Yahoo Lifestyle 40 Must-Read Books by Asian and Pacific Islander Authors
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40 Must-Read Books by Asian and Pacific Islander Authors
The best books give us a chance to escape our own lives for a while, walk in someone else's shoes and see our own experiences reflected in art.
While the need for Asian representation across film, music and publishing still has a long way to go, we've also got a wealth of fantastic books written by Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) authors that deserve a spot on your bookshelf. This list of our favorites includes novels, nonfiction, memoirs and essay collections that touch on the themes of Asian identity, immigration and what it means to belong, as well as stories that explore familial bonds, romantic love and even the way we express ourselves through food. Some of them will make you laugh, others will make you cry, a few will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end and some will make you think critically about what it means to be AAPI today.
Scroll through the list below for a fresh crop of modern Asian and AAPI stories as well as bestselling classics like Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club.
Curl up in your favorite comfy chair, sit back and grab your next favorite read.
Hearst Owned - 2/41
1) Mika in Real Life
Emiko Jean's
amazon.com
$13.99
When Mika gets an unexpected call from Penny, the daughter she placed for adoption 16 years ago, she tells a few little white lies. But that means when Penny visits, Mika has to construct an elaborate ruse to uphold her story. When it all comes crashing down, mother and daughter have to rebuild their faith in one another. It’s a lovely tale of love, trust and forgiveness.
William Morrow - 3/41
2) Bliss Montage Stories
Ling Ma's
amazon.com
$22.49
If you've read the eerily familiar plague novel Severance, don't miss this one by the same author. This delightfully weird dip back into Ma's brain is just as satisfying as you'd think. It touches on what amounts to the greatest hits of human existence: friendship, love, the meaning of home and why we need each other in a series of tightly curated stories.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux - 4/41
3) How Far the Light Reaches
Sabrina Imbler's
amazon.com
$19.50
In mind-bogglingly gorgeous prose, science journalist Sabrina Imbler tracks their evolution as a queer, mixed -ace person struggling with assimilation, gender identity, family dynamics and what it means to live in a society that rewards sameness. This transcendent book will break your heart and put it back together in new configurations, and you might just learn something about the creatures of the deep along the way.
Little, Brown and Company - 5/41
4) Age of Vice
Deepti Kapoor's
amazon.com
$20.49
This meaty crime epic starts off with a car crash that leaves five people dead, a driver who wasn't supposed to be there and a ton of unanswered questions. More just keep coming as we get to know the wealthy Wadia family, loyal servant Ajay and journalist Neda, who all find themselves swept up in a complex, gasp-inducing drama that accelerates to an explosive ending.
Riverhead Books - 6/41
5) Central Places
Delia Cai's
amazon.com
$20.99
You can never really go home again, as the saying goes. And when Audrey Zhou brings her cosmopolitan white fiancé back to the small town where she grew up to meet her Chinese immigrant parents, she finds out just how true that is. This deeply felt novel about shedding old selves and what happens when you have to confront them will be relatable to anyone who's ever tried on their own new identities.
Ballantine Books - 7/41
6) Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
Jesse Q. Sutanto's
amazon.com
$27.00
If you haven't read Sutanto's delightfully zany books, buckle up. This one introduces us to Vera Wong, owner of a struggling tea shop who comes in one morning to find a dead man on the floor with a flash drive in his hand. She doesn't necessarily mean to pocket it, but Vera knows she can solve this crime if only she pays special attention to everyone who comes past her shop (which she kind of does anyway). This is a hilarious romp that will get you laughing out loud over your Oolong.
Berkley - 8/41
7) A Living Remedy
Nicole Chung's
amazon.com
$29.99
The past few years have raised a lot of questions: Who is the "middle class?" When we say we're there for one another, are we really? Who gets to define the "American dream?" In this lyrical, thought-provoking memoir, Chung plumbs great depths of grief and rage as she takes an incisive look at the inequality in American society and what community really requires.
Ecco - 9/41
8) Banyan Moon
Thao Thai's
amazon.com
$28.99
Haunting, a bit creepy and occasionally heartbreaking, this debut novel follows three generations of Vietnamese women finding their way in the world. It's an exploration of the ways in which generational trauma impacts each subsequent one, the love that keeps us together and how we're uniquely positioned to hurt those we hold dear.
Mariner - 10/41
9) Counterfeit
Kirstin Chen's
amazon.com
$14.88
Ava Wong has always been a rule-follower and all she has to show for it is an unused law degree, a blah marriage and a toddler she can barely control. So when her former college roommate Winnie Fang recruits Ava to help move counterfeit handbags from China, Ava finds herself part of a scheme that's larger than life. But once Winnie disappears, Ava is, quite literally, left holding the bag. This one's as flashy as a designer store window, and just as enticing.
William Morrow - 11/41
10) Fiona and Jane
Jean Chen Ho's
amazon.com
$13.99
Best friends Fiona and Jane are thick as thieves through their chaotic teenage years, but when Fiona moves across the country, their bond stretches to its breaking point. This novel about the power of female friendship will give you an intimate look into both women's perspectives on a shared story that has as many facets as they do.
