Following are just some of the many memoirs to read for Asian American and Pacific Islander Month (May). Expand your knowledge and mind! Of course you can read any of these during any month, and there are many great fiction books, too, by Asian American authors. Fiction may not be truth, but can hold truths.

All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung: Nicole was born prematurely to Korean parents and was adopted by a white family. This is her struggle to search for identify.

Boat Baby: A Memoir, by Vicki Nguyen, tells of the author’s family’s desperate escape from communist Vietnam and her rise from refugee to NBC news anchor and correspondent.

Canton Elegy: A Father’s Letter of Sacrifice, Survival, and Enduring Love, by Stephen Jin Nom Lee. Stephen Lee with his US college degree found discrimination and racism and returned to China only to have his wife and children caught in the Japanese invasion, then the Chinese civil war. This is the story of their harrowing escape to the US, written in love for his children and grandchildren to know what was endured.

Every Day is a Gift: A Memoir, by Tammy Duckworth, daughter of an American father and Thai-Chinese mother. Duckworth and her parents fled worn-torn Phnom Penh, then struggled against homelessness in Hawaii. Her resilience helped her survive tragedy as an Army helicopter pilot and become a senator.

Galloping Horses: Artist Xu Beihong and His Family in Mao’s China, by Fangfang Xu, is the story of the Xu family trying to saving the paintings of their famous father from Mao’s purges and of their own harrowing survival during the Cultural Revolution.

Speak Okinawa: A Memoir, by Elizabeth Miki Brina. Born to an Okinawan war bride and a Vietnam veteran father, the author’s story is about family and identity and understanding complicated parents.

The Block Manager: A True Story of Love in the Midst of Japanese American Internment, by Judy Mundle is the story of her US-born Japanese friend who with her family was sent to US internment camps. “Janet” became a block manager, married, followed her husband to the Hiroshima area right after the war, enduring starvation and discrimination until finally able to return to the US.

The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father, by Kao Kalia Yang, tells the story and culture of the author’s song poet father, a Hmong refugee from the American war in Laos.

Of course there’s my mother’s memoir, Cherry Blossoms in Twilight: Memories of a Japanese Girl, about growing up in Japan around WWII, marrying “the enemy,” and coming to the US.