Booking back at 2009

My "Year in Reading 2009" for the eds at The Millions:

As a half-Japanese kid growing up in the Northeast, I masqueraded quite successfully as another disenfranchised suburban Caucasian dude, angry more at being nowhere special than for any definable reason. But two historical phrases instilled unease: "Pearl Harbor" and "The Bataan Death March." The former's nasty ethnic stereotypes of the Japanese character—sneaky, cowardly, backstabbing—made me wary of my mother and half of my family, all...