Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir

Written by: Tessa Hulls

First line: If you had told me five years ago that my mother and I would find ourselves here, traveling back into the past in the hopes of building a bridge between us, the sheer impossibility would have caught in my throat like a bone. 

Why you should read this book: I notice that I read a lot of memoirs written by adult women about their complex relationships with their problematic mothers, but this one seems overwhelming in comparison, almost impossibly complex, and deep, and heart-wrenching. To understand her relationship with her mother, Tessa Hulls must understand who her mother is, and to understand that, she must understand her mother's trauma, and to do that, she must understand her grandmother, who she knew only as a small and crazy Chinese lady who lived in her house in California, physically, but mentally existed in some evanescent slice of world history involving the Communist Revolution. Now grown, her grandmother passed, Hulls takes her mother back to Hong Kong and China in an attempt to recreate the lives of her ancestors while recalling her own childhood and how her American upbringing made her a stranger to the past. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's heavy; no wonder it took the author a decade to write. 

My Life as a Fake

Written by: Peter Carey

First line: I have known John Slater all my life. 

Why you should read this book: Inspired by a real life literary hoax, this is a fictional novel about a literary hoax, but in the story, the literary hoax literally grows legs and walks around terrifying its creator in the manner of Frankenstein's monster. It's one of those strange, dreamlike narratives where you get the sense that absolutely every character is lying about almost everything they say, including the first person narrator, and everybody in the story is kind of unlikeable at the core, but the reader is drawn in enough to keep reading just to figure out what's actually going on. Sarah Wode-Douglass, the editor of a prestigious British literary magazine, takes a weird vacation to Kuala Lumpur with John Slater, a famous poet she doesn't like at all, and meets a disgraced Australian writer who once perpetrated a literary hoax that, if he is to be believed, was way too successful. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: I'm not entirely sure it ever explains itself satisfactorily. 

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal

Written by: Conor Grennan

First line: It was well after nightfall when I realized we had gone the wrong way.

Why you should read this book: In order to mitigate the "unrepentantly self-indulgent" nature of his plan to spend a year traveling the world partying and rubbing up against strange women, Conor Grennan schedules a two-month stint volunteering at an orphanage in Nepal. To his surprise, he falls in love with the orphans of Little Princes, who call him "Brother" and have mastered the art of the tackle-hug, and feels compelled to return to Nepal after his grand tour. When he learns that most of the children aren't truly orphans, and some of them have vanished, he dedicates himself to recovering the lost ones and tracking down all the families who thought they were sending their kids to a better life, combatting Maoist rebels, war, poverty, bureaucracy, the cold, knee pain, inclement weather, language barriers, lack of medical care, and a diet consisting almost entirely of white rice and lentils. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You believe empathy is a weakness. 

Sold

Written by: Patricia McCormick

First line: One more rainy season and our roof will be gone, says Ama.

Why you should read this book: Despite her stepfather's gambling addiction, Lakshmi and her mother are getting along pretty well, and Lakshmi is excelling in school and looking forward to one day being married, but following a drought and a flood and heavy gambling losses, she is determined to take a job as a maid in the city, so she can send money home and give her mother a real roof. Unfortunately, the auntie who promises to find her paying work sells Lakshmi into sexual slavery in another country, and she becomes a prisoner in brothel, forced to perform sex work to survive. As she comes to understand more about her circumstances, she must tease apart the lies that control her from the truth that might set her free. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's a novel about a 13-year-old girl being sex trafficked. It's not happy. 

The Covenant of Water

Written by: Abraham Verghese

First line: She is twelve years old, and she will be married in the morning.

Why you should read this book: An engaging multigenerational tale of a twentieth century Indian family, plagued by a mysterious condition that is marked by an extreme aversion to water (but little fear of anything else) and frequently results in deafness, a love of heights, and premature death by drowning. Each generation finds love, even in the face of suffering and adversity, but mourns helplessly when those afflicted with the Condition are lost. As science and medicine progress, perhaps there is hope that one day they can save their loved ones from this strange and confusing affliction. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Kids die. 