Viking - 12/41
11) How High We Go in the Dark
Sequoia Nagamatsu's
amazon.com
$20.09
When an archaeologist witnesses the unleashing of a long-buried plague, it changes history as we know it. This hauntingly beautiful novel meditates on how the human spirit perseveres through adversity. With everything from a cosmic search for home to a theme park for terminally ill kids and even a talking pig, it’s a lyrical adventure that feels fantastical yet familiar.
William Morrow - 13/41
12) The School for Good Mothers
Jessamine Chan's
amazon.com
$16.92
Frida's daughter Harriet is her entire world. But when she makes a devastating error in judgment, the state decides that she has to prove her mothering skills in order to remain one. This frighteningly prescient novel feels like Orwell and Vonnegut as it explores the depths of parents' love, how strictly we judge mothers and each other and the terrifying potential of government overreach.
Simon & Schuster - 14/41
13) When We Fell Apart
Soon Wiley's
amazon.com
$14.89
Min can’t believe his ambitious Korean girlfriend Yu-jin died by suicide, right before graduation. As he seeks to untangle the mystery of her death, he learns more about Yu-jin’s life as the daughter of a high-ranking government official, the true nature of her relationship with her roommate So-ra, and his own bi-racial identity. This compelling, fast-paced novel is as complex as the characters it follows.
Dutton - 15/41
14) Minor Feelings
Cathy Park Hongs'
amazon.com
$13.59
This memoir in essays blends memoir and cultural criticism and takes a deep dive into the racial consciousness in America today. With the recent rise in Asian American hate crimes around the United States, this book is a timely must-read.
amazon - 16/41
15) Disorientation
Elaine Hsieh Chou's
amazon.com
$19.29
Ingrid has hit a wall in her PhD research on poet Xiao-Wen Chou when she comes across something that suggests he isn't who he. Before she knows it, Ingrid has blown open a scandal that threatens her relationships, her school and even her own sense of self. This is a fresh, hilarious and thoughtful satire that'll make you think about cultural identity in a whole new way.
Penguin Press - 17/41
16) Trick Mirror
Jia Tolentino's
amazon.com
$32.31
In this book of nine nonfiction essays, The New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino dives into the topics of internet culture, “scammer culture” and contemporary feminism. If you’re a millennial who’s curious and critical about the way things are in the world, chances are, you’ll relate to her reflections.
amazon - 18/41
17) On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong's
amazon.com
$11.16
Written in the form of a letter, the novel tells the story of narrator Little Dog, who writes to his illiterate mother and recounts their history in Vietnam. It's a lyrical exploration of the bonds between an immigrant son and his mother.
amazon - 19/41
18) Little Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng's
amazon.com
$14.11
Two families from different socioeconomic backgrounds in Shaker Heights, Ohio are brought together by their children. Tensions begin to rise after a legal case stemming from an adoption becomes the talk of the town. The book was adapted into a mini-series on Hulu starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon.
amazon - 20/41
19) The Incendiaries
R.O. Kwon's
bookshop.org
$14.72
Phoebe Lin and Will Kendall fall in love at university, but Phoebe, who quietly blames herself for her mom’s recent death, gets lured into a secret cult with a charismatic leader. When the group commits an act of violence, Will struggles to confront the fanaticism he worked his whole life to escape.
amazon - 21/41
20) Patron Saints of Nothing
Randy Ribay's
amazon.com
$11.99
Jay Reguero planned on spending his last summer as a high schooler playing video games before going off to college in the fall. But after his cousin Jay gets murdered for allegedly being involved in President Duterte’s war on drugs in the Philippines, he travels to the country to uncover the truth about what happened.
amazon - 22/41
21) Crying in H Mart
Michelle Zauner's
amazon.com
$15.79
Based on her essay in The New Yorker, Zauner’s debut memoir reflects on what it was like growing up in Eugene, Oregon as one of the few Asian Americans in her school, as well as her complicated relationship with her own mother, and how the moments they bonded over food and life shaped her identity as an adult.
amazon - 23/41
22) The Groom Will Keep His Name
Matt Ortile's
amazon.com
$13.98
Ortile writes about his experience moving from the Philippines to the U.S., highlighting the discrimination he faced as a child from his skin color, accent and femininity and the myths he used to believe about how he thought he could fit into society if he completely shed his identity and married a white man.
amazon - 24/41
23) Crazy Rich Asians
Kevin Kwan's
amazon.com
$10.37
New Yorker Rachel Chu is in for a wild ride after she agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend Nicholas Young and his family. However, he leaves out the part where he comes from money — and soon, her vacation turns from being a relaxed trip to a challenging maze full of old money, new money, nosy family members, ex-girlfriends and one overly protective mother.
amazon - 25/41
24) To All the Boys I've Loved Before
Jenny Han's
amazon.com
$10.99
Lara Jean Covey is an average teenage girl who used to spend her days coping with her childhood crushes by writing them secret love letters and storing them in a shoebox in her closet. But her whole world changes when those letters somehow get mailed out years later.
amazon - 26/41
25) Sour Heart
Jenny Zhang's
amazon.com
$12.24
From a public school in New York to the Cultural Revolution in China during the 1960s, this fiction short story collection explores seven different stories of young women spanning across different generations. Zhang's brilliant storytelling gives voice to Chinese immigrants from all over the world, you’ll feel like you’re right there with each of them.
