Popular Asian Essay Books
Find essay books written by authors from Asia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (28)
21.
South Korea
Philippines23.
Sun & Steel by Yukio Mishima EN
JapanDescription:
This is the personal testament of Japan's greatest novelist, written shorty before his public suicide in 1970. Through Mishima's finely wrought and emphatic prose, the mind and motivation behind his agonized search for personal identity is revealed. In this fascinating document, one of Japan's best known-and controversial-writers created what might be termed a new literary form. It is new because it combines elements of many existing types of writing, yet in the end fits into none of them. At one level, it may be read as an account of how a puny, bookish boy discovered the importance
24.
The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura EN
Description:
'Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle.' In this charming book from 1906, Okakura explores Zen, Taoism, Tea Masters and the significance of the Japanese tea ceremony. One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak,... continue
25.
The Fall of Language in the Age of English by Minae Mizumura EN
Description:
Winner of the Kobayashi Hideo Award, this best-selling book by one of JapanÕs most ambitious contemporary fiction writers lays bare the struggle to retain the brilliance of oneÕs own language in an age of English dominance. Born in Tokyo but also raised and educated in the United States, Minae Mizumura acknowledges the value of a universal language in the pursuit of knowledge, yet also appreciates the different ways of seeing offered by the work of multiple tongues. She warns against losing this precious diversity. Universal languages have always played a pivotal role in advancing human societ... continue
26.
The Wilderness by Aysegül Savas EN
TurkeyDescription:
A deeply felt chronicle into the wilderness of the first forty days of new motherhood. In the final weeks of her pregnancy, Ayşegül Savaş becomes fascinated by the mythology around the first forty days after giving birth, and the invisible beings that are said to surround the mother. "In Turkish, we speak of extracting the forty days, like a sort of exorcism. My grandmothers assure me that it will all get better after forty days are out." A friend lends a book that suggests forty days of rest and fortifying broths and avoiding wind and cold. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, forty days are ... continue
27.
We Are Still Here : Afghan Women on Courage, Freedom, and the Fight to Be Heard by Nahid Shahalimi EN
Country: Asia / 
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
A collection of first-hand accounts from courageous Afghan women who refuse to be silenced in the face of the Taliban, to be published for the first anniversary of the US leaving Afghanistan. After decades of significant progress, the prospects of women and girls in Afghanistan are once again dependent on radical Islamists who reject gender equality. When the United States announced the end of their twenty-year occupation and the Taliban seized control of the country on August 15th, 2021, so began a steep regression of social, political, and economic freedoms for women in the country. But just... continue
28.
Why I Write by George Orwell EN
IndiaDescription:
George Orwell set out 'to make political writing into an art', and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell's essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Why I Write, the first in the Orwell's Essays series, Orwell describes his journey to becoming a writer, an... continue