Among Flowers

Written by: Jamaica Kincaid

First line: One day, in the year 2000, I was asked to write a book, a small one, about any place in the world I wished and doing something in that place I liked doing. 

Why you should read this book: For reasons that may not seem reasonable to people who aren't professional writers and very avid gardeners, the author takes a grueling weeks-long hike through the mountains of Nepal to collect seeds. Along the way her life is threatened by Maoists; her conscious is wracked with guilt; she suffers from heat, cold, and various other privations not typically sought out by successful Americans; and she has, apparently, the time of her life. The result is a surprising and tidy travelogue unlike any story that I've ever read.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Usually, when I encounter a word I don't know, I look it up and write down the word and its definition, but if I had stopped to look up every single Latin plant name in this book, it would have taken me twice as long to read. 

Alternative Remedies for Loss

Written by: Joanna Cantor

First line: "You must be new."

Why you should read this book: Ever since her mother passed away, very young adult Olivia has been sleepwalking through life: sleepwalking right out of college and into an entry-level job, sleepwalking through encounters with men, sleepwalking through the entire country of India. When her father asks her to clean out her mother's office (too soon, Olivia thinks, especially considering the presence of her father's new girlfriend, who showed up only a few months after the tragedy) Olivia stumbles upon a photograph and some letters that hint at some secret, something she needs to learn about her mother to try to make sense of her death. Suddenly imbued with purpose, Olivia becomes a detective as well as a filmmaker, and returns to India to uncover the mysteries left unspoken at the end of her mother's life.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You mainly like to travel overseas for the fresh new shopping experiences. 

Ryokan: Zen Monk-Poet of Japan

Translated by: Burton Watson

First line: Though travels/take me to/a different stopping place each night/the dream I dream is always/that same one of home

Why you should read this book: It's a curated collection of the poetry of the late 18th/early 19th century Zen monk Ryokan, including the three Japanese forms of waka, sedoka, and choka, along with a selection of his Chinese kanshi, all beautifully rendered into English that evokes the complex simplicity of the subject matter. These poems tend toward observations of the natural world (often focused on seasonal changes or animla behaviors), musings on his own life as an ascetic who begs for his meals and also likes to play ball with the village boys, and his thoughts on the people and world he knows, including his memories of the past. Reading these poems may perhaps offer the reader an understanding of the unspoken ideals of Zen Buddhism, or at least Ryokan's particular take on his beliefs.

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you were next in line for a position of power, you'd take it. 

Tamamo the Fox Maiden and Other Asian Stories: A Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales Book

Edited by: C. Spike Trotman, Kate Aswin, Kel McDonald

First line: There once lived a humble tinker by the name of Jinbei. 

Why you should read this book: A wonderfully balanced collection of stories from all over Asia, featuring magic, tricksters, transformations, talking animals, foolish gods, and happy endings. Other than the tale of Fa Mulan, most of these stories will be unfamiliar to Western readers, and some may require further research to fully comprehend if you aren't conversant with world mythology, but even without deeper knowledge, they should still appeal to the sensibilities of any lover of fairy tales. Delightful and thoughtfully compiled, this is a great addition to any collection of graphic novels for children.

Why you shouldn't read this book: I don't know how cautionary a story is if bad behavior turns out well for the protagonist.

Mommy's Hometown

Written by: Hope Lim and Jaime Kim

Why you should read this book: A little Korean-American boy loves listening to his mother's stories of her idyllic childhood playing in the river with the other village children in her hometown. He dreams of visiting the place where Mommy grew up, but when he finally gets to Korea, he's disappointed to find that modernity has turned the pastoral haven into a bustling metropolis that bears no resemblance to Mommy's bucolic bedtime stories. But the river is still there, just as Mommy remembers it, and once the boy connects to the experience of playing in the water, he's able to see the beauty and magic of the new city.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You don't adapt well to change.