Lenny - 27/41
26) Yolk
Mary H.K. Choi's
amazon.com
$12.69
Choi's humorous and heartbreaking third novel explores what happens when two sisters are brought back together by circumstance and have to confront each other about past mistakes.
amazon - 28/41
27) A Place for Us
Fatima Farheen Mirza's
amazon.com
$27.02
When an Indian-Muslim wedding reunites a family of five whose members have spent most of their lives finding balance between old and modern traditions, it causes them to reflect on the decisions that brought them to where they are in the present.
amazon - 29/41
28) Pachinko
Min Jin Lee's
amazon.com
$18.29
Packed with themes of love, sacrifice, ambition and loyalty, this sweeping epic historical novel follows four generations of a Korean family who immigrate to Japan and face racism and stereotypes.
amazon - 30/41
29) The Collected Schizophrenias
Esme Weijun Wang's
amazon.com
$11.39
Mental and chronic illness takes the forefront of Wang's memoir and essay collection, where she talks straightforwardly about her schizoaffective disorder diagnosis, as well as the way the medical community handles mental health.
amazon - 31/41
30) Goodbye, Vitamin
Rachel Khong's
bookshop.org
$14.72
After breaking things off with her fiancé and quitting her job, 30-year-old Ruth moves back in with her parents only to come home to a father who is losing his memory and an erratic mother. Blending humor with grief, Khong's debut novel is an exploration of the unexpected moments in life.
barnes and noble - 32/41
31) The Leavers
Lisa Ko's
bookshop.org
$14.67
Undocumented Chinese immigrant Polly goes to her job at a nail salon one morning only to disappear without a trace, leaving her only child, Deming Guo, by himself. The 11-year-old boy is eventually adopted by a pair of affluent white professors who move him to a completely new town. Now going by Daniel Wilkinson, he struggles to adapt to his new life while trying to keep the memory of his mother and old life close.
barnes and noble - 33/41
32) Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
Jose Antonio Vargas'
amazon.com
$10.99
After spending 25 years living undocumented in a country whose government rejects him, Vargas uses his voice to tell his own story. In his memoir, he writes openly and honestly about his life as a Filipino immigrant.
amazon - 34/41
33) The Vegetarian
Han Kang's
amazon.com
$15.49
In the time that they’ve been married, Yeong-hye and her husband have lived a pretty ordinary life. That is, until she begins having bloody, vivid dreams that force her to stop eating meat altogether — and this small act of defiance disrupts her home life leading to a series of shocking events.
amazon - 35/41
34) America Is Not the Heart
Elaine Castillo's
amazon.com
$20.91
After being disowned by her own parents, Hero De Vera leaves the Philippines, which have been scarred by political upheaval, to live with her uncle and aunt in the Bay Area. They take her in without asking about her past, but her much younger American-born cousin is curious. What results in a funny, poignant story about three generations of women who try to find balance in their lives.
amazon - 36/41
35) The Sympathizer
Viet Thanh Nguyen's
amazon.com
$11.08
The Sympathizer is a spy novel full of love and betrayal that centers on a narrator living a life as a communist double agent who comes to America after the Fall of Saigon and is secretly communicating to his communist leaders in Vietnam while also building a life with other Vietnamese refugees in Los Angeles.
amazon - 37/41
36) I Was Their American Dream
Malaka Gharib's
amazon.com
$12.99
In this coming-of-age memoir, Gharib recounts everything in her childhood from chasing her parents’ ideals to crushing on skater boys, and what it was like growing up in America with Filipino and Egyptian traditions. Through her original artwork and drawings, she creatively brings her own life story in a unique way.
amazon - 38/41
37) The Kiss Quotient
Helen Hoang's
amazon.com
$9.32
Stella Lane is excellent at math, but she’s never been great at dating, and it doesn’t help that she is disgusted by the act of making out. But when she hires escort Michael Phan to teach her about everything dating and sex has to offer, she slowly starts to fall in love with him in this steamy romance novel.
amazon - 39/41
38) The White Tiger
Aravind Adiga's
amazon.com
$10.79
Balram Halwai is a poor, but ambitious Indian villager who eventually becomes a businessman running a taxi service in Bangalore. This novel, which won the Man Booker Prize in 2008, explores the themes of class struggle in India and overcoming poverty. It was recently adapted into a Netflix movie starring Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
amazon - 40/41
39) The Making of Asian America
Erika Lee's
amazon.com
$17.49
From the sailors who came on the first trans-Pacific ships in the 1500s to the Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II, this in-depth book highlights how generations of Asian immigrants and their American-born descendants created and revised the Asian American life as well as the activism that shaped their histories.
amazon - 41/41
40) The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan's
amazon.com
$12.00
Spanning over several years, this story starts in 1949 when four Chinese immigrant women meet over dim sum and play mahjong to recount their lives and the relationships with each of their daughters. Amy’s endearing novel about mother-daughter relationships has become a beloved classic that remains a must-read.
amazon
