Books and Boba

Books and Boba

Potluck Podcast Collective

A book club podcast for books by Asian authors

43 minutes 33 seconds

#271 - May 2024 Book News
On our mid-month check in for May 2024, we recap the latest Asian American publishing announcements, as well as catch up on some book awards news and hot topics on Booktok. We also share some of the live audio that we captured from attendees at the 2024 Long Beach Festival of AAPI Books!
Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
- Immortal the Blood by Molly X. Chang
- Maggie and the Story Shadows by Annabelle Oh
- Big Jobs for Little Babies Series by Katrina Moore; illust. by Benson Shum
- Ex Marks the Spot by Gloria Chao
- Hairy Man Suit by Haleh Massey
- Gwei, the Hungry Ghost by Emeline Lee; illust. by Basia Tran
- In the Country I Love by Alaa Al-Barkawi
- Ai & Aiko and the Little Curve by Peter Draw
- Binna's Dalgona by Sojung Kim-McCarthy
- As Long as You Loathe Me by Swati Hegde
- The Vastness of Us written by Terisa Siagatonu; illust. by Lucyola Langi
- Sparkles for Sunny: A Lunar New Year Story by Sylvia Chen; illust. by Thai My Phuong
- Ramadan on Rahma Road: Celebrating Food, Family, and Friendship by Razeena Omar Gutta & Faaiza Osman; illust. by Atieh Sohrabi
News stories covered on this episode:
- Barnes & Noble Children’s & YA Book Awards
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Follow our hosts:
- Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
- Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
The Books & Boba May 2024 pick is Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
18 May 2024, 4:15 pm
57 minutes 5 seconds

#270 - Author Chat w/ Samira Ahmed
On this episode we sit down with author Samira Ahmed about her newest novel This Book Won't Burn, a YA coming-of-age story about a girl who moves to a small town in the middle of her senior year and finds herself embroiled in her town's politics as she finds out that hundreds of books in her school's libraries have been marked for book bans. We chat with Samira about her own experiences taking on book bans across the country as well as her thoughts on the importance of reading diversely.
Follow Samira on Instagram at @sam_aye_ahm and check out her novel This Book Won't Burn, available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Follow our hosts:
- Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
- Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
The Books & Boba May 2024 pick is Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
10 May 2024, 11:30 pm
1 hour 23 minutes

#269 - Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
On this episode we discuss our April 2024 book club pick, Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, which follows the story of struggling writer June Hayward who finally finds the publishing success she's always dreamed of... after taking the unfinished transcript of her recently deceased writing bestie, the way more successful Athena Liu, and passing it off as her own. We dive into this provocative novel that explores how far some people are willing to go to be anointed in a system that's rigged from the start.
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Follow our hosts:
- Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
- Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
The Books & Boba May 2024 pick is Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
4 May 2024, 1:00 pm
27 minutes 55 seconds

Conversations from Festival of AAPI Books 2023
In honor of next weekend's Festival of AAPI Books (which we will be exhibiting at again), we're sharing some of the conversations we recorded at last year's festival which until now were only available on our Patreon exclusive bonus podcast, Boba Chats! We're excited to share our candid chats with author friends Jessica Kim, Phil Yu, Julie Tieu, and Julie Abe. If you like what you head, consider becoming a Patreon supporter!
And if you're in the Long Beach area next weekend, don't forget to come say hi!
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Follow our hosts:
- Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
- Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
The Books & Boba April 2024 pick is Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
26 April 2024, 10:30 pm
34 minutes 5 seconds

#268 - April 2024 Book News
It's a Marvin only episode for this month's book news check-in, let's see how it goes as he reviews some of the latest Asian American publishing announcements, as well as some new and potentially exciting adaptation news.
Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
- Adam & Evie’s Matchmaking Tour by Nora Nguyen
- Sisters at Sea by Yume Kitasei
- This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki; illust by Nicole Goux
- Alice Chen’s Reality Check by Kara Loo & Jennifer Young
- Dreamt I Found You by Jimin Han
- The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
- Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim
- The Serpent Called Mercy by Roanne Lau
- A Dark and Narrow House by Usman T. Malik
- Ten Incarnations of Rebellion by Vaishnavi Patel
- The Ex-Boyfriends Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee by Saki Kawashiro
- The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu
- Leverage by Amran Gowani
- The Art of Love by Kristi Hong
- When Sleeping Women Wake by Emma Pei Yin
- The Satisfaction Café by Kathy Wang
News stories covered on this episode:
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Follow our hosts:
- Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
- Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
The Books & Boba April 2024 pick is Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
21 April 2024, 1:45 am
57 minutes 6 seconds

