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Thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available on July 14 2020
Sex and Vanity is Kevin Kwan's uproarious new comedy of manners set between the luscious, luxurious island of Capri and the hushed old boardrooms of New York City. Set in the same high collar, satirical world of Crazy Rich Asians, Sex and Vanity follows the story of the bubbly Lucie Churchill, a nineteen year old struggling to find her place as an Asian American descendant of the established Churchill clan and the mysterious George Zao, Chinese royalty. As Lucie and George find themselves growing closer and closer together, they are also sharply reminded of the racial and class differences between them. With triple infinity pools, secret grottos and exquisite apartments, Kwan once again challenges us to think about home, family, belonging and love. A highly entertaining read!
Available on July 14 2020
Sex and Vanity is Kevin Kwan's uproarious new comedy of manners set between the luscious, luxurious island of Capri and the hushed old boardrooms of New York City. Set in the same high collar, satirical world of Crazy Rich Asians, Sex and Vanity follows the story of the bubbly Lucie Churchill, a nineteen year old struggling to find her place as an Asian American descendant of the established Churchill clan and the mysterious George Zao, Chinese royalty. As Lucie and George find themselves growing closer and closer together, they are also sharply reminded of the racial and class differences between them. With triple infinity pools, secret grottos and exquisite apartments, Kwan once again challenges us to think about home, family, belonging and love. A highly entertaining read!
Thank you to Atthis Arts Anthology & NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available May 4th 2020
A quirky and healing collection, Community of Magic Pens begins with a simple question - what is the power of a pen? Each of these brief short stories is completely different in tone, setting, plot, dialect and character. It's a little discombobulating traveling from a superhero academy to an ancient Masjid and back to post-Partition India, but it also means the collection never gets boring. Though the book is listed for general adult, I think it would be equally enjoyed by young adults! I found myself rapt with awe in each and every tale.
Available May 4th 2020
A quirky and healing collection, Community of Magic Pens begins with a simple question - what is the power of a pen? Each of these brief short stories is completely different in tone, setting, plot, dialect and character. It's a little discombobulating traveling from a superhero academy to an ancient Masjid and back to post-Partition India, but it also means the collection never gets boring. Though the book is listed for general adult, I think it would be equally enjoyed by young adults! I found myself rapt with awe in each and every tale.
Thank you to House of Anansi Press & NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available September 1st 2020
Spanning the across land and time, Jack Wang's "We Two Alone" is an exploration of love in the Chinese diaspora. Whether it's the decidedly queer 19th century hockey player or the lovesick university student, Wang has a knack for building the scene, breathing life into a specific moment while still showcasing an unique aspect of Chinese immigrant culture. Each of these tense short stories feature star crossed lovers who come almost come together and have to grapple with their race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, of their dreams and aspirations in a world that is often cruel and xenophobic. Like warm homemade bao, "We Two Alone" offers a sense of comfort that can only be found sitting at one's own kitchen table.
Available September 1st 2020
Spanning the across land and time, Jack Wang's "We Two Alone" is an exploration of love in the Chinese diaspora. Whether it's the decidedly queer 19th century hockey player or the lovesick university student, Wang has a knack for building the scene, breathing life into a specific moment while still showcasing an unique aspect of Chinese immigrant culture. Each of these tense short stories feature star crossed lovers who come almost come together and have to grapple with their race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, of their dreams and aspirations in a world that is often cruel and xenophobic. Like warm homemade bao, "We Two Alone" offers a sense of comfort that can only be found sitting at one's own kitchen table.
Thank you to Perseus Books & NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy.
This edition is available May 12 2020.
A careful, painful read, Dr. Metzl's Dying of Whiteness tries to portray the many Trump supporting Americans, those who we see angrily yelling on stage. Divided into three sections, Missouri, Tennessee and Kansas, Dr Metzel presents the history, socioeconomic context and current debates about gun control, healthcare and public school funds. With a touch of love and dry humor, he painstakingly shows the disparity between the white folk being the beneficiaries of public policies and their staunch opposition to more public health funding. The first section on gun control is the most emotionally difficult to read as he tragically discusses the high rate of suicide by gun in white males. As medical students, we are often taught this factoid and it is quizzed on every board exam, but to see the impact of guns on tearing apart families and then to hear the families defending gun rights is another experience altogether. Overall, the book tries to humanize whiteness & shows its very fragile, though at times quite racist and hateful, core.
This edition is available May 12 2020.
