Goblin Fruit: Stories
By David Marshall Chan (Context Books)
A debut collection of nine elliptical stories about lost souls in Los Angeles.
The Koreans in Hawai’i: A Pictorial History 1903-2003
By Roberta Chang with Wayne Patterson (University of Hawai‘i Press)
An inspiring compilation of a century’s worth of photos, from the very first Korean families arriving in 1903 to a six-generation Hawaiian family of Korean descent.
American Workers, Colonial Power: Philippine Seattle and the Transpacific West, 1919-1941
By Dorothy B. Fujita-Rony (University of California Press)
A history of a changing Filipino population in and around Seattle, bookended by both World Wars.
The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Books)
A resonating, breathtaking first novel that chronicles the relationship of two boys, born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan — both motherless, both nursed by the same woman and both lives inextricably linked, even in separation.
AsianAmerican.Net: Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Cyberspace
Edited by Rachel C. Lee and Sau-ling Cynthia Wong (Routledge)
A collection of 13 essays that examine the Asian Pacific American role in the latest frontier — cyberspace — from “Oriental” influences (with all the cringe-inducing-‘isms’ that word implies) to machine-like Asian laborers to the yellowfacing of computer-game (anti)heroes.
The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic
By Ramesh Menon (North Point Press)
A brand new rendition of the 300 B.C.E epic poem — one of South Asia’s most important literary texts — about the perfect man, Rama, and the perfect woman, Sita, his wife.
The Bathhouse: A Novel
By Farnoosh Moshiri (Beacon Press)
Vicious, harrowing, nightmare of a short novel about a 17-year-old girl arrested and imprisoned for her brother’s revolutionary activities during the fundamentalist takeover of Iran. Based on the lives of real women who survived such horrific, unintelligible experiences, this book makes us question our own all-too-comfortable existence.
National Asian Pacific American Political Almanac: 2003-04
Edited by Don T. Nakanishi and James S. Lai (UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press)
A focus on Asian American women in politics and dedicated to the late Patsy Mink, who was the first APA woman elected to Congress, famous for helping to author Title IX of the Education Act (yes, that Title Nine!).
Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit
Edited by Nguyen Van Huy and Laurel Kendall (University of California Press)
Stunningly rendered, intimate look at today’s Vietnam, its country, its people, its beliefs, its hopes — a Vietnam no longer associated with war.
War Talk
By Arundhati Roy (South End Press)
A slim, must-read collection of powerful essays by the author of the Booker Prize-winning The God of Small Things that questions everything from nuclear power, the so-called war against terror and the new imperialism. She reveals how the Indian prime minister promoted his poems on MTV while Muslims were massacred enmasse in Guajarat, and sagely insists that post-9-11 U.S. rhetoric is merely a thinly disguised “canny recruitment drive for a misconceived, dangerous war.”
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
By Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon)
Already a bestseller in France, where it was first published, Satrapi’s achievement is capturing her childhood in spare comic book images that speak utter volumes. Satrapi, whose great grandfather was a Persian emperor, recalls her life as an outspoken young girl living a bewildered existence in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution with her Marxist parents, her beloved uncle who was murdered by the so-called authorities and her God who resembles Karl Marx.
Social Text: Transnational Adoption
Edited by Toby Alice Volkman and Cindi Katz (Duke University Press)
Special issue of a notable academic journal that focuses on the growing numbers of adoptions by Westerners of children from around the world.
The New Directions
Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry
Edited by Eliot Weinberger (New Directions)
Unique collection of classical Chinese poetry that reveals the Chinese influences on American poetry, with translations by poets themselves, including such near-mythic figures as William Carlos Williams and Ezra Pound.
Following Foo (the electronic adventures of The Chestnut Man)
By B.D. Wong (HarperCollins)
Yes, that B.D. Wong of small and large screen fame. Following Foo is a heartbreaking, loving, hope-filled ride to parenthood for Wong and his partner who have twins with the help of a surrogate mother. The twins are born prematurely, the firstborn is lost and the couple struggles to finally bring Jackson Foo Wong home.
And for the kiddies …
My Pig Amarillo
By Satomi Ichikawa (Philomel Books)
A lovingly-illustrated, bittersweet tale about a little boy who loses his four-legged, furry best friend.
Busy, Busy Mouse
By Virginia Kroll, illustrated by Fumi Kosaka (Viking)
While the human family goes through their day, the mouse sleeps well tucked away. As the family prepares for bed, the mouse prepares for his lively night adventures ahead.
Snuggle Mountain
By Lindsey Lane, illustrated by Melissa Iwai (Clarion Books)
Delightful story about a little girl who scales Snuggle Mountain in order to finally get her early-morning pancakes.