#267 - Author Chat w/ Sheila Sundar
On this author chat, we sit down with Sheila Sundar about her debut novel Habitations, a decades-spanning story of identity, immigration, expectation and desire, and of love lost and found, exploring the stories of immigrant scholars, and what it means to make a home. Sheila shares with us her journey to becoming a novelist, as well as the inspirations behind the themes of her novel.
Follow Sheila on Twitter at @sundarsheila and check out her novel Habitations, available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Follow our hosts:
- Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
- Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
The Books & Boba April 2024 pick is Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
12 April 2024, 10:15 pm
59 minutes 56 seconds

#266 - Author Chat w/ A.H. Kim
On this episode, we sit down with author A.H. Kim to talk about her latest novel Relative Strangers, a contemporary adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibilities following the Korean-American Bae-Wood family as they find themselves thrown from their home as the result of an unexpected estate battle. We chat with Ann about her inspirations for the story, and what goes into adapting a timeless story with an Asian American lens.
Follow Ann on Instagram at @ahkim.writer and check out her novel, Relative Strangers, available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Follow our hosts:
- Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
- Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
The Books & Boba April 2024 pick is Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
5 April 2024, 1:00 pm
1 hour 10 minutes

#265 - Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum
On this episode we discuss our March 2024 book club pick, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum & translated by Shanna Tan, a story about a woman who leaves her unfulfilling life in the city to start up an independent bookstore in a small neighborhood. We dive into the book's themes as the owner, workers, and customers of the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop all search for their purpose in life, and how the answers clash with what society tells them what success is supposed to look like.
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Follow our hosts:
- Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
- Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
The Books & Boba April 2024 pick is Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
2 April 2024, 12:15 am
51 minutes 35 seconds

#264 - Author Chat w/ Vanessa Le
On this episode, we welcome author Vanessa Le to chat about her debut novel The Last Bloodcarver, a Vietnamese-American inspired YA fantasy about a girl with the power to alter human biology who wants to be a healer even if the world sees her as a monster, who is caught and sold into the service of a wealthy family to heal the last surviving witness to a suspected murder. We chat with Vanessa about her inspirations for her fantasy action meets medical murder mystery, as well as how her background as a Vietnamese-American med student helped her develop her book's world and magic system!
Follow Vanessa on Instagram at @lochnessly and check out her debut novel, The Last Bloodcarver, available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!
Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors
Support the Books & Boba Podcast by:
Follow our hosts:
- Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
- Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
The Books & Boba March 2024 pick is Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum & translated by Shanna Tan
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
23 March 2024, 1:30 am
35 minutes 33 seconds

#263 - March 2024 Book News
On our mid-month check in for March 2024, we recap the latest Asian American book and publishing announcements, as well as go over some exciting adaptation and festival news!
Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:
- The Perfections by Lulee Ma
- Revolutions Are Made of
- Love by Sun
- Yung Shin and Mélina Mangal; illust by Leslie Barlow
- Nunu and the Sea by Isabella Kung
- A Home on the Page by Kao Kalia Yang;
- illust by Seo Kim
- Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai
- Dragon Force: Infinity's
- Secret by Katie
- Tsang and Kevin Tsang
- Falling Star by Linda Liu
- I Guess I'll Go Eat Worms by Linda Liu
- The Day the Books
- Disappeared by Joanna
- Ho and Caroline Kusin Pritchard; illust by Dan Santat
- Lou with the Band by Alexandra Leigh
- Young
- Prodigal Tiger by Samantha Chong
- The Art of How Dogs Sleep by Alison Kim
News stories covered on this episode:
- Babel optioned for screen adaptation
- YALLWEST announces lineup
*Support the podcast by supporting our Patreon*

Follow our hosts:
- Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
- Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
The Books & Boba March 2024 pick is Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum & translated by Shanna Tan

This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
16 March 2024, 12:00 pm
58 minutes 37 seconds

#262 - Author Chat w/ Sophie Wan
On this episode, we welcome author Sophie Wan to chat about her debut novel Women of Good Fortune, a story of three "leftover" women living in Shanghai each stuck in their own ruts from living under the patriarchy, who decides to do something about it, by planning a heist to steal the red envelope money a crazy rich wedding. We had a great chat with Sophie about her inspirations for the story as well as what goes into constructing a good heist!
Follow Sophie on Instagram at @thesophiewan and check out Sophie's debut novel, Women of Good Fortune, available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!
*Support the podcast by supporting our Patreon*Follow our hosts:
- Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)
- Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)
Follow us:
The Books & Boba March 2024 pick is Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum & translated by Shanna Tan
This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
9 March 2024, 1:00 pm
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