Asian American and Asian Pacific Islander Voices for Adults

May is Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month, and in honor of this, we have put together a list of titles by authors of Asian and Pacific Islander decent.

Updated April 28, 2024
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La Tercera
Apostol, Gina
Paper Book
Rosario Delgado, a Filipina novelist in New York City, learns of her mother's death in the Philippines. Instead of rushing home, she puts off her return by embarking on an investigation into her family's history and her mother's supposed inheritance, a place called La Tercera, which may or may not...
Mayumu : Filipino American desserts remixed
Balingit, Abi
Paper Book
New York Time's "The Best Cookbooks of 2023" James Beard Award-winner for Emerging Voice 2024 James Beard Award-nominee for Baking and Desserts 2024 A sweet baking book of fantastically imaginative remixed Filipino American dessert recipes, plus essays on the Filipino...
Everything I learned, I learned in a Chinese restaurant : a memoir
Chin, Curtis
Paper Book
This "vivid, moving, funny, and heartfelt" memoir tells the story of Curtis Chin's time growing up as a gay Chinese American kid in 1980's Detroit (Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers). Nineteen eighties Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven:...
A living remedy : a memoir
Chung, Nicole
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK Winner, Tillie Olsen Award for Creative Writing Named a Best Book of the Year by: Time * Harper's Bazaar * Esquire * Booklist * USA Today * Elle * Good Housekeeping * New York Times * Electric Literature * Today From the bestselling author...
The singles table
Desai, Sara
Paper Book
After a devastating break-up, celebrity-obsessed lawyer Zara puts her energy into building her career and helping her friends find their happily-ever-afters. She's never faced a guest at the singles table she couldn't match, until she crosses paths with former military security specialist Jay Dayal....
A Great Country
Gowda, Shilpi Somaya
Paper Book
Named an ELLE BEST BOOK OF 2024 Named a BEST or MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR by Readers' Digest, Elle Magazine, CondeNast Traveler, Publishers' Weekly, Indigo, ZibbyMag, Goodreads, BookBub & more  "A deeply moving, layered portrait of the hopes, dreams and fears a...
They called us exceptional : and other lies that raised us
Gupta, Prachi (Journalist)
Paper Book
"In this vulnerable and courageous memoir, Prachi Gupta takes the myth of the exceptional Indian American family to task."-The Washington Post "I read it in one sitting. Wow. It aims right at the tender spot where racism, sexism, and family dynamics collide, and somehow...
Hula
Hakes, Jasmin Iolani
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of the Summer by Harper's Bazaar and ELLE * Audiofile Magazine Earphones Award Winner * HONOLULU Magazine's Book of the Year About Hawai`i "Stunning . . . An intricately built novel that spans decades, moving in and out of a collective voice, while also telling...
Every drop is a man's nightmare : stories
Kakimoto, Megan Kamalei
Paper Book
USA Today Bestseller "Rich and wise, humming with confidence." --New York Times Book Review "A knockout. Eleven knockouts. One KO for every story."--Elizabeth McCracken "Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare is a frontrunner for Book of the...
Memory piece
Ko, Lisa
Paper Book
ONE OF TIME'S MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2024 NAMED A VOGUE BEST BOOK OF 2024 ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE READS OF SUMMER 2024 "Adventurous. . .gritty and refreshingly girl-centric. . . lingers in the imagination." -The New York Times
Indian-ish : recipes and antics from a modern American family
Krishna, Priya
Paper Book
Named one of the Best Cookbooks of Spring 2019 by the New York Times, Eater, and Bon Appétit "A joy to cook from, and just as much fun to read." --Margaux Laskey, the New York Times A witty and irresistible celebration of one very cool and...
Yellowface : a novel
Kuang, R. F.
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "Hard to put down, harder to forget." -- Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences... Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she...
Aloha kitchen : recipes from Hawai'i
Kysar, Alana
Paper Book
From a Maui native and food blogger comes a gorgeous cookbook of 85 fresh and sunny recipes reflects the major cultures that have influenced local Hawaiʻi food over time- Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Filipino, and Western. IACP AWARD FINALIST ....
Biting the hand : growing up Asian in Black and White America
Lee, Julia Sun-Joo
Paper Book
Julia Lee is angry. And she has questions. What does it mean to be Asian in America? What does it look like to be an ally or an accomplice? How can we shatter the structures of white supremacy that fuel racial stratification? When Julia was fifteen, her hometown...
The manicurist's daughter : a memoir
Lieu, Susan
Paper Book
An emotionally raw memoir about the crumbling of the American Dream and a daughter of refugees who searches for answers after her mother dies during plastic surgery. Susan Lieu has long been searching for answers. About her family's past and about her own future. Refugees from...
