I knew Afong Moy was a real person. What I didn’t realize was how little of her life is actually documented. Bo Wang takes those fragments and builds a historical novel about survival, identity and who gets to tell a woman’s story.

I thought Love at Least was going to be a quick love story. Instead, Yukiko Motoya’s novella became a painful, complicated look at depression, love and what it means to live beside someone whose suffering you cannot fix.

I expected Kim Myeong-sun's poetry to feel distant after more than a century. Instead, Fruit of Life, translated by Eunice Lee, felt remarkably immediate, filled with longing, loneliness, love, grief and a voice I could hear clearly.

Funny, warm and unexpectedly sweet, How Can My Manager Be So Stupid? looks at bookstore life, workplace frustrations and how little we may actually know about the people we work beside every day.

I finished The Woman in the Purple Skirt wondering what was real. The more I thought about its point of view, the more I realized that uncertainty was exactly what kept me thinking.

I had read Sora Kim-Russell’s name many times without realizing how much of her work was already on my shelves. For Women in Translation Month, we talked about working with authors, the creative decisions behind translation, invisible care work, editing, and what translation has meant for her own writing.

A recommendation put The Specters of Algeria on my TBR. When it appeared again during Women in Translation Month, I took the hint. Hwang Yeo Jung’s novel starts small and gradually opens into something much stranger.

I went into Mothersucker expecting dark vampire horror. What surprised me was how much of the real horror came from the violence women live with, and how satisfying it was to watch someone finally make sure there were consequences.

Robin Ha’s comic cookbook looked adorable from the start, but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite this useful. After turning the review into a family affair and testing five recipes, I’m definitely not finished cooking from it.

I expected another café book built from loosely connected stories. Instead, Café. Waiting. Love. let me stay with Si-ying long enough to watch her grow up.

I first noticed Shanna Tan because of how enthusiastically she champions the books she translates. Then I looked at my shelves and realized just how many of her translations I had already read. For Women in Translation Month, I asked Shanna about working with authors, creative freedom, translator credit and the work behind the books.

A smell beneath a Seoul department store leads to something built from women's suffering, blood, and rage. Yi Seoyoung's feminist body horror is grotesque, angry, and completely shameless.

I went looking for one book sale and ended up finding 248 bookish options on Rakuten. If you’re already buying books, this is worth checking before you hit purchase.

I don't read a lot of manhwa or manga, but Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim is the story of comfort woman survivor Lee Ok-seon, told in stark black-and-white art that carries the full weight of her history. A review, a look at who Lee Ok-seon was, and a list of more books to read on this history, in time for August 14th's International Memorial Day for Comfort Women.

I walked into Record of a Night Too Brief completely blind, which turned out to be both a mistake and exactly right. Three sections, one lion, and a snake wearing a mother's face later, I'm still not sure I understood everything Kawakami was doing. I understood exactly what it did to me.

Not sure where to begin with Asian women in translation? These 12 books, all written and translated by women, are organized by reading mood, from quiet and healing fiction to history, psychological suspense and speculative horror.

Poems that blend Seon Buddhism and French Symbolism, translated by Anton Hur, with an unexpected link to BTS's RM behind its English release. A slow, devastating read on love, loss, and family.

A novella and three short stories about people who don't quite fit the mold, and are at peace with that. If you loved Convenience Store Woman, this one's for you.

I saw this one on Instagram when it was first coming out and figured I'd get to it eventually. Then I started chatting with the author, we were in Chicago at the same time and honestly we had the same camera roll. That's what actually bumped this debut collection up my list.