May 2025 AAPI month reading

[Nadine in NY]

May is Asian American & Pacific Islander heritage month! I have been very wishy washy this year about whether or not I'm targeting some of my reading for the various cultural appreciation months, but it looks like I'm doing AAPI month!

Last month I read a few new books by Asian authors that I recommend:

Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang
The Floating World by Axie Oh
I Leave It Up to You by Jinwoo Chong
Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping On a Dead Man by Jesse Q. Sutanto


And I currently have
Audition audiobook borrowed
Worth Fighting For from NetGalley to read
Vanishing World from NetGalley to read (I'm late on this one!)
Banyan Moon borrowed from the library (I'm planning to read this for "book about an immigrant" but I'm not actually sure if it fits)

and I've requested from NetGalley:
Here for a Good Time by Pyae Moe Thet War
Ocean of Clouds: Poems by Garrett Hongo
but I dont' know if I'll get them ...


I'm sure if I look I can find a bunch more AAPI authors in my "read soon" lists.

[Sasha]

There are some really interesting ones on the Goodreads API Heritage Month list, which will also earn you a Seasonal Challenge bookmark! I'm excited to read The Invisible Wild by Nikki Van De Car from that list.

[Nadine in NY]

Sasha wrote: "There are some really interesting ones on the Goodreads API Heritage Month list, which will also earn you a Seasonal Challenge bookmark! I'm excited to read The Invisible Wild by [..."



Yeah I'm really torn - that's a good list, but the more time I spend looking at it the bigger my TBR gets!!! I will never live long enough to read all these books I want to read.

[Andrea]

Books I read so far this year by AAPI authors that I would recommend. (Some descriptions of AAPI include parts of the Middle East so I've included those as well):
-The Book Censor's Library
-Greek Lessons
-Crescent
-Kareem Between
-Behind You Is the Sea
-The Book of Disappearance
-Minor Detail
-An Unnecessary Woman

Books I own or have checked out on Libby right now:
-The Kite Runner
-Good Girl
-Hunchback
-How to End a Love Story
-You are Eating an Orange. You are Naked.
-Midnight’s Children

Books I have on hold or would like to get to:
-The Way You Make Me Feel
-To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other
-Blob: A Love Story
-We Do Not Part
-Fundamentally
-Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng
-The Persians
-Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
-Lunar New Year Love Story
-Waiting
-America Is in the Heart

[Nadine in NY]

I've realized I still have my "healing fiction" book yet to read, and I'm planning to read a Korean book for that, probably The Rainfall Market. Also the book I've penciled in for "non verbal character" is The Bone People. I'll try to get to both in May.


Oh and I think my "music" book will be The Yakuza's Bias 2

[Jennifer W]

I was going to look at the GR list of AAPI books, but when I saw it says there's 189 books on that list... my poor TBR can't handle it! lol

As I mentioned in the QOTW last week, I coincidentally have out 2 books from the library that will fit, Namako: Sea Cucumber and The Storm We Made. I also bought the graphic novel Tokyo Rose - Zero Hour (A Graphic Novel): A Japanese American Woman's Persecution and Ultimate Redemption after World War II a couple of years ago and haven't read it.

[Nadine in NY]

Jennifer W wrote: "... The Storm We Made. ..."



I love the cover art for this book!!! But something about the blurb makes me think it's not a good book for me. It's giving me Kristin Hannah & TJR vibes.

[Jennifer W]

Nadine in NY wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "... The Storm We Made. ..."



I love the cover art for this book!!! But something about the blurb makes me think it's not a good book for me. It's giving me Kristin Hannah & TJR..."

Lol, I've never read either of them! I won't be able to compare it for you.

I'm a sucker for WWII fiction, though.

[Nadine in NY]

Jennifer W wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "... The Storm We Made. ..."



I love the cover art for this book!!! But something about the blurb makes me think it's not a good book for me. It's giving me..."


