Breathtaking Books by Asian Authors: Pages from my Bookshelf

Breathtaking Books by Asian Authors: Pages from my Bookshelf

As touched on in my previous blog about books by African authors, I’ve felt the need to expand my perspective.  This has naturally extended to the books I choose to read. There’s something profoundly enriching about diving into the stories of individuals from distant parts of the world. Particularly those whose experiences and paths diverge greatly from my own. Embracing such diverse voices can be a powerful tool for self-discovery. In light of this, today’s blog post highlights a selection of books by Asian authors that I recommend.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world. But when she discovers she is pregnant—and that her lover is married—she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. Her decision to abandon her home and reject her son’s powerful father sets off a dramatic saga that echoes down through the generations.

Richly told and profoundly moving, “Pachinko” is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty.  A story written by an Asian author I simply adore.

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang

This book follows two siblings on the run in an unforgiving landscape. Trying not just to survive but to find a home.

Ba dies in the night; Ma is already gone. Newly orphaned children of immigrants, Lucy and Sam are suddenly alone in a land that refutes their existence. Fleeing the threats of their western mining town, they set off to bury their father. In the only way that would set them free from their past. Along the way, they encounter giant buffalo bones, tiger paw prints, and the specters of a ravaged landscape. As well as family secrets, sibling rivalry, and glimpses of a different kind of future.

This book is a haunting adventure story. An unforgettable sibling story, and the announcement of a stunning new voice in literature. Page by page, it delves into the memories that bind and divide families, and the yearning for home.

Making it a worthy addition to any bookworms collection of books by Asian authors.

The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui

This beautifully illustrated and emotional story is an evocative memoir. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects of displacement on a child and her family. Bui documents her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s. As well as the difficulties they faced in building new lives.

At the heart of Bui’s story is a universal struggle. While adjusting to life as a first-time mother, she discovers what it means to be a parent. The sacrifices, the unnoticed gestures, and the depths of unspoken love. Despite the challenge of balancing the roles of both parent and child, Bui perseveres. With haunting, poetic writing and breathtaking art. She examines the strength of family, the importance of identity, and the meaning of home.

We Are Not Free by Traci Chee

“We Are Not Free” is the collective account of a tight-knit group of young Nisei, second-generation Japanese American citizens, whose lives are irrevocably changed by the mass U.S. incarcerations of World War II.

Fourteen teens who have grown up together in Japantown, San Francisco. Teens who form a community and a family, as interconnected as they are conflicted. Fourteen teens whose lives are turned upside down when over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry are removed from their homes and forced into desolate incarceration camps.

In a world that seems determined to hate them, these young Nisei must rally together as racism and injustice threaten to pull them apart.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo and Translated by Jamie Chang

In a small, tidy apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, Kim Jiyoung, a thirtysomething “millennial everywoman,” has recently left her white-collar job to care for her newborn daughter full-time, as many Korean women are expected to. However, she begins to exhibit strange symptoms that alarm her family: Jiyoung starts impersonating the voices of other women—alive and dead, known and unknown. As her condition worsens, her concerned husband sends her to a male psychiatrist.

Through a chilling, third-person narrative, Jiyoung’s life unfolds—a tale marked by frustration, perseverance, and submission. Born in 1982 and given the most common name for Korean baby girls, Jiyoung becomes the unfavored sister to her younger brother. Her behavior is continually controlled by male figures, from teachers enforcing strict uniforms to coworkers who install a hidden camera in the women’s restroom. Her father blames her for nighttime harassment, while her husband believes she should abandon her career to prioritize family.

Jiyoung’s ordinary life contrasts with Korea’s evolving society, which shifts away from “family planning” birth control policies and introduces gender discrimination legislation. The novel questions whether her doctor can truly cure her or even understand what’s really wrong.

To browse my full list of books written by Asian authors visit my Amazon storefront. Let me know in the comments which tales from Africa have captured your heart.

Glenda

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