Bina
First novel published
Posts: 2,472
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Post by Bina on Sept 24, 2007 14:43:06 GMT -5
I´m taking the class Asian American fiction next semester and I´ve realized I haven´t read too much in this category. Mostly Indian fiction. Any recommendations? Thanks!
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Kristie
Novel turned into BBC miniseries
"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."
Posts: 7,214
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Post by Kristie on Sept 24, 2007 14:50:08 GMT -5
Does it have to be contemporary? And does the author have to be an Asian-American? I'm not sure if I know of many books, but if ya answer those questions I might be able to think more on it lol
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Bina
First novel published
Posts: 2,472
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Post by Bina on Sept 24, 2007 14:55:40 GMT -5
I guess the author has to be Asian- American but it doesn´t matter if it´s contemporary or classic. Anything to get me started
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Kristie
Novel turned into BBC miniseries
"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."
Posts: 7,214
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Post by Kristie on Sept 24, 2007 15:04:27 GMT -5
I think I've only ever read Indian-American fiction before, just like you. Mango Season by Amulya Malladi is pretty good. Technically she was never an American citizen, but she lived in America for a while, at school and stuff. The book deals with Indian & American marriage traditions.
Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-American, and he's written Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, the former of which is AMAZING.
I have a book at home from the library waiting to be read called Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea, which takes place in Saudi Arabia. It looks really good, but I can't recommend it as such since I've not yet read it.
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Lu
Administrator
Posts: 5,469
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Post by Lu on Sept 25, 2007 4:01:43 GMT -5
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Bina
First novel published
Posts: 2,472
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Post by Bina on Sept 25, 2007 4:26:33 GMT -5
Mango season sounds interesting, I´ll look it up. Thanks! And thank you for the lists, Lu. My library even has some of them
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Isa
Administrator
Posts: 6,995
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Post by Isa on Sept 25, 2007 6:56:10 GMT -5
I'll go with lu and recommend Amy Tam, "The Joy Luck Club" is great!
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Kristie
Novel turned into BBC miniseries
"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."
Posts: 7,214
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Post by Kristie on Sept 25, 2007 13:00:30 GMT -5
I would definitely suggest talking to some reference librarians at your library. They're really helpful and should at least be able to help point you in the right direction for searching.
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Katelyn
First short story featured in regional newspaper
Posts: 177
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Post by Katelyn on Sept 25, 2007 23:00:40 GMT -5
I love, love, love Jhumpa Lahiri who is Indian-American. In case you don't already know, she wrote Interpreter Of Maladies (her debut novel for which she won the Pulitzer Prize and - yes, AND - the PEN/Hemingway award) and The Namesake (which I believe was also a Rory's Book Club selection.)
Another Indian-American author whom I also highly reccomend you try reading is Kiran Desai who wrote the Inheritance Of Loss (of course, it's a love story - yeah!) Just as an interesting point, she won the Man Booker prize for her novel.
M.G. Vassanji is of South Asian heritage although he grew up in Africa, and eventually moved to Canada where he currently resides. I included him in this list because you said "American" so I thought you probably meant North American? But please correct me if I'm mistaken. Even if I am, you might want to read him anyway - in particular, I would reccomend you read The Book Of Secrets and The In-Between World Of Vikramm Lall (both are excellent novels.)
Rohinton Mistry is another Canadian who's also of Indian heritage, and who's writing is wonderful. His best known novel is arguably A Fine Balance - it's a really great read, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
Who else is there that I can think of? Let's see....
Well, there's also Pearl S. Buck, but I'm not sure if you can technically classify her as Asian-American, although the content of her novel the Good Earth (which was an Oprah Book Club selection) centres around both Chinese and American culture. I love the protagnist in this novel, she's a very courageous woman. Pearl Buck was born in America, but lived most of her life in China.
The Warrior Woman: Memoirs of a Girlhood Amongst Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston is extremely interesting, especially if you're interested in gender roles as I am (I'm a Women's Studies major.)
If I think of any other Asian-American authors I'll definitely mention them on here. I hope this helps though! Good luck with your class!
Oh, about Amy Tan...she actually released a new novel recently....I think, although I'm not certain, but I think it's called Drowning Fish.....
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Katelyn
First short story featured in regional newspaper
Posts: 177
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Post by Katelyn on Sept 25, 2007 23:06:17 GMT -5
Something else. I know that you said that you have read Indian fiction before, but I included the authors above just in case you hadn't read those particular authors (whether all or any one of them) before. So I was listening.
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zeldafitzgerald
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
ancora imparo
Posts: 1,948
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Post by zeldafitzgerald on Sept 26, 2007 6:49:23 GMT -5
I haven't read any of her books yet, but wouldn't RBC favorite author Lisa See count? For Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love? Not sure if you've read these yet.
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Michelle
First novel published
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Post by Michelle on Sept 26, 2007 7:35:31 GMT -5
I really liked When The Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka. I had to read it in undergrad. It's about the Japanese Intern camps in America during World War II. I think it's on the WB list, too.
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Bina
First novel published
Posts: 2,472
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Post by Bina on Sept 26, 2007 8:47:19 GMT -5
Thanks so much everyone! I ´ve read one of Amy Tan which I didn´t like but I might give her another chance. I´ve also read snow flower but not Peony in love. But I put Otsuka, See, Buck, Tan etc. on my list and surprisingly I even found some of their works in the library. Yay I also found this list online www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/booklists/asianfiction.html
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Post by Hanna on Sept 27, 2007 7:05:14 GMT -5
The God of Small Things (also on the Rory list I think) by Arundhati Roy. I enjoyed it.
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Post by Hanna on Sept 27, 2007 7:08:02 GMT -5
Oh, and whoever wrote Wild Swans? I can't remember but Wild Swans is definetly a book you wanna read! It's from China about the change in life from before and after Mao came to power, and if I remember correctly the main characters are grandmother, mother and daughter. I should re-read it myself... Good luck!
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