May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the rich, diverse cultures and histories that have shaped so much of our world.
As someone with Korean heritage, I'm always drawn to books that reflect my own experiences and family history (and yes, a few on this list hit very close to home!). But one of my favorite things about reading is how it opens doors to cultures beyond our own.
So, as some inspiration for you and your club, I've rounded up some of the books by an author with Asian heritage that my personal book clubs have read and would recommend. Whether you're looking to honor the month with intention or simply find your next great read, there's something here for everyone.
Have you read any of these titles? What books by Asian authors has your book club loved? Are you reading anything special for AAPI Heritage Month this year, and what would you recommend to my clubs?
What is Asian American Heritage Month?
In the United States, Asian American heritage has been officially celebrated for almost 50 years. It began as a weeklong observance in 1979 before expanding to a full month in 1990.
May was chosen to honor two milestone dates: the first recorded Japanese immigration to the US on May 7, 1843, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869 (a monumental achievement built largely by Chinese immigrant laborers).
In 2009, President Obama expanded the name to Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, ensuring Americans with roots in Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, and other Pacific Islands were fully recognized.
Canada has celebrated Asian Heritage Month since the 1990s as well, with an official declaration signed in 2002
Books by Asian diaspora authors that my book club recommends
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Pachinko traces multiple generations of a Korean family living in Korea and Japan from the early 1900s onward, in a story that echoes my own family history. My great-grandfather moved his family to Japan around the same time, and yes, members of my family worked in a pachinko parlor. My grandmother was in the first graduating class of her Tokyo university to admit Koreans, but was still unable to secure work, facing much of the same discrimination and hardship as the family at the center of this novel.
While I was personally thrilled to read a story that shed light on the history my family lived through, it's safe to say my entire club adored this book. We even had the chance to take a club excursion together to hear author Min Jin Lee speak at the Free Library of Philadelphia. If you haven't read Pachinko yet, put it at the top of your list. And if you're already a fan, mark your calendar: Lee's long-awaited next novel, American Hagwon, is releasing this September.
Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan
A searing account of a family and country torn apart by civil war, Brotherless Night is told from the point of view of Sashi, a minority Tamil teenage girl turned medical student in 1980s Sri Lanka. Tender, powerful, and devastating, this novel illuminates a world in which violence causes good people to do bad things and there are no easy answers.
This acclaimed book, winner of both the Carol Shields Prize and the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2024, was another club favorite, garnering "best book I've read all year" accolades. Heavily researched, it reads almost like a memoir. It sheds light on the role of women in wartime, and will make you question the way in which we throw around terms like "terrorism." Though it centers a past conflict that many may not be familiar with, the echoes for our time are clear, guaranteeing a thought-provoking book discussion.
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Like Brotherless Night, this Booker Prize-winning novel is set during the Sri Lankan civil war, but takes a completely different angle. A satirical work of magical realism, it follows Maali Almeida, a war photographer and self-proclaimed "gambler and slut," as he sets out to solve the mystery of his own death after waking up in a beaurocratic celestial visa office with no idea who killed him.
This surreal, genre-spanning novel takes a manic, darkly comedic slant to expose government complicity in the brutality of the civil war. Another surefire discussion generator.
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
As avid readers, my book club loves books about books and reading, and this novel by Ruth Ozeki (author of the also excellent A Tale for the Time Being) fit the bill. Its protagonist is a teenage boy who has recently lost his father, and who begins to hear the clamorous voices of inanimate objects, including this book itself, which narrates his life. The library, where objects are quiet and well-behaved, becomes his respite.
It's hard to fully describe this book, so I'll just start by saying that I loved it. Beautiful, tender, sad, and funny all at once, it's a coming-of-age story that delves into grief and loss, first love, mental illness, the power of books and reading, consumerism and our relationship to objects, and Zen philosophy (the author is a Zen nun, among many other hats).
Sprinkled with magical realism (or maybe it is all real, and the rest of us simply don't have ears sensitive enough to hear!), this is a book to be cherished. The one caveat for book clubs is that it is long and could have used some tightening, but it is absolutely worth the read.
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
In A Place For Us, an Indian Muslim family prepares for their eldest daughter’s wedding, one chosen of love, not tradition. A moving portrait of what it means to be an American family today.
Mirza's book gets to a universal truth: To be part of a family is to learn how to be more than one person, how to remain an individual while fulfilling the duties we have to those who love us, who made us. It is almost never easy; it is sometimes, in fact, impossible. A Place for Us is a stunning novel about love, compassion, cruelty and forgiveness — the very things that make families what they are.