A careful, painful read, Dr. Metzl's Dying of Whiteness tries to portray the many Trump supporting Americans, those who we see angrily yelling on stage. Divided into three sections, Missouri, Tennessee and Kansas, Dr Metzel presents the history, socioeconomic context and current debates about gun control, healthcare and public school funds. With a touch of love and dry humor, he painstakingly shows the disparity between the white folk being the beneficiaries of public policies and their staunch opposition to more public health funding. The first section on gun control is the most emotionally difficult to read as he tragically discusses the high rate of suicide by gun in white males. As medical students, we are often taught this factoid and it is quizzed on every board exam, but to see the impact of guns on tearing apart families and then to hear the families defending gun rights is another experience altogether. Overall, the book tries to humanize whiteness & shows its very fragile, though at times quite racist and hateful, core.
Thank you to Perseus Books & NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy.
This edition is available May 12 2020.
A careful, painful read, Dr. Metzl's Dying of Whiteness tries to portray the many Trump supporting Americans, those who we see angrily yelling on stage. Divided into three sections, Missouri, Tennessee and Kansas, Dr Metzel presents the history, socioeconomic context and current debates about gun control, healthcare and public school funds. With a touch of love and dry humor, he painstakingly shows the disparity between the white folk being the beneficiaries of public policies and their staunch opposition to more public health funding. The first section on gun control is the most emotionally difficult to read as he tragically discusses the high rate of suicide by gun in white males. As medical students, we are often taught this factoid and it is quizzed on every board exam, but to see the impact of guns on tearing apart families and then to hear the families defending gun rights is another experience altogether. Overall, the book tries to humanize whiteness & shows its very fragile, though at times quite racist and hateful, core.
This edition is available May 12 2020.
A careful, painful read, Dr. Metzl's Dying of Whiteness tries to portray the many Trump supporting Americans, those who we see angrily yelling on stage. Divided into three sections, Missouri, Tennessee and Kansas, Dr Metzel presents the history, socioeconomic context and current debates about gun control, healthcare and public school funds. With a touch of love and dry humor, he painstakingly shows the disparity between the white folk being the beneficiaries of public policies and their staunch opposition to more public health funding. The first section on gun control is the most emotionally difficult to read as he tragically discusses the high rate of suicide by gun in white males. As medical students, we are often taught this factoid and it is quizzed on every board exam, but to see the impact of guns on tearing apart families and then to hear the families defending gun rights is another experience altogether. Overall, the book tries to humanize whiteness & shows its very fragile, though at times quite racist and hateful, core.
Thank you to Button Poetry & NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available May 12 2020
Stirring and vulnerable, We Were All Someone Else Yesterday is Omar Holmon's account of dealing with the strages of grief as he witnesses his mother pass away from metastatic cancer. Along the way, we are touched by different events and women in Holmon's life, from his irrepressible Australian Indian fiance to his adorable nephew Keee. Written in a conversational manner, you can almost see Holmon jumping off the page and performing these pieces right in front of you! In these troubled times, this collection can help ease the loneliness as you laugh, cry and hold your family a little bit closer.
Available May 12 2020
Stirring and vulnerable, We Were All Someone Else Yesterday is Omar Holmon's account of dealing with the strages of grief as he witnesses his mother pass away from metastatic cancer. Along the way, we are touched by different events and women in Holmon's life, from his irrepressible Australian Indian fiance to his adorable nephew Keee. Written in a conversational manner, you can almost see Holmon jumping off the page and performing these pieces right in front of you! In these troubled times, this collection can help ease the loneliness as you laugh, cry and hold your family a little bit closer.
Thank you Yale University Press and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available May 19 2020
An anthropomorphic collection of tales, renowned Chinese author Can Xue's "I Live in the Slums" is a dreamlike subversive exploration of China's many slums. This English translation reads like Animal Farm or other metaphorical tales with simple, yet disturbing, turns and twists. Whether it is a rat who is fending for themselves in neighborhood of hungry butchers or a magpie's obsession with cleanliness, these tales are by turn amusing and horrifying. They work both as individual stories taken at face value or deeper critiques of the Chinese regime and its inability to provide for its people.
Available May 19 2020
An anthropomorphic collection of tales, renowned Chinese author Can Xue's "I Live in the Slums" is a dreamlike subversive exploration of China's many slums. This English translation reads like Animal Farm or other metaphorical tales with simple, yet disturbing, turns and twists. Whether it is a rat who is fending for themselves in neighborhood of hungry butchers or a magpie's obsession with cleanliness, these tales are by turn amusing and horrifying. They work both as individual stories taken at face value or deeper critiques of the Chinese regime and its inability to provide for its people.
