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Karin Tanabe
57 ratings | 6 reviews | avg rating:4.39

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Karin Tanabe

Goodreads Author


Born
Washington, DC, The United States
Website

Twitter
karintanabe

Genre
Historical Fiction, Fiction

Member Since
April 2012


KARIN TANABE is the author of six novels, including A Hundred Suns and The Gilded Years (soon to be a major motion picture starring Zendaya, who will produce alongside Reese Witherspoon/Hello Sunshine). A former Politico reporter, she has also written for The Washington Post, the Miami Herald, the Chicago Tribune, and Newsday. She has appeared as a celebrity and politics expert on Entertainment Tonight, CNN, and CBS Early Show. A graduate of Vassar College, Karin lives in Washington, D.C.

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Popular Answered Questions

Do you have a favorite quote from your novel, The Gilded Years? I thought it was brilliantly written and a truly phenomenal story that needed to be told. I would love to hear your thoughts on some of your best quotes!!
Karin Tanabe Hi May,

Thanks for your question and I'm so glad you enjoyed the book. Anita's story is such a fascinating one. I wasn't familiar with it when I was at…moreHi May,

Thanks for your question and I'm so glad you enjoyed the book. Anita's story is such a fascinating one. I wasn't familiar with it when I was at Vassar, but when I learned about it in adulthood, I immediately thought it had to be told.

Quotes! I definitely have some favorites. On page 24, the following still sticks out in my mind:

"She could not protest. So she sat, nodded again, and went through the motions she had perfected through so many years of practice. And inside her thin shirtwaist, her heartbeat took off like a deer in the woods."

I like this particular line because it shows early on how practiced Anita is when facing racism. Part of passing was certainly being a great pretender, which she is, but it also shows how much she is impacted by the words of her peers, hence her heart taking off. I also still remember sitting in a library writing this phrase and wanting to find the perfect way to describe Anita's heartbeat. It took a few revisions, but that jolt of a startled deer I think describes it pretty well.

On page 173:

"Negro or not, you've been top of your class again and again. So no, you are not a coward. That school, those people, they are the cowards."

I like this line said by Bessie because it really reminds Anita that she is the brave one, the smart one, and that it's the policies that she has to get around by passing that are wrong.

On page 209, it's a short line, but I like it because it really reminds me of Edith Wharton, whose writing was a big inspiration for me for the New York scenes of the book.

"The faces in New York change, but the last names seldom do."

Thank you for posting!

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Karin, when did you realize yourself as a writer? After writing first book, publishing , success or …? You know this feeling inside «I am truly a writer»
Karin Tanabe Hi Mariia, many thanks for the question! I think when writing becomes something you do a lot of, maybe weekly, maybe daily, and you really enjoy it, t…moreHi Mariia, many thanks for the question! I think when writing becomes something you do a lot of, maybe weekly, maybe daily, and you really enjoy it, then you're a writer. Getting published is of course lovely, but it doesn't make you a writer. I think I was a writer way before I was published, because I did it every day and enjoyed what can be a very lonely process. As Rilke said so well, "Works of art are of an infinite loneliness." But one writers find energy and fulfillment in. Take care. (less)
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Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.72 · 27,283 ratings · 3,625 reviews · 10 distinct works • Similar authors
The Gilded Years
3.86 avg rating — 8,763 ratings — published 2016 — 16 editions
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A Woman of Intelligence
3.60 avg rating — 8,360 ratings — published 2021 — 13 editions
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The Diplomat's Daughter
3.88 avg rating — 3,674 ratings — published 2017 — 7 editions
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A Hundred Suns
3.82 avg rating — 2,564 ratings — published 2020 — 12 editions
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The Sunset Crowd
3.38 avg rating — 1,810 ratings — published 2023 — 7 editions
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The List
3.36 avg rating — 1,342 ratings — published 2013 — 9 editions
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The Price of Inheritance
3.69 avg rating — 770 ratings — published 2014 — 13 editions
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More books by Karin Tanabe…

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Karin Tanabe's Blog

The Price of Inheritance Out Today!

I am so, so excited that The Price of Inheritance is finally out! I hope you fall in love with the art mystery at the center of this book, and with my main characters Carolyn Everett and Tyler Ford.

Thank you for your support and happy reading! I hope there is a beach with your name on it to read this on.

xo Karin
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Published on August 05, 2014 07:37
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Karin is Currently Reading

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Jun 05, 2020 03:20AM
The Poisonwood Bible
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Aug 20, 2016 11:07AM
Bastard Out of Ca...
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Karin’s Recent Updates

Karin is now friends with Spencer Anderson
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Nov 12, 2024 08:09PM  · 
Karin made a comment on her review of A Woman of Intelligence
A Woman of Intelligence by Karin Tanabe
" Amy wrote: "As the mother of a young child, I really appreciated this book. I thought I was picking up more of a spy novel, but ended up reading a boo ...more "
Oct 06, 2024 03:49PM  · see review
Karin voted for Romantic Comedy as Best Romance in the Opening Round of the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards.
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
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Quotes by Karin Tanabe  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“A man who was not my husband, and would never be my husband, because he had no prospects or common sense. That was the best kind of man to have attached to you in a subway.”
― Karin Tanabe, A Woman of Intelligence
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“I want to sleep next to you and listen to you exist.”
― Karin Tanabe, The Gilded Years
tags: love
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“Brains are more effective than beauty. Only the world tries to make women forget it. They don't want us to be too smart ... They're scared that if they encourage it, we'll end up more intelligent than the men. With the secret being ... that we already are.”
― Karin Tanabe, A Hundred Suns
tags: beauty, brains, intelligence, intelligent, men, smart, smarter, women
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Karin’s Quotes

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be
The candle or the mirror that reflects it.”
― Edith Wharton
559 likes
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“Life is always either a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.”
― Edith Wharton
tags: tough-broad
975 likes
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“It's not what the world holds for you. It's what you bring to it.”
― Kevin Sullivan
586 likes
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“You may tire of reality but you never tire of dreams.”
― Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Road to Yesterday
tags: dreams
777 likes
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“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
tags: book, inspirational
12700 likes
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Karin’s Groups

220 Goodreads Librarians Group — 300609 members — last activity 11 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more

Karin’s Friend Comments

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message 1: by Kristine
Jul 04, 2022 03:05AM

Kristine Karin, thank you so much for accepting my friend request. ☺️ Love meeting new book lovers 💕 I just got your book, A Woman of Intelligence today and my library had the audio 🎧. I can’t wait to read it.


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