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It’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, and while I always welcome a chance to dive into the various ethnicities and identities that make up America, I do have to admit my issue with this particular heritage month. In short, I feel like it’s too flat. Asian Americans alone encompass people with backgrounds that span from China to Nepal to parts of the Middle East.
I mean, having a history month dedicated solely to Asian Americans would already be jam-packed with all different kinds of languages and cultural traditions, but then the “Pacific Islander” label is added, and it becomes unwieldy. Why are we categorizing this many people under one group? There’s a part that feels reductive, and, honestly, racist. Racism is, at its heart, a thing that reduces people to certain stereotypes and categories, after all.
With that said, there are still some benefits to the small label for such a big group, as Harmeet Kaur points out for CNN. It seems to mostly lie in the fact that another, broader and more thorough label doesn’t yet exist, though.
My gripes aside, I always appreciate the chance to celebrate and shout out literature by Asian Amerians and Pacific Islanders, and since those two groups are still categorized together for this month, I tried to include authors who represented different aspects of the AAPI label. There’s an examination of how we shift ourselves depending on who we’re with, a Hawaiian Blade Runner meets Ocean’s 8, a gothic tale with juicy family drama centered around a Chinese Hollywood star, and more.
Audition by Katie Kitamura
Here, an accomplished actress and an attractive younger man meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. Who they are to each other is a question that Kitamura’s narrative unfurls, except it extends the question to all relationships. It looks at the dynamics—or roles—we have with different people in our lives, showing how we’re constantly auditioning, even with people who think they know us best.
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto
“Hammajang” is explained in the official blurb as being a word from Hawaiian pidgin that means chaotic or messed up, which describes Edie’s situation perfectly. She just got done spending eight years on an icy prison planet, and it was all because of Angel. And Angel is exactly who she sees when she steps into freedom after getting early parole. Angel has one last job that involves a trillionaire tech god, and it’s really tempting.
Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara
Vara, author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated The Immortal King Rao, explores the long-lasting effects of having AI-powered technology communicating like human beings. She uses the viral essay about her sister’s death that she composed with the help of ChatGPT, as well as her history using online chat rooms as a teen to look at how technology has changed the way we communicate, and how we can use it to our actual benefit (and not just some corporate entity’s).
The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li
This has to be one of the juiciest-sounding gothic novels ever. It, like any other gothic novel worth its salt, starts with a death, Vivian Yin’s specifically. Yin was a trailblazing starlet and the first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, but spent the latter years of her life as a recluse in a sprawling California garden estate. When she dies, her daughters expect to inherit her home, but a last minute will change grants it to an estranged family member. So now both sides of the family move into the mansion to lay a claim to it. But there are questions about what happened in the last week’s of Vivian’s life, and something sinister is haunting her mansion’s halls.
Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden from Us by Anna Malaika Tubbs- History
The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien- Fiction
The History of We by Nikkolas Smith- Picture Books
The True Happiness Company: A Memoir by Veena Dinavahi- Memoir
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li- Memoir, Essays
Things a Bright Boy Can Do by Michael Chang- Poetry
This Could Be Forever by Ebony LaDelle- Young Adult
Zarina Divided by Reem Faruqi- Middle Grade
Courtroom Drama by Neely Tubati Alexander- Romance
Esperance by Adam Oyebanji- Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction
Firespitter by Jayne Cortez- Poetry
Gingko Season by Naomi Xu Elegant- Fiction
Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline- Autobiography/Biography/Memoir, Nonfiction
One Day in June: A Story Inspired by the Life and Activism of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline, illustrated by Charlot Kristensen- Nonfiction, Picture Books
Out of Step, into You by Ciera Burch- Romance, Young Adult
Run Like a Girl by Amaka Egbe- Young Adult
Salvación by Sandra Proudman- Fantasy, Young Adult
Sanskari Sweetheart by Ananya Devarajan- Romance, Young Adult
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