May is Asian American & Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month. To celebrate, we’ve gathered together a variety of #OwnVoices reads which are all highly rated. Asian American & Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander populations (or AANHPI, formerly AAPI) consist of over 50 distinct ethnicities in the US. We’re excited to provide some great books across 6 of them—Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Native Hawaiian, Pakistani, & Vietnamese!
A multigenerational contemporary YA novel filled with heartache & hope (Pakistani American)
Written by an author who was born in the UK to parents from Pakistan who then moved together as a family to California. Like the main characters, her family also bought a motel in the Mojave Desert.
National Book Award winner, Printz Award for Excellence in YA Literature winner, instant NY Times bestseller, an instant indie bestseller, Audible’s Best of 2022, AudioFile Best Audiobook of 2022, & Best Book of the Year from NPR, Kirkus, Buzzfeed, Amazon, & more
From #1 NY Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir comes a brilliant, unforgettable, and heart-wrenching contemporary novel about family and forgiveness, love and loss, in a sweeping story that crosses generations and continents.
Lahore, Pakistan. Then.
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Clouds’ Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.
Juniper, California. Now.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.
Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him—and Juniper—forever. When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.
From one of today’s most cherished and bestselling young adult authors comes a breathtaking novel of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness—one that’s both tragic and poignant in its tender ferocity.
“All My Rage is a love story, a tragedy and an infectious teenage fever dream about what home means when you feel you don’t fit in.” — NY Times Book Review
a poignant historical mystery about Japanese Americans during wwII
Written by an author born in California to a mother from Japan & a father born in California who then grew up in Japan.
Set in 1944 Chicago, Edgar Award-winner Naomi Hirahara’s eye-opening and poignant mystery, the story of a young woman searching for the truth about her revered older sister’s death, brings to focus the struggles of one Japanese American family released from mass incarceration at Manzanar during WWII.
Twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents have just been released from Manzanar, where they have been detained by the US government since the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, together with thousands of other Japanese Americans. The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled two thousand miles away in Chicago, where Aki’s older sister, Rose, was sent months earlier and moved to the new Japanese American neighborhood near Clark and Division streets. But on the eve of the Ito family’s reunion, Rose is killed by a subway train. Aki, who worshipped her sister, is stunned. Officials are ruling Rose’s death a suicide. Aki cannot believe her perfect, polished, and optimistic sister would end her life. Her instinct tells her there is much more to the story, and she knows she is the only person who could ever learn the truth.
Inspired by historical events, Clark and Division infuses an atmospheric and heartbreakingly real crime fiction plot with rich period details and delicately wrought personal stories Naomi Hirahara has gleaned from thirty years of research and archival work in Japanese American history.
“Clark and Division is a moving, eye-opening depiction of life after Manzanar. Naomi Hirahara has infused her mystery with a deep humanity, unearthing a piece of buried American history.” —George Takei
“Part historical fiction, part thriller, all a deeply moving family story, set in 1944 Chicago against the backdrop of the shameful treatment of Japanese-Americans by the U.S. government.”—Sara Paretsky, bestselling author of the Detective Warshawski series
(A special thank you to book club member, Julie Griffin for the suggestion.)
a piquantly tender and winsome comic portrait of a self-consciously privileged Hawaiian family in crisis
Written by an author who is fifth-generation Hawaiian descended from missionaries & a father who is part native Hawaiian, a similar lineage to the main character aside from the fact that she’s not a land baron nor a descendant of Hawaiian royalty.
Fortunes have changed for the King family, descendants of Hawaiian royalty and one of the state’s largest landowners. Matthew King’s daughters—Scottie, a feisty ten-year-old, and Alex, a seventeen-year-old recovering drug addict—are out of control, and their charismatic, thrill-seeking mother, Joanie, lies in a coma after a boat-racing accident. She will soon be taken off life support.
As Matt gathers his wife’s friends and family to say their final goodbyes, a difficult situation is made worse by the sudden discovery that there’s one person who hasn’t been told: the man with whom Joanie had been having an affair.
Forced to examine what they owe not only to the living but to the dead, Matt, Scottie, and Alex take to the road to find Joanie’s lover, on a memorable journey that leads to unforeseen humor, growth, and profound revelations.
“A Pandora’s box–style tragicomedy . . . [Kaui Hart Hemmings’s] comic sense is finely honed in this refreshingly wry debut novel.”—The New York Times Book Review
“With beautiful and blunt prose, Hemmings explores the emotional terrain of grief, promising something far more fulfilling than paradise at its end.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Evincing a sublimely mature style and beguiling command of theme and setting, Hemmings' virtuoso performance offers a piquantly tender and winsomely comic portrait of a singular family's revealing response to tragedy.” —Booklist
(A special thank you to book club member, Jordi Valbuena for the suggestion.)
