I have created a list of books by Asian authors that you should pick up this month while the world honors Asian communities for their struggles, specifically have the month's celebration originate from America. The featured writers have created a wide range of incredible works — more than enough to keep you reading long after May is over.
Here are some must-read titles.
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Suitable Boy is a novel by Vikram Seth, published in 1993. With 1,349 pages, the English–language book is one of the longest novels published in a single volume. A Suitable Boy is set in a newly post-independence, post-partition India
SeeSaw Girl by by Linda Sue Park
Impatient with the constraints put on her as an aristocratic girl living in 17th-century Korea, 12-year-old Jade Blossom determines to see beyond her small world.
Jade Blossom can never go beyond her family’s inner court. All girls from good Korean families must learn to sew, do laundry, and work in the kitchen. This prepares them for their future lives in their husbands’ inner court.
Jade has other interests. She longs to take trips to the mountains and the marketplace. If only she could read and paint, but these are things only boys can do. Jade won’t stop thinking about the world beyond the high walls of her home. Then one day she secretly sets off to do what no other girl her age has ever done before.
South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
Growing up in the suburbs in post-war Japan, it seemed to Hajime that everyone but him had brothers and sisters. His sole companion was Shimamoto, also an only child. Together they spent long afternoons listening to her father's record collection. But when his family moved away, the two lost touch.
Now Hajime is in his thirties. After a decade of drifting, he has found happiness with his loving wife and two daughters, and success running a jazz bar. Then Shimamoto reappears. She is beautiful, intense, enveloped in mystery. Hajime is catapulted into the past, putting at risk all he has in the present.
I loved each of these reads and I'm sure you would too!
Stay safe!
Support Books R&B with a contribution of any size!