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 & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

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! by Varsha Bajaj; illust by Bao Luu
• Ami Moon and the Galactic Peacekeepers by Frances Lee
• The Fear Factory by Moniza Hossain
• Sweet Heat by Trinity Nguyen 
• Bad Idea, Right? by Trinity Nguyen
• A Boy Called Hero by Marie Miranda Cruz
• Afternoons with Ammama by Meghana Narayan
• Robot See, Robot Do by Vikram Madan
• Duck-A-Muck by Vikram Madan
• Extraordinary Eliana and the Magnificent Hmong New Year by V.T. Bidania; illust by Suji Park
• Two Little Hot Dogs by Camey Yeh
• Sisters Alone by Shifa Saltagi Safadi
• Robot Ramen Cafe by Deandra “Nika” Tan
• All That Chandni Knows by Khushboo Patel
• Raja’s Journey by Varsha Bajaj; illust by Chaaya Prabhat.
• The Last Giant by Jade Zhang

Book news mentioned on this episode:

• APALA Awards for Youth Literature
• Bookshop.org now offers ebooks

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

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 whisk her sister away to her bastion of safety in Singapore, putting their co-dependent and often toxic centuries old relationship to the test once again.

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

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 guest Virginia Duan, writer and entertainment editor of Mochi Mag!

Follow Virginia at: @themandarinmama

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

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 Bloodstone Thief by Sabina Khan
• Ly-Lan and the New Class Mix-Up by Hà Dinh
• When We Were Snails by Nan Cao
• The Abominable Snow Dancer by Steph Lau
• A Ramadan Night by Nadine Presley; illust by Asma Enayah
• Magnificent Mary: India’s Champion Shows the World How to Fight written by Jyoti Rajan Gopal; illust by Tara Anand
• Monster Maker: The Strange Creatures of Mark Nagata by Debbi Michiko Florence; illust by Inko Ai Takita

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

On this episode, we chat with author Clare Osongco about her debut novel Midnights with You, a YA coming-of-age story about a teenage girl living with her strict Filipino mother, and her secret late night driving lessons with the new boy next door.

Follow Clare on Instagram at @clareosongcoand check out her debut novel Midnights with You available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors