In the past decade we’ve seen many AAPI books turned into film and television we have come to know and love. Gabrielle Zevin is an American New York Times best-selling author whose 2014 best-selling book, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, was adapted into a motion picture. The film adaptation stars Kunal Nayyar, Lucy Hale, and Christina Hendricks.
Zevin is proudly of mixed-race Korean, Ashkenazi Jewish, Russian, Lithuanian, and Polish ancestry. Her most recent novel, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (2022), follows two friends, Sadie and Sam, who develop a Japanese-themed video game that gains popularity.
In this edition of Cold Tea Reads, Zevin shares her list of AAPI Book Recommendations, some of which have been or will also be seen on screens very soon.
AAPI Book Recommendations by Gabrielle Zevin
Zevin is an avid reader of many genres. “I loved making this list because there are so many kinds of books on it — dystopias, speculative short fiction, formal experimentation, cultural commentary, historical fiction,” she says.
Reflecting on the diversity of Zevin’s books, she says that “the burden of the AAPI writer used to be to ‘explain’ race to a presumed white audience and to act as a cultural translator, but these days, AAPI writing doesn’t have to mean one thing.” And we certainly agree with that.
Find out more about which books best-selling author Gabrielle Zevin recommends to Cold Tea Collective readers:
Exhalation — Ted Chiang
Ted Chiang’s Exhalation features a collection of short stories that explores topics beyond a typical science fiction novel. Chiang’s masterful storytelling takes readers into a new dimension and universe where innately human themes are introduced in a sci-fi setting.
Happiness Falls — Angie Kim
Happiness Falls is a mystery laced with family drama. Written by Angie Kim, her sophomore novel follows Mia, whose father went missing after a…
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