Tag: books

13 Books to Read in Celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2023

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! May marks the official celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Established in 1990, the month of May was specifically chosen to commemorate the first Japanese immigrants to arrive in the U.S. in May 1843, as well as to honor the Chinese immigrants who worked to complete the transcontinental railroad in May 1869. (Read more history here!)

In recognizing the varied experiences of all AAPI individuals and communities, we’ve selected 13 books from across different genres to celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander authors from our collections at FSU Libraries. Our list brings together contemporary titles that highlight distinct AAPI voices and raise important questions about culture and identity in the United States. 

From cozy cat mysteries to critical essays, all of the resources included can be checked out or accessed online through our website with an FSUID. Whether you’re in Tallahassee or elsewhere this month, join us in celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with these notable books!

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir

by Michelle Zauner

From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, and complete with family photos, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.

Crying in H Mart is available online through FSU Libraries.

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

A Tale for the Time Being

by Ruth Ozeki

“A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be.”

Full of Ozeki’s signature humor and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.

A Tale for the Time Being is available online through FSU Libraries.

Image and description provided by Amazon.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning

by Cathy Park Hong

Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. A radically honest work of art, Minor Feelings forms a portrait of one Asian American psyche—and of a writer’s search to both uncover and speak the truth.

Minor Feelings is available online through FSU Libraries.

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

The Bad Muslim Discount

by Syed M. Masood

Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, The Bad Muslim Discount is an inclusive, comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America. With deep insight, warmth, and an irreverent sense of humor, Syed M. Masood examines universal questions of identity, faith (or lack thereof), and belonging through the lens of Muslim Americans.

The Bad Muslim Discount is available in the Pop Lit Collection located on the main floor of Strozier Library. 

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

This Is Paradise: Stories

by Kristiana Kahakauwila

In a stunning collection that announces the arrival of an incredible talent, Kristiana Kahakauwila travels the islands of Hawai’i, making the fabled place her own. Exploring the deep tensions between local and tourist, tradition and expectation, façade and authentic self, This Is Paradise provides an unforgettable portrait of life as it’s truly being lived on Maui, Oahu, Kaua’i and the Big Island. 

This is Paradise: Stories is available in the General Collection at Strozier Library. Place a hold online and pick it up at your preferred library! 

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

They Called Us Enemy

by George Takei

A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei’s childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon — and America itself — in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love.

They Called Us Enemy is available in the Graphic Novels Collection by Pop Lit on the main floor of Strozier Library.

Image and description provided by Amazon.

Afterparties: Stories

by Anthony Veasna So

Seamlessly transitioning between the absurd and the tenderhearted, balancing acerbic humor with sharp emotional depth, Afterparties offers an expansive portrait of the lives of Cambodian-Americans. As the children of refugees carve out radical new paths for themselves in California, they shoulder the inherited weight of the Khmer Rouge genocide and grapple with the complexities of race, sexuality, friendship, and family.

Afterparties: Stories is available in the General Collection at Strozier Library. 

Image and description provided by Amazon.

Mimi Lee Gets a Clue

by Jennifer J. Chow

This sassy cat mystery by Jennifer Chow follows the adventures of Mimi Lee, owner of Hollywoof – a new pet grooming business in Los Angeles. When a local breeder is found dead, Mimi must enlist her dreamy neighbor Josh and fluffy cat Marshmallow to clear her name and save her shop. A fun read with plenty of intrigue! 

Mimi Lee Gets a Clue is available in the Pop Lit Collection at Strozier Library. 

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description adapted from Amazon. 

The Incendiaries

by R.O. Kwon

A powerful, darkly glittering novel of violence, love, faith, and loss, as a young woman at an elite American university is drawn into a cult’s acts of terrorism. Haunting and intense, The Incendiaries is a fractured love story that explores what can befall those who lose what they love most.

The Incendiaries is available in the General Collection at Strozier Library. 

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House. 

