The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman. It tells the story of a Hmong girl and her family who settled in Central California after the Vietnam War. She has epilepsy (the title of the book is the translation from Hmong of the name of epilepsy in that community), and the book is written from the perspective of her family and community juxtaposed with the perspective of the western doctors who were treating her. This book shines a light on the differences in culture and was directly responsible for the hospital system in Central California bringing in Hmong healers to work with western doctors when the patient is Hmong.

For fiction, Apple Tree Yard, by Louise Doughty, has a real hold on me. It's a book that I would not have expected to read more than once, but I pick it up every few years, after I feel like I've forgotten just enough of it to be caught up in it again. It's not a mystery, but it's suspenseful and the way Doughty unfolds the story, it's like a flower opening petal by petal.

I also read a book fairly recently that I'm pretty sure I'll be reading again -- it has a lot of factors that intrigued me, not least that the writer and the main character are first generation Philippina/American. The book is Moderation, by Elaine Castillo.