A powerful, feminist retelling of a story from the Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic from ancient India
Written by an author from Chicago of Indian descent who grew up on stories from the Ramayana & notes the Ramayana is an important part of her religion & culture.
NY Times Bestseller & A Book of the Month Club Pick
“With a graceful, measured elegance” (NY Times), this lyrical novel reimagines the life of the infamous queen from the ancient epic the Ramayana, giving voice to an extraordinary woman determined to leave her mark in a world where gods and men dictate the shape of things to come.
I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions—much good it did me.
So begins Kaikeyi’s story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on legends of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear.
Desperate for some independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat, and most favored queen, determined to carve a better world for herself and the women around her.
But as the evil from her childhood tales threatens the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak—and what legacy she intends to leave behind.
"Easily earns its place on shelves alongside Madeline Miller’s Circe." –Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Utterly captivating from start to finish." ―Genevieve Gornichec
“…brings a contemporary lens that will be familiar to any woman who has been labeled cold for showing assertiveness… Like the best stories, this engaging portrait will move you to take another look at the things you think you already know.” –NY Times
Darkly funny dystopia with thriller & lgbt elements (chinese american)
Written by a Texas native born to parents from China, the book mirrors the author’s experience as a struggling musician of Asian descent trying to make it while working at a wellness store where (mostly) rich white women came in to buy $400 water filters.
A NY Times Editors’ Choice, Bustle‘s “Best New Books of Spring & Summer 2023”, & Buzzfeed’s “Books Coming Out This Spring You’ll Love”
Sly, surprising, and razor-sharp, Natural Beauty follows a young musician into an elite, beauty-obsessed world where perfection comes at a staggering cost.
Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store.
Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege giving her a long-awaited sense of belonging. She becomes transfixed by the niece of Holistik’s charismatic owner, and the two strike up a friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, our narrator is plied with products that slim her thighs and smooth her skin. But beneath these creams and tinctures lies something sinister.
A piercing, darkly funny debut, Natural Beauty explores questions of consumerism, self-worth, race, and identity—and leaves readers with a shocking and unsettling truth.
“Absorbing . . . Natural Beauty starts out frothy, offering an enticing dip into how tech could beautify and perfect our bodies and faces in the near future . . . It quickly turns into a cautionary tale on societal themes we’re currently seeing in real life.” –Vogue
“This is a darkly absurd and hilarious skewering of the luxury beauty industry, as well as a heart-wrenching story of a woman left alone in the world. Definitely not one to miss!” —Buzzfeed, “30 Books Coming Out This Spring That You’ll Love”
“Eerie and entertaining, Natural Beauty intertwines a terrifying critique of the beauty industry with a poignant ode to the power of music and the devotion of immigrant families. Ling Ling Huang is a fearless storyteller, and this book is as luminous as it is thrilling.” —Pik-Shuen Fung
(Group read suggestion from Beth McCrea, book club co-founder.)
An irreverent, funny, and moving memoir (Vietnamese American)
Written by an author born in Saigon who immigrates to America growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania.
An Amazon Best Book of the Year, Marie Claire's Best Memoirs of 2020, & Editor's Pick at Audible
For anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong, Sigh, Gone shares an irreverent, funny, and moving tale of displacement and assimilation woven together with poignant themes from beloved works of classic literature.
In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, Phuc Tran immigrates to America along with his family. By sheer chance they land in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town where the Trans struggle to assimilate into their new life. In this coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great books such as The Metamorphosis, The Scarlet Letter, The Iliad, and more, Tran navigates the push and pull of finding and accepting himself despite the challenges of immigration, feelings of isolation, and teenage rebellion, all while attempting to meet the rigid expectations set by his immigrant parents.
Appealing to fans of coming-of-age memoirs such as Fresh Off the Boat, Running with Scissors, or tales of assimilation like Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Displaced and The Refugees, Sigh, Gone explores one man’s bewildering experiences of abuse, racism, and tragedy and reveals redemption and connection in books and punk rock. Against the hairspray-and-synthesizer backdrop of the ‘80s, he finds solace and kinship in the wisdom of classic literature, and in the subculture of punk rock, he finds affirmation and echoes of his disaffection. In his journey for self-discovery Tran ultimately finds refuge and inspiration in the art that shapes—and ultimately saves—him.
"The best, the funniest and the most heartfelt memoir of the year.... Sigh, Gone filters the archetypal high school misfit story through the lens of immigration and assimilation, building it into a larger narrative about the ways music and books can bring us together, even when the larger world threatens to tear us apart." —BookPage
"Funny, poignant, and unsparing, Tran’s sharp, sensitive, punk-inflected memoir presents one immigrant’s quest for self-acceptance through the lens of American and European literary classics. A highly witty and topical read." —Kirkus (starred review)
(A special thank you to book club member, Beth Cummings for the suggestion.)