“Children always punished you for being petty, all while conveniently forgetting you had washed their stained sheets and underwear for the first eighteen years of their lives.” —Family Trust by Kathy Wang This was the...
Book
We love books of all kinds and we especially love to share books written by Asian woman authors around the world. Have you read a book that touched you, a book that made you go ‘hmmm’, or even just an indulgent romance that made your cold autumn evening that much cozier?
Guest Writer
Dependence and Disappointment between Mothers and Daughters: Sharlene Teo on her novel Ponti
Sharlene Teo talks about her debut novel Ponti: “I wanted to explore the dependencies and disappointments between mothers and daughters and teenaged best friends.” I almost didn’t read London-based Singaporean author...
Melanie Lee
Saimdang and The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci
As someone who enjoys historical fiction, I had the opportunity to watch Saimdang and read Belle Ami’s The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci within the last year. At first glance, the two works seemed unrelated. Saimdang is a...
Book Review: ‘A Tale for the Time Being’ by Ruth Ozeki
On a gloomy Michigan afternoon, I curmudgeonly ventured to the Ann Arbor Public Library to check out a book for a literature class. To make my dreaded feat towards the over-400- page reading assignment worse, the...
Book Review: ‘Everything I Never Told You’ by Celeste Ng
Celeste Ng’s seminal 2014 book Everything I Never Told You, perfectly captures the fallout of a nuclear family following an unexpected and horrifying tragedy. The author’s breakout first novel topped the Amazon...
Filipino Poets Today: Brave New Voices in Spoken Word
We see more Asian women poets in pop culture than ever before. Not too long ago the art of spoken word in relation to slam poetry skyrocketed in online popularity and ever since it has been an active outlet for...
Marj Ostani
The Most Anticipated Books by Asian Women in 2018
People make lots of different resolutions at the start of a new year: work out more, travel more, spend more time with family. If you’ve made made a resolution to read more, I’ve got some exciting news for you: 2018 is...
Marisa Jue
Book Review: ‘The Nakano Thrift Shop’ by Hiromi Kawakami
“When you get old and far-sighted, you can’t look your sweetheart in the eye from close up. You need a little distance, so that you can focus on each other. So that your faces don’t look blurry– anyway, you need a...
Book Review: ‘Where the Past Begins’ by Amy Tan
“This was the emotional pulse that ran through my life and made me the particular writer that I am. I am not the subject matter of mothers and daughters or Chinese culture or immigrant experience that most people cite...
Awesome Young Adult Books That Deserve More Attention
What is a Young Adult (“YA”) book anyway? There are children’s books and typical books, and who are these young adults? It’s you, no matter how old you are. If you’re technically a teenager but full of...
April Editors
Book Review: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ by Kevin Kwan
“You never told me you lived in a palace.” “This isn’t a palace. It’s just a big house.” “Nick, where I come from, this is a palace,” Rachel said. Rachel Chu is doing pretty well for herself. She’s a Stanford-educated...
What You Should be Reading This Summer
There are so many things to love about summer: the warm weather, the longer days, spending time at the beach or the pool with family and friends. Whether you’re simply relaxing in the extra sun after work or are...