Lunar New Year Reads: Adult BooklistLike this list

20 items

• Real Americans

  a Novel

  Khong, Rachel, 1985-

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  In this intricately woven tapestry of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance, 15-year-old Nick Chen, who cannot shake the feeling his mother is hiding something, sets out to find his biological father--a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Friend Zone Experiment

  Cho, Zen,

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  Estranged from her family in Singapore, Renee Goh gets a surprise call (her father might set her up as the next CEO of the family's conglomerate) and a surprise visit (she bumps into her first love on a night that will change everything).

• Love Can't Feed You

  a Novel

  Sy, Cherry Lou,

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  Queenie, her younger brother, and their elderly Chinese father arrive in the U.S. to reunite with her mother who has been working as a nurse in this chronicle of a Filipino-American family's struggle to rebuild their lives in Brooklyn.

• Lady Tan's Circle of Women

  a Novel

  See, Lisa,

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  Sent into an arranged marriage, Tan Yunxian, forbidden to continue her work as a midwife-in-training as well as see her forever friend Meiling, is ordered to act like proper wife and seeks a way to continue treating women and girls from…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Double Life of Benson Yu

  a Novel

  Chong, Kevin,

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  A unique work of metafiction follows Benson Yu, a writer, who loses control of his own narrative when he attempts to write the story of his fraught upbringing in 1980s Chinatown.

• The Leftover Woman

  a Novel

  Kwok, Jean,

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  Arriving in New York City from her rural Chinese village without money or family support, Jasmine Young, on the run from her abusive husband, desperately searches for the daughter taken away from her at birth, which forces her to make…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Yellowface

  a Novel

  Kuang, R. F. (Rebecca F.),

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  After the death of her literary rival in a freak accident, author June Hayward steals her just-finished masterpiece, sending it to her agent as her own work, but as emerging evidence threatens her success, she discovers just how far she’ll…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Apology

  Han, Jimin (Novelist),

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  In South Korea, a 105-year-old woman receives a letter, and 10 days later, she has been thrust into the afterlife, fighting to head off a curse that will otherwise devastate generations to come.

• Gods of Want

  Stories

  Chang, K-Ming,

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  A collection of short stories that include tales about ghost cousins who haunt their living family members, a mother-in-law who bullies her son's wife into leaving, and two girls who make out in the belly of a plastic shark.

• Dial A for Aunties

  Sutanto, Jesse Q.,

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  Accidentally causing the death of a blind date, Meddy is persuaded by her meddlesome Chinese-Indonesian mother and aunts to dispose of the body, which upends a billionaire’s wedding and Meddy’s reunion with a former flame.

• Interior Chinatown

  Yu, Charles, 1976-

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  A stereotyped character actor stumbles into the spotlight before uncovering surprising links between his family and the secret history of Chinatown.

• Our Missing Hearts

  Ng, Celeste,

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  From the number one bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere, a deeply suspenseful and heartrending novel about the unbreakable love between a mother and child in a society consumed by fear.

• The Leavers

  Ko, Lisa,

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  One morning, Deming Guo's mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant named Polly, goes to her job at the nail salon and never comes home. With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left with no one to care for him. He is eventually…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A River of Stars

  Hua, Vanessa,

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  Betrayed by the boss who is also the father of her unborn child, an undocumented Chinese factory worker is forced to flee and reinvent herself in San Francisco's Chinatown in the desperate hopes of securing American citizenship for her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Backyard Bird Chronicles

  Tan, Amy,

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  Mapping the passage of time through daily entries, thoughtful questions and beautiful original sketches, the best-selling author of The Joy Luck Club shares her search for solace which turned into an opportunity to connect with nature in a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Viewfinder

  a Memoir of Seeing and Being Seen

  Chu, Jon M. (Jon Murray), 1979-

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  In this endearing autobiography, cowritten with journalist McCarter (Hamilton: The Revolution), Crazy Rich Asians and Wicked filmmaker Chu digs into his childhood, influences, and struggles to define himself.

• Making a Scene

  Wu, Constance, 1982-

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  The star of the movie Crazy Rich Asians delivers her memoir in a series of essays.

• The Chinese Way

  Classic Techniques, Fresh Flavors

  Liu, Betty (Chef)

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  The Chinese Way teaches eight key methods that anyone can use to unlock their cooking: first, how to master heat (Steam, Fry, Boil, and Braise) and then, how to create irresistible flavor combinations (Sauce, Infuse, Pickle, and Wrap).

• Feasts of Good Fortune

  75 Recipes for a Year of Chinese American Celebrations, From Lunar New Year to Mid-Autumn Festival and Beyond

  Chou, Hsiao-Ching, 1972-

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  75 recipes for a full year of celebrations with family and friends the Chinese American way in this deeply personal intergenerational cookbook, cowritten by mother and daughter.

• The Five Elements Cookbook

  a Guide to Traditional Chinese Medicine With Recipes for Everyday Healing

  Gong, Zoey Xinyi (Chef),

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  Chef and registered dietitian Zoey Xinyi Gong offers an incredibly fresh, elegant, and authentic approach to food therapy and a truly accessible guide to cooking with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a thousands-year-old practice for…Read moreRead more of this annotation