Announcing the Tag for June

[Anita]

It really wasn't very close. The tag for June is:

immigration

Please share your reading plans and recommendations below.

Remember, for the regular monthly reads, the book can be shelved as "immigration" on Goodreads, or be a book that is not yet shelved that way but you feel should be.

One way to find books to read for this tag is to please visit:

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

We encourage people to link to additional lists below if they find them.

Happy Reading!!!

[NancyJ]

Sounds great! This topic is a staple in my reading, so I will have some recommendations. I'm also looking for some fresh ideas.

Here is a start:
https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainm...
https://www.lirs.org/books-about-immi... - this site also has some author interviews

I actually liked American Dirt (as a migrant adventure/thriller) despite it's lack of "own-voices" credibility. But here is a list of "18-new-books-about-the-immigrant-experience-that-arent-american-dirt"
https://www.bustle.com/p/18-new-books...

[NancyJ]

I'm considering:
Middlesex
The Leavers
Behold the Dreamers
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations
Solito (on the current giveaways list)
O Pioneers!
My Ántonia
Days Without End
Dominicana
The Bad Muslim Discount
House of SticksThe Refugees
Small Island
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & ClayThe Amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Book of Unknown Americans (disability)
Prayers for the Stolen
Afterlife
Fruit of the Drunken Tree
Refugee (mg/ya)
The Refugees
Maybe other books by Jhumpa Lahiri, Luis Alberto Urrea, Edwidge Danticat
Non-fiction -(I'll pick a few and let the dice decide). The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border, The Undocumented Americans, The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration, Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America, Everything Sad Is Untrue

I really enjoyed:
Babel
Interpreter of Maladies (short stories)
Kite Runner
Girl in Translation
Paper Wife
The Girl who Wrote in Silk
Clap When you land
A Long Petal of the Sea
Americanah
Bean Trees -Kingsolver
Homefire
All of Amy Tan's books'
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Tis
Brooklyn
Pachinko
Exit West - literary fiction with dreamlike sections
Lost Children Archive - literary fiction with dreamlike sections
On Earth we're briefly Gorgeous - war scenes, dreamlike sections

Other books I loved with at least 5 immigration tags:
A Tale for the Time Being
Happiness
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
The Golem and the Jinni fantasy
Roomies romance
The Sympathizer espionage, war
Homegoing Africa, Slavery
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

[Booknblues]

I'm happy with this tag. It is one which I frequently read.

I think the issue of displaced people is huge right now. I'll look for what I plan to read and recommendations momentarily.

[NancyJ]

Booknblues wrote: "I'm happy with this tag. It is one which I frequently read.

I think the issue of displaced people is huge right now. I'll look for what I plan to read and recommendations momentarily."

I think you recommended a couple books about Syrian or other refugees a while back. I can't recall the names.

[Jen K]

I really like reading about this topic too and have a ton of choices.

Okay, this will be difficult. I have over 25 options just that I own or have on hold and at least that many more on my TBR. Not quite sure how I will narrow down.

[Jen K]

Team The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, should we organize a Buddy Read?

[Amy]

I’m in Jen! You got at least me

[Jen K]

Amy wrote: "I’m in Jen! You got at least me"

Exciting! I can set up a thread when we are closer to June.

[Jen]

And the worst choice yet again. So for the 3rd month i will abstain for my mental health.

[[deleted user]]

Immigration and refugees kind of go hand-in-hand, don't they?! I can recommend Burnt Shadows

[Book Concierge]

A book I recently read would be a great one for this tag: No Land to Light On
LINK to my review

[Book Concierge]

Another which I read some time back is set in Canada ... Under This Unbroken Sky
My 5-star review HERE

[Robin P]

I have Solito on audio and Miracle Creek in print. I recommend Behold the Dreamers.

I had forgotten that immigration isn't only about today or only about moving the the US! Some historical fiction featuring immigrants includes

In the Distance
Small World
Daughter of Fortune
Murphy's Law (mystery)
Black Cake
The Nesting Dolls
And Pachinko is about immigrating from Korea to Japan

There are also many biographies and memoirs that would fit.

[Theresa]

Jen wrote: "And the worst choice yet again. So for the 3rd month i will abstain for my mental health."

Jen - have you read Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows? Has a murder mystery thriller aspect while in telling the story of arraned marriages among punjabi immigrants in London. Humorous too.. I am hoping to fit in the author's 2nd book that has been on my TBR since it was published: The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters.

[Robin P]

Just found this on sale at Audible - Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American

[Theresa]

Jenny wrote: "Immigration and refugees kind of go hand-in-hand, don't they?! I can recommend Burnt Shadows"

Actually, there is a real difference and the book that made me really think about that didference, one is a choice even if a hard choice and the other is without choice, was the quirky Call Me Zebra.

Historical fiction have refugee/immigration themes too:

Set among émigres communities during the French Revolution

Plight of Belgian refugees in Rye, England during WWI figure prominently in the plot of The Summer Before the War

[LibraryCin]

Anita wrote: "It really wasn't very close. The tag for June is:

immigration"

Oh, good. This was my hope!

