By Terry Hong
Special to AsianWeek
 this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation
Edited by Gloria E. Anzaldúa and Analouise Keating (Routledge)
A collection of 80-plus essays on race, culture, feminism and activism, which continues the dialogue begun two decades ago in the revolutionary this bridge called my back. Included is an essay by original contributor Anita Valerio, who returns in this bridge we call home as Max Wolf Valerio to discuss his new perspective on feminism since his transformation from female to male.
 Asian American Women: Issues, Concerns, and Responsive Human and Civil Rights Advocacy
By Lora Jo Foo (Ford Foundation, and Asian American Women’s Project of Asian American/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy)
Fabulous, thorough focus on the lives of APA women caught in poverty, isolation, servitude and violent situations — and still surviving and fighting to make a better life. Based on research done in 2001 by Lora Jo Foo, it’s a resonating testament to APA women’s empowerment. Asian American Women is not available for sale, but can be downloaded at www.aapip.org. Community organizations can receive a hard copy by emailing aapip@aapip.org.
 My Friend Hitler and Other Plays
By Yukio Mishima, translated by Hiroaki Sato (Columbia University Press)
While Mishima’s fiction (not to mention his flamboyant life), is internationally renowned, his dramas are virtually unknown in the West, although he published more than 60 plays. This collection includes five of his major plays and three of his essays on theater.
 21st Century Manzanar: A Novel
By Perry Miyake (Really Great Books)
The U.S. government’s need for scapegoats takes a chilling twist in Miyake’s effective debut novel, in which Executive Order 9066 is reinstated and the concentration camps are reopened. This time, the country’s economic collapse is blamed on Japan and once again, Americans of Japanese ancestry must pay the price.
 Stealing the Ambassador
By Sameer Parekh (Free Press)
An absolutely fabulous first novel about young Indian American named Rajiv Kothari, and his path to understanding his recently deceased father, his father’s view of life as an immigrant, and his own experience navigating two worlds. It’s all framed by an odd airport encounter between Rajiv and a recent student immigrant who happens to have Rajiv’s deceased father’s name.
 From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey
By Pascal Khoo Thwe (HarperCollinsPublishers)
A touching memoir that traces the life of a young man from a tribal village in Burma. Thwe comes of age amidst political and economic turmoil, from his experiences as a student rebel and surviving the Burmese jungles as a fugitive, to his departure for England where he is admitted to Cambridge University and graduates with distinction. Nonfiction winner of the 2002 Kiriyama Prize.
 Kamasutra
By Vatsyana Mallanaga, translated by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar (Oxford University Press)
Read the real and complete Kamasutra here for the first time! The first and only translation of the Kamasutra, published in 1883 and widely attributed to the 19th-century explorer and scholar Sir Richard Francis Burton, is apparently highly inaccurate. Yes, the Kamasutra is about sex, but it’s much, much more: “It is a book about the art of living — about finding a partner, maintaining power in a marriage, committing adultery, living as or with a courtesan, using drugs — and also about the positions in sexual intercourse,” the translators write.
 The Hyphenated American: Four Plays by Chay Yew
By Chay Yew (Grove Press)
Memorable volume of collected plays by one of the most hard-working, prolific, talented, tenacious — not to mention incredibly charming — playwrights of our generation: Red, Scissors, A Beautiful Country and Wonderland.
And for the Kiddies …
 Remembering Manzanar: Life in a Japanese Internment Camp
By Michael L. Cooper (Clarion Books)
Ages 9 – 12
Hats off to Cooper for writing what I believe is a first-of-its-kind for young adults. The message is made especially relevant by the final two paragraphs, on the particular importance of remembering Manzanar, after Sept. 11: “Despite widespread fear of terrorism, few Americans suggested imprisoning people of Mideastern heritage in relocation camps … The mistakes of the past have helped Americans understand that the United States is a diverse country.
 Yellow Umbrella
By Jae Soo Liu, with music by Dong Il Sheen (Kane/Miller)
Ages 4 – 8
This may be the kids’ find of the holiday season. An utterly delightful walk in the rain with the most colorful, inviting umbrellas, set to infectiously happy, twinkling music. My kids couldn’t stop pushing that “replay” button. Get several copies and distribute — spread the joy!
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