Not Quite Not White: Losing and Finding Race in America

by Sharmila Sen

At the age of 12, Sharmila Sen emigrated from India to the U.S. The year was 1982, and everywhere she turned, she was asked to self-report her race – on INS forms, at the doctor’s office, in middle school. Never identifying with a race in the India of her childhood, she rejects her new “not quite” designation – not quite white, not quite black, not quite Asian — and spends much of her life attempting to blend into American whiteness. Part memoir, part manifesto, Not Quite Not White is a searing appraisal of race and a path forward for the next not quite not white generation –a witty and sharply honest story of discovering that not-whiteness can be the very thing that makes us American.

Not Quite Not White is available online through FSU Libraries.

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

Everything I Never Told You

by Celeste Ng

“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

Everything I Never Told You is available in the Pop Lit Collection at Strozier Library. 

Image and description provided by Amazon.

All You Can Ever Know

by Nicole Chung

What does it mean to lose your roots—within your culture, within your family—and what happens when you find them? With warmth, candor, and startling insight, Nicole Chung tells of her search for the people who gave her up, which coincided with the birth of her own child. All You Can Ever Know is a profound, moving chronicle of surprising connections and the repercussions of unearthing painful family secrets—vital reading for anyone who has ever struggled to figure out where they belong.

All You Can Ever Know is available online through FSU Libraries.

Image and description provided by Amazon.

Girl Gone Viral

by Alisha Rai

Alisha Rai’s viral novel follows a reclusive Katrina King as she’s flung reluctantly into the spotlight of the Internet. Haunted by her traumatic past, Katrina escapes with her bodyguard Jas Singh into the country for refuge. Looming threats to Katrina’s safety reveal not-so-unrequited feelings, blurring the lines between the duo forever. This is a romantic and exciting read about family, healing, and trust.

Girl Gone Viral is available in the Pop Lit Collection at Strozier Library. 

Image provided by Amazon. Description adapted from Amazon. 

This post was created by Alaina Faulkner, Student Engagement Associate at FSU Libraries.

12 Books to Read This Black History Month

February is Black History Month, and it’s this time every year that we honor, celebrate, and highlight the achievements of African Americans that have helped shape our nation. 

Reading books written by Black authors or about Black history is a great way to amplify those underrepresented voices, learn from personal experiences, and help contextualize systemic issues for those who are not impacted by them firsthand. It can help to deepen our understanding of the ongoing struggle for racial equality and justice, and provide a greater appreciation for black culture. 

If you’re looking for a place to start your journey, we’ve picked out a short list of wonderful reads for Black History Month. These 12 books get to the heart of many of the racial issues from our country’s past, leading into the present, as well as how to make a better future. All of these books freely are available through FSU Libraries. Check out the catalog on our website to search for more titles!

The 1619 Project

by Nikole Hannah-Jones &The New York Times Magazine

The award-winning “1619 Project” issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This new book substantially expands on that work, weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself.

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description provided by The 1619 Project.

Invisible Man

by Ralph Ellison

“Invisible Man” is a thought-provoking and witty story about race that is beautifully narrated by a young, nameless Black man in 1950s America in search of self-knowledge. Readers are taken on a journey from the Deep South to Harlem, where the protagonist experiences horrifying intolerance, cultural blindness and racial bigotry all in an effort to find the true meaning of self-identity.

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description provided by CNN, 2022.

Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

In “Between the World and Me” Ta-Nehisi Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, “Between the World and Me” clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description provided by Random House Group.

The Color Purple

by Alice Walker

Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to “Mister,” a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister’s letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description provided by Lit Lovers.

The Hate U Give

by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Image and description courtesy of Goodreads.

How The Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America

by Clint Smith

Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history, and ourselves. A deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history, “How the Word Is Passed” illustrates how some of our country’s most essential stories are hidden in plain view—whether in places we might drive by on our way to work, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods like downtown Manhattan, where the brutal history of the trade in enslaved men, women, and children has been deeply imprinted.

Image and description courtesy of Goodreads.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

by Michelle Alexander

“The New Jim Crow” is a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status—denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement. The novel challenges the civil rights community—and all of us—to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America.

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description provided by New Jim Crow.

The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap

by Mehrsa Baradarian

When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, the black community owned less than 1 percent of the total wealth in America. More than 150 years later, that number has barely budged. “The Color of Money” seeks to explain the stubborn persistence of this racial wealth gap by focusing on the generators of wealth in the black community: black banks.

Image and description provided by Amazon.

The Underground Railroad

by Colson Whitehead

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned, and Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

Heavy

by Kiese Laymon

In “Heavy,” the author Kiese Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about growing up a hard-headed black son to a complicated and brilliant black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. From his early experiences of sexual violence, to his suspension from college, to his trek to New York as a young college professor, he charts his complex relationship with his mother, grandmother, anorexia, obesity, sex, writing, and ultimately gambling. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, Laymon asks himself, his mother, his nation, and us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free.

Image and description provided by Simon & Schuster.

The Vanishing Half

by Brit Bennett

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?

Image and description provided by Goodreads.

Deacon King Kong

by James McBride

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range. The author brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the residents who witnessed it, the local cops assigned to investigate, and the neighborhood’s Italian mobsters. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion.

Image and description provided by Goodreads.

This blog post was written by Kaylan Williams, Student Engagement Assistant at FSU Libraries.

From Print to Screen

You’ve made it through another school year, congrats! Take time this summer to unwind and enjoy some mindless entertainment. This display features books that made it to the big screens. Take a look at some of the shows and movies that were created from the book and are now available on popular streaming services! 

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FSU Author’s Day 2020

Every year, the FSU Libraries and the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement host FSU Author’s Day to celebrate the published accomplishments by FSU faculty and staff. This year, in lieu of a reception, we are honoring our authors digitally. 

“Every year since we began the FSU Authors Day celebration, people have asked ‘Why the book?’ It is true that FSU faculty publish many more articles than books and that they publish other things, too: films, podcast series, websites, datasets, concerts, and exhibits. However, the book is perhaps the longest-lived form of academic communication and idea exchange,” said Margaret Wright-Cleveland, Office of Faculty Development and Advancement’s director of faculty development. “Its physical presence has grown with the times (e-books and interactive books) while its cultural importance reaches back centuries. These books by FSU authors will bring ideas and beauty to colleagues, students, and the general public for years. We celebrate the effort, the accomplishment, and the conversation. Congratulations, FSU faculty authors.”

The published works displayed below represent endless hours of research and learning as well as sacrifice, dedication, and grit. They also showcase the diversity and variety of scholarship at Florida State University. We congratulate the authors on their hard work and significant contributions to scholarship!

“The Libraries are delighted to recognize and celebrate our FSU Authors. The creation of new knowledge and scholarship is an important achievement and it is especially appropriate for the Libraries to recognize and honor our faculty and preserve their scholarly works,” said Gale Etschmaier, dean of FSU Libraries.

RECOGNIZING THE PUBLISHED WORK OF 
FSU FACULTY AND STAFF

Spoiler Alert: A Critical Guide
Aaron Jaffe 
English Department
Blood Brothers and Peace Pipes: Performing the Wild in German Festivals
Alina Dana Weber
Department of Modern Languages & Linguistics
Assessing Spirituality in a Diversified World
Amy L. Ai (FSU), Paul Wink, Raymond Paloutzian, and Kevin A. Harris
College of Social Work
This Day in Florida History
Andrew Frank (FSU), J. Hendry Miller, and Tarah Luke
Department of History

Continue reading FSU Author’s Day 2020

2018 FLORIDA BOOK AWARDS COMPETITION OPENS WITH CALL FOR ENTRIES

The Florida Book Awards kicks off its 12th annual competition with a call for entries in 11 categories. The Florida Book Awards competition is coordinated through the Florida State University Libraries, with the support of partner organizations from across the state. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 13, 2019
 
Established in 2006, the Florida Book Awards is the most comprehensive state book awards program in the nation.The contest recognizes and celebrates the year’s best books written by Sunshine State residents, with the exception of submissions to the Florida Nonfiction and Visual Arts categories, whose authors may live elsewhere.
 
Contest categories include: Florida Nonfiction, General Fiction, General Nonfiction, Poetry, Popular Fiction, Spanish Language, Visual Arts, Young Adult Literature, Younger Children’s Literature (ages 0-6), Older Children’s Literature (ages 7-12) and Cookbooks.
 
In 2014, the Gwen P. Reichert Gold Medal for Young Children’s Literature was introduced, providing a cash prize for the gold winner in the Younger Children’s Literature category. This award is in memory of Gwen P. Reichert and serves as a lasting tribute to honor her accomplishments as a rare book collector, her dedication to nurturing authors and their audience and her commitment to children’s education.
 
The Richard E. Rice Gold Medal Prize for Visual Arts and the Phillip and Dana Zimmerman Gold Medal Prize for Florida Nonfiction were introduced in 2016.  
 

The Richard E. Rice Gold Medal Prize for Visual Arts supports a $500 prize for the Visual Arts Gold Medal Winner of the Florida Book Awards and serves as tribute to Richard E. Rice, who suffered from life-altering arthritis since childhood and spent a large amount of time in the hospital. From his hospital room, Rice discovered his artistic talent at the age of four and became a lifelong artist. Creating artwork offered Rice comfort, strength and joy, and this prize honors his talent and his commitment to art and to celebrate art and artists.
 
The Phillip and Dana Zimmerman Gold Medal Prize for Florida 
Nonfiction provides a $500 prize for the Gold Medal Winner of this category and serves as a tribute to the donor’s parents, Phillip and Dana Zimmerman, recognizing their deep roots in Florida and their love of Florida’s rich history and culture.
 
Applicants are encouraged to submit their books into competition any time after the competition is launched, and as soon as possible after books are officially published. Entries, which can be submitted by anyone, must be published between Jan. 1, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2018, and have an International Standard Book Number (ISBN).  All entries must be received no later than 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, 2019 (this is not a postmark deadline).
 
Three-person juries –– including members of co-sponsoring organizations, subject experts from the faculties of Florida colleges and universities, and previous Florida Book Award winners –– will choose up to three finalists in each of 11 categories. The jury may award one Gold, Silver and Bronze medal in each category.
 
Co-sponsors of the competition include: Humanities organizations from across the state, such as the Florida Center for the Book, the State Library and Archives of Florida, the Florida Historical Society, the Florida Humanities Council, the Florida Literary Arts Coalition, the Florida Library Association, the Florida Association for Media in Education, the Center for Literature and Theatre @ Miami Dade College, the Florida Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, Friends of FSU Libraries, the Florida Writers Association, the Florida Literacy Coalition and “Just Read, Florida!”
 
The 2018 winners will be announced in early March 2019 and recognized at several events around the state, including an awards banquet in April.
 
Winning books and their authors will be showcased in the summer 2019 issue of FORUM, the statewide magazine of the Florida Humanities Council, and will be featured at book festivals and association conferences throughout the year. In addition, copies of all award-winning books will be put on permanent public display in the Florida Governor’s Mansion library and in Florida State University’s Strozier Library.
 
For general information and the entry form, requirements and detailed submission instructions, visit http://floridabookawards.lib.fsu.edu.
CONTACT: Jenni McKnight, Executive Director, Florida Book Awards
(850) 644-6323; jlmcknight@fsu.edu
 
Chase Miller, Florida Book Awards Communications Director

The Contested Future of the Book, Part 1

*This post is from Abby Scheel, one of our three humanities librarians.

A couple weeks ago I was fortunate enough to represent FSU Libraries at two meetings near Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.  Both meetings dealt in different ways with one of the most contested issues for academic libraries and scholars: the scholarly monograph.  There is so much to share from both meetings that I’m going to break this report-back into two parts.  Today is the Association of Research Libraries Fall Forum: Wanted Dead or Alive – The Scholarly Monograph.

The ARL Fall Forum addressed the future of the book directly and with maximum controversy (see title above). Based on a title like that you might think this is yet another session extolling the demise of the book and the dawn of the age of all things digital. Yes and no. The scholarly monograph is still king in humanities disciplines because of its connection with promotion and tenure. But it’s time to stop privileging the monograph published in print by an academic press over other means of disseminating the “long-form argument.” How to and why do this? What are the ramifications of this move? This was what the presenters all addressed during the daylong forum that included points of view from all sides of the issue, from faculty, librarians, and publishers in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Here are a few of the highlights of the day in my own words: Continue reading The Contested Future of the Book, Part 1