international women's day!

160308.jpg

it's international women's day, and i'm not that big on hashtags (despite sporadic participation), but i'm all about opportunities to share asian-american and [east] asian books-in-translation (i admit/acknowledge that my geographic focus is narrow).  here are ten books by international women i love.

  1. banana yoshimoto, lizard (washington square press, 1995)
  2. marilynne robinson, lila (FSG, 2014)
  3. krys lee, drifting house (viking, 2012)
  4. ruth ozeki, a tale for the time being (penguin, 2013)
  5. mary shelly, frankenstein (penguin clothbound classics, 2013)
  6. han kang, human acts (portobello, 2016)
  7. helen macdonald, h is for hawk (grove press, 2015)
  8. charlotte brontë, jane eyre (penguin clothbound classics, 2009)
  9. jang eun-jin, no one writes back (dalkey archive press, 2013)
  10. shin kyung-sook, i'll be right there (other press, 2014)

also, one of my favorite book quotes comes from yoshimoto's "helix," a story which can be found in her collection, lizard:

"even when i have crushes on other men, i always see you in the curve of their eyebrows."  (64)

happy international reading!