[Content Warning: sexual harassment and child abuse]

During this first read of book club pick #5, we're set in an annexed Korea where we meet Sunja and her family. Through smooth pacing, a looping plot that reliably answers readers' questions, and well-formed characters, we are guided through Sunja's background, her well-supported childhood, and her entrance into adulthood.

Min Jin Lee is a distinguished writer and the author of Pachinko and Free Food for Millionaires. She is a National Book Award Finalist and the recipient of 2022 Manhae Grand Prize and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study for Harvard. You can learn more about her and her work on Instagram @Lee_MinJin and on her website at MinJinLee.com.

Find us on ⁠AsianBookClubPod.com⁠ and on Instagram @⁠AsianBookClubPod⁠. You can also support us by buying books through Asian Book Club's Bookshop.

Recommendation of the Week: Taste the Nation is a Hulu series that's created, executive produced, and hosted by Padma Lakshmi. Currently in the show's second season, Padma Lakshmi "takes viewers across the United States to honor and explore the rich and diverse communities who've shaped U.S. American food today." You can learn more about Padma and her work with Taste the Nation on Instagram @PadmaLakshmi as well as on her Linktree.

Hosts: Jamae Ann Sabangan and Steven Park

Edits: Steven Park

Music: Drop It by Lunareh

Last time, we shared three hints for our next read. Our next book club pick is . . . you know we need a drumroll . . . Pachinko by Min Jin Lee! We talk about first impressions, what we're expecting, and how we're going to tackle this highly acclaimed novel.

Min Jin Lee is a distinguished writer and the author of Pachinko and Free Food for Millionaires. She is a National Book Award Finalist and the recipient of 2022 Manhae Grand Prize and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study for Harvard. You can learn more about her and her work on Instagram @Lee_MinJin and on her website at MinJinLee.com.

Find us on ⁠AsianBookClubPod.com⁠ and on Instagram @⁠AsianBookClubPod⁠. You can also support us by buying books through Asian Book Club's Bookshop.

Recommendation of the Week: Courtney Ahn is an independent designer, illustrator, and children's book author who runs Courtney Ahn Design. Their work uses a social justice lens and also focuses on autism advocacy. You can learn more about them and their work on Instagram @CourtneyAhnDesign and @Candy.Courn as well as on their website CourtneyAhnDesign.com.

Hosts: Jamae Ann Sabangan and Steven Park

Edits: Steven Park

Music: Drop It by Lunareh

Did you eat yet? This is how our immigrant families show they care for and love us. In this new segment, we share the foods and specific meal times we'd pair with the books we've read so far - Malaka Gharib's I Was Their American Dream, Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere, Berna Anat's Money Out Loud, Su Hwang's Bodega, and Annie Choi's Happy Birthday or Whatever. Since this is the first episode in the Did You Eat Yet? series, we have no limits. The pairings are an absolute smorgasbord!

Find us on ⁠AsianBookClubPod.com⁠ and on Instagram @⁠AsianBookClubPod⁠. You can also support us by buying books through Asian Book Club's Bookshop.

Hosts: Jamae Ann Sabangan and Steven Park

Sound: Steven Park

Music: Let's Get Together by Lunareh

In this final read of Annie Choi's Happy Birthday or Whatever, we share our karaoke go-to's, road trip shenanigans, the pressure to birth grandchildren for our elders (eep!), and the unspoken rules of navigating family gatherings. Get ready for this fun episode. It'll make you miss your family and remind you why you need to mentally prepare before you spend any time with them.

Annie Choi was raised in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. She is the author of Happy Birthday or Whatever and Shut Up, You're Welcome. Her other works have appeared in White Zinfandel, Urban Omnibus, and Pidgin Magazine. She loves animals that eat other animals and hates musicals. You can learn more about her and her work at AnnieTown.com.

Find us on ⁠AsianBookClubPod.com⁠ and on Instagram @⁠AsianBookClubPod⁠. You can also support us by buying books through Asian Book Club's Bookshop.

