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
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Mayumu : Filipino American desserts remixed
Balingit, Abi
Paper Book
A sweet baking book of fantastically imaginative remixed Filipino American dessert recipes, plus essays on the Filipino American experience by baker-fundraiser Abi Balingit. When the pandemic started her lonely work-from-home life in 2020, Abi...
Happy : a novel
Baljeet Basra, Celina
Paper Book
"Leaping, chattering, dancing atop this conundrum [of global migration] comes the hero of Celina Baljeet Basra's debut novel, Happy Singh Soni, his head bursting with ideas, his heart set on gargantuan dreams." --New York Times "Bighearted." --New York Times Book...

2023

A Great Country
Gowda, Shilpi Somaya
Paper Book
#1 International Bestseller Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize & New American Voices Award Amazon Top 10 Editors Pick Named a Best Book of the Year by Elle, Cosmo, Real Simple, Glamour, Conde Nast, Readers Digest, & more "A premise that would (and should)...

2024

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...

2023

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...

2023

The best possible experience
Injam, Nishanth
Paper Book
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR * An emotionally rich collection of short stories, painting a fascinating portrait of contemporary India and its diaspora and a yearning rendering of the people and places we call home, from a major new literary talent. "A full-hearted, brilliant...

2023

Every drop is a man's nightmare : stories
Kakimoto, Megan Kamalei
Paper Book

2023

Memory piece
Ko, Lisa
Paper Book
NAMED ONE OF TIME'S MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2024 ONE OF NPR's BEST READS OF 2024 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...

2024

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...

2023

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...

2023

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...

2024

The Chinese groove : a novel
Ma, Kathryn
Paper Book

2023

The fetishist : a novel
Min, Katherine
Paper Book
An Indie Next Pick In this hilariously savage, poignant novel by acclaimed author Katherine Min, a grieving daughter's revenge on the man who caused her mother's death sets off a series of unexpected reckonings. On a cold, gloomy night, twenty-three-year-old Kyoko...

2024

The sense of wonder : a novel
Salesses, Matthew
Paper Book
From the author of PEN/Faulkner finalist Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear and Craft in the Real World comes a "a smart, very meta take" (Kirkus Reviews) on the ways Asian Americans navigate the thorny worlds of sports and entertainment when everything is...

2023

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...

2023

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,...

2024

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...

2023

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 ...
Did you eat yet? : craveable recipes from an all-American Asian chef
Woo, Ronnie
Paper Book
From renowned chef and beloved food personality Ronnie Woo, a cookbook of over 100 craveable all-American Asian-inspired recipes. If you were ever to visit Ronnie Woo, chef and beloved food personality, the first words out of his mouth would be "Did you eat yet"--just like...
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...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.