Year of the Asian Reading Challenge | Sign-up and Update post!
I haven’t participated in a reading challenge in a long time but YEAR. OF. THE. ASIAN. How can I not sign up?!
What’s Year of the Asian, Shari?
I’m glad you asked, friend!
Year of the Asian (YARC) is a reading challenge hosted by four amazing book bloggers: CW from The Quiet Pond, Shealea at Shut up, Shealea, Vicky at Vicky Who Reads, and Lily at Sprinkles of Dreams. The goal of this challenge is to read as many books by Asian authors from January 2019 to December 2019. Since Asian lit is near and dear to my heart, I’m going to READ ALL THE BOOKS. From middle grade, YA, to adult fiction/non-fiction across all genres, I want to be intentional about reading them all. :’) *cue Pokémon theme*
If you’re interested in joining this reading challenge, sign up by filling out this form and find all the relevant links for this challenge here. You can join ANY time and it’s never too late to start!
My Targel Level
YARC has six target levels:
- Philippine tarsier: 1 to 10 books read
- Indian cobra: 11 to 20 books read
- Malayan tapir: 21 to 30 books read
- Giant panda: 31 to 40 books read
- Asian elephant: 41 to 50 books read
- Bengali tiger: More than 50 books read
I’m aiming for the Malayan Tapir badge to start but I’m hoping to exceed this number if I can. Let’s see how many I can get to by the end of the year!
Challenge Prompts!
I know these aren’t mandatory but I can never resist a good challenge! Every 3 months, YARC hosts will post monthly prompts that you can tailor your reading choices to. Here’s what they are so far:
January – Family: Read a book written by an Asian author that features strong family themes, whether it’s sibling or multi-generational.
February – Tropes: Read a book that features a trope that you love.
March – Challenge: Read a book in which the narrative or main character challenges something and inspires change.
What I’m Reading
January
Dear America: Notes from an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas*
Cranesong by Rona Wang
Descendant of the Crane by Joan He
(Family prompt)
February
New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color Edited by Nisi Shawl
Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan
(Trope prompt – Friendship!)
Everlasting Nora by Marie Miranda Cruz*
March
Angel de la Luna and the 5th Glorious Mystery by M. Evelina Galang*
Jade City by Fonda Lee
Brown Skin, White Minds: Filipino -/ American Postcolonial Psychology by E.J.R. David*
(Challenge prompt)
April
Pilu of the Woods by Mai K. Nguyen
The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
May
Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando by Andrea Wang
Lalani of the Distant Sea by Erin Entrada Kelly*
Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump by Asad Haider
June
The Wolf of Oren-yaro by K.S. Villoso*
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
The House That Lou Built by Mae Respicio*
July
Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love Edited by Elsie Chapman*
A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers by Alyssa Wong*
August
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay*
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation by Kyo Maclear
September
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim*
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
October
My Fate According to the Butterfly by Gail D. Villanueva*
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
November
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
The Mango Bride by Marivi Soliven*
December
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman*
*Books and short stories by Filipino authors.
I’m reading 14 stories by FILIPINO writers! I’ve never read that many from Filipino authors in one year and IT’S ABOUT TIME I do. I’m so glad to discover many of these titles from book bloggers who continue to share and talk about them. I’ve read tons of great books because of the blogging community and as cliché as it sounds it’s been life-changing.
If you spot a book on my list that you’d like to buddy read, let me know!
Here’s some recommendations I’ve received so far:
Books
- From Petrik @ Novel Notions: The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
- From Kelsea @anovelescape on Instagram: Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa
- From Mooni @bookandmoon on Instagram:
- Half a Lifetime Romance by Eileen Chang
- Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twang Eng
- Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata
- Dogs at the Perimeter by Madeleine Thien
- Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
- Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
- Translation of Love by Lynn Kutsukake
- Lips Too Chilled by Matsuo Basho
- The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura
- From Abbie @ab_reads on Instagram:
- Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
- Severance by Ling Ma
- From Rachel @literaeryme on Instagram:
- By Madeleine Thien
- Do Not Say We Have Nothing
- Simple Recipes
- By Madeleine Thien
Authors
- Aliette de Bodard
- Yoon Ha Lee
- JY Yang
- Sarah Kuhn
- Zen Cho
- Wesley Chu
- Jenny Mai Nguyen
- Tasha Suri
- Cixin Liu
Tracking My Progress
- I’m going to update this post as the year goes. I don’t own most of these titles so I’m hoping my library will have them!
- I will use a dedicated hashtag on Instagram (and Twitter if I remember) under #SharisYARC2019
What about you?
Can you think of other books by Asian authors that I can read this year?
Are you joining the YARC 2019 Reading Challenge? If so, tell me about some of the books you’re planning on reading!
I have no idea about this challenge. Thanks for sharing it! I’ll definitely join. ♥
Yay, Kath! I’m so glad you’re joining! 😍
It’s so cool to see what books you’re planning to read and I can’t wait to see what you think of them all. I might join too, but I’ll see how this reading slump feel goes… (I was actually thinking I might pick up Invisible Planets soon because short stories might be a way to help me read but without the investment of a full length book?! And as well as being a good pick for this reading challenge, the book was also a gift and I do want to read my gifts more promptly, hehe).
Join me, Steph! 😀 You can read as little as 1 book, to as many you want! I’m sorry you’re in a slump though, those are always tough to get out of. Let me know how you like Invisible Planets! I don’t think I’ve heard of that one.
I was actually thinking about this on my way to work and you’re right, why would I not sign up?! And Invisible Planets is a Chinese sci-fi collection edited by Ken Liu! But I also remembered that I haven’t read The Black Tides of Heaven yet, so maybe I could try that first. Decisions, decisions 😄
YESSS! Right? Really no reason not to do it! 😀
OH. Now that you mention it’s edited by Ken Liu I feel like I’ve seen Invisible Planets before. I’ve heard amazing things about JY Yang, so I’d be very interested to see what you think of TBToH!
Exactly! Silly me. 🤦🏻♀️😂
Yes! I’m also interested in his collection The Paper Menagerie. And I’m definitely curious about Yang’s work!
Always up to buddy read TPM, if you like! 😘
I’m always up for a buddy read! I don’t have a copy of the book yet, but I see I have until August to get it, so that’s fine. 😁
Hi Shari,
Noticed there’s a small mistake in my recommendations.
Ghost Bride by Lynn Kutsukake should be two books:
Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo, and the second is Translation of Love, by Lynn Kutsukake.
Ohh, thank you! Will make that correction. 🙂
I’d be up for buddy reading pretty much any of the MG books! It just depends what I can get at the library.
I definitely have more recommendations! (Sorry it’s taken so long, I was gone when you posted this.)
Contemporary:
American Panda
The Astonishing Color of After
Starfish
SFF:
Beauty, Glory, Thrift (short story)
author — JY Yang
The Book of M
The Epic Crush of Genie Lo
Girls of Paper and Fire
Jade City
Mystery/thriller:
Six Four
author – Kazuaki Takano
author – Keigo Higashino