Read Around Asia Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.
Best books from Asia (1976)
1661.
Counterattacks at Thirty by Won-Pyung Sohn, Sean Lin Halbert translator EN
Country: Asia / 
South Korea
South Korea
Description:
From the bestselling author of ALMOND, The Devil Wears Prada meets The Office in this witty, humane, and ultimately transformative story of a group of young workers who rebel against the status quo. Jihye is an ordinary woman who has never been extraordinary. In her administrative job at the Academy, she silently tolerates office politics and the absurdities of Korean bureaucracy. Forever only one misplaced email away from career catastrophe, she effectively becomes a master of the silent eye-roll and the tactical coffee run. But all her efforts to endure her superiors and the semi-hostile wor... continue
1662.
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Terlahir sebagai anak yang tak diinginkan, Oh San-yi sudah merasakan penolakan dan kehilangan sejak kecil, yang—walaupun tak kasatmata—tetap meninggalkan jejak yang mengikutinya sampai ia tumbuh dewasa. Kini Oh San-yi yang berusia 23 tahun bekerja di toko bunga dan menjalani kehidupan sepi di tengah hiruk-pikuk pusat kota Seoul. Pada suatu hari di musim panas, ia bertemu dengan seorang fotografer yang datang ke toko bunga untuk memotret bunga violet. Pertemuan itu menjungkirbalikkan hidupnya yang monoton dan abu-abu, menariknya ke dalam pusaran gairah, dan memerangkapnya dalam obsesi yang meng... continue
1663.
Palimpsest: Documents From a Korean Adoption by Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Who owns the story of an adoption? Thousands of South Korean children were adopted around the world in the 1970s and 1980s. More than nine thousand found their new home in Sweden, including the cartoonist Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom, who was adopted when she was two years old. Throughout her childhood she struggled to fit into the homogenous Swedish culture and was continually told to suppress the innate desire to know her origins. “Be thankful,” she was told; surely her life in Sweden was better than it would have been in Korea. Like many adoptees, Sjöblom learned to bury the feeling of abandonment... continue
1664.
Almost American Girl : A Graphic Memoir by Robin Ha EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Harvey Award Nominee, Best Children or Young Adult Book A powerful and moving teen graphic novel memoir about immigration, belonging, and how arts can save a life—perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and Hey, Kiddo. For as long as she can remember, it’s been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together. So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation—following her mother’s announcement that she’s getting married—Robin... continue
1665.
Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn, comes a sweeping, action-packed YA adventure set against the backdrop of Feudal Japan where Mulan meets Throne of Glass. “[A] fun feudal samurai drama. . .action-packed and well-paced.”—The Washington Post “If you live for books that have lush worlds, swoony romance and non-stop action, you’ll want to read this.”—Paste Magazine The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has long known her place—she may be an accomplished alchemist, whose cunning rivals that of her brother Kenshin, but because she is not a boy, her future... continue
1666.
The Second Chance Convenience Store by Ho-Yeon Kim EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
In this million-copy international bestseller from Korea, the owner of a corner store takes in an unhoused man who does a good deed, a kind soul whose presence will transform the whole neighborhood--a heartwarming tale of community and redemption reminiscent of the bestselling novels of Matt Haig and Gabrielle Zevin. Dok-go lives in Seoul Station. He can't remember his past, and the only thing he knows for certain is that he could really use a drink. When he finds a lost wallet filled with documents, his life is drastically changed. Mrs. Yeom, a retired history teacher and current owner of her... continue
1667.
Nie mówię żegnaj by Han Kang PL
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Zdobywczyni nagrody Man Booker Prize 2016, Han Kang, powraca po 5 latach z nową, pełnowymiarową powieścią. „Nie mówię żegnaj” opowiada o ludobójstwie w 1948 roku na wyspie Czedżu. Opisuje nie tylko wydarzenia historyczne, ale także przedstawia w przejmujący portret trzech kobiet oraz wpływ, jaki na nie miała doznana przemoc i strata. Przede wszystkim jednak stawia ważne pytania dotyczące pamięci zbiorowej czy odpowiedzialności historycznej. Han Kang snuje opowieść o desperackiej walce i godności ludzi, którzy wbrew otaczającym ich ciemnościom starają się odnaleźć promień światła. Ta zaczerpnię... continue
1668.
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
THE NEW NOVEL FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE “[Han Kang’s] intense poetic prose . . . confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”—The Nobel Committee for Literature, in the citation for the Nobel Prize “Unforgettable.”—Hernan Diaz Han Kang’s most revelatory book since The Vegetarian, We Do Not Part tells the story of a friendship between two women while powerfully reckoning with a hidden chapter in Korean history. One winter morning, Kyungha receives an urgent message from her friend Inseon to visit her at a hospital in Seoul. Inseon has ... continue
1669.
The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
A bestseller in Korea, a biting, unsettling vampire murder mystery exploring queer love and the consequences of loneliness. When four isolated elderly people die back-to-back at the same hospital by jumping out of the sixth-floor window, Su-Yeon doesn't understand why she's the only one at her precinct that seems to care. But her colleagues at the police force dismiss the case as a series of unfortunate suicides due to the patients' loneliness. But Su-Yeon doesn't have the privilege of looking away: her dearest friend, Grandma Eun-Shim, lives on the sixth floor, and Su-Yeon is terrified that s... continue
1670.
Broken Summer : A Novel by J. M. Lee EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
A death, a lie, a secret. For twenty-six summers he didn't have the courage to face the past. Lee Hanjo is an artist at the peak of his fame, envied and celebrated. Then, on his forty-third birthday, he awakens to find that his devoted wife has disappeared, leaving behind a soon-to-be-published novel she'd secretly written about the sordid past and questionable morality of an artist with a trajectory similar to Hanjo's. It's clear to him that his life is about to shatter and the demons from his past will come out. But why did his wife do it? Why now? The book forces Hanjo to reflect on a summe... continue