~ Althea ~
- Dec 8, 2020
- 8 min read

20 Asian-authored books on my TBR (it's also my birthday!)

The best decision I made in 2020 is to read, not just diverse books, but specifically diversely AUTHORED books. I feel like sometimes even though we tell ourselves that "yes, I am reading books with lgbtq+ or Asian characters" we are still reading white-dominated stories. I can count on one hand the number of non-asian/non-poc authored books that have a character of color as their main character. Even then, they're usually within a group so we're following a wide range of characters and the character of color is just one of them.

With that, it doesn't mean that every book on this list has an Asian or POC representation within the stories themselves because that wasn't my goal in curating this particular list and I plan on saving that for another post. I wanted this list to focus on the Asian voices in literature that I, personally, have been wanting to experience and read from. Especially as a Southeast Asian myself.

* TBR = to-be read *

✨ Today, December 8, is my birthday and the best gift you can give me is perhaps reading an Asian-authored book that is on your TBR. If you don't think you have one that particularly interests you, I have 20 on this list or you can go to my author-POC shelf on Goodreads to get some more ideas ✨

I don't know with you but I have just been finding myself enjoying books written by people from non-white/non-European backgrounds recently because of the fresh takes they bring into the respective genres that have been white-dominated for as long as I can remember.

Sending all my love to Percy Jackson and The Hunger Games but I never felt represented in those stories as a Southeast Asian. Rather, it made me feel like that there was a standard to be being an "ideal" person with these certain traits, these certain backgrounds, etc.

(maybe those weren't the best examples since both are either Fantasy/Sci-Fi... but because fiction is usually so removed from our world, I always feel like I'm quite literally put in someone else's shoes... and I'd rather experience stories from characters that don't make me feel as if I have to hide my culture but instead celebrates it like it is the most normal thing in the world. Because it is. While of course, slaying some gods, dragons, and demons along the way ✨)

It has been a widely discussed topic that recent literature has gotten more repetitive anyway (how wouldn't it be if 95% of the authors published in the past 20+ years are all from the same background: white/european). Not that I'm saying there is anything wrong with being of American or European descent, there are just so many more authors there than what the publishing giants have been putting out.

Remember: we, as readers, declare the demand of the kind of books that publishers put out (if we start putting our focus on books by authors of colors then what choice will publishers have except to do that? when all is said and done, it is still a business)

Some of these books are anticipated 2021 releases and some are backlogs because we should read what we want to read (this is a subtle reminder that you don't need to be on the hype train if you don't want to be). I have arranged these 20 books based on genre: [1] High Fantasy, [2] Urban Fantasy/Speculative Fiction, [3] Science Fiction, [4] Thiller (spoiler: there's only 1 book there), and [5] Contemporary

As the title suggests, I haven't read any of these so I could be mistaken with my genre groupings but at least you have an idea what categories they may fall under and if it’s a book for you! I also do try to go into books with little to no knowledge so that's why some of the representation tags aren't too specific. There is also a chance that I might have missed some reps.

But yes... all these authors are Asian or of Asian-diaspora and we love to see it.

Forgive me for not including trigger warnings for any of these because I usually don't know either prior to reading the book, as I want to avoid spoilers as much as possible. Based on my past reading experiences, I rarely do get triggered. If someone tells me it's triggering in general, I just come prepared for the whole spectrum(?) but I don't actively go looking for specific tags. I do acknowledge that this isn't the case for a lot of people that's why I have been trying to take note of trigger warnings as I read a certain book so that whoever reads my review can be warned if they want to be.

That's enough for the disclaimers ♡ At the end of the day, we should read books not just because they are by Asian authors, but because they are truly interesting books that have something to contribute to the literary world and are representative of our own experiences.

❀ HIGH FANTASY ❀

[ ☀️ Adult ]

┈ She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan ┈

Tags: LGBTQ+ characters, Historically Asian (Chinese) inspired setting

Publishing Date: July 20th, 2021

Why am I excited?

"Mulan meets The Song of Achilles"

you can’t pitch a book as “will wreck you and you will be grateful” and be ANOTHER ASIAN INSPIRED BOOK without expecting me to be interested. Not possible.

It also reminds me of The Poppy War (which I have read and loved).

"we are all pieces of what we remember"

- City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

20 Asian-authored books on my TBR (it's also my birthday!)

✨ Today, December 8, is my birthday and the best gift you can give me is perhaps reading an Asian-authored book that is on your TBR. If you don't think you have one that particularly interests you, I have 20 on this list or you can go to my author-POC shelf on Goodreads to get some more ideas ✨

Remember: we, as readers, declare the demand of the kind of books that publishers put out (if we start putting our focus on books by authors of colors then what choice will publishers have except to do that? when all is said and done, it is still a business)

That's enough for the disclaimers ♡ At the end of the day, we should read books not just because they are by Asian authors, but because they are truly interesting books that have something to contribute to the literary world and are representative of our own experiences.

❀ HIGH FANTASY ❀

✿ URBAN FANTASY ✿

◉ SCIENCE FICTION ◉

▻ THRILLER ◅

✤ CONTEMPORARY ✤

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