Asian Authors – S.B. Howell

Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine

Jul 23, 2024

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by

in 4 Star Books, Asian Authors, Black Comedy, Graphic Novel, Japanese Authors, Race

Shortcomings is a graphic novel about cranky 30-something Japanese-American man (Ben) whose relationship with an idealistic 30-something Japanese-American woman (Miko) is strained by his constant negativity and his undeniable interest in white women.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara

Jan 18, 2020

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by

sbhowell

in 5 Star Books, Asian Authors, General Fiction, Literature, Mental Health, Sexuality, Tear-Jerkers, Women Writers

Rating: 5/5, excellent This book is amazing. Basically, A Little Life is the story of four men – Jude, Willem, JB, and Malcolm – who we follow over the course of thirty years of friendship. The main character, Jude, has been severely abused as a child and as a teen and only started to…

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

May 17, 2019

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by

sbhowell

in 4 Star Books, Asian Authors, Classics, General Fiction, Japanese Authors, Literature, Memoir, Mental Health

Rating: 4/5, good I originally read this on a plane, quickly, without much thought. I tried to sit down and review it a few weeks ago, but I felt like I didn’t understand it well enough. I looked up Osamu Dazai’s biography and then reread No Longer Human, and it seemed to come into place.…

Diverse Reading Challenge

Feb 16, 2019

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by

sbhowell

in Asian Authors, Black Authors, Japanese Authors, Literature, Race

In my last post, I talked about how writers should read more books by minorities and PoC, and I got inspired to make my own list of books I want to read. I’ve read a couple of books by women and PoC on this blog, but I want to read more, so I’m making a…

Best of Apex Magazine

Jan 26, 2019

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by

sbhowell

in 5 Star Books, Asian Authors, Black Authors, Fantasy, Horror, Literature, Post-Modern, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Surreal

Edited by Jason Sizemore and Lesley Conner Rating: 5/5 This story collection totally blew me away. There are 21 stories and they’re all so good. The thing I like about them most is they’re all really unique. Genre fiction can get a little formulaic sometimes, so I think it’s good to shake it up. Apex…

Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Ueda Akinari

Jan 19, 2019

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by

sbhowell

in Asian Authors, Classics, History, Horror, Japanese Authors, Literature, Philosophy, Short Stories, Surreal

Rating: 3/5, average (note: I’m rating my experience of reading this, not the quality, which is phenomenal because it’s a Japanese classic. It is beautifully written and painstakingly translated, but quite dry.) Tales of Moonlight and Rain in a nutshell: Ghosts of thwarted noblemen and mistreated women Decrepit thatched-roof houses Lovers undeterred by death Sages,…

My Solo Exchange Diary by Nagata Kabi

Jul 29, 2018

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by

sbhowell

in Asian Authors, Graphic Novel, Japanese Authors, Memoir, Mental Health, Sexuality

Rating: 3/5, average The art in this sequel to My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is even better than that in the first one, but this book seems to be struggling to find more content to talk about. Kabi actually says at the beginning that she couldn’t think of what to draw for a month after she…

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi

Jul 14, 2018

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by

sbhowell

in 4 Star Books, Asian Authors, Gender, Graphic Novel, Humor, Japanese Authors, Literature, Mental Health, Sexuality

Rating: 4/5 Warning: This review contains spoilers. Warning: This book may trigger those with depression and other mental illnesses. My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is a graphic novel memoir about a woman in her late 20s whose life is stymied by clinical depression, sexual repression, and her parents’ and society’s expectations. Driven to the end…

Want by Cindy Pon

Apr 20, 2018

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by

sbhowell

in Asian Authors, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult

Rating: 2, bad I almost put this book down at 15%, but I powered through for the sake of my scifi book club. Want is about a teenage boy named Zhou living in futuristic Taiwan where the air is so polluted most people die by the age of 50. The only people who live long…

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Feb 9, 2018

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by

sbhowell

in 5 Star Books, Asian Authors, Erotic, Gender, General Fiction, Horror, Literature, Mental Health, Surreal, Tear-Jerkers

Rating: 5/5, excellent Have you ever felt like a book was written specifically for you? That’s how I felt reading Han Kang’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel, The Vegetarian. I’ve been a vegetarian on and off over the years, and depressed sometimes, and I feel a kinship with Yeong-hye, the protagonist of this book. Yeong-hye…

Category: Asian Authors