May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and every year, I find myself thinking about how beautifully wide and layered AAPI stories really are.
There’s no single “AAPI experience”—there are so many histories, languages, migrations, silences, and celebrations sitting under that umbrella. Some stories feel like home. Some feel like questions you didn’t know you were still carrying. And some feel like being gently (or not so gently) called out.
As a Filipina, I always feel a special kind of connection when I see Filipino stories being centered in books—not just as background detail, but as full, messy, funny, heartbreaking narratives of their own. There’s something grounding about recognizing pieces of your culture in fiction and nonfiction alike.
So for this May feature, here are AAPI books that deserve a spot on your TBR.
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala
A cozy mystery about Lila Macapagal, who returns to her hometown after a breakup and finds herself working in her family’s Filipino restaurant—only for her terrible ex to suddenly drop dead after eating their food, making her the prime suspect.
This book is pure comfort with a chaotic twist. It’s funny, full of Filipino family dynamics, and packed with food descriptions that will make you hungry while someone is literally trying to solve a murder. It balances humor and mystery in a way that feels both entertaining and familiar, especially in how it portrays family expectations and community gossip.
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
A lonely tea shop owner discovers a dead body in her store and decides, very confidently, to investigate the murder herself—by “adopting” the suspects and feeding them tea and unsolicited life advice.
This book is chaotic in the most lovable way. Vera Wong is the kind of character who would absolutely embarrass you in public but also feed you until you feel emotionally healed. It’s cozy mystery meets found-family energy, with a lot of humor and unexpected heart.
Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista
A powerful nonfiction account of the Philippines’ war on drugs, told through investigative journalism and deeply human stories of violence, grief, and survival.
This book is heavy—there’s no other way to put it. It forces you to sit with truths that are painful, complicated, and deeply personal for many Filipinos. It’s not an easy read, but it is an important one, especially when it comes to memory, accountability, and understanding what history has done to real lives. What makes it powerful is how human it feels—every statistic and headline becomes a face, a story, a life that mattered.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A sweeping novel following two Afghan women whose lives become intertwined through war, loss, and survival under an oppressive regime.
This book is one of my favorites. It is emotionally heavy in a way that feels almost physical. It is about endurance, but also about the quiet, stubborn ways women find to survive even when their circumstances feel unbearable. It’s the kind of story that stays with you long after you finish it, not because of shock value, but because of how deeply it understands resilience.
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
A satirical, genre-bending novel about an Asian American actor stuck playing background roles while trying to understand identity, ambition, and visibility in Hollywood storytelling.
This book is clever in a way that makes you pause and think, wait, this is funny… but also kind of heartbreaking. It plays with stereotypes, visibility, and how stories are told about Asian characters, while still feeling deeply personal and emotional underneath the satire.
What stands out most in AAPI literature is its range. There is no single tone, no single story, no single way of being represented. Instead, there are voices that are soft, loud, funny, devastating, reflective, and everything in between.
These books show how identity is shaped by family, history, culture, and survival—but also by humor, love, and everyday moments that don’t always make it into larger narratives.
And that’s what makes these stories so powerful. They expand what readers think they know, while still feeling deeply personal and human.
If you have AAPI books I should add to my list, send them my way at ihorton@whatsupmag.com.
