Read Around Asia Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.
Best books from Asia (1972)
1891.
Novela sin título by Thu Huong Duong, Ana María Moix, Mónica Boada ES
VietnamDescription:
La guerra del Vietnam ha dado lugar a numerosos testimonios: novelas, biografías, ensayos, películas. Pero eran pocas las oportunidades de acceder a la versión de alguien del otro bando que se alejara de los tópicos y presentara un punto de vista como éste.
1892.
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai EN
Description:
No one would believe me but at times I would choose wartime in Saigon over peacetime in Alabama. For all the ten years of her life, HÀ has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, the warmth of her friends close by . . . and the beauty of her very own papaya tree. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. HÀ and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, HÀ discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food, the strange shape of its landscape . . . and the... continue
1893.
Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong EN
Description:
"Take your time with these poems, and return to them often.” —The Washington Post The New York Times-bestselling collection of poems from the award-winning writer Ocean Vuong How else do we return to ourselves but to fold The page so it points to the good part In this deeply intimate second poetry collection, Ocean Vuong searches for life among the aftershocks of personal and social loss, embodying the paradox of sitting in grief while being determined to survive beyond it. Shifting through memory, and in concert with the themes of his novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Vuong contends with... continue
1894.
The Miracle of Mindfulness : An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh EN
Description:
One of the best available introductions to the wisdom and beauty of meditation practice. --New Age Journal In this beautiful and lucid guide, Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh offers gentle anecdotes and practical exercise as a means of learning the skills of mindfulness--being awake and fully aware. From washing the dishes to answering the phone to peeling an orange, he reminds us that each moment holds within it an opportunity to work toward greater self-understanding and peacefulness.
1895.
The Song of Kieu : A New Lament by Nguyen Du EN
Description:
"An essential book for anyone invested, not only in Vietnamese literature, but the historic power of the national epic...and its perennial place in our species' efforts toward self-knowledge. Tim Allen's new translation offers clean fluidity while honouring the original's varied rhythms and jagged lyricism. A luminous feat." --Ocean Vuong A stunning new translation of the legendary Vietnamese epic poem, now for the first time in Penguin Classics Considered the greatest literary achievement in Vietnamese, The Song of Kieu tells the story of the beautiful Vuong Thuy Kieu, who agrees to a financi... continue
1896.
The Sailor from Gibraltar by Marguerite Duras EN
Description:
Disaffected, bored with his career at the French Colonial Ministry (where he has copied out birth and death certificates for eight years), and disgusted by a mistress whose vapid optimism arouses his most violent misogyny, the narrator finds himself at the point of complete breakdown while vacationing in Florence. After leaving his mistress and the Ministry behind forever, he joins the crew of The Gibraltar, a yacht captained by Anna, a beautiful American in perpetual search of her sometime lover, a young man known only as the Sailor from Gibraltar.''
1897.
Moderato Cantabile by Marguerite Duras EN
Description:
A distressed young man murders the woman he loves in a café, watched by a large crowd. Fascinated by the crime she has witnessed, Anne Desbaresdes returns several times to the scene, forming a relationship with a man who also saw the murder, and drinking through the afternoon with him as he patiently answers her eager questions. Slowly, they find themselves being taken over by forces which threaten their own stability. Moderato Cantabile is a carefully woven tapestry of emotion, in which the characters' inner lives are reflected by the story's spaces and landscapes.
1898.
Reconciliation : Healing the Inner Child by Thich Nhat Hanh EN
Description:
Start your journey toward inner child healing with mindfulness tools that will help you mend fraught relationships, process difficult emotions, and transform the hurt of childhood trauma. “Thich Nhat Hanh’s work, on and off the page, has proven to be the antidote to our modern pain and sorrows.” —Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous Based on Dharma talks by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, and insights from participants in retreats for healing the inner child, this book is an exciting contribution to the growing trend of using Buddhist practices to encourage mental health and well... continue
1899.
Elevator in Saigon by Thuân EN
Description:
Personal and political, tragic and bitingly satirical, an ethereal journey through Hanoi, Saigon, Paris, Pyongyang, and Seoul
1900.
Die vielen Namen der Liebe by Kim Thúy DE
Description:
Acht Jahre ist Vi, als sie mit der Mutter und den drei großen Brüdern aus Vietnam flieht, in einem Flüchtlingslager in Malaysia landet und schließlich in Kanada neu beginnt. Erst als erwachsene Frau kehrt sie eine Weile nach Vietnam zurück, in ein Land, das ihr nach so vielen Jahren fremd ist. Umso stärker ist die Gegenwart der Erinnerungen: an die abgöttische Liebe der Mutter zu ihrem Mann, den sie im entscheidenden Moment zurücklässt, um die Kinder zu retten. An Ha, deren kluge und elegante Freundin, die Vi ermunterte, sich aus der Tradition zu lösen und ein selbstbestimmtes Leben zu führen.... continue