Read Around Asia Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.
Best books from Asia (1975)
321.
From Emperor to Citizen : The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi by Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi EN
ChinaDescription:
Originally published: Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1979.
322.
Old Demons, New Deities : Twenty-One Short Stories from Tibet by Tenzin Dickie EN
Description:
The first English-language anthology of contemporary Tibetan fiction available in the West, Old Demons, New Deities brings together the best Tibetan writers from both Tibet and the diaspora, who write in Tibetan, English and Chinese. Modern Tibetan literature is just under forty years old: its birth dates to 1980, when the first Tibetan language journal was published in Lhasa. Since then, short stories have become one of the primary modern Tibetan art forms. Through these sometimes absurd, sometimes strange, and always moving stories, the English-reading audience gets an authentic look at the ... continue
324.
The Song of King Gesar by Alai EN
Description:
The Song of King Gesar is one of the world's great epics, as significant for Tibetans as the Odyssey and Iliad for the ancient Greeks, and as the Ramayana and Mahabarata in India. Passed down in song from one generation to the next, it is sung by Tibetan bards even today. Set partly in ancient Tibet, where evil spirits mingle with the lives of humans, and partly in the modern day, The Song of King Gesar tells of two lives inextricably entwined. Gesar, the youngest and bravest of the gods, has been sent down to the human world to defeat the demons that plague the lives of ordinary people. Jigme... continue
325.
Butterfly Mother: Miao (Hmong) Creation Epics from Guizhou, China by Mark Bender EN
Description:
A collection of epics from the Miao (Hmong) ethnic group of southwest China. The poetic narratives, traditionally performed by two groups of singers, relate the creation of the world and the peoples and creatures in it. One of the major figures in one series of the songs is Butterfly Mother (Mai Bang), a personified butterfly who lays the eggs that eventually lead to the creation of the local peoples. Rich in cultural lore, these mythic narratives are virtual encyclopedias of traditional myths, legends, and folk customs of the Miao people.
326.
Lady Tan's Circle of Women : A Novel by Lisa See EN
Description:
Sent into an arranged marriage, Tan Yunxian, forbidden to continue her work as a midwife-in-training as well as see her forever friend Meiling, is ordered to act like proper wife and seeks a way to continue treating women and girls from every level of society in fifteenth-century China.
327.
Kingdom of Characters : The Language Revolution That Made China Modern by Jing Tsu EN
Description:
A New York Times Notable Book of 2022 What does it take to reinvent a language? After a meteoric rise, China today is one of the world’s most powerful nations. Just a century ago, it was a crumbling empire with literacy reserved for the elite few, as the world underwent a massive technological transformation that threatened to leave them behind. In Kingdom of Characters, Jing Tsu argues that China’s most daunting challenge was a linguistic one: the century-long fight to make the formidable Chinese language accessible to the modern world of global trade and digital technology. Kingdom of Charac... continue
328.
Zodiac : A Graphic Memoir by Ai Weiwei EN
Description:
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this beautifully illustrated and deeply philosophical graphic memoir, legendary artist Ai Weiwei explores the connection between artistic expression and intellectual freedom through the lens of the Chinese zodiac. ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR As a child living in exile during the Cultural Revolution, Ai Weiwei often found himself with nothing to read but government-approved comic books. Although they were restricted by the confines of political propaganda, Ai Weiwei was struck by the artists’ ability to express their thoughts on art and humanity through graphic ... continue
329.
UFO in Her Eyes by Xiaolu Guo EN
Description:
Silver Hill Village, 2012. On the twentieth day of the seventh moon Kwok Yun is making her way across the rice fields on her Flying Pigeon bicycle. Her world is upturned when she sights a UFThing u a spinning plate in the sky u and helps the Westerner in distress whom she discovers in the shadow of the alien craft. It's not long before the village is crawling with men from the National Security and Intelligence Agency armed with pointed questions. And when the Westerner that Kwok Yun saved repays her kindness with a large dollar cheque she becomes a local celebrity, albeit under constant surve... continue
330.
Love in the New Millennium by Can Xue EN
Description:
The most ambitious work of fiction by a writer widely considered the most important novelist working in China today In this darkly comic novel, a group of women inhabits a world of constant surveillance, where informants lurk in the flower beds and false reports fly. Conspiracies abound in a community that normalizes paranoia and suspicion. Some try to flee—whether to a mysterious gambling bordello or to ancestral homes that can be reached only underground through muddy caves, sewers, and tunnels. Others seek out the refuge of Nest County, where traditional Chinese herbal medicines can reshape... continue