Read Around Asia Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.
Best books from Asia (1981)
1211.
The Bell Chime by Mona Kabbani EN
LebanonDescription:
"Can you hear the bell chime?" A girl suffering from paralyzing night terrors finds a missing poster hanging from the door of her apartment building. On that poster is a photograph of a frighteningly familiar face. It's her. Only, she's never seen this photo before and something about its grin scares her. How its eyes seem to follow her no matter where she finds herself in the room. Over a series of strange events to follow--events that will make her question whether her sanity is still there or fleeting--she must discover: What is real and what is the nightmare? The Bell Chime is the disturbi... continue
1212.
White Masks by Elias Khoury EN
Description:
Why was the corpse of Khalil Ahmad Jaber found in a mound of garbage? Why had this civil servant disappeared weeks before his horrific death? Who was this man? A journalist begins to piece together an answer by speaking with his widow, a local engineer, a watchman, the garbage man who discovered him, the doctor who performed the autopsy, and a young militiaman. Their stories emerge, along with the horrors of Lebanon’s bloody civil war and its ravaging effects on the psyches of the survivors. With empathy and candor, Elias Khoury reveals the havoc the war wreaked on Beirut and its inhabitants, ... continue
1213.
This Arab Life : A Generation's Journey Into Silence by Amal Ghandour EN
Description:
An intimate and heartrending portrait of a rising Arab generation that fell silent in the 1980s.
1214.
Somewhere, Home by Nada Awar Jarrar EN
Description:
Nada Awar Jarrar's novel tells three distinct, thematically linked stories of modern Lebanese women living in the shadow of war and exile.
1215.
Paper Sparrows by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi EN
Description:
The summer of 2006, and nineteen-year-old Layla returns to Lebanon. When she arrives she finds that her troubled younger brother is missing. She heads to Beirut to search for him, but her quest is cut short when Beirut comes under fire. A new war has begun, and she is trapped in the middle of it.
1216.
Description:
Lorsque le notaire Lebel fait aux jumeaux Jeanne et Simon Marwan la lecture du testament de leur mère Nawal, il réveille en eux l'incertaine histoire de leur naissance : qui donc fut leur père, et par quelle odyssée ont-ils vu le jour loin du pays d'origine de leur mère ? En remettant à chacun une enveloppe, destinées l'une à ce père qu'ils croyaient mort et l'autre à leur frère dont ils ignoraient l'existence, il fait bouger les continents de leur douleur : dans le livre des heures de cette famille, des drames insoupçonnés les attendent, qui portent les couleurs de l'irréparable. Mais le prix... continue
1217.
The Downhill Hiking Club : A Short Walk Across the Lebanon by Dom Joly EN
Description:
Three men. 470 kilometres. Twenty-one days. Welcome to the downhill Hiking Club . . . At a boozy, cricket-filled afternoon at Lord's, Dom Joly convinces his two closest friends to agree to the unthinkable: a challenging hike across Lebanon, from the Israeli border in the south, along the spine of the country's mountain range, all the way to the Syrian border in the north. For Joly it is something of a homecoming, having grown up in Beirut. It was a happy childhood, though he did go to school with Osama bin Laden. Arriving in Lebanon armed with copious amounts of Vaseline - and no walking exper... continue
1218.
Description:
A powerful novel about trauma and forgiveness Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction Finalist for the PEN Translation Prize Finalist for the USA Translation Award
1219.
Down with the System : A Memoir (of Sorts) by Serj Tankian EN
Description:
An exhilarating, thoughtful, and beautifully written debut memoir by musician, songwriter, and lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band, System Of A Down, Serj Tankian Serj Tankian will be the first to admit that his band, System Of A Down, was "unlikely a chart-topper as had ever existed in modern music history: a band of Armenian-Americans playing a practically unclassifiable clash of wildly aggressive metal riffs, unconventional tempo-twisting rhythms, and Armenian folk melodies, with me alternately growling, screaming, and crooning lyrics that could pivot from avant-garde si... continue
1220.
Description:
2023 British Book Awards Children's Fiction Book of the Year From award-winning author SF Said comes a compelling middle-grade alternate history novel about a world on the brink of destruction and the magical animal that just might be able to save it—for fans of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. "There are three doors that I may show you. You will find a different kind of power behind each one..." Adam has found something incredible in a rubbish dump in London. A mysterious, mythical, magical animal. A tyger. And the tyger is in danger. Adam and his friend Zadie are determined to hel... continue