If you want WWII in Asia:

Tan Twan Eng deals with the Japanese occupation of Malaysia in all three of his books. I think you read The Gift of Rain but not The Garden of Evening Mists. (tbh I thought The House of Doors was not QUITE as good as the other two, but it also is partly set in the same time period, it even mentions some of the characters in Gift of Rain)

The Piano Teacher deals with Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. It's not as exquisite as Tan Twan Eng's books (but few books are!!) but I enjoyed it and I recommend it.

And I love Chang-rae Lee's books. A Gesture Life is set in present day but there are flashbacks to Japanese occupation of Korea, and the "comfort girls."

[Nadine in NY]

omg I just typed up this whole long thing and then made a rookie mistake and POOF! all gone.

Basically: I made the mistake of looking at that list of Asian books from GR, and it reminded me of all the books I've been wanting to read, and now I have wayyyyy too many books borrowed or on hold from the library.

[Jennifer W]

Nadine in NY wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "... The Storm We Made. ..."



I love the cover art for this book!!! But something about the blurb makes me think it's not a good book for..."

Cool, thanks! Yeah, I'm saving Tan Twan Eng's books to ration them out. I'll have to look into the others. :)

[Nadine in NY]

Jennifer W wrote: "Yeah, I'm saving Tan Twan Eng's books to ration them out. ..."



LOL I do that too!!! (That's why I still haven't read all of Chang-rae Lee's books! gotta save a few for the future reads...)

[JessicaMHR]

I don't think I'll specifically choose AAPI authors this month but, I do believe I may have one or two in my current stacks.

I looked at that list and was surprised at how many of them I had never heard of and how little I had on my TBR already. I didn't add any more because I have put a hold to adding to my TBR as much as possible. But, I may revisit the list at some point and look for a few rec's. Like the book about Connie Chung.

[Jennifer W]

Sigh... I stopped in the library for *just a minute*.... lol

I checked out The Magic Fish and Angel & Hannah. Both of them have been on my radar for a while, but I haven't gotten to them. Maybe now?? (don't hold your breath!)

[Ron]

At the moment I just have one planned which is a book being released next week:

Force of Chaos (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Book 1): A Novel

[Nadine in NY]

Jennifer W wrote: "Sigh... I stopped in the library for *just a minute*.... lol

I checked out The Magic Fish and Angel & Hannah. Both of them have been on my radar for a while, but I ..."




LOL!!!


I absolutely loved The Magic Fish, and it won't take you very long to read it, just a few days at most.



I read Mabuhay! for the "food truck" book, and while it left me with a POWERFUL hankering for Filipino food, I didn't particularly like anything else about it. It definitely featured a food truck, though.

And now I'm listening to Audition, and it's that awkward thing where I'm liking the story but hating the woman who reads the audiobook. I see that the last time I listened to a book read by her, I actually quit and switched to ebook. I need to stop listening to books she reads.

After that, I'll be listening to I'll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan. I'm excited, because by coincidence, I've started listening to K-Pop! I actually know a few groups now! I might learn about more from this book!

[As You Wish]

I thought April was Asian Heritage month, so I read a bunch of Asian authors last month. (I think my brain said it's the same letter, so April=Asian) My favourites were:
Last Tang Standing, which had Crazy Rich Asian vibes, and I used it for the luxury resort prompt,
The Stardust Grail
The Empress of Salt and Fortune, a new author for me, all of the books in this series are between 100-150 pages and I loved them, could be used for LGBTQ character prompt,
Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope
Kingdom of Without, a cyberpunk retelling of Les Miserables set in Beijing,
For She Is Wrath, a Pakistani mythology-inspired retelling of Count of Monte Cristo,
Water Moon, a great fantasy story, which I thought was going to fill the healing fiction prompt but was not that genre after all,
Ex Marks the Spot, just a really solid YA figuring out who you are story that I devoured in one day,
Ami, the second book in Zhara fantasy series.

Other previous reads I would recommend:
A Study in Scarlet Women, first of the Lady Sherlock series. I am an old-school Sherlock fan and this is a brilliant interpretation. Could fill the happily single prompt.