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Reading this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel with my book club in 2021 was actually a reread for me, having read it when it was first published in 2015. Since then, it has also been turned into an acclaimed miniseries starring Hoa Xuande and Robert Downey Jr.
This dark comedy follows an unnamed narrator in exile in California after the end of the Vietnam War. A man of divided loyalties, he becomes a cultural advisor on an American film production set during the war. The novel is dense but exhilarating and spans multiple genres: mystery, spy novel, war novel, absurdist satire.
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
This debut book from the lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Japanese Breakfast explores her grief at losing her mother to pancreatic cancer.
Zauner, who like me is half-Korean, also traces the shifts in her sense of identity over the years. When her mother becomes ill, she cares for her by cooking Korean comfort food.
This book is about mother-daughter relationships, about the weight of parental expectations, about cultural identity and the immigrant experience, and about food. The extended descriptions of Korean cuisine may feel like too much, or make your mouth water.
Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi
This novel about two estranged sisters, technically categorised as YA, was a surprise hit for my book club. This is one of those books that has you both laughing and crying - and then really got our club talking. I really appreciated this book for being an engaging, modern, character-driven book about young people while also hitting into some very serious themes including self-confidence and self-perception, racism, family and especially sibling dynamics, and the toll of eating disorders.
We liked it so much that we recently picked up Choi's debut novel, Emergency Contact (which was enjoyable but not as layered as Yolk).
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
This stunning beautiful debut novel by poet Ocean Vuong takes the form of a letter from a Vietnamese American son to his illiterate mother. The gay protagonist, Little Dog, navigates his relationship with his abusive mother—who has her own traumatic back story—while exploring his own identity, sexuality, and place in America as a first-generation immigrant.
This book was divisive in my club. The non-linear narrative structure of this boundary-pushing novel was not for everyone, but those who liked it really loved it (ranking the novel as an all-time favorite). We all agreed that the poetic prose was beautiful. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity.
Exhalation by Ted Chiang
My book club loves to read short stories during busy times of the year, as there's plenty to discuss even if not everyone managed to finish the book. There are few books we've read that are more thought-provoking than Chiang's science fiction collection. He experiments with a variety of styles, to differing degrees of success, but every story will make you consider some aspect of humanity, and some will stay with you for days and weeks to come.
The nine stories in the collection explore topics like free will and choice, bioethics, time travel, and the nature of humanity.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
This was one of the first books my Philadelphia book club read, and it set a high bar for future picks! It's the story of twin brothers originally born to an Indian nun who dies in childbirth, and a brash British surgeon who then abandons them. It moves from Ethiopia to New York City and back, and covers a large span of the brothers' life as they approach medicine in different ways, are estranged and eventually reunited.
The author's own training and love for the medical field shines through, though at times contributes to the novel feeling overly long.
My club later read My Own Country, the author's memoir of practicing as an immigrant physician in the rural American South during the AIDS epidemic. And Verghese's latest novel, the epic Covenant of Water, was a top book club pick in 2025.
Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri
Interpreter of Maladies is one of my absolute favorite short story collections, and it's always a pleasure to pick up any of this Pulitzer Prize-winner's work.
Whereabouts is a bit of a departure for the British-American author, who moved to Rome in 2012. She wrote the short novel in Italian, and then translated it into English herself. It's a dreamy, contemplative work that follows a solitary, unnamed narrator as she travels around an unnamed European city. There's little plot, but the prose is beautiful and the interior life of the narrator is rich. I loved it, but can understand why some others found it difficult to get into.
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
An absolutely heart-breaking memoir by neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi, documenting his battle against stage IV metastatic lung cancer in his thirties. It was published posthumously in 2016. Kirkus describes the book as "a moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity," and I couldn't agree more. Highly recommended.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
This 700-page epic follows four friends in New York City, centering on Jude, whose traumatic past gradually unfolds in devastating detail. I don't think I've ever cried so much while reading a book.
In recent years, the novel has sparked debate about whether it crosses the line into "trauma porn." While I was deeply moved by Yanagihara's exploration of friendship, love, and survival, I hesitate to recommend it without serious content warnings. It's emotionally brutal, and the length makes it a challenging book club pick. But for those who can handle its intensity, it's an unforgettable examination of how we carry our wounds and how love can persist even in the darkest circumstances.
What Asian books have moved you or your book club? I'd love to hear your recommendations in the comments below.
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