Thirst

Written by: Varsha Bajaj

First line: Sanjay and I sit on the top of the hill and stare out at the huge, never-ending Arabian Sea.

Why you should read this book: In the poorest parts of Mumbai, where Minni lives with her parents and older brother, so much depends on access to the communal water source, which is limited to certain hours and requires long waits in line to collect this precious resource. Even worse, although the poor people in Minni's neighborhood use less water than anyone else, criminals are stealing their water, and, worse still, Minni's brother witnesses the theft and has to leave town to protect his own life. Then her mother gets sick and has to leave as well, and now Minni has to balance all her mother's work, including fetching water, with the life she wants to have, going to school and taking extra-curricular computer classes.

Why you shouldn't read this book: This is a harsh reality.

In the Beautiful Country

Written by: Jane Kuo

First line: I am leaving the only home I've ever known.

Why you should read this book: Anna's parents want to leave Taiwan and immigrate to America so she can have a better life, but once she arrives, Anna questions how the "Beautiful Country" can ever provide her with a better life than she had at home when her parents must work constantly at their failing restaurant, she doesn't speak the language or understand the customs, and some racists seem determined to hurt the family until they give up and return to Taiwan. But Anna has no choice but to keep moving forward, until eventually she makes some friends and her parents figure out the magic formula for success in a new home. Written in the form of a long prose poem, this is a fast, emotional, and personal story that brings the modern immigrant experience to life.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You think being polite to bullies will make them stop.

A Wish in the Dark

Written by: Christina Soontornvat

First line: A monster of a mango tree grew in the courtyard of Namwon Prison.

Why you should read this book: This is exactly the kind of story that modern readers of children's fantasy love: it's got magic mixed with realism, determined and admirable but flawed characters whose faults can be redeemed, a powerful message of social justice and equality, along with a compelling story set in a detailed and wonderful world. Pong is an orphan, born in Namwon Prison to a mother who died before he knew her, and it seems terribly unfair that the law requires him to stay in prison until he turns thirteen, and to be always branded with a mark that indicates he's been incarcerated. But the world outside Namwon Prison isn't any more fair, with the divide between rich and poor starkly delineated by their access to light, and when Pong finally finds his way out of prison, he must decide whether to protect himself from those who want to see him back in prison or use his talents to help others overcome impossible odds.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're still trying to prove your worth to your parents, or you just found out you're adopted.

Buy A Wish in the Dark here!

Zao Dao Cuisine Chinosie Tales of Food and Life

Translated by: Brandon Kander and Diana Schutz

First line: What? Is something the matter?

Why you should read this book: We are introduced to the numinous and mildly unsettling aesthetic of Chinese wunderkind Zao Dao through six standalone comics that blend the grotesque and the desirable in a world where the line between spirits and humans is thin, malleable, and surprising, and the lines of the brushwork vary in size but are also surprising. As a work translated from Chinese to French to English, there are likely a lot of cultural details that will go over many English readers heads, even with the notes on each story, but with a little thoughtfulness and perhaps a bit more research, many of the ideas become clear. Humanity is revealed in its relationship to other beings, and readers may learn something about their own humanity in their reaction.

Why you shouldn't read this book: There is a lot of consumption of creepy-crawly stuff that may not sit well if you have a nervous stomach.

Buy Zao Dao Cuisine Chinoise here!

The Undertaking of Lily Chen

Written by: Danica Novgorodoff 

First line: Get the hell out of here— 

Why you should read this book: Deshi's older brother Wei suffers an accidental death while the two young men are fighting, so their parents blame Deshi for the loss of their golden child and direct him to obtain a woman's corpse before Wei's funeral in order to conduct a ghost marriage and ensure their boy has pleasant companionship in the afterlife. Unfortunately, while Deshi's parent's beliefs have their foundations in ancient traditions, they live in a modern world, and obtaining the appropriate body proves nearly impossible. Enter Lily Chen, young, beautiful, headstrong, curious, talkative and very much alive, but that situation could change quickly, and Deshi is under a lot of familial pressure to succeed in his mission. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Almost everything that happens before the last few pages is kind of bleak.

