NWNY summer reading list
Here are the books our team loves or is excited to read this season
Summer is officially here. It’s time to go outdoors – preferably with a pile of books (or a tablet). We asked our staff and our team of volunteers for summer reading suggestions about the immigrant experience. Our selection is as diverse as our community and includes just released titles and a couple of older favorites. The list has fiction and nonfiction — novels, memoirs, poetry, cookbooks, short stories and children’s books.
Whether you’re searching for an easy read for the beach, something to enjoy with your little ones or a more thought-provoking title, we’ve rounded up 10 books to keep you reading all summer. Select your favorite genre and enjoy! All books in this list are available for free at the New York Public Library.
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NOVELS
Americanah
(Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Anchor Books, $16)
The most mentioned title by the NWNY team, this novel is also one of Barack Obama’s summer reading picks. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tackles the universal issues of belonging and identity in a story about two young people in love who leave military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Ifemelu heads for the United States, where she achieves academic success. But she is also forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time, starting with seemingly trivial visits to a hair salon. Obinze goes to London, where he starts a dangerous and undocumented life. The couple had hopes to be together, but America is closed to him in the aftermath of 9/11. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion for each other and their native country.
Everyone Knows You Go Home
(Natalia Sylvester, Little A, $14.95)
In a Texas border town, Isabel meets her father-in-law, Omar, on her wedding day as an apparition — he is already dead. Her husband, Martin, still grieves for being abandoned by his father. Omar asks Isabel to persuade his family to let him redeem himself. He returns each year on the celebratory Day of the Dead. Through his visits, Isabel finds out the truth about his disappearance and her husband’s childhood. When Martin’s teenage nephew crosses the Mexican border and stays at the couple’s place, questions about border crossing, belonging and family division arise. But these questions may finally lead to forgiveness and to a change in the family’s life.
Behold the Dreams
(Imbolo Mbue, Penguin Random House, $17)
In the fall of 2007, Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian living in New York City, gets a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a top executive in the investment bank Lehman Brothers. Jende’s wife, Neni, lands a temporary job at the Edwards’ summer home in the Hamptons. The couple is optimistic about their future, but soon they will face the dark side of the American dream. When the bank collapses, triggering a global financial crisis, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende’s job — even as their marriage threatens to fall apart.
MEMOIR
The Body Papers
(Grace Talusan, Restless Books, $22.99)
Born in the Philippines, little Grace moves with her family to a New England suburb in the 1970s. At school, she is one of the few brown kids. At home, her grandfather makes nightly visits to her bedroom, leaving her terrified. Following her Catholic family’s playbook, she stays silent. As a teenager, she learns that her family is undocumented. Later in life, Grace discovers a cancer —she must decide whether to undergo preventive surgeries to remove her breasts and ovaries. Despite years of trauma and abuse, Grace finds love, gets married and achieves professional success. She even returns to the Philippines on a fellowship and revisits her family’s home. This memoir about trauma, illness and immigration weaves recollections along with immigration papers, legal certificates and medical tests results to find unexpected points of connection. It is a celebration of human resilience.
SHORT STORIES
Interpreter of Maladies
(Jhumpa Lahiri, Mariner Books, $12.25)
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, this debut collection travels from India to America and back again, unveiling the emotional journeys of characters struggling with their identity and seeking love beyond national barriers. The title is taken from one of the stories, which documents a young Indian-American family’s trip to India. They are escorted by a local guide and translator, a middle-aged man who acutely observes the family’s manner, attire and interactions — so different from his own. Lahiri, who is also the author of Unaccustomed Earth, speaks with eloquence to everyone who has ever grappled with identity, ethnicity and belonging.
POETRY
Ink Knows No Borders – Poemos of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience
(Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond, org., Triangle Square, $15.95 – paperback)
Language barriers, homesickness, stereotyping, isolation, but also discovery, love, and learning. This collection of 64 poems by poets from all over the world encompasses the struggles and joys of the immigrant and refugee experience. While it is targeted for teens and young adults, it also captivates an older audience, who will find echoes of themselves in the empathetic voices in the book, from Dominican-American Elizabeth Acevedo and Pakistani Fatimah Asghar to Chinese Chen Chen.
COOKBOOKS
Heirloom Kitchen: Heritage Recipes and Family Stories from the Tables of Immigrant Women
(Anna Francese Gass, Harper Collins, $29.99)
Born in Italy, professional cook Anna Francese Gass came to the United States as a young child and grew up eating her mother’s Italian cooking. When she realized she did not know how to make her family’s signature meatballs, Anna started to record her mother’s recipes and life stories in Italy. Curious about the tales, she began reaching out to her friends, whose mothers were also immigrants. Eventually, Anna brought together the dishes of 40 fascinating immigrant women.They also share their personal stories of immigration — recollections that show how food is a powerful comfort in a new country, as well as a bond to one’s identity.
Indian-ish: Recipes and Antics from a Modern American Family
(Priya Krishna with Ritu Krishna, Houghton Mifflin, $28)
Ritu Krishna, an executive at a software company, taught herself how to cook after moving from India to the United States. She created one-of-a-kind recipes merging Indian flavors, her travels, inspiration from cooking shows and her children’s requests for American favorites. Her inventions — easy to make and packed with flavors — are Indian-American mashups but also a homage to the diversity of American food. Dishes and drinks like roti pizza, Indian ribollita and “limeade” (a twist on the beloved American lemonade) are included in this book, which is filled with funny and relatable stories that she wrote with her daughter, food writer Priya Krishna.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Marwan’s Journey
(Patricia de Arias and Laura Borràs, Minedition, $17.99)
Beautifully illustrated in ink and watercolor, this picture book follows a young refugee boy, Marwan, seeking a new home. With him are thousands of other people, crossing the deserts and the seas, fleeing war and poverty in search of a better future. Despite the uncertainty and the fear, Marwan finds his way thanks to his courage, hope and memories of a faraway homeland. His story is relatable to anyone on a journey to find a place to call home. Age: 5 to 7.
La Frontera/The Border: EL Viaje con Papa/My Journey with Papa
(Alfredo Alva and Deborah Mills, Barefoot Books, $17.99)
In this English-Spanish book, Alfredo Alva recollects a difficult childhood journey from his Mexican village home to Texas. His reminiscences include fear, exhaustion, hunger and thirst, but also a great deal of hope. Under President Reagan’s amnesty for undocumented immigrants in 1986, he gains citizenship along with his father, and the rest of the family is able to come to the U.S. Lively acrylic, graphite and digital collages accompany the narrative. After the story, pages full of information on border and immigration issues give broader context on this timely topic. Ages: 3 to 11.
Prices refer to the hardcover version, unless indicated otherwise, and were provided by publishing houses between June 8 and July 8.
