Books and Boba
Books & Boba is a book club dedicated to books written by Asian and Asian American authors. We cover a wide range of genres including contemporary, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, YA, nonfiction, thrillers, graphic novels, and memoirs.
Episodes
On this episode, we sit down with author Allison King to chat about her debut novel The Phoenix Pencil Company, a novel that's part historical fiction, part magical realism, and part sapphic romance about a young woman who discovers her family's secret magical power to reconstruct anything written by a pencil while taking care of her ailing grandmother and learning about her own family's history from Shanghai to Taiwan to the State...
On this episode, we're joined by author Naomi Xu Elegant to chat about her debut novel Gingko Season, a story about a young Chinese American woman finding love, identity, purpose, and political awakening alongside her friends, set in New York City in 2018.
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
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On this episode, we discuss our June 2025 book club pick is Afterparties by the late Anthony Veasna So, a short story collection about a community of Cambodian Americans in San Joaquin County. Join us as we discuss all nine short stories that take us through a myriad of emotions with Anthony's often melancholic, sometimes hopeful, and darkly funny storytelling.
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuri...
On this episode, we welcome award winning author and illustrator Mike Curato to the podcast to chat about his latest graphic novel, Gaysians, an adult graphic novel following four gay Asians navigating love, identity, found family, and friendship in early 2000's Seattle.
Follow Mike on Instagram at @mike_curato and check out his latest graphic novel Gaysians available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!
Books &a...
On our mid-month check in for June 2025, we highlight some of the latest Asian American publishing announcements, and catch up on the latest book tea!
Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
- Stormraven by Kelsea Yu
- Momma's Christmas Gift by Kao Kalia Yang; illust. by Jacqueline Tam
- Blood of Silver by Allie Nguyen
- Worth a Shot by Dora Wang
- Lion Dancer's Lost Lettuce by Michelle Jing Chan
- Leaf It to Me! by Katrina Moore; illus...
On this episode, we're excited to welcome author Susan Lee to the podcast to chat about her latest novel, The Romance Rivalry, a YA romantic comedy about two rival booktubers who find themselves as freshmen at the same small liberal arts college and enter a competition with each other to see who can find love first using nothing but romance tropes!
Follow Susan on Instagram at @susanleewrites and check out her latest novel ...
On this episode, we discuss our May 2025 book club pick Blob: A Love Story by Maggie Su. A story about Vi, a twenty three year old biracial midwest Asian American woman, reeling from a bad breakup and a lifetime of bad choices, who finds a sentient blob in the alleys behind a bar and decides to mold it into her ideal romantic partner. What could go wrong?
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asia...
On this episode, we're excited to welcome NYT bestselling author Axie Oh, who joins us to chat about her latest novel The Floating World, an epic romantic fantasy following the adventures of an amnesiac mercenary and a small town village girl (with hidden chosen one powers) that blends the JRPG vibes of Final Fantasy with a re-imagining of the Korean Legend of the Celestial Maidens.
Follow Axie on Instagram at @axieoh and...
On our mid-month check in for May 2025, we highlight some of the latest Asian American publishing announcements, celebrate some Asian American authors on the NYT bestsellers list, and check in on some increasingly bummer news happening in the industry (and society)!
Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
- Julia Song is Undateable by Susan Lee
- Shoe Box Dreams by Qing Zhuang
- Roar by Varsha Bajaj
- The Stolen
- Queen by...
On this episode, we're excited to welcome Carolyn Huynh, the author of Books & Boba pick The Fortunes of Jaded Women, to discuss her sophomore novel, The Family Recipe, another dramedy about a messy Vietnamese American family, this time following the estranged scions of a banh mi empire who are thrown into competition with each other for their inheritance by their eccentric father.
Follow Carolyn on Instagram at @carolynkh...
On this episode we discuss our Books & Boba April 2025 pick is The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd, a mystery thriller with magical realism elements about a woman investigating the death of her father who had exiled her from the field of cartography years ago, and uncovering old family secrets through the discovery of the old highway map that had caused their estrangement, which turned out to be the last map of its kin...
It's a Marvin solo episode for our mid-month check in for April 2025. Listen in as he highlights some of the latest publishing announcements for novels written by Asian American authors!
Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
- THE MIDNIGHT TAXI By Yosha Gunasekera
- A TEASPOON OF MAGIC By Jackie Lau
- MIGRATORY CREATURES By Jennifer Yeh
- ENVOY By Yume Kitasei
- DRAGONFLY By Catherine Cho
- TASTES LIKE SEEING GOD By Nina Michiko Tam
- SPA...
On this episode, we discuss our March 2025 book club pick The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamal, a sweeping historical & contemporary novel about a woman who meets her first love again 60 years ago after he stood her up on the day of their marriage in the midst of political upheaval in 1953 Tehran. Join us as we dive into this not-quite second chance romance as we discuss our own thoughts on the existence of destiny and true love...
On this episode, we chat with author Jane Pek, author of our February 2025 book club pick The Verifiers, and most recently its sequel The Rivals. Jane shares with us her journey into becoming an author as well as the inspirations behind writing a murder mystery series surrounding an online dating detective agency, with the bearing heart of an Asian American family drama.
Follow Jane on Instagram at @janepekwrites and check out ...
On our mid-month check in for March 2025, we highlight some of the latest Asian American publishing announcements, discuss the latest book to TV adaptation news, check in as the first book ban case hits the Supreme Court, and share some exciting news for the podcast!
Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
On this episode, we discuss our February 2025 pick, The Verifiers by Jane Pek, following Claudia Lin, an underachieving Asian American woman with a complicated and somewhat dysfunctional family situation, who is recruited to become an investigator for an online dating detective agency and gets drawn into a vast conspiracy involving big tech and data when one of her clients ends up dead under mysterious circumstances.
Books &am...
Welcome to our first book news check-in for the new year (both new years)! As always, join us as we highlight some of the latest publishing announcements of books by Asian authors, as well as go over some recent awards and industry news!
Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
- But I Won’t Miss Me by Tiffany Tsao
- The Magnificent Banyan Tree and the Green Tong Lau by Stephanie Ellen Sy; illust by Ishita Jain
- Go Tuk Tuk Go! b...
On this episode, we discuss our first book club pick of 2025, Sister Snake by Amanda Lee Koe, a modern re-imagining of the classic Chinese folktale The Legend of the White Snake, starring two immortal sisters who used to be best snake friends living along West Lake in Tang Dynasty China. When free-spirited Emerald is involved in an altercation with some cops in Central Park, conservative and pragmatic Su flies to NYC to w...
We're back! After an unintended extended hiatus dealing with the double whammy of early parenthood and uncontrollable wildfires, Books & Boba is back with our belated discussion of our December 2024 book club pick Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo and translated by Jamie Chang, a seminal modern text about what it's like to be a woman in modern Korea. Helping us discuss this short but dense novel is our special gu...
On our final mid-month book news podcast of the year, we go over some of the latest publishing announcements of books by Asian American authors.
Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
- To the Death by Andrea Tang
- Seven: The Courage, Artistry, and Teamwork of BTS by Lilly Lu
- Jia Has a Dog Problem by Stephanie Ellen Sy; illust by Isabella Kung
- Yarrow and the Burning Mountain by Wendy Xu
- A Ghost Is a Wish by Wendy Xu
- The Bloods...
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