The Chinese groove : a novel
Ma, Kathryn
Paper Book
Winner of the Silver Medal for the California Book Award for Fiction Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Prize Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice An Amazon Editors' Pick People, A Best Book of the Year...
A place for us : a novel
Mirza, Fatima Farheen
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD "5 UNDER 35" NOMINEE * NEW YORK'S "ONE BOOK, ONE NEW YORK" PICK Named One of the Best Books of the Year: Washington Post * NPR * People * Refinery29 * Parade * BuzzFeed "Mirza ...
A man of two faces : a memoir, a history, a memorial
Nguyen, Viet Thanh
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD The highly original, blistering, and unconventional memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer, which has now sold over one million copies worldwide With insight, humor, formal invention, and lyricism,...
A tale for the time being : a novel
Ozeki, Ruth
Paper Book
A brilliant, unforgettable novel from bestselling author Ruth Ozeki, author of The Book of Form and Emptiness Finalist for the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award "A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and...
The night of the storm : a novel
Parekh, Nishita
Paper Book
Hurricane Harvey is about to hit Houston. Meanwhile, single mom Jia Shah is already having a rough week: her twelve-year-old son, Ishaan, has just been suspended from school for getting in a fight. Still reeling from the fallout of her divorce - their move to Houston, her family's disapproval, the...
The bandit queens : a novel
Shroff, Parini
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK * A young Indian woman finds the false rumors that she killed her husband surprisingly useful--until other women in the village start asking for her help getting rid of their own husbands--in this razor-sharp debut.
Chlorine
Song, Jade
Paper Book
In the vein of The Pisces and The Vegetarian, Chlorine is a debut novel that blurs the line between a literary coming-of-age narrative and a dark unsettling horror tale, told from an adult perspective on the trials and tribulations of growing up in a society that puts...
The good, the bad, and the aunties
Sutanto, Jesse Q.
Paper Book
What should have been a family celebration of Chinese New Year descends into chaos when longtime foes crash the party in this hilariously entertaining novel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties. After an ultra-romantic honeymoon across Europe,...
The Joy Luck Club
Tan, Amy.
Paper Book
Master storyteller Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters in this New York Times bestseller. "The Joy Luck Club is one of my favorite books. From the moment I first started reading it...
Banyan Moon : a novel
Thai, Thao
Paper Book
A TODAY Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick "A riveting mother-daughter tale." -- Elle "Radiant. ... An intimate account of one family's planting of roots in American soil and the sacrifices great and small that each member makes along the way." -- Washington Post A...
A song for the stars
Todd, Ilima
Paper Book
Inspired by a true story   Hawaiian Islands, 1779   As the second daughter of a royal chief, Maile will be permitted to marry for love. Her fiancé is the best navigator in Hawaiʻi, and he taught her everything he...
Late bloomers : a novel
Varadarajan, Deepa
Paper Book
An IndianAmericanfamily is turned upside down when the parents split up thirty-six years into their arranged marriage​in this"heartwarming journey of self-discovery" (Southern Living). "Touching . . . both funny and moving-a family drama the entire family can enjoy."-...
Dear America : notes of an undocumented citizen
Vargas, Jose Antonio
Other
THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER "This riveting, courageous memoir ought to be mandatory reading for every American."  --Michelle Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of The New Jim Crow "l cried reading this book, realizing more fully what my parents endured....
On earth we're briefly gorgeous : a novel
Vuong, Ocean
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller * Nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction * Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century ...
Holding pattern
Xie, Jenny
Paper Book
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY TIME, VOGUE, VULTURE, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, AND ELECTRIC LITERATURE A NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION "5 UNDER 35" HONOREE "Exquisite and wise." - New York Times "There is so much heart in these pages, so...
The golden screen : the movies that made Asian America
Yang, Jeff
Paper Book
From a New York Times bestselling author, this groundbreaking book celebrates and examines the history of Asian Americans on the big screen, exploring how iconic films have shaped Hollywood, representation, and American culture. In 2018, the...
Crying in H Mart : a memoir
Zauner, Michelle
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American--"in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself" (NPR). * CELEBRATING...

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