Read Around Asia Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.
Best books from Asia (1982)
1331.
The Tears of My Soul by Hyŏn-hŭi Kim EN
Country: Asia / 
North Korea
North Korea
Description:
Kim Hyun Hee was trained by the North Korean Army to be one of the deadliest espionage agents on the face of the Earth. This is the true story of her terrorist acts and her lifelong repentance.
1332.
Long Road Home : Testimony of a North Korean Camp Survivor by Yong Kim EN
Country: Asia / North Korea
North Korea
Description:
Kim Yong shares his harrowing account of life in a labor camp—a singularly despairing form of torture carried out by the secret state. Although it is known that gulags exist in North Korea, little information is available about their organization and conduct, for prisoners rarely escape both incarceration and the country alive. Long Road Home shares the remarkable story of one such survivor, a former military official who spent six years in a gulag and experienced firsthand the brutality of an unconscionable regime. As a lieutenant colonel in the North Korean army, Kim Yong enjoyed unprecedent... continue
1333.
A Thousand Miles to Freedom : My Escape from North Korea by Ŭn-ju Kim, Eunsun Kim, Sébastien Falletti EN
Country: Asia / North Korea
North Korea
Description:
A woman who escaped North Korea as a girl with her mother relates the harrowing story of her nine-year journey to freedom.
1334.
A MiG-15 to Freedom : Memoir of the Wartime North Korean Defector Who First Delivered the Secret Fighter Jet to the Americans in 1953 by No Kum-Sok, J. Roger Osterholm EN
Country: Asia / North Korea
North Korea
Description:
On September 21, 1953, U.S. airmen at Kimpo Air Base near Seoul, Korea, were startled to see landing a MiG-15, the most advanced Soviet-built fighter plane of the era, piloted by Senior Lieutenant No Kum-Sok, a 21-year-old North Korean Air Force officer. Once he landed, Lieutenant No found that his mother had escaped to the South two years earlier, and they were soon reunited. At his request, No came to the United States and became a U.S. citizen. His story provides a unique insight into how North Korea conducted the Korean War and how he came to the decision to leave his homeland.
1335.
Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee EN
Country: Asia / North Korea
North Korea
Description:
Written for a young audience, this intense memoir explores the harsh realities of life on the streets in contemporary North Korea. Every Falling Star is the memoir of Sungju Lee, who at the age of twelve was forced to live on the streets of North Korea and fend for himself. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting, begging, and stealing rides on cargo trains. Sungju richly recreates his scabrous story, depicting what it was like for a boy alone to create a new family with his gang, “his brothers,” to daily be hungry and to fear arrest, imprisonment, and even execution.... continue
1336.
Stars Between the Sun and Moon : One Woman's Life in North Korea and Escape to Freedom by Lucia Jang, Susan McClelland EN
Country: Asia / North Korea
North Korea
Description:
An extraordinary memoir by a North Korean woman who defied the government to keep her family alive.
1337.
La fille aux sept noms : l'histoire d'une transfuge nord-coréenne by Hyeonseo Lee FR
Country: Asia / North Korea
North Korea
Description:
La 4e de couverture indique : "Hyeonseo a passé son enfance en Corée du Nord, piégée comme des millions d’autres par l’une des plus secrètes et brutales dictatures. Elle grandit dans la ville de Hyesan près d’une rivière qui trace une frontière naturelle avec la Chine, un autre monde insaisissable. Au milieu des années 1990, la famine s’abat sur le pays. Chaque jour témoin de la répression et de la pauvreté, elle comprend que sa patrie ne peut être ʺle meilleur des mondesʺ qu’on lui vante depuis toujours. À 17 ans, au coeur de l’hiver, Hyeonseo décide de traverser la rivière gelée. Elle ne peu... continue
1338.
The Hard Road Out : Escaping North Korea by Jihyun Park, Seh-Lynn Chai EN
Country: Asia / North Korea
North Korea
Description:
The harrowing story of a woman who escaped famine and terror in North Korea, not once but twice. 'A gripping, suspenseful and cathartic memoir that tells a story of pain and perseverance and makes the moral case for asylum.' David Lammy MP North Korea is an open-air prison from which there is no escape. Only a handful of men and women have succeeded. Jihyun Park is one of these rare survivors. Twice she left the land of the 'socialist miracle' to flee famine and dictatorship. By the age of 29 she had already witnessed a lifetime of suffering. Family members had died of starvation; her brother ... continue
1339.
East Goes West by Younghill Kang EN
Country: Asia / North Korea
North Korea
Description:
One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years “A wonderfully resplendent evocation of a newcomer’s America” (Chang-rae Lee, author of Native Speaker) by the father of Korean American literature A Penguin Classic Having fled Japanese-occupied Korea for the gleaming promise of the United States with nothing but four dollars and a suitcase full of Shakespeare to his name, the young, idealistic Chungpa Han arrives in a New York teeming with expatriates, businessmen, students, scholars, and indigents. Struggling to support his studies, he travels throughout the United States and... continue
1340.
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi EN
OmanDescription:
An elegantly structured story of the history and people of modern Oman told through one family's losses and loves.