Recommendation of the Week: Kim Saira is a healer who empowers you to "honor your beingness." Their work focuses on somatic active healing for community care as well as creating intimate cohorts for Asian American women and femmes to "tune into community, creativity, and somatic release." You can learn more about their work on Instagram @KimSaira and on their website at ⁠https://stan.store/kimsaira.

Hosts: Jamae Ann Sabangan and Steven Park

Edits: Steven Park

Music: Drop It by Lunareh, Unchained by Lunareh

After reading the second set of five essays in Annie Choi's Happy Birthday or Whatever, we talk periods, religion in social situations, ailments, vegetarian origin stories (and world-destroying nightmares - kidding, not kidding), and oppressive family members. Buckle up, para-social friends, we're diving deep into Annie's stories as well as our own.

Annie Choi was raised in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. She is the author of Happy Birthday or Whatever and Shut Up, You're Welcome. Her other works have appeared in White Zinfandel, Urban Omnibus, and Pidgin Magazine. She loves animals that eat other animals and hates musicals. You can learn more about her and her work at AnnieTown.com.

Find us on ⁠AsianBookClubPod.com⁠ and on Instagram @⁠AsianBookClubPod⁠. You can also support us by buying books through Asian Book Club's Bookshop.

Recommendation of the Week: Asians for Mental Health was "created to help Asians feel seen, heard, and empowered in their journeys towards better mental health." Founded by Jenny Wang, PhD, the online directory helps connect Asians with Asian therapists. Also, Dr. Jenny wrote a book entitled Permission to Come Home, which recently celebrated it's first book birthday! You can learn more about their work on Instagram @AsiansForMentalHealth and on their website at https://AsiansForMentalHealth.com.

Hosts: Jamae Ann Sabangan and Steven Park

Edits: Steven Park

Music: Drop It by Lunareh

After reading through the first five chapters of Annie Choi's memoir Happy Birthday or Whatever, we share a summary of these essays and talk about what comes up for us in each. We found several aspects of these stories relateable, tricky (read: triggering), and resonant.

Annie Choi was raised in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. She is the author of Happy Birthday or Whatever and Shut Up, You're Welcome. Her other works have appeared in White Zinfandel, Urban Omnibus, and Pidgin Magazine. She loves animals that eat other animals and hates musicals. You can learn more about her and her work at AnnieTown.com.

Find us on ⁠AsianBookClubPod.com⁠ and on Instagram @⁠AsianBookClubPod⁠. You can also support us by buying books through Asian Book Club's Bookshop.

Recommendation of the Week: Sampaguita Press is a small press focused on "publishing underrepresented voices". They are co-founded by Keana Aguila Labra and Maria Bolaños and majority-led by POC poets. In addition to their full-length published works, they also publish literary magazine called Marias at Sampaguitas. You can learn more about their work on Instagram @SampaguitaPress and on their website at https://SampaguitaPress.com.

Hosts: Jamae Ann Sabangan and Steven Park

Edits: Steven Park

Music: Drop It by Lunareh

In the last episode, we offered three hints on our our next book club pick.

So without further ado, Asian Book Club's fourth pick is . . . cue fervent drum rolling . . . Annie Choi's Happy Birthday or Whatever! In this episode, we share our predictions and recollections (since this is Jamae's second read-through; plot twist: she doesn't remember much since she's read it years ago).

Annie Choi was raised in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. She is the author of Happy Birthday or Whatever and Shut Up, You're Welcome. Her other works have appeared in White Zinfandel, Urban Omnibus, and Pidgin Magazine. She loves animals that eat other animals and hates musicals. You can learn more about her and her work at AnnieTown.com.

Find us on ⁠AsianBookClubPod.com⁠ and on Instagram @⁠AsianBookClubPod⁠. You can also support us by buying books through Asian Book Club's Bookshop.

