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:
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 is a mystery laced with family drama. Written by Angie Kim, her sophomore novel follows Mia, whose father went missing after a walk in a nearby park. As Angie investigates his disappearance, hidden family secrets come to the surface.
Our Missing Hearts — Celeste Ng
Celeste Ng’s latest novel, Our Missing Hearts, takes readers through an emotional, family journey. The story’s protagonist, a twelve-year-old Bird Garner, receives a cryptic drawing that tips him off to look for his mother. His mother, a Chinese American poet disappeared without a trace—including her literary work—several years ago.
Land of Milk and Honey — C. Pam Zhang
As smog begins to take over the world, the Chef, whose career is dying like the environment around her, is offered a role at a mountaintop colony where they are unaffected by environmental crises on the ground. The Land of Milk and Honey explores topics like morality, pleasure, and climate change through a culinary perspective.
Interior Chinatown — Charles Yu
Willis Wu is a background actor who gets typecast as the Generic Asian Man in a procedural police show. He aspires to break the mould of the Generic Asian Man, but how will he do that when he’s only accepted for how he looks? When he’s not on set, Willis lives in a historic Chinatown, where he unravels his familial legacy — all while he tries to find himself.
Interior Chinatown has been adapted into a TV series starring Jimmy O. Yang as Willis Wu.
Trick Mirror is home to nine essays by Jia Tolentino. She contemplates and reflects on how she exists and operates in a society that’s hyper-focused on oneself. Tolentino’s honest critique of our realities—real life and online—allows readers to come to their reflective conclusion.
See also: Cold Tea Reads: 8 must read books for AANHPI Heritage Month and beyond
Trust Exercise — Susan Choi
Set in the 1980s, first-year high school students David and Sarah fall in love against the backdrop of their performing arts school. Follow along with David and Sarah’s love story as Choi takes readers through a twisting and turning coming-of-age tale.
The Sympathizer — Viet Thanh Nguyen
Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Sympathizer, shares the story of a former Viet Cong captain who evacuates for the United States during the Vietnam War. As he starts his new life in Los Angeles in a community of other Vietnamese refugees, he secretly reports back to his military commanders in Vietnam as a double agent.
The Sympathizer has been adapted into a TV series produced by A24, set to air on HBO.
Pachinko — Min Jin Lee
Min Jin Lee carefully deconstructs Kim Sunja’s and her family’s life in Pachinko. Lee transports readers back in time to when Sunja lived in Korea during the Imperial Japanese occupation and Japan, eventually unravelling generations’ worth of drama. This ensemble story shares a family’s experiences of discrimination, sacrifice, ambition, and survival.
Pachinko was adapted into a TV series for AppleTV+ starring Youn Yuh-jung, Lee Min-ho, and Kim Min-ha.
How High We Go in the Dark — Sequoia Nagamatsu
How High We Go in the Dark is a sci-fi novel set in a dystopian world where a climate change crisis alters humankind’s future forever. Exploring themes like death and grief, Nagamatsu weaves together several stories creating a beautifully haunting world where the human spirit shines through.
Pick up a copy of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin today and see more books from AAPINH authors published by Penguin Random House.
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