Popular Asian Biography Books
Find biography books written by authors from Asia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (132)
91.
Some People Need Killing : A Memoir of Murder in My Country by Patricia Evangelista EN
Country: Asia / 
Philippines
Philippines
Description:
TIME’S #1 NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR • A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP 10 BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A “riveting” (The Atlantic) account of the Philippines’ state-sanctioned killings of its citizens under President Rodrigo Duterte, hailed as “a journalistic masterpiece” (The New Yorker) “Tragic, elegant, vital . . . Evangelista risked her life to tell this story.”—Tara Westover, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Educated LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Economist, Chicago Public Library, CrimeReads, The Mary Sue “My job is... continue
92.
Sorrows of the Moon : In Search of London by Iqbal Ahmed, Professor of Psychiatry Iqbal Ahmed EN
Country: Asia / 
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Description:
Ahmed's first book is a moving portrait of a forgotten city. Arriving in London in 1994, he tried to find a place to callhome. On his odyssey he encountered a number of fellow immigrants - the Indian woman who works in the post office, an African hotel doorman, the Egyptian newspaper stallholder in Charing Cross Road. In each encounter he reveals a haunting portrait of London. Sorrow of the Moon is destined to become one of the classics of London literature
93.
Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian EN
ChinaDescription:
The worldwide bestselling novel by the winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature. Soul Mountain is a picaresque novel of immense wisdom and sparse beauty, bursting with knowledge and experience and portraying a culture as vast and fascinating as the history of humankind itself. In China in the early eighties, the book's central character embarks on a cross-country journey in search of the mysterious 'Mountain'. Along the way he collects stories, lovers, spiritual wisdom and undergoes myriad experiences that are sometimes violent, sometimes frightening, sometimes funny, but always enriching... continue
94.
Survival in the Killing Fields by Haing Ngor EN
CambodiaDescription:
Nothing has shaped my life as much as surviving the Pol Pot regime. I am a survivor of the Cambodian holocaust. That's who I am," says Haing Ngor. And in his memoir, Survival in the Killing Fields, he tells the gripping and frequently terrifying story of his term in the hell created by the communist Khmer Rouge. Like Dith Pran, the Cambodian doctor and interpreter whom Ngor played in an Oscar-winning performance in The Killing Fields, Ngor lived through the atrocities that the 1984 film portrayed. Like Pran, too, Ngor was a doctor by profession, and he experienced firsthand his country's wretc... continue
95.
Tasting the Sky : A Palestinian Childhood by Ibtisam Barakat EN
PalestineDescription:
"When a war ends it does not go away," my mother says."It hides inside us . . . Just forget!" But I do not want to do what Mother says . . . I want to remember. In this groundbreaking memoir set in Ramallah during the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Ibtisam Barakat captures what it is like to be a child whose world is shattered by war. With candor and courage, she stitches together memories of her childhood: fear and confusion as bombs explode near her home and she is separated from her family; the harshness of life in the Middle East as a Palestinian refugee; her unexpected joy when she di... continue
96.
Tehran Children : A Holocaust Refugee Odyssey by Mikhal Dekel EN
IsraelDescription:
Author Mikhal Dekel’s father, Hannan Teitel, and her aunt Regina were two of these refugees. After they fled the town in eastern Poland where their family had been successful brewers for centuries, they endured extreme suffering in the Soviet forced labor camps known as “special settlements.” Then came a journey during which tens of thousands died of starvation and disease en route to the Soviet Central Asian Republics of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. While American organizations negotiated to deliver aid to the hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews who remained there, Dekel’s father and aunt were... continue
97.
The Aquariums of Pyongyang : Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag by Chol-hwan Kang, Pierre Rigoulot EN
Country: Asia / 
North Korea
North Korea
Description:
Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, one man's suffering gives eyewitness proof to an ongoing sorrowful chapter of modern history.
98.
The Baghdad Blog by Salam Pax EN
IraqDescription:
This volume collects together Salam Pax's writings to tell the story of the war in Iraq from inside that besieged country. It provides a gripping perspective on the conflict and its aftermath.
99.
The Best We Could Do : An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui EN
VietnamDescription:
An intimate and moving portrait of one family's journey from their war-torn home in Vietnam to new lives in America
100.
The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada EN
JapanDescription:
'An irresistible treat for all bibliophiles' Waterstones THE BOOKSHOP WOMAN IS A LOVE STORY, A LOVE STORY ABOUT BOOKS Nanako Hanada's life has not just flatlined, it's hit rock bottom... Recently separated from her husband, she is living between 4-hour capsule hostels, pokey internet cafes and bookshop floors. Her work is going no better - sales at the eccentric Village Vanguard bookstore in Tokyo, which Nanako manages, are dwindling. As Nanako's life falls apart, reading books is the only thing keeping her alive. That's until Nanako joins an online meet-up site which offers 30 minutes with so... continue