Read Around Asia Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.
Best books from Asia (1975)
331.
The Vagrants : A Novel by Yiyun Li EN
ChinaDescription:
In luminous prose, award-winning author Yiyun Li weaves together the lives of unforgettable characters who are forced to make moral choices, and choices for survival, in China in the late 1970s. Shortlisted for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Morning dawns on the provincial city of Muddy River. A young woman, Gu Shan, a bold spirit and a follower of Chairman Mao, has renounced her faith in Communism. Now a political prisoner, she is to be executed for her dissent. Her distraught mother, determined to follow the custom of burning her only child’s clothing to ease her journey ... continue
332.
Description:
A first contact SF novel, from the Hugo Award–winning author of Folding Beijing. 2080, the world is divided, dominated by two antagonistic factions, the Pacific League and the Atlantic Alliance. Tensions are high and the smallest disturbance in the status quo could set the world on fire. And a signal flickering through deep space could be just that spark. As three young scientists form an alliance to decode the signal, they realise that the answers don't only lie in deep space, they also lie deep in humanity's past. What they discover will change everything: our past, present and future. If we... continue
333.
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li EN
Description:
Yiyun Li’s remarkable, defiant work of radical acceptance as she considers the loss of her son James. “There is no good way to say this,” Yiyun Li writes at the beginning of this book. “There is no good way to state these facts, which must be acknowledged. My husband and I had two children and lost them both: Vincent in 2017, at sixteen, James in 2024, at nineteen. Both chose suicide, and both died not far from home.” There is no good way to say this—because words fall short. It takes only an instant for death to become fact, “a single point in a timeline.” Living now on this single point, Li ... continue
334.
Tales of Hulan River by Xiao Hong EN
Description:
The Tales of Hulan River by Xiao Hong is a poignant and lyrical depiction of rural life in early 20th-century China. Blending autobiography with fiction, the novel offers a deeply personal yet detached exploration of a small town on the banks of the Hulan River, as seen through the eyes of a young girl. Rather than following a conventional plot, the narrative presents a series of vivid sketches that capture the daily struggles, traditions, and harsh realities of peasant life. Since its publication, The Tales of Hulan River has been celebrated for its evocative prose and its stark yet poetic re... continue
335.
Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu EN
Description:
'Cixin Liu is the author of your next favourite sci-fi novel' WIRED On his fourteenth birthday, right before his eyes, Chen's parents are incinerated by a blast of ball lightning. Striving to make sense of this bizarre tragedy, he dedicates his life to a single goal: to unlock the secrets of this enigmatic natural phenomenon. His pursuit of ball lightning will take him far from home, across mountain peaks chasing storms and deep into highly classified subterranean laboratories as he slowly unveils a new frontier in particle physics. Chen's obsession gives purpose to his lonely life, but it can... continue
336.
A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang EN
Description:
An October 2024 Indie Next Pick • An October 2024 LibraryReads Pick Preorder now and receive the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION while supplies last―featuring a gold foiled cover, gorgeous sprayed edges with stenciled artwork, as well as exclusive metallic ink patterned endpapers and unique foiled front and back case stamps. This breathtaking collectible is only available on a limited first print run, a must-have for any book lover. “Exquisite and devastating. It won’t fail to move you.” —Shelley Parker-Chan, #1 bestselling author of She Who Became the Sun Inspired by the legend of Xishi, one ... continue
337.
Meine Stadt : Roman by Xi Xi DE
Description:
Kann es ein Leben ohne Hongkong geben? Nicht für Aguo, den neunmalklugen, stolzen Bürger der Stadt. Mit seiner Schwester Afa lebt er im Haus der Tanten, genannt »die Lotusblumen«. Oder, an ihren übel gelaunten Tagen, »die Lotuswurzeln«. Aguo wundert sich über alles und jeden in der Schule, mutiert zum leidenschaftlichsten Elektroinstallateur der Stadt und lernt auf seinen Streifzügen durch das Hongkong der 70er Jahre die gesamte Bevölkerung kennen: Müllsammler und Telefonistinnen, Seemänner und Tischler. Sie alle sind vom Festland hier gestrandet, mit sehnsüchtigen Herzen und pompösen Plänen. ... continue
338.
We Were the Christmas Islanders : Reminiscences and Recollections of the People of an Isolated Island, the Australian Territory of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean by Margaret Neale, Jan Adams, Bruce Neale EN
Country: Asia / 
Christmas Island
Christmas Island
Description:
Qualitative research trough interviews of Chistmas Island residents.
Margo Ngawa Neale is an Australian author, historian and curator, who is of Aboriginal and Irish descent, and a Gumbaynggirr and Wiradjuri woman.[1][2] Her First Nations name is Ngawa Gurrawa and it means "talkative but knowledgeable".
Neale is based in Canberra and is an adjunct professor at the Australian National University and is the senior Indigenous curator and as the principle advisor to the director or the National Museum of Australia.[4] She has also served as the Head of the Gallery of Aboriginal Austra... continue
339.
Christmas Island : The Early Years, 1888 to 1958 : Historic Photographs with Many Untold Tales from the Early Years of Christmas Island, an Isolated Island in the Indian Ocean by Jan Adams, Marg Neale EN
Country: Asia / Christmas Island
Christmas Island
Description:
Early years of Christmas Island, 1888 to 1958. Historic photographs with many untold tales from the early years of Christmas Island, an isolated island in the Indian Ocean.
340.
The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili EN
GeorgiaDescription:
Lela knows two things: her history teacher must die and she must start a new life beyond the pear field. On the outskirts of Tbilisi, in a newly independent Georgia, is the Residential School for Intellectually Disabled Children – or, as the locals call it, the School for Idiots. Abandoned by their parents, the pupils here receive lessons in violence and neglect. At eighteen, Lela is old enough to leave, but with nowhere to go she stays and plans, both for her own escape and for the future she hopes to give Irakli, a young boy at the school. When a couple from the USA decide they want to adopt... continue