Never Grow Up

Written by: Jackie Chan with Zhu Mo 

First line: In 2016, I received an honorary Academy Award for my lifetime achievement in film. 

Why you should read this book: Smart but uncomplicated, fun but meaningful, this is the autobiography of Jackie Chan, martial artist, stuntman, actor, comedian, singer, kidult, everyman, and all around decent human being doing his absolute best and usually succeeding. Arguably the greatest stunt man of his time, almost certainly the most well-known, Chan shares the highlights of his life from his early years at home, through his decade in a strict martial arts boarding school, and following the highs and lows of his career and his personal life, including his hopes, fears, and most dangerous feats. While casting his story in an uplifting light, Chan manages to share both his strengths along with his flaws, pass judgement on mistakes he made as a younger man, and spread his overwhelmingly positive worldview and character with his fans and readers in an eminently readable and enjoyable format. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Chan is forthcoming about his own foibles, including sexual mishaps, alcohol-fueled mistakes, and other youthful indiscretions. 

Pachinko

Written by: Min Jin Lee

First line: History has failed us, but no matter.

Why you should read this book: This sprawling intergenerational epic follows three generations of the Baek family, Korean immigrants who came to Japan to seek a better life, despite a pervasive current of anti-Korean sentiment that pervades every aspect of their existence in this new home. Through poverty and privation, the family's love, determination, and connections serve to keep them and their descendants fed, clothed, sheltered, end educated, and while their lives are punctuated, over and over, by tragedy, their ability to draw on their own knowledge and strength allow the surviving members to achieve a little more than their parents did before them. It's a big book, but it moves with surprising speed, painting a detailed picture of lives from a previous century with exquisite and fascinating detail.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're never going to get over what the Japanese did during WWII.

My Freedom Trip

Written by: Frances Park, Ginger Park, and Debra Reid Jenkins

First line: My years ago, when I was a little schoolgirl in Korea, soldiers invaded my country.

Why you should read this book: It provides a child-friendly understanding of the fear and uncertainty of a journey to freedom. Based on the real like experiences of the authors' mother, this book recounts how a child escapes from North Korea to South Korea, glossing over the political details and focusing primarily on the child's perception and experience. A powerful and engaging story about a historical period and activities that are likely unfamiliar to many young people.

Why you shouldn't read this book: It could be a bit sad and scary for little kids; definitely not for adult readers who aren't ready to honestly answer questions about history and human nature.

Around the World in Eighty Days

Written by: Jules Verne

First line: Mr Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at No. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the in which Sheridan died in 1814.


Why you should read this book: There is a good-natured but pointed humor in this enduring classic tale of a stoic and unadventurous man who wagers pretty much everything he has that modern technology is sufficient to transport him and his faithful but occasionally feckless manservant around the world in a heretofore undreamed eighty days. Phileas Fogg and Passepartout employ steamers and railways, and sometimes elephants and sleds that sail on ice, in a breakneck journey, picking up along the way a beautiful Indian widow and a ruthless undercover police officer as they battle timetables, the weather, buffaloes, religion, general incompetence and willful intervention in their quest to demonstrate that a cool demeanor and almost limitless cash can solve any problem. Good fun, decent science and geography.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Brief instance of casual racism of the type not uncommon in nineteenth century British novels.

Chu Ju's House

Written by: Gloria Whelan

First line: It was the fifth day of the fourth moon, Tomb Sweeping Day, which some call Day of Pure Brightness.

Why you should read this book: I don't think there's a lot of English children's literature set in this time and place: China in the 1960s, as ancient culture and modern values clash on personal and political levels. Chu Ju's family is devastated to learn that her new sibling is female, and decide to give the baby up for adoption so they can try for a boy under the current two-child policy. Chu Ju, in love with the new baby, decides to sacrifice herself, running away to find her own fortune so the new baby can grow up in a loving family.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You don't do hard work.