Way back in April of 2020, I attended a virtual panel called The Asian American Experience. Cathy Park Hong, Kevin Nguyen, and Mira Jacob were phenomenal, and I’d highly recommend
watching the recording of the event. Because it was the early days of all-virtual-everything, there were some technical difficulties as the event was kicking off, and a magical thing happened: the attendees started enthusiastically recommending books to each other.
This list is inspired by that excited energy, but a little more homegrown. These are the titles that keep popping up in my group chats, and that make my phone overheat because everyone wants to talk about them.
Goodbye, Vitamin
by Rachel Khong
Detailing a year in the life of Ruth, a recently dumped 30-year-old woman who moves in with her parents to keep an eye on her father while his Alzheimer’s disease advances, Goodbye, Vitamin doesn’t sound like a joyful book. But it’s packed with unusual but truthful observations and genuine laughs, while treating the heavier themes with respect.
How Much of These Hills Is Gold
by C Pam Zhang
How Much of These Hills Is Gold follows two young Chinese American siblings in the California Gold Rush, traveling with the body of their father. Like the landscape itself, the novel is beautiful and devastating, both sparse and rich. It leaves you thinking about what it means to seek your future in this country and what gets sacrificed for success under harsh conditions.
White Ivy
by Susie Yang
My friend with very good taste has been enthusiastically recommending this book (doing everything short of reading it to me) since it came out. She's absolutely right. Part con, part obsession, and full of extremely juicy plot twists, White Ivy is a thrilling look at achievement and building a certain kind of privileged life through deception.
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls
by T Kira Madden
T Kira Madden writes about growing up in Boca Raton, finding and building community, the ramifications of addiction, and the specific messiness and pains of childhood. Her prose is beautiful and evocative, and will stay with you long after the book is over.
Pop Song
by Larissa Pham
Larissa Pham’s impeccable essay collection blends culture, art, love, and obsession. I’ve seen Pop Song referred to as a heartbreak book, and I agree to a point — but it’s also a stunning portrait that comes into clearer focus with each essay.
Gold Diggers
by Sanjena Sathian
Imagine that you could borrow the best qualities of your friends and enemies by melting down and drinking the gold they own, and that you’re wielding this power as a teen in the early 2000s. There’s so much to love in Gold Diggers: unpacking the American dream and definitions of success, fully realized teenage voices, a sprinkling of magical realism. This novel is split between this teenage foray into magic and its echoes a decade later, and manages to combine elements of the two greatest movie genres (heist and rom-com) without being overwhelmed by either.
World of Wonders
by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s World of Wonders is a book of essays by an accomplished poet. Her work explores home in many forms, and often functions as a love letter to the planet. (The illustrations by Fumi Nakamura are also stunning, and I think about her axolotl basically every day.)
Know My Name
by Chanel Miller
Chanel Miller’s vibrant, purposeful memoir is devastating. Her victim impact statement from her sexual assault case went viral under the name Emily Doe, and this book is a reclamation of her name and her voice. Know My Name examines both how we are more than our trauma, and explores how trauma changes us.
Crystal Clear: Reflections on Extraordinary Talismans for Everyday Life
by Jaya Saxena
I don’t know if I’m a true believer in crystals, but I love Saxena’s deeply researched essays that dig into how these stones came to represent specific qualities or feelings, and examine how those stones reflect back our understanding of those feelings. I recommend starting with the essay about diamonds, love, and how neither need be as rare as we’ve made them.
Your House Will Pay
by Steph Cha
Steph Cha has written a thoughtful, electric thriller about two families grappling with the ramifications of a decades-old crime that is brought back into the public eye after a Black teen is shot in Los Angeles. The past is inescapable, and Cha provides a nuanced look at the rage of a city.
Days of Distraction
by Alexandra Chang
Underappreciated at work and a little bit antsy, Alexandra Chang’s protagonist moves across the country with her white boyfriend while he starts grad school. Author Catherine Chung may have summed this up best: "Days of Distraction is the kind of book so alive with intelligence, humor, and attention that it made me feel more awake to the world just to read it." This is a nearly perfect coming-of-age novel, with particular resonance on exploring race and relationships, and digging into your past to build your future.