Hoping to get to this month:
A Billion Butterflies: A Life in Climate and Chaos Theory, won in a giveaway and hoping to use it for the nature antagonist prompt,
The Floating World, because I love Axie Oh,
Canto Bight, possibly for the interrelated short stories prompt. I have a lot on my plate for the next two months so I expect my reading time to be limited. I guess it's not a bad thing that I was a month off, because I read a lot of great books!

[Lilith]

Here are some of the books by AAPI authors and writers I've read this year, or hope to read this month:

Frangipani - I love Célestine Hitiura Vaite
The Little Book of Forest Bathing: Discovering the Japanese Art of Self-Care and Shinrin-Yoku: The Art and Science of Forest Bathing
Aunty Lees Deadly Specials
The Betel Nut Tree Mystery
Aunty Lee's Delights - need me some Ovidia Yu
The Kamogawa Food Detectives
They Called Us Enemy - I know, I'm very late to the party - very moving via the eyes of a young child
Strange Weather in Tokyo
Sweet Bean Paste
When the Emperor Was Divine
Before We Forget Kindness
Before the Coffee Gets Cold - re-read

[Ron]

My book by Diana Ma arrives tomorrow so I can't wait to get started on it either tomorrow (depending what time of day it comes) or Wednesday.

It's a Power Rangers YA novel:

Force of Chaos (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Book 1): A Novel

[Erica]

Read Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame and gave it four stars. A good fantasy novella with dragons.
This was already on my tbr when the goodreads heritage bookmark list popped up with this on it, so I read sooner than expected. Usually I don't read things specifically for heritage months but I do go through the suggestions lists and add to the tbr.

[Erica]

Jennifer W wrote: "Sigh... I stopped in the library for *just a minute*.... lol

I checked out The Magic Fish and Angel & Hannah. Both of them have been on my radar for a while, but I ..."

I love both of those books, happy reading.

[Sasha]

I read The Invisible Wild, which I am using for a highly anticipated read of 2025 as well as for the GR Heritage bookmark. I learned a lot about Hawaiian indigenous folklore and the difficulties that Hawaiians face today. I thought the information could have been woven into the narrative a lot better, though. In places it felt as though text had been cut and pasted from an encyclopedia, whereas we were supposed to be inside the head of a teenage girl. I gave it three stars.

[Nadine in NY]

I got inspired this month and borrowed a bunch of books!! I have finished or started 8 books so far for AAPI month, and I've got 2 more on deck borrowed from the library. I didn't really LOVE anything I read, but I'm still hopeful that I'll love the books I have planned!!!


Finished:
Mabuhay! - this was my "food truck" book, and it was just okay.

Audition - Kitamura's books always SOUND like something I love, but they never actually are. Maybe I should stop reading her books. It's not my style.

Worth Fighting For - love Sutanto and I loved Mulan and this book just disappointed me on all fronts. Ugh!

I'll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan - I was so excited about this book, and it was so disappointing. Just a rambling memoir by an uninteresting person.

The Rainfall Market - just finished for "healing fiction." Either "healing fiction" is not my thing, or this was just a dull example.




Currently reading:
The Heiress Effect - this is my "left-handed" book (and he does, in fact, say he is left-handed!), and I am loving it so far, it's ALL I want to read, I've set all other books aside right now!

Ocean of Clouds: Poems - I'm having a tough time with this one, it's a NetGalley book and the formatting is all wonky, which makes it difficult to read.

Women of Good Fortune - I JUST started this. Looks like it's multiple POV, and I've gotten to two of the POVs so far. Giving strong Dial A for Aunties vibe AND Crazy Rich Asians vibe, but it might end up being a bit more serious than either of those books (not hard to do LOL!)


On deck:
Banyan Moon - my immigrant or refugee book, I'll definitely be reading this as soon as I can get to it, possibly before the end of the month. I'm excited to read this because I loved the other book I read by this author (Adam & Evie's Matchmaking Tour)

I Did Something Bad - this one looks right up my alley, but with all the books I'm busy reading right now, I probably won't start it until June.