Books and Boba

For our mid-month book news check in for April 2026, we catch up on the latest Asian American publishing announcements as well as check in on some distressing news for our legacy Kindles. Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news: The Library of Lost Time by Vaishnavi Patel BoxBoxBoxBox by Wan Sakamoto Mama's Magical Hands by Yu An Xie The Kids Came Back Wrong edited by Wen-yi Lee Crush by S...

On this episode, we're very excited to bring you an author chat with Rachel Khong, author of our September 2017 book club pick Goodbye Vitamin (episode 28), to talk about her latest book, My Dear You , a short story collection featuring a genre-spanning stories exploring themes of identity, relationships, and time. From a story about missed connections and a cat that conjures the ghosts of ex-boyf...

We sit down for an author chat with Lisa Lee to talk with her about about her debut novel American Han , a Korean American family drama about the Kims, a family whose members are each going through their own personal crises. When an even bigger crisis occurs the whole family is forced to come together and deal with the consequences of decades of built up resentment and estrangement, all stemming f...

On this episode, we discuss our March 2026 Book Club Pick, Butter by Asako Yuzuki, a story of food and murder following a Japanese journalist who begins a professional relationship with a convicted serial killer, charged with the murders of three domestic partners, in hopes of getting an exclusive interview. However, she ends up getting more than she bargained for as she gets sucked into the kille...

For our mid-month book news check in for March 2026, we catch up on the latest Asian American publishing announcements as well as check in on the ongoing fight against book bans: The Carlton Girls: Casey and the Cruel Thief by Julie Abe The Goodfolke Family by Roshani Chokshi P.S. Are We Friends Now? by John Schu and Jasmine Warga My Neighbor Yokai by noho Fall, in Love by Mia Kayla The Gravedigge...

On this episode, we discuss our February 2026 book club pick, Behind Frenemy Lines by Zen Cho, a romantic comedy about two Asian lawyers in London who share an (kinda?) adversarial relationship who end up sharing an office and perhaps become something more as they find themselves in a pseudo fake relationship to help with each other's personal troubles. We read Zen Cho's Regency era fantasy romanc...

Happy New Year! On our first mid-month book news check-in episode for the year of the horse, we go over a hefty list of latest Asian American publishing news as the publishing industry revs back into gear after the holidays. Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news: Blur the Lines by Kanitha P. Paper Ghosts by Samantha Chong Cold Blood by Aashna Avachat Untitled Contemporary YA By Jesmeen K...

Happy New Year! We ring in the Year of the Horse with an exciting author chat with Lillian Li (author of past book club pick #1 Chinese Restaurant), who joins us to chat about her newest novel Bad Asians , a coming of age story following four childhood friends who all move home after graduating college in 2008 after their well laid plans were derailed by the great recession. They inadvertently bec...

On this episode, we sit down with Yosha Gunasekera to chat about her debut novel, The Midnight Taxi . A murder mystery following a true crime loving Sri Lankan American cab driver who ends up accused of murder when a passenger ends up mysteriously murdered in her cab. Yosha shares with us her personal journey to writing her novel as well as how she drew from her experience as an attorney for The I...

On this episode, we discuss our January 2026 (and patron's choice) pick, Reef by Romesh Gunesekera, a historical fiction novel about a boy who grows up as the personal cook and housekeeper for a wealthy marine biology enthusiast in Sri Lanka, blissfully and willingly unaware that the world outside the walls of his residence is slowly descending into chaos in the years leading up to Sri Lanka's civ...

On our first mid-month book news check-in episode for 2026, we go over the latest Asian American publishing news from the holiday season, as well as check out some of January's new releases from Asian and Asian American authors. Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news: Death Wish by Lilly Lu What Hungers in the Dark by Monika Kim How to Crash a Kite by Ellie Peterson Tokki's Tricks by Aram...

Hey everyone! We're back from our holiday break for our first podcast of 2026 and we're finally discussing our December 2025 Book Club Pick Blackmail and Bibingka by Mia P. Manansala. A X'mas themed cozy mystery (but actually a story about family and Filipino noms). At this point, we're kind of murder mystery connoisseurs so this was the perfect end of year treat for us. Fun fact, we did an author...

On our final mid-month book news episode in 2025, we review some of the latest Asian American publishing announcements, and weigh in on some recent book tea for December 2025! Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news: Light and Thread by Han Kang When We Swallowed the Sea by Janet Hong Limitlessly, Mina by Gianna Lakenauth Take to the Sky by Christina Soontornvat Not Again, Dragon Chen! by...

On this episode we discuss our November 2025 book club pick, Taiwan Travelogue  by Shuang-zi Yang, translated by Lin King, a historical fiction novel (with a meta-fiction twist) about a Japanese travel writer invited to write about the imperial colony of Taiwan by the Japanese government in the 1930's, and follows her budding relationship with her Taiwanese translator as they eat through the...

On this episode, we chat with bestselling author Lyla Lee to chat about her new YA romance novel,  The Cuffing Game , a modern Korean American take on the timeless enemy-to-lovers tale Pride & Prejudice, remixed with the chaotic reality TV energy of Love Island about an aspiring student producer who reluctantly recruits her crush to participate in the college dating show she is producing....

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 Th...

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 an...

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 danger...

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...

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...

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 expel...

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...

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 g...

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...

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...