'GMA' Buzz Picks: Eva Chen's book recommendations for AAPI Heritage Month

The "A is for Awesome" author shares books for the whole family to enjoy.

Video byJessica Naudziunas, Elisa Tang, Chris Cirillo , and Nidhi Singh
May 21, 2021, 4:01 AM

If you've finished our "GMA" Book Club pick this month and are craving something else to read, look no further than our new digital series, "GMA" Buzz Picks. Each week, we'll feature other books that we're also reading this month to give our audience even more literary adventures. Get started with our latest picks below!

For this week's "GMA" Buzz Pick, we're celebrating AAPI Heritage Month with book recommendations from Eva Chen.

The "A is for Awesome!" author and director of fashion partnerships at Instagram shared her top picks for the month of May and there's something for everyone in the family to enjoy.

See her picks below.

Read along with us and join the conversation all month long on our Instagram account -- GMA Book Club and #GMABookClub

'Family Trust' by Kathy Wang

In her debut novel, Kathy Wang tells the story of a Chinese American's family pursuit of the American dream in Silicon Valley.

The story centers around the Huang family whose patriarch, Stanley, has for years claimed that he's worth a small fortune. But when he's diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and approaches death, his family has to come to terms about whether Stanley's small fortune is more "small" than a "fortune."

"It is sarcastic, it is dry, it is slightly cynical," Chen told "Good Morning America." "It's a family dramedy that has kind of a Larry David vibe to it. So if you like that kind of humor, you will like this book."

'Impostor Syndrome' by Kathy Wang

Wang's second novel, which hits bookstores on May 25, is a novel that is part page-turning cat-and-mouse chase and part sharp satire about women in tech.

Set in Silicon Valley, "Impostor Syndrome" follows two women: Julia Lerner, the COO of Tangerine, one of America's most famous technology companies, but is actually a Russian spy, and Tangerine IT employee Alice Lu, a first generation Chinese American whose parents are delighted that she's working for a successful company.

But one afternoon, while Lu is performing a server check, she discovers some unusual activity and is burdened with the suspicion that Tangerine's privacy settings aren't as rigorous as the company claims they are, and the person abusing this loophole might be Lerner.

'Anna K' and 'Anna K Away' by Jenny Lee

If you're a fan of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina," you'll likely enjoy Jenny Lee's Young Adult novel, "Anna K."

Lee's debut novel reimagines "Anna Karenina" in the modern day through the eyes of Anna, an affluent Korean American teen as she and her friends navigate the scandalous upper-class societies of New York City and Greenwich, Connecticut.

In Lee's book, 17-year-old Anna seems to have the perfect life: attends private school in Greenwich, has an Ivy League boyfriend and lives comfortably at home with her dogs and horses. But when her older brother begs her to return to New York City to help him sort through a sexting scandal, Anna meets notorious playboy, Alexia "Count" Vronsky, who threatens to throw her life off course.

Chen, who is a fan of YA books, said this book has a similar vibe to the "Gossip Girl" series.

"There are love triangles, there are love squares. It's a very fun, breezy, juicy read and it has a little bit of 'Crazy Rich Asians,' thrown in for good measure," said Chen.

If you finish "Anna K," pick up Lee's second book, "Anna K Away," which follows Anna's journey on figuring out who she is over the course of one summer in South Korea.

'The Paper Kingdom' by Helena Ku Rhee

Rhee takes readers to a fantastical kingdom made of paper in this heartfelt picture book.

It follows a boy named Daniel who joins his parents downtown for their jobs as nighttime office cleaners when the babysitter is unable to come.

To keep him entertained while they work, his parents turn the deserted office building into a magnificent kingdom filled with paper.

'This is a great book for building empathy," said Chen. "It's about the adventures in the webs that the parents spin to keep their child entertained as they work and clean into the night. I loved this book, I read it to my kids Ren and Tau, and I hope you guys love it as well."

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