All for AAPI Month (Reviews, Recommendations, and More)

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Nest! It is the lovely month of May and so many important things are happening now. From military appreciation month to mental health awareness month, and my personal favorite which is Asian American and Pacific Islander month. When it comes to reading diversely, these are the stories I tend to gravitate to the most for one reason or another. So today I figured I would share some quick reviews of some AAPI books I read and give some recommendations as well so you can enjoy some great stories too.

Rapid Fire Reviews of Recent Reads (try saying that five times fast)

• Bad Asians by Lillian Li- The story follows a group of four friends over the course of twelve years after a viral video of them resurfaces and ruins their lives and friendships with each other. This story really does a great job at discussing topics like the model minority myth and showing how relationships change over time whether they be within a friend group or with one's parents. I also appreciated the character of Justin being queer as it is a great example of a point of connection and empathy for me. Even when the characters don't exactly look like me, there are always aspects of their personalities that I can relate to and that makes it better.

  • My Ranking: 4 of 5 stars

• The Man Who Died Seven Times by Yasuhiko Nishizawa- This was a very fun Groundhog Day time loop Esque adventure. The main character has to figure out who has killed his grandfather after he modifies his will for the last time. I do think this was enjoyable due to the self-awareness of it all, and the twist at the end. The main character literally says that this is not his first time in a time loop, so I appreciated being brought into the fold. I do think the twist is a little lackluster, but it felt relatable. I mean who hasn't gotten their days mixed up!

  • My Ranking: 3.6 of 5 stars

• The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao- This is my second time reading Yambao's work and it is still filled with such beautiful imagery. The story follows Raya and Q as they end up aboard the magical Elsewhere Express, a fantastical train made of thoughts that will transport you to where you need to be in life. As I read further through the book, I also realized it dealt with how so many of us process grief. Very beautiful and moving, so glad I read this one.

  • My Ranking: 4.5 of 5 stars

Author Recommendations to Check Out this Month (And ones I'm Checking Out Too)

• R.F. Kuang- one of my absolute favorite authors, she is an auto-buy author no matter what genre she decides to tackle next. I absolutely love her works, Babel and Katabasis personally as she blends fantasy and dark academia together with a critique of academia as a whole. I cannot wait for her next book My Taipei Story in September.

• Olivie Blake- I love her for her complex and interesting characters, particularly in the Atlas Six trilogy and her standalone Gifted and Talented. I really enjoy her work since her characters feel indicative of life, it is completely messy and humans should be allowed to be just as. I would also recommend checking out various anthologies that include her work, such as In These Hallowed Halls and In These Dreaming Spires. Can you tell that I enjoy dark academia? ;)

• Han Kang- a recent winner for the Nobel Prize in Literature meant I had to absolutely read one of her books. I thoroughly enjoyed Greek Lessons as it illustrates the importance of human connection, especially when going through loss.

• Justinian Huang- I haven't read his book Lucky Seed yet, it's still in my TBR but the way his other book absolutely blew up on TikTok got my attention. Lucky Seed follows a family in trouble as they are unable to produce a male heir, so they turn to their one son who everyone sort of looks down upon. He then realizes that he finally has a little power and can leverage some things against them for looking down on him for so long. I'm excited to see how this turns out as I have not read this author yet.

• Randy Ribay- I did want to include some representation for YA authors and for Filipino authors as well. I read his work Patron Saints of Nothing which was excellent. I feel like AAPI month often focuses on Chinese, Korean, and Japanese stories so it was such an enjoyable experience learning about Filipino culture through the eyes of main character Jay.

It is so important to read diversely during AAPI month, and every month! Learning about new perspectives and cultures is essential in empathizing with others that we may not have anything in common with at first. Enjoy the rest of the month, I have to get back to my TBR!