book recommendations for AAPI heritage month
According to the Federal Asian Pacific American Council, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month is observed annually in May to celebrate the contributions that generations of AAPIs have made to American history, society, and culture. While certainly abundant if you know where to look for them, here are some recommendations if you need some suggestions of something to read from an AAPI author this month.
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri — This novel follows a couple who immigrates from Calcutta to Cambridge, Massachusetts following their arranged wedding and their son, Gogol, as he navigates the path of being a first-generation American. I first read this book shortly after graduating college in the early 2010s and it has stayed with me ever since. Lahiri was the first author I read who talked about the idea of being trapped between two cultures, which is a subject matter I continue to enjoy. Consider this also a blanket recommendation for all of Lahiri’s short stories as well.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee — I love a family saga and Pachinko is one of the best. Spanning from the early 1900s,when the pregnant daughter of a Korean fisherman accepts an offer of marriage from a minister passing through on his way to Japan, through the subsequent generations of the family to the late 1980s. Before reading this I didn’t know much about Japan’s annexation of Korea, so I’m glad this exposed me to a part of history that my public school education neglected to teach me.
How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang — Set in the twilight of the American gold rush, two siblings who are newly orphaned set off to bury their father. The novel blends Chinese elements with an American western and has writing so beautiful that I can’t believe it’s a debut.
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry — Set in Danvers, Massachusetts (which in 1692 was Salem Village, site of the Witch Trials), the 1989 Danvers High School field hockey team pledge themselves to the dark forces (via a notebook with Emilio Estevez on it) to have a winning season. This novel is told via the collective We, which I had never encountered before. I read this one during spring of 2020 and because it was so funny and ridiculous, it was the perfect escape at that time.
The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji — The mystery genre in the States is typically very white, so it’s a treat that this popular Japanese series was translated into English. An homage to And Then There Were None, a university’s Mystery Club takes a trip to a lonely island that was previously the site of a series of unsolved murders and…you can probably figure out the rest.
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang — Yellowface opens with June, an unsuccessful author, witnessing the accidental death of her frenemy, Athena Liu, a Chinese-American author who has found the kind of success June can only dream about. June steals an unpublished manuscript of Athena’s, involving Chinese laborers in World War I, and begins tinkering with it, so much so that she begins to feel ownership of it and decides to publish it as her own work under the name Juniper Song, as to present herself as racially ambiguous. While it won’t be for everybody, this novel has a lot to say about race, cancel-culture, and the publishing industry.
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok — Sylvie, the seemingly perfect older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final visit with her dying grandmother and then vanishes. Amy, the younger sister, leaves her parents behind in America, as she retraces Sylvie’s steps, trying to find out what happened. While there is a mystery, this is also a family drama and a book about culture and secrets.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro — Three friends attend a boarding school for special children in their youth and link up again as adults is a fairly mundane way to describe the plot of this book, but saying anything more will give away the major surprise of the book. I revisited this earlier this year and found the themes resonated with me even more than the first time. Ishiguro, a Japanese-British novelist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017 for good reason. This is my favorite of his, but The Remains of the Day and Clara and the Sun are also excellent reads.
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan — Three ultra-wealthy Chinese families gossip and scheme when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Singapore brings home his American-born Chinese girlfriend to the wedding of the season. This book is fun and bubbly, but also discusses the very real issues of class and the perceived differences between Asians and Asian-Americans. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Singapore and it was lovely to return via the pages of this well-crafted book.
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu — This is a book about a plague that it’s released by melting Arctic ice, told through interconnected stories as the pandemic runs its course. I will not lie to you, this is a harrowing read, especially in the wake of our own pandemic. But it is also ambitious and beautiful. I don’t know if I will ever forget the chapter about the amusement park (IYKYK).
In putting together this list I realized I haven’t read any books by Pacific Islanders, which is something I need to rectify. Right now the two at the top of my list are
Hawai’i’s Story by Lili’uokalani—an autobiography by the Queen of Hawai’i, as an attempt to advocate on behalf of Hawaiian sovereignty published the same year President McKinley and Congress approved the annexation of Hawai’i. In addition to the history that I need to learn, Lili’uokalani seems like an all-around interesting person who I want to learn more about.
Shark Dialogues by Kiana Davenport—A novel that takes place over a century and a half of Hawaiian history and involves the fateful meeting of a 19th-century Yankee sailor and the runaway daughter of a Tahitian chief. This novel is out of print currently, but I’m hopeful I can find it via the library.
Do you have a favorite book by an Asian or Pacific Islander author? I’d love to hear about it in the comments, as I’m always looking for more.