On our second to last mid-month book news episode in 2025, we highlight some of the latest Asian American publishing announcements, and catch up on the latest book news for November 2025!

Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:

• Overrated by Gene Luen Yang & Jacob Perez
• Ink & Blood: Poetry and Power in the Lives of Emperor Li Yu and Chairman Mao by Chun Yu; illust. Sungyoon Choi
• The Peacock Throne by Zeba Shahnaz 
• Forest Freaks by Nat Iwata
• Mei Mei the Bunny by Laufey; Illusy. Lauren O'Hara
• Aunties by Pooja Makhijani; illust. Ruchi Mhasane
• The Girl, the Village, and the Terrible Thunder by Aimee Yealim Lee; illust. Hyewon Yum
• Jade vs. the Claw Machine by Margaret Chiu Greanias; illust. Heather Brockman Lee
• Sun's Eid by Natasha Khan Kazi
• The Echo of Empires by Shameen Abubakar
• untitled picture book biography of Katherine Sui-Fun Cheung by Cheryl Kim; illust. Nicole Wong. 
• Mongoose's Holi Party by Darshana Khiani; illust. Abhilasha Khatri
• The Gods Will Sing Our Song by Autumn Krause
• Echoes Across the Water by Livia Blackburne
• What's for Iftar?! by Razeena Omar Gutta; illust. Esraa Hedery

Book news mentioned on this episode:

• 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards begins (Asian authors nominated for awards listed below)

Readers’ Favorite Fiction

• The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
• A Guardian and Thief by Megha Majumdar
• The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Favorite Historical Fiction

• Homeseeking by Karissa Chan

Favorite Mystery & Thriller

• Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Favorite Romance

• King of Envy by Ana Huang

Favorite Romantasy

• A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
• Alchemised by SenLinYu 
• Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan

Favorite Fantasy

• Red City by Marie Lu
• Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
• Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

Favorite Science-Fiction

• Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto
• Saltcrop by Yume Kitase
• These Memories Don’t Belong to Us by Yiming Ma
• Luminous by Silvia Park
• Local Heavens by K.M. Fajardo

Favorite Horror

• What Hunger by Catherine Dang
• Bat Eater and Other Words for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
• Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang

Favorite Debut

• Homeseeking by Karissa Chen
• The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei
• Alchemised by SenLinYu

Favorite Young Adult Fantasy & Sci-Fi

• Hekate:The Witch by Nikita Gill
• Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
• Every Spiral of Fate by Tahereh Mafi
• Watch Me by Tahereh Mafi
• The Floating World by Axie Oh
• Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee
• Never Ever After by Sue Lynn Tan
• A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim

Favorite Young Adult Fiction

• You’ve Found Oliver by Dustin Thao
• When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur
• I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang

Favorite Memoir

• Finding My Way by Malala Yousafzai
• 107 Days by Kamala Harris
• Mother May Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
• Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:

• Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
• Purchasing books at our bookshop
• Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:

• Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
• Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

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The Books & Boba November 2025 book club pick is Taiwan Travelogue by Shuang-zi Yang, translated by Lin King

This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

Join us as we discuss our October 2025 book club pick, Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker, a Chinese American horror story taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic following Cora Zeng, a crime scene cleaner haunted by the trauma of witnessing her sister's murder in a NYC subway station, as well as what appears to be her sister's actual hungry ghost. We follow Cora and her co-workers on a blood-soaked quest as they try to simultaneously figure out how to exorcise her ghost, as well as solve a series of serial murders in NYC, all involving East Asian women.

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:

• Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
• Purchasing books at our bookshop
• Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:

• Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
• Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Goodreads
• Facebook

The Books & Boba November 2025 book club pick is Taiwan Travelogue by Shuang-zi Yang, translated by Lin King

This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode, we sit down with author Yume Kitasei to chat about her latest novel, Saltcrop, a science fiction story about three sisters who grew up in a near future Earth after an ecological collapse changed the world. When the eldest sister goes missing while working for a megacorporation (because capitalism persists even after the end of the world), the younger two set off on a dangerous trip across the seas to find her.

Follow Yume on Instagram at @yumewrites and check out her newest novel Saltcrop available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:

• Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
• Purchasing books at our bookshop
• Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:

• Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
• Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:

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• Facebook

The Books & Boba October 2025 pick is Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

For our mid-month book news check in for October 2025, we're catching up on the Asian American publishing news for the past 2 months (since we didn't do a mid-month episode in September) as well as checking in on the news about the latest National Book Award nominations as well as some exciting new listings on the NYT bestsellers list!

Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:

• The Radiance by Ayad Akhtar
• The Museum of Modern Love by Mariko Turk
• Sir Silly by Gavin Aung Than
• Emily Min-ji Makes Kimchi by Meredith Seung Mee Buse; illust. Jenn Kocsmiersky
• The River of Caregiving by Jocelyn Chung; illust. Sarah Gonzales
• Of Wind and Dust by Shirin Yim Leos
• Project Juni by Kaitlyn San Miguel
• Medusa's Pet Rock by Steph Lau
•  Chrysanthemum's Glow written by Livia Blackburne; illust. Julia Kuo
•  Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim
•  The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham
•  Born by Sarah Ling
• The Fallen Sun by C.M. Basma
•  Swimming Lessons for a Mermaid by Yongchan
• Who the Flan Am I? by Kiera Wright-Ruiz and Claudia Lam
• The Missing Magic of Sparrow Xia by Leia Ham
• Bear Wakes Up by Lisa Chow
• Frankie Lu's Summer of No Regrets by Betty Chang
• I Shall Master This Family by Kim Roah, Mon, and ANTStudio

Book news mentioned on this episode:

• 2025 Finalists for the National Book Awards
• Alchemised by SenLinYu debuted at #1 on the New York Time’s Hardcover Fiction list on October 12th

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:

• Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
• Purchasing books at our bookshop
• Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:

• Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
• Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Goodreads
• Facebook

The Books & Boba October 2025 pick is Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode, we are joined by Jade Chang, the author of our August 2025 book club pick The Wangs Vs the World, to chat about her newest novel, What a Time to be Alive, which follows a messy Chinese American girl named Lola Treasure Gold who inadvertently finds internet fame when a tongue in cheek speech she makes at a party honoring her recently deceased best friend goes viral, turning her into an internet self-help influencer.

Follow Jade on Instagram at @hellojadechang and check out her newest novel What a Time to be Alive available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:

• Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
• Purchasing books at our bookshop
• Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:

• Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
• Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Goodreads
• Facebook

The Books & Boba October 2025 pick is Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode, we discuss our September 2025 book club pick, A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna, a cozy magical story about Sera, who used to be the most powerful witch in the UK until losing all her power casting a forbidden spell to bring her beloved great aunt back from the dead. Now 15 years later, she runs a magical inn in the English countryside after being expelled from magical society, and we follow her adventures when a chance to regain her lost power emerges.

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:

• Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
• Purchasing books at our bookshop
• Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:

• Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
• Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Goodreads
• Facebook

The Books & Boba October 2025 pick is Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode, we are joined by best selling author Dustin Thao to chat about his newest novel, You've Found Oliver, the follow up to his bittersweet debut You've Reached Sam. Dustin shares with us how a real life glitch in the matrix inspired the supernatural setting of his latest romance as well as his thoughts on time, grief, and magic.

Follow Dustin on Instagram at @thedustinthao and check out his newest novel You've Found Oliver available 9/30 on the Books & Boba bookshop!

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:

• Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
• Purchasing books at our bookshop
• Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:

• Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
• Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Goodreads
• Facebook

The Books & Boba September 2025 pick is A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode, we are joined from all the way on the other side of the world by Emma Pei Yin to chat about her debut novel When Sleeping Women Wake, a historical fiction novel about three women who each find their individual paths to resistance during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during world war 2. Emma shares with how she was inspired to write the story after hearing about her grandfather's experiences as a resistance fighter in WW2 as well as how surprisingly difficult it was to find research about life under occupation from the Chinese perspective.

Follow Emma on Instagram at @emmapeiyin and check out her debut novel When Sleeping Women Wake available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:

• Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
• Purchasing books at our bookshop
• Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:

• Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
• Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Goodreads
• Facebook

The Books & Boba September 2025 pick is A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode, we chat with author Amran Gowani about his debut novel Leverage, a financial thriller about a rising star hedge fund analyst who is forced to dive into the seedy underbelly of the financial system when he loses his firm $300 million in a day and has to make everything back in 3 months or face some dire consequences. Amran chats with us about the themes of his novel as well as shares his inspirations for the story as a former Wall Street analyst!

cw: discussion of themes involving suicidal ideation from 37:46 to 41:51

Follow Amran's writing at www.amrangowani.com and check out his debut novel Leverage available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:

• Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
• Purchasing books at our bookshop
• Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:

• Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
• Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Goodreads
• Facebook

The Books & Boba September 2025 pick is A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode we discuss our August 2025 book club pick The Wangs Vs. The World by Jade Chang, about the (formerly) affluent Wang family who embark on a road trip from from LA to NY after losing everything during the 2008 financial crisis. This is a book that is almost as old as our podcast and has been on our TBR for a long time so we're excited to dive in!

TW: One of the storylines involve a character who's fascination with suicidal ideation is discussed at 1:05:10, if this is a sensitive topic for you, you can bypass this section by skipping ahead to 1:11:03

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:

• Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perks
• Purchasing books at our bookshop
• Rocking our Books & Boba merch

Follow our hosts:

• Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
• Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)

Follow us:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Goodreads
• Facebook

The Books & Boba September 2025 pick is A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective