On My Wishlist - 02/06/2010 + Interview on Reading in Color

(Meme from Book Chick City)

Now, I usually just do Wishlist Wednesday or Waiting on Wednesday, but some of these titles I'm way too excited about to bother waiting for next week to happen. So On My Wishlist it is!

Crossing by Andrew Xia Fukuda

A loner in his all-white high school, Chinese-born Xing (pronounced “Shing”) is a wallflower longing for acceptance. His isolation is intensified by his increasingly awkward and undeniable crush on his only friend, the beautiful and brilliant Naomi Lee. Xing’s quiet adolescent existence is rattled when a series of disappearances rock his high school and fear ripples through the blue collar community in which he lives. Amidst the chaos surrounding him, only Xing, alone on the sidelines of life, takes notice of some peculiar sightings around town. He begins to investigate with the hope that if he can help put an end to the disappearances, he will finally win the acceptance for which he has longed. However, as Xing draws closer to unveiling the identity of the abductor, he senses a noose of suspicion tightening around his own neck. While Xing races to solve the mystery and clear his name, Crossing hurtles readers towards a chilling climax.

+ Soooooo buying this. *marks April down on calendar* Seriously, this is literally the only YA debut novel with an Asian protagonist as far as I can tell. And that's pretty damn sad. (MG debuts fair a little better... As in, they have 2 titles instead of just one this year. Something tells me the other genres/categories of fiction isn't going to fair much better.) I could, you know, spend my time bitching about the lack of Asian representation, OR I could go and buy this novel. =D Besides, putting all that aside, there's mystery and LGBT content and it looks like this book will be epic. =D

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history.

With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate - and gods and mortals - are bound inseparably together.

+ I've been trying to avoid getting sucked into buying this novel, because I told myself, "Dude, you seriously do not need to get into epic fantasy right now. Epic fantasies suck out your soul." As in, once I get suckered in I can never leave. Such is the power epic fantasy wields over my being. But then I read her sample chapters on the author's site and got to the 3rd chapter and was like, "Damn, I can't say no to this novel anymore." SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 3: [I was a goner the moment our protagonist Yeine went up against a crazed god chocking another child-god and was like "Stop it!" and then the god's response was to eventually let go of the kid, and make out with Yeine. ♥ HOW CAN I SAY NO TO THAT?! Gawd, I'm shipping them already and the book isn't even out yet. *has a Thing for Messed-Up Star-Crossed Love*]. After reading the sample chapters, I was basically like "WOE, WHY IS THIS BOOK NOT IN MY HANDS RIGHT THIS INSTANT" and Feb. 26th can't come fast enough.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Jin Wang starts at a new school where he’s the only Chinese-American student. When a boy from Taiwan joins his class, Jin doesn’t want to be associated with an FOB like him. Jin just wants to be an all-American boy, because he’s in love with an all-American girl. Danny is an all-American boy: great at basketball, popular with the girls. But his obnoxious Chinese cousin Chin-Kee’s annual visit is such a disaster that it ruins Danny’s reputation at school, leaving him with no choice but to transfer somewhere he can start all over again. The Monkey King has lived for thousands of years and mastered the arts of kung fu and the heavenly disciplines. He’s ready to join the ranks of the immortal gods in heaven. But there’s no place in heaven for a monkey. Each of these characters cannot help himself alone, but how can they possibly help each other? They’re going to have to find a way—if they want fix the disasters their lives have become.

+ From the whole Amazon vs. MacMillan debacle (Scott Westerfeld has a good write-up of it here), I decided to comb through the YA POC books MacMillan published that I'd be interested in buying. And lo behold, this gem of a GN came up! I saw some of the strips online and it looks like a winner. Besides, I've been meaning to read some of Gene Luen Yang's comics for quite some time, and this looks like a good place to start off.

Skunk Girl by Sheba Karim

If Nina Khan were to rate herself on the unofficial Pakistani prestige point system – the one she’s sure all the aunties and uncles use to determine the most attractive marriage prospects for their children – her scoring might go something like this:

+2 points for getting excellent grades
–3 points for failing to live up to expectations set by genius older sister
+4 points for dutifully obeying parents and never, ever going to parties, no matter how antisocial that makes her seem to everyone at Deer Hook High
–1 point for harboring secret jealousy of her best friends, who are allowed to date like normal teenagers
+2 points for never drinking an alcoholic beverage
–10 points for obsessing about Asher Richelli, who talks to Nina like she’s not a freak at all, even though he knows that she has a disturbing line of hair running down her back
In this wryly funny debut novel, the smart, sassy, and utterly lovable Nina Khan tackles friends, family, and love, and learns that it’s possible to embrace two very different cultures – even if things can get a little bit, well, hairy.

+ Another MacMillan title I'd be interested in buying. If you read the excerpt you'll get what I mean. Very funny, from what I can see, and I heard good things in general about this novel. =D But don't take my word for it, read the excerpt for yourself.

ETA: lawl I almost forgot to link. Ari from Reading in Color interviewed me about this blog and you can read it here. I talk about myself in length, so I guess if you wanna know me a little better, you can go there. =D