Recommendation of the Week: Dr. Kiona uses "social media to do good sh*t." She educates through travel, centering the community she's referring to through a global lens. Dr. Kiona is known for the learning tours she intentionally and thoughtfully organizs with guides and small businesses run by local and indigenous folks. You can learn more about Dr. Kiona and her work on Instagram @DoctorKiona and on her links page at Linktr.ee/doctorkiona.

Hosts: Jamae Ann Sabangan and Steven Park

Edits: Steven Park

Music: Drop It by Lunareh

After reading through the entire poetry collection, we quote three pieces that resonated with each of us and talk about the themes we see tying the pieces together. Although specific historical contexts are not the main focus, we notice how they influence the everyday situations in the speaker's life.

As a quick side note, we refer to Bodega as a chapbook. However, Su Hwang shared with us that this is a full poetry collection! Many thanks to Su Hwang for this correction.

Su Hwang is a writer and activist who comes from a family with a literary legacy. She received the Inaugural Jerome Hill Fellowship in Literature and the Academy of American Poets' James Wright Prize. Currently, she teaches creative writing with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop and is the co-founder of Poetry Asylum. You can learn more about her and her work at SuHwang.com.

Find us on ⁠AsianBookClubPod.com⁠ and on Instagram @⁠AsianBookClubPod⁠. You can also support us by buying books through Asian Book Club's Bookshop.

Recommendation of the Week: Ali Wong is a comedian, writer, and actor. She's known for her work featured on Netflix, such as Baby Cobra, Hard Knock Wife, Don Wong, Always Be My Maybe, and Beef. She is also the author of the book Dear Girls. You can learn more about Ali Wong and her work on Instagram @AliWong and on her website at AliWong.com.

Hosts: Jamae Ann Sabangan and Steven Park

Edits: Steven Park

Music: Drop It by Lunareh; Unchained by Lunareh

In a previous episode, we dropped three hints for our next read. So, without further ado, Asian Book Club's third pick is . . . cue in the drum roll . . . Su Hwang's Bodega! In this episode, we read the book's description and share how we're each going to approach interpreting the work in this poetry chapbook.

Su Hwang is a writer and activist who comes from a family with a literary legacy. She received the Inaugural Jerome Hill Fellowship in Literature and the Academy of American Poets' James Wright Prize. Currently, she teaches creative writing with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop and is the co-founder of Poetry Asylum. You can learn more about her and her work at SuHwang.com.

Find us on ⁠AsianBookClubPod.com⁠ and on Instagram @⁠AsianBookClubPod⁠. You can also support us by buying books through Asian Book Club's Bookshop.

Recommendation of the Week: Berna Anat is a Financial Hype Woman, who has been traveling the world making money fun. Her debut book Money Out Loud was released in April 25, 2023, and is available wherever books are sold! You can learn more about Berna and her work on Instagram @HeyBerna, on YouTube @HeyBerna, and on her website at HeyBerna.com.

Hosts: Jamae Ann Sabangan and Steven Park

Edits: Steven Park

Music: Drop It by Lunareh

On April 25, 2023, Berna Anat's debut finance book Money Out Loud said hello to the world! In this special episode, we talk about the parts of the book that resonated with us, what we're looking forward to implementing in our personal lives, and who we'd recommend this book to.

You can get your hands on MOL by:

Berna Anat is a Financial Hype Woman, who paid off $50k in debt, saved up to quit her job, and has been traveling the world making money fun since. She is based in California's Bay Area. You can learn more about Berna and her work at HeyBerna.com.

Find us on Instagram @⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AsianBookClubPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and on our website at ⁠⁠⁠⁠AsianBookClubPod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can also support us by buying books through ⁠⁠⁠Asian Book Club's Bookshop⁠⁠⁠.

Hosts: Jamae Ann Sabangan and Steven Park

Edits: Steven Park

Music: Drop It by Lunareh