On this episode, we discuss our March 2023 Book Club Pick, Front Desk by Kelly Yang, a middle grade coming of age novel about young Mia Tang who helps her immigrant parents run a motel in Southern California while dreaming of ways to help her parents achieve their American Dreams. Along the way, Mia encounters many challenges that modern day minorities face, including micro-aggressions from teachers, exploitation from business owners, and prejudices from law enforcement.  *Support the podcast by purchasing books at our bookshop  or by buying Books & Boba merch at our Bonfire store* Follow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
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The Books & Boba April 2023 pick is Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q Sutanto This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

#215 - Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Books & Boba is a book club dedicated to books written by Asian and Asian American authors. We cover a wide range of genres including contemporary, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, YA, nonfiction, thrillers, graphic novels, and memoirs.

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On this episode we chat with author E. L. Shen about her YA coming-of-age novel The Queens of New York, which just had its paperback release. We chat with E. L. about the inspirations for her story about three best friends finding themselves over a summer apart, and dive deep into one of her plot points revolving around a surprisingly modern musical with racist themes. Follow E. L. Shen on Instagram at @elshenwrites and check out her novel The Queens of New York, 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 perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merch
Follow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
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The Books & Boba May 2024 pick is Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

#272 - Author Chat w/ E. L. Shen

On our mid-month check in for May 2024, we recap the latest Asian American publishing announcements, as well as catch up on some book awards news and hot topics on Booktok. We also share some of the live audio that we captured from attendees at the 2024 Long Beach Festival of AAPI Books! Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:Immortal the Blood by Molly X. Chang Maggie and the Story Shadows by Annabelle OhBig Jobs for Little Babies Series by Katrina Moore; illust. by Benson Shum Ex Marks the Spot by Gloria Chao Hairy Man Suit by Haleh MasseyGwei, the Hungry Ghost by Emeline Lee; illust. by Basia TranIn the Country I Love by Alaa Al-BarkawiAi & Aiko and the Little Curve by Peter Draw Binna's Dalgona by Sojung Kim-McCarthy As Long as You Loathe Me by Swati HegdeThe Vastness of Us written by Terisa Siagatonu; illust. by Lucyola LangiSparkles for Sunny: A Lunar New Year Story by Sylvia Chen; illust. by Thai My PhuongRamadan on Rahma Road: Celebrating Food, Family, and Friendship by Razeena Omar Gutta & Faaiza Osman; illust. by Atieh Sohrabi
News stories covered on this episode:Barnes & Noble Children’s & YA Book Awards
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 perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merch
Follow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebook
The Books & Boba May 2024 pick is Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

#271 - May 2024 Book News

On this episode we sit down with author Samira Ahmed about her newest novel This Book Won't Burn, a YA coming-of-age story about a girl who moves to a small town in the middle of her senior year and finds herself embroiled in her town's politics as she finds out that hundreds of books in her school's libraries have been marked for book bans. We chat with Samira about her own experiences taking on book bans across the country as well as her thoughts on the importance of reading diversely.  Follow Samira on Instagram at @sam_aye_ahm and check out her novel This Book Won't Burn, 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 perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merch
Follow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebook
The Books & Boba May 2024 pick is Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

#270 - Author Chat w/ Samira Ahmed

On this episode we discuss our April 2024 book club pick, Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, which follows the story of struggling writer June Hayward who finally finds the publishing success she's always dreamed of... after taking the unfinished transcript of her recently deceased writing bestie, the way more successful Athena Liu, and passing it off as her own. We dive into this provocative novel that explores how far some people are willing to go to be anointed in a system that's rigged from the start. 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 perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merch
Follow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebook
The Books & Boba May 2024 pick is Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

#269 - Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

In honor of next weekend's Festival of AAPI Books (which we will be exhibiting at again), we're sharing some of the conversations we recorded at last year's festival which until now were only available on our Patreon exclusive bonus podcast, Boba Chats! We're excited to share our candid chats with author friends Jessica Kim, Phil Yu, Julie Tieu, and Julie Abe. If you like what you head, consider becoming a Patreon supporter! And if you're in the Long Beach area next weekend, don't forget to come say hi! 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 perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merch
Follow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebook
The Books & Boba April 2024 pick is Yellowface by R.F. Kuang This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

#215 - Front Desk by Kelly Yang

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