Books by Asians – Equal Opportunity Reader

[Review] Snowglobe, by Soyoung Park, translated by Joungmin Lee Comfort

A Black woman's hand holds up the icy Kindle cover of Snowglobe in front of a laptop background displaying a frozen mountain range.

(Buy this book here.) This was…cute. That’s not really what I was expecting when I cracked open this Korean YA novel that’s been billed, somewhat stereotypically, as The Hunger Games meet Squid Game. Really, it’s more like Snowpiercer meets Mean Girls meets The Parent Trap. Korean teen Chobahm lives in one of many tiny villagesContinue reading “[Review] Snowglobe, by Soyoung Park, translated by Joungmin Lee Comfort”

[REVIEW] Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham

The Kindle cover of Lunar New Year Love Story, depicting a young Asian couple in front of a pinkwashed sunset sky, is propped up in front of a lily plant and surrounded by wooden hearts and wrapped chocolate hearts.

(Buy this book here.) Valentina Tran loves the holiday she’s named after. Every year she makes heart-decorated cards for all her classmates, and an extra special one for her dad, who’s still trying to cope years after his wife’s death. To the disgust of her realistic bestie Bernice, Val maintains a belief in romance soContinue reading “[REVIEW] Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham”

[REVIEW] I Am AI, by Ai Jiang

The Kindle cover of I Am Ai, depicting the face of an Asian woman with a blank stare and electricity coursing up her neck. The Kindle is held up in front of a old, weathered brick wall.

(Buy this book.) It’s taken me a while to write a proper review of this novelette because I really felt it in a deep and personal place that I’m not really sure how to talk about it. Sorry in advance if this gets treacly, or treaclier than usual, anyway. The city of Emit exists somewhereContinue reading “[REVIEW] I Am AI, by Ai Jiang”

[REVIEW]Linghun, by Ai Jiang

(BUY THIS BOOK) Linghun is a Mandarin word that can be translated as spirit or soul. It’s also the title of Canadian-Chinese writer Ai Jiang’s new novella. Fittingly, it’s about a place called HOME, where families impoverish themselves in order to call the spirits of their beloved dead back into their lives. Wenqi’s there becauseContinue reading “[REVIEW]Linghun, by Ai Jiang”

Last Week In Books: Oh, Bother?

Winnie the Pooh stares moodily through the blinds

Two months into the year and the drama in the book world is legion, beautiful people. I’m working on a mega-roundup of it all for next week’s LWIB, but this week, let’s focus on a few of the nicer things to read and one very weird Winnie the Pooh reboot. And that’s this week’s roundContinue reading “Last Week In Books: Oh, Bother?”

[LAST WEEK IN BOOKS] Taika Waititi? I Guess So…

I haven’t done a Last Week In Books post in almost a year. I stopped because my time has been at a bit of a premium–since landing back in America I’ve been working full time as well as trying to improve my own writing to the point where it’s publishable and in actual books thatContinue reading “[LAST WEEK IN BOOKS] Taika Waititi? I Guess So…”

[Hear Me Out] The Television Adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko Wasn’t Made For Me–And I’m Both Glad and Worried

(This is an edited version of a post from the Equal Opportunity Facebook page. To buy the book the series is based on, click here.) Thanks to a kind and generous soul in The Black & Asian Alliance Network, I now have an Apple TV account and have been watching the series adaptation of MinContinue reading “[Hear Me Out] The Television Adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko Wasn’t Made For Me–And I’m Both Glad and Worried”

Last Week In Books: Black Superheroes, Pandemic Flash Fiction, and Asian Family Drama

After the last update involving phone carnage(which has since been solved…grudgingly) this week’s quickie diverse book info roundup is a more mixed bag than usual, fellow readers. Let’s start with this great list of diverse comics from Cultured Vultures. It includes all sorts of genres and points of representation, from the Count of Monte CristoContinue reading “Last Week In Books: Black Superheroes, Pandemic Flash Fiction, and Asian Family Drama”

[REVIEW] White Ivy, by Susie Yang

A Black woman's hand holds the ebook of White Ivy up in front of a little island cottage in New England. The cover depicts an Asian woman with her arms wrapped around herself on a black background. The top half of her face is not in the picture.

(Buy it on Bookshop here.) I moved to Boston recently, and as a result I’ve been slurping up books set there. Most of them are not diverse, to put it mildly. White Ivy, a book about a Chinese-American immigrant in the city, was a refreshing surprise. There are a lot of reviews of this byContinue reading “[REVIEW] White Ivy, by Susie Yang”

[Review] The Dragon Republic, by R.F. Kuang

An ebook showing the black and white stylized Chinese culture-influenced cover of The Dragon Republic lays flat on a wooden table. A big black bowl of tan tan mien, or spicy pork and sesame noodles, is in the background.

(Buy it on Bookshop here.) I spent the first quarter of this Poppy War sequel trying to remember why I liked the first book. Main character Rin is probably the most despicable hero I’ve ever encountered. Sure, she’s a fire-wielding martially-trained shaman-powered genius badass who singlehandedly won a war. She’s also a genocidal maniac.(If you’veContinue reading “[Review] The Dragon Republic, by R.F. Kuang”