Join Women in NAAAP's Book Club!
Spotlighting Asian-Americans in literature – we celebrate narratives and authors that cover cultural identity, heritage, adversity, and perseverance.
We will meet once a quarter to discuss our thoughts, feelings, and personal experiences as it relates to the book!
Book Club is a great way to network and meet others with common interests. Whether you’re a casual reader or avid reader, all are welcome to join!
WiN is excited to announce this season’s book selection,
“Big Asian Energy” by John Wang
Location: Capital One Cafe Southport
Date: Sept 26, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM CDT
Coming Soon
“My Dear You” by Rachel Khong
From the author of New York Times bestseller Real Americans , a brilliant short story collection about love, life, and the anguish of becoming oneself in a time when it’s so easy to be someone else
The characters in My Dear You find themselves facing extraordinary choices in scenarios that range from the everyday to the The U.S. government injects all citizens with a drug that makes them see everyone else as members of their own race and gender. God does away with humans in favor of something much better. A woman adopts a cat who conjures the ghosts of her ex-loves. A factory worker decides to liberate a sex doll she is tasked with selling.
These stories go deep beneath the surface, touching on the particular awkwardness of dating in your thirties and What does it mean to be an Asian woman in America? Or an American? Or a human? Along the way, the characters stop to consider interventions from the supernatural, the earthly, the robotic, and the immortal.
Playful, profane, and yet enveloped with profound compassion for life, however you define it, My Dear You takes on dating, marriage, and the pressures of having or not having children; intimacy, memory, race, and capitalism; living, dying, and being dead. At their very core, they are tales of love in its many being in love when you’re not supposed to be, or not being in love but wishing you were; failing at dating apps or finding yourself in weird but wonderful lifelong friendships; struggling in heaven to remember your loved ones.
Ranging from the sinister to the tender, these witty and expertly paced stories will have you laughing out loud one minute and reaching for your best friend the next.
“White Mulberry” by Rosa Kwon Easton
1928, Japan-occupied Korea. Eleven-year-old Miyoung has dreams too big for her tiny farming village near Pyongyang: to become a teacher, to avoid an arranged marriage, to write her own future. When she is offered the chance to live with her older sister in Japan and continue her education, she is elated, even though it means leaving her sick mother—and her very name—behind.
In Kyoto, anti-Korean sentiment is rising every day, and Miyoung quickly realizes she must pass as Japanese if she expects to survive. Her Japanese name, Miyoko, helps her find a new calling as a nurse, but as the years go by, she fears that her true self is slipping away. She seeks solace in a Korean church group and, within it, finds something she never expected: a romance with an activist that reignites her sense of purpose and gives her a cherished son.
As war looms on a new front and Miyoung feels the constraints of her adopted home tighten, she is faced with a choice that will change her life—and the lives of those she loves—forever
“Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang
Authors Juniper Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena is a literary darling while June is a nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls?, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse, stealing Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.
But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
“Murder by Degrees: A Mystery” by Ritu Mukerji
Murder by Degrees is a historical mystery set in 19th century Philadelphia, following a pioneering woman doctor as she investigates the disappearance of a young patient who is presumed dead.
Philadelphia, 1875: It is the start of term at Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lydia Weston, professor and anatomist, is immersed in teaching her students in the lecture hall and hospital. When the body of a patient, Anna Ward, is dredged out of the Schuylkill River, the young chambermaid’s death is deemed a suicide. But Lydia is suspicious and she is soon brought into the police investigation.
Aided by a diary filled with cryptic passages of poetry, Lydia discovers more about the young woman she thought she knew. Through her skill at the autopsy table and her clinical acumen, Lydia draws nearer the truth. Soon a terrible secret, long hidden, will be revealed. But Lydia must act quickly, before she becomes the next target of those who wished to silence Anna.
“He/She/They” by Schuyler Bailar
Anti-transgender legislation is being introduced in state governments around the United States in record-breaking numbers. Trans people are under attack in sports, healthcare, school curriculum, bathrooms, bars, and nearly every walk of life. He/She/They compassionately addresses fundamental topics, from why being transgender is not a choice and why pronouns are important, to more complex issues including how gender-affirming healthcare can be lifesaving.
With a relatable narrative rooted in science, and history, Schuyler helps restore common sense and humanity to a discussion that continues to be divisively coopted and deceptively politicized. He/She/They is more than a book on allyship; it also speaks to trans folks directly, celebrating radical trans joy.
“Where I Belong” by Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon
Coauthors Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon are professional therapists who witnessed firsthand how mental health issues often went unaddressed not only in their own immigrant families, but in Asian and Asian American communities. Where I Belong shows us how the cycle of trauma can play out in our relationships, placing Asian American experiences front and center to help us process and heal from racial and intergenerational trauma. This book validates our experiences and helps us understand how they fit into the broader context of our family history and the trauma experienced by previous generations. Lee and Yoon draw on their own stories, as well as those of a diverse segment of the Asian diaspora, to help us feel seen and connected to our wider community. They provide essential therapeutic tools, reflection questions, journal prompts, and grounding exercises to empower readers to identify their strengths and resilience across generations and to embrace the beauty and fullness of their own identity and culture.
“Arsenic and Adobo” by Mia P. Manansala
When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.
With the cops treating her like she’s the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila’s left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block…
“The Storm We Made” by Vanessa Chan
Vanessa Chan’s debut novel is a spellbinding, sweeping narrative about a Malayan mother who becomes an unlikely spy for the invading Japanese forces during WWII—and the shocking consequences that rain upon her community and family.
“Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee
Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan’s finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee’s complex and passionate characters — strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis — survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.
“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo
Set in San Francisco’s Chinatown during the Red Scare, Lo’s historical fiction navigates the crossroads of identity, sexuality, love, and duty. Join us in discussing this award-winning coming-of-age story.
“Minor Feelings” by Cathy Park Hong
Through cultural criticism and her individual life experiences, Hong creates a narrative that challenges Asian American people to reflect on their own race, politics, and identity. She cleverly uses humor to unpack the complexities of being Asian in America and the “minor feelings” that arise when the American perception of Asian identity contradicts reality.
“Crying in H-Mart” by Michelle Zauner
Zauner’s memoir touches upon growing up as Korean-American in the US, forgoing the presence of her mother, and embracing her identity. She eloquently captures the ties between the remembrance of loved ones, Korean culture, and childhood memories to Korean cuisine.