[LibraryCin]

So, I was the chooser for our unofficial "trim" and one of mine looks like it might fit, so that's what I chose:
The Second Life of Samuel Tyne / Esi Edyugan

A few additional options for me:
What Strange Paradise / Omar El Akkad
Behold the Dreamers / Imbolo Mbue
Scarborough / Catherine Hernandez

[Karin]

I'm not at all surprised that this won, but hadn't realized it wouldn't even be close :)

[Karin]

I'm going to work on reading some Canadian authors for this one. It doesn't have to be people who emigrate to the US :)

[Booknblues]

Here are some recommendations:

Nonfiction
A Long Way Home
The Girl from Aleppo: Nujeen's Escape from War to Freedom
Homes: A Refugee Story
A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival
The Undocumented Americans
Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions
River and the Wall
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child


Fiction
The Island of Missing Trees
The Thirty Names of Night
How Fast Can You Run
Go, Went, Gone
What We Owe
North of Dawn
The Caregiver
Lost Children Archive
Salt Houses
Infinite Country

[Booknblues]

Here is a list of reading possibilities for me:
Passage West*
No Land to Light On*
North to Paradise*
Arabian Jazz*
Things We Lost to the Water*
Solito*
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits*
The Naked Don't Fear the Water: An Underground Journey with Afghan Refugees*
The Bones of Barry Knight: Nominated for the Dublin Literary Award 2023*
Swimming Back to Trout River*
Honor*
O Beautiful
Haven: The Dramatic Story of 1,000 World War II Refugees and How They Came to America
A Woman Is No Man
The Map of Salt and Stars
The Bones of Barry Knight: Nominated for the Dublin Literary Award 2023
Death Is Hard Work

[Amy]

I loved map of salt and stars!

[Joanne]

I am with Amy, Fran-make room for The Map of Salt and Stars!

[Theresa]

Jen K wrote: "Team The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, should we organize a Buddy Read?"

Count me in! Just downloaded it from Queens Public Library - copies available in all NYC libraries. That's a sign to me. Plus I read and loved Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet a couple mounths ago!

[Shelly]

Some suggestions

Small Island
Exodus
Homegoing
The Refugees
Middlesex

I have a copy of The Refugees and I put a hold on Black Cake and The Bad Muslim Discount

[LibraryCin]

Karin wrote: "I'm going to work on reading some Canadian authors for this one. It doesn't have to be people who emigrate to the US :)"

I think 3/4 of my options are Canadian... possibly all 4! :-)

[Anita]

Jen K wrote: "Team The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, should we organize a Buddy Read?"

I was able to get this from the library so I might read along with you all this time around.

[Lyn]

I have a few options on my physical bookshelf including:
The Girl Who Wrote in Silk
Stubborn Twig: Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese Family
The Same Sky

Guess I'll see what I am in the mood for in June.

[Amy]

Theresa and Anita! This will be so fun!!!

[Jen K]

Amy wrote: "Theresa and Anita! This will be so fun!!!"

Very fun! Lots available at my local library too. Looking forward to reading together.

[NancyJ]

Booknblues wrote: "Here is a list of reading possibilities for me:
Passage West*
No Land to Light On*
North to Paradise*
Arabian Jazz*
[book:Things We Los..."

I love your lists! I know I have a lot of choices already, but I want to get a nice mix. So thanks!

I just found this Guardian article that asks authors for their favorites on the topic.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

[NancyJ]

Amy, have you seen this one about a fashion designer?

Anywhere But Home Aka Bella Germania

I think I need more variety in my immigration books. Maybe some Romance for June.

[Book Concierge]

This one takes place almost entirely in the infirmary on Ellis Island ... also some romance ...A Fall of Marigolds

[Pam]

For something a little different, I highly recommend the graphic novel memoir Almost American Girl. It was fantastic

[NancyJ]

Those both look good. Thanks!

[Karin]

I probably won't read more than one of these (most immigrated to Canada), but I borrowed

The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy
In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje
Tamarind Woman by Anita Rau Badami

[Joy D]

I can recommend a 5-star read from last year that portrays immigration from Tibet/China to Nepal to Canada:
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies

[Karin]

Joy D wrote: "I can recommend a 5-star read from last year that portrays immigration from Tibet/China to Nepal to Canada:
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies"

Oh, and it won a Canadian prize! But I already have those three and one I picked up from the library after I posted that I'd forgotten about called Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants so I'll add this one to my want to read shelf.

[LibraryCin]

I quite enjoyed "Chop Suey Nation"!

[NancyJ]

Everything Sad Is Untrue is really good so far. It’s about a rich Persian family who had to leave Iran fast because of a religious violation. It’s very different and entertaining, with fast links between Scheherazade, family stories and the author’s experiences in an Oklahoma high school. It contains brilliant passages alternated with irreverent humor. Poetry and poop stories.

It reminds me a little of Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.