Thank you to She Writes Press & NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available June 9th 2020.
I struggled with this book, not with the story but with the concepts behind them. In the foreward of this book, author Alma Luz Villanueva notes that she is hesitant about reading a book about the trauma of migration between Mexico and the United States by a non Hispanic white author but that she was persuaded by the afterword. As a curious reader, I quickly jumped to the afterword in which the author describes her work with Latinx students as well as her work with BorderLinks. She states "at this point in my life, I wanted to write about the undocumented immigrant community in a way that others could see through their eyes and experience and understand why they were driven to leave their homes and risk their lives to come to our country." And that's exactly the issue with Luz. The story is technically well written, vividly described, but it is not honest, true or empowering. Thomas's writing is just that, her writing, her American citizen's viewpoint of immigration and the story reeks of American savior complex. Perhaps if Luz was a different story, if it was Thomas tackling her native upstate New York family's racist viewpoints or her story as a working class woman who decided to work with undocumented persons, it would have felt more genuine.
Available June 9th 2020.
I struggled with this book, not with the story but with the concepts behind them. In the foreward of this book, author Alma Luz Villanueva notes that she is hesitant about reading a book about the trauma of migration between Mexico and the United States by a non Hispanic white author but that she was persuaded by the afterword. As a curious reader, I quickly jumped to the afterword in which the author describes her work with Latinx students as well as her work with BorderLinks. She states "at this point in my life, I wanted to write about the undocumented immigrant community in a way that others could see through their eyes and experience and understand why they were driven to leave their homes and risk their lives to come to our country." And that's exactly the issue with Luz. The story is technically well written, vividly described, but it is not honest, true or empowering. Thomas's writing is just that, her writing, her American citizen's viewpoint of immigration and the story reeks of American savior complex. Perhaps if Luz was a different story, if it was Thomas tackling her native upstate New York family's racist viewpoints or her story as a working class woman who decided to work with undocumented persons, it would have felt more genuine.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available June 9th 2020
What a fun, sexy and addicting read! I couldn't put down Sara Desai's The Marriage Game, the irrepressible romance between lovelorn Layla Patel and the solemn manly Sam Mehta. When Layla moves back to her family home, she discovers her father has put her bio on "desilovematch.com". Lucky for her, her new office partner, the handsome Sam Mehta, is willing to help her, for a price of course. And so unfolds a story of Bollywood-like epicness in its ever expanding roll of comedic caricatures including a pop punk social media detective cousin, a CIA agent and a movie loving gangster, an endless delicious Indian cuisine and witty banter. I don't think I've laughed this much in a while.
Available June 9th 2020
What a fun, sexy and addicting read! I couldn't put down Sara Desai's The Marriage Game, the irrepressible romance between lovelorn Layla Patel and the solemn manly Sam Mehta. When Layla moves back to her family home, she discovers her father has put her bio on "desilovematch.com". Lucky for her, her new office partner, the handsome Sam Mehta, is willing to help her, for a price of course. And so unfolds a story of Bollywood-like epicness in its ever expanding roll of comedic caricatures including a pop punk social media detective cousin, a CIA agent and a movie loving gangster, an endless delicious Indian cuisine and witty banter. I don't think I've laughed this much in a while.
Thank you to Tin House Books & NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available June 16th 2020
A surprisingly emotional story, Rosalie Knecht's "Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery" is the second installment of the Vera Kelly series which follows a lesbian ex-CIA agent-turned-private-investigator as she solves crimes and muddles through love affairs in 1960s New York. I know, it sounds like a lot to take in, especially if you are just starting with the series like me. Luckily, Knecht has a knack for building a scene with emotion as Vera works to track down the missing child of an illustrious Dominican family. What starts out as an innocent project quickly develops into sinister intent as Kelly is forced to revisit her own past. Knecht's twisting plotline will keep you up until 3 in the morning waiting to see what happens.
Available June 16th 2020
A surprisingly emotional story, Rosalie Knecht's "Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery" is the second installment of the Vera Kelly series which follows a lesbian ex-CIA agent-turned-private-investigator as she solves crimes and muddles through love affairs in 1960s New York. I know, it sounds like a lot to take in, especially if you are just starting with the series like me. Luckily, Knecht has a knack for building a scene with emotion as Vera works to track down the missing child of an illustrious Dominican family. What starts out as an innocent project quickly develops into sinister intent as Kelly is forced to revisit her own past. Knecht's twisting plotline will keep you up until 3 in the morning waiting to see what happens.