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The week of May 7, 2024 In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month “In a time of destruction, create something.”― Maxine Hong Kingston
Read more reviews of Asian Pacific American Books at SBR And visit Bookshop.org to see lists for Childrens, Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult Fiction and Nonfiction books You can also use the store map at the bottom of the page to support an AAPI-owned independent bookstore. Read This Now | Read This Next | Book Buzz | The Bookseller Directory |
To honor Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the lead review in each SBR newsletter for the month of May will feature an Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander author.|
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Read This Now! Recommended by Southern indies… |
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Green Frog by Gina Chung Adult Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories (single author) This short story collection sparkles in its deft explorations of womanhood, identity, and family. Gina Chung interweaves the fantastical with the mundane throughout these stories that invite you to contemplate girlhood, womanhood, and motherhood in new and unique ways. I am taken with "Attachment Processes," a meditation on grief, motherhood, and AI and "Mantis." Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia |
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The Water Outlaws by S. L. Huang Adult Fiction, Epic, Fantasy This is a long book and took me forever to read, but I really fell in love with the bandits of Liangshan, and the second half of the book is packed with action. Worth a read for sure, especially if you like Chinese martial arts! Reviewed by Candice Huber, Tubby & Coo’s Mid-City Book Shop in New Orleans, Louisiana |
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Bookseller Buzz |
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Spotlight on: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley 
I was watching a TV show called The Terror. It aired in 2018, but I was watching it in lockdown 2021. And I was struggling to follow what was going on. It’s a great show, but I had lockdown brain. I just thought, “I’m not quite sure what’s going on. There are a lot of people that are all talking, they all look the same — they’re all white guys with mutton chops and big, arctic coats…” So I looked at the fan wiki. And under the bloopers section they referred to a guy called Graham Gore. I went to his Wikipedia page and read about him. And as I was reading it, I just thought, “My God, this man sounds so competent and chill and nice.” It was April 2021. I had just started a new job in January. And I hadn’t met any of my colleagues because we were still isolating, and I couldn’t get the VPN to work. And it was very stressful. I was like, “I bet Gore could get the VPN to work. I bet he wouldn’t cry. He’d just handle this lockdown. He’d have no problems and be fine. So that’s why I kind of latched on to him. ― Kaliane Bradley, Bookweb What booksellers are saying about The Ministry of Time 
Kaliane Bradley is a British-Cambodian writer and editor based in London. Her short fiction has appeared in Somesuch Stories, The Willowherb Review, Electric Literature, Catapult, and Extra Teeth, among others. She was the winner of the 2022 Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Prize and the 2022 V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize. |
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Swiped by L.M. Chilton Adult Fiction, Fiction, Suspense, Thrillers 
A May Read This Next! Title What a fun read! It is a good thing I had a long car ride and nothing else to do because I couldn’t put it down. Swiped is a delightful Rom-Com-Murder Mystery. Romance may be stretching it a little as the Rom part was Gwen trying to get over a breakup by swiping right on a dating app to hook up with six different dates, none of whom rated a second date. Comedy, definitely, as the dialogue was smart and witty, and definitely a murder mystery as Gwen’s dates were being murdered one by one and she soon became the prime suspect. I thought I had this one figured out at least three different times, but boy was I wrong. Reviewed by Nancy McFarlane, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina |
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Monsters by Claire Dederer Adult Nonfiction, Feminist, Literary Criticism What do we do with the work of monstrous artists? Can we separate it from their reprehensible actions and the suffering they cause? Claire Dederer doesn’t have an exact answer, but boy was it thrilling to see her try to work it out on the page, using figures like Roman Polanski, JK Rowling, Woody Allen, Pablo Picasso, and others as her sparring partners. My favorite kind of nonfiction: thoughtful writing about tough stuff, through the lens of the personal. More, please! Reviewed by Rachel Knox, Tombolo Books in St Petersburg, Florida |
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The Worst Ronin by Maggie Tokuda-Hall Action & Adventure, Asian American & Pacific Islander, Comics & Graphic Novels, Young Adult Fiction Battles defending honor and fighting sexism, this graphic novel has it all. Set in samurai times with a modern twist, The Worst Ronin shows the progression of a young girl learning how to fight for her life and a worn-down drunken warrior learning how to be kind. Reviewed by Sara Dimaria, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, Louisiana |
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I Heard by Jaha Nailah Avery African American & Black, Children, Juvenile Nonfiction So many stories. It reminds me of The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, and the rhymes and cadence of I Heard make it a wonderful pick for a read-aloud. One of our storyteller friends says some picture books are meant to be read with the people sitting right next to you, and others translate up from that to be told to a big crowd of listeners. This one, with its sonorous title, is meant to be proclaimed, and the detail in the illustrations by Walthall begs another go-through to see all the faces. Reviewed by Lisa Yee Swope, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
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Next Stop by Debbie Fong Action & Adventure, Asian American & Pacific Islander, Children, Comics & Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Juvenile Fiction Next Stop is an endearing graphic novel that made me laugh out loud on one page, then tear up on the next. Fong’s ability to discuss grief and loss without sacrificing charm makes Next Stop a must-read for children and adults. Reviewed by Courtney Ulrich Smith, Underbrush Books in Rogers, Arkansas |
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Decide for Yourself Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books. |
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Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown LGBTQ+, Romance, Young Adult Fiction Jo hopes to start a radio youth ministry focusing on teens and acceptance, which is why she agrees to pass as straight after her radio star and pastor father remarries and they move to a very small, very conservative town in Georgia. Lesbians and religion are not topics seen very often in YA (and rarely in the same book, and definitely not in a positive light), but Brown manages to pull it off. The religious aspect of the book is never preachy or heavy-handed- it’s just a part of who Jo is. While she might struggle with intolerant churchgoers (and especially her new Step Grandmother), Jo’s love of God is as ingrained and steadfast as her love for girls. Jo is an amazing character- she knows who she is, what she wants to do, and who she wants to love. But she’s also a teen girl who is uprooted from her Atlanta life and thrown into a new family and new town, far away from her friends and a more tolerant community. As heartbreaking as it is when her father, who has previously accepted and supported her, asks her to lay low her senior year, Jo accepts. She trades her truth for a radio show, one that has the potential to help other teens find acceptance and kindness in the Christian community. Jo loves her father, and wants him to have a chance with his new bride and her ultra-conservative family. She has no plans to stay in the Rome, Georgia, after she graduates. But she doesn’t plan on how it makes her feel to have to omit aspects of her life, which eventually leads to outright lying. Especially once she makes new friends, and then falls in love. Passing as straight is easier than she thought, and she kind of hates, kind of likes how easy it is. Meanwhile, her bestie back home in Atlanta, gets into some major trouble, and Jo’s relationship with her new stepmother changes. Of course, everything blows up, like you know it’s going to, but it’s how Jo puts things back together that is the real payoff. Maybe the ending is a bit too easy? I don’t know, but it’s one that I hope is realistic soon. So much love for this book! Reviewed by Kate Towery, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia |
Southern Bestsellers What’s popular this week with Southern Readers. |
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Parting Thought “Life is not simple, and people can’t be boxed into being either heroes or villains.” |
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