pachinko – She Lit

A nonprofit collective of Asian cultural leaders has launched a book club to study works exploring the Asian identity.

Los Angeles-based Gold House started a book club this month after a pilot event over the summer with award-winning author Amy Tan discussing her best-known novel The Joy Luck Club. The Facebook event featured the author accompanied by actresses Lauren Tom, Ming-Na Wen, Rosalind Chao, and Tamlyn Tomita who all brought the daughters of the book to life in the 1993 motion picture.

“This has been a year of reckoning for race in America, and many APIs have re-examined what it means to be Asian American,” said Gold House Book Club director Cindy Joung in the book club’s announcement. “We recognized this unique and galvanizing opportunity to create space for our community to explore the issues that inform our identity by leveraging the rich catalog of stories written by API authors. We’re excited to contribute these moments of discussion and introspection while highlighting our representation in the literary landscape.”

The book club will offer a series of curated book lists and virtual events with a focus to “help Asian Americans better understand their identity and culture in today’s political and social climate,” according to the announcement. The inaugural list features six books selected by an advisory council of Asian American writers including Amy Tan, activists, and academics. The book club is also highlighting children’s books to help spark conversations with families.

For October, the book club is reading Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas in honor of Filipino American History Month. The monthly theme is immigrant journeys.

For November, the book selection is Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong. The monthly theme is to unravel the definition of being Asian American.

For December, the book selection is How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee. The monthly theme is intersectional identities.

For January, the book selection is American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. The monthly theme is coming of age and coming of identity.

For February, the book selection is Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. The monthly theme is historical fiction about motherlands.

For March, the book selection is The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. The monthly theme is bridging generations and biculturalism.

Celeb Bookwomen Announce Their June Book Club Picks

Here’s a quick roundup of the celebrity-helmed book clubs and their June books:

Actress and producer Reese Witherspoon chooses The Cactus by Sarah Haywood for Hello Sunshine.

“Susan, our main character, navigates a love triangle, family drama, and being pregnant for the first time at 45. Hope y’all love Susan as much as I do!,” Reese said in the announcement.

Sarah also wrote an exclusive essay for Hello Sunshine about the themes resonating through her novel.

NBC correspondent and former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager chooses Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok for Today Show Book Club.

“It’s a mystery,” Jenna said in the announcement. “Sylvie Lee is the main character and she’s a golden child. She disappears. The story unfolds as her family copes and discovers all the secrets surrounding her life.” She added the team unveiled the book club pick later than usual because the book was released on June 4.

Belletrist, the book blog administered by actress Emma Roberts and producer Karah Preiss, also chose Searching for Sylvie Lee for June with its branded digestible interview with the author.

Actress Emma Roberts’ Our Shared Shelf on Goodreads is still reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, a book the bimonthly book club chose in May. The book also is a National Book Award Finalist and now available in paperback.

“Min Jin Lee is unabashedly a feminist and her resilient female characters propel this riveting story,” the book club wrote in its announcement. “Lee has written a moving, historical saga that is also a timeless masterpiece; almost 500 pages long, and we didn’t want it to end. This brilliant, eye-opening novel is about outsiders, minorities, the disenfranchised and yet somehow embraces us all.”

Indie rock pop band Florence + The Machine is reading three books for its Between Two Books club: Read and Riot by artist, activist, and Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova; My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter by Aja Monet; and The Terrible by Yrsa Daley-Ward.

“The title of Yrsa Daley-Ward’s book, ‘The Terrible,’ can mean different things to each reader. It can be a feeling you can’t quite word. It can describe depression. It can refer to the things you fear,” the book club tweeted June 6.

Side note: Florence + The Machine’s 2011 album Ceremonials is a wonderfully lyrical and musical album for a writing session.