amnesty' by Aravind Adiga
bookshop.org
$23.92
Amnesty revolves around Dhananjaya, who's forced to live as an illegal immigrant in Sydney, Australia after fleeing from Sri Lanka and being denied a refugee status. In Sydney, he begins a new life for himself as Danny, though that new life is turned upside down after he finds himself tangled in a murder investigation.
Bookshop - 32/36
'The Windfall' by Diksha Basu
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$14.72
In this novel, a middle-class East Delhi family, the Jhas, unexpectedly come into a huge lump sum of money when Mr. Jha sells a website. The result: the Jha family must learn how to acclimate to their new riches and the new social status that comes with it.
Bookshop - 33/36
'An Ocean of Minutes' by Thea Lim
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$14.71
An Ocean of Minutes tells the story of Polly, a woman who decides to travel into the future in order to obtain a life-saving treatment after her boyfriend, Frank, catches the deadly flu pandemic sweeping America. Though the pair plan to reunite 12 years later, what Polly doesn't expect is being rerouted an extra five years in the future.
Bookshop - 34/36
'Free Food for Millionaires' by Min Jin Lee
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$15.62
In Free Food for Millionaires, a recent Princeton grad and first-generation American struggles to earn a place in Manhattan's upper class despite having no job, no prospects, and the threat of disappointing her Korean immigrant parents. To say it's harder than she expected would be an understatement.
Bookshop - 35/36
'How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia' by Moshin Hamid
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$15.64
Taking place in an unnamed country that seems reminiscent of Pakistan, this novel follows an unnamed narrator whose financial prospects change significantly when he enters the bottled water business. As a result, he transforms from impoverished kid to corporate big shot, and the transition affects him in unexpected ways.
Bookshop - 36/36
'The Wangs vs. the World' by Jade Chang
bookshop.org
$13.79
In this novel, a charismatic cosmetics mogul suddenly loses the empire he built due to a financial crisis. In response, Charles Wang sets off with his family on a cross-country trip from their repossessed Bel Air estate to Upstate New York, where the eldest Wang daughter lives.
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