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Recommended books (7)
Travel the world without leaving your chair. The target of the Read Around The World Challenge is to read at least one book written by an author from each and every country in the world. All books that are listed here as part of the "Read Around Asia Challenge" were written by authors from North Korea. Find a great book for the next part of your reading journey around the world from this book list. The following popular books have been recommended so far.

1.

A River in Darkness : One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa EN

Rating: 4     1 Vote
Country: Asia / North Korea flag North Korea
Description:
Previously published in Japan in 2000. Translated from Japanese by Risa Kobayashi and Martin Brown. First published in English by AmazonCrossing in 2017.
Recommended: 04 Sep 2022


3.

In Order To Live : A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park EN

Rating: 4     5 Votes
Country: Asia / North Korea flag North Korea
Description:
'I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, and that I escaped from North Korea.' Yeonmi Park was not dreaming of freedom when she escaped from North Korea. She didn't even know what it meant to be free. All she knew was that she was running for her life, that if she and her family stayed behind they would die - from starvation, or disease, or even execution. This book is the story of Park's struggle to survive in the darkest, most repressive country on earth; her harrowing escape through China's underworld of smugglers and human traffickers; and then her escape from Ch... continue
Genre Memoir
Recommended: 20 Feb 2022

4.

The Accusation by Bandi EN

Rating: 4     1 Vote
Country: Asia / North Korea flag North Korea
Description:
'Dear President Trump ... As you are interested in North Korea, you will surely be interested in this book' Margaret Atwood on The Accusation Smuggled out of North Korea and now an international sensation, The Accusation is the work of an anonymous dissident known to us only by the pseudonym 'Bandi'. Bandi's profound, vividly characterised stories tell of life under the totalitarian regimes of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. The Accusation depicts ordinary men and women facing the horrors of life in a police state: a factory supervisor caught between loyalty to an old friend and loyalty to the re... continue
Genre
Recommended: 05 Sep 2018

5.

The Aquariums of Pyongyang : Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag by Chol-hwan Kang, Pierre Rigoulot EN

Rating: 4.5     2 Votes
Country: Asia / North Korea flag North Korea
Description:
Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, one man's suffering gives eyewitness proof to an ongoing sorrowful chapter of modern history.
Recommended: 04 Nov 2022

6.
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh EN

Rating: 3     1 Vote
Country: Asia / North Korea flag North Korea
Description:
A girl travels to the Spirit World to break a curse that threatens the lives of her people in this feminist YA retelling of the popular Korean legend "The Tale of Shim Cheong."

7.
The Girl in the Red Shoes

The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee EN

Rating: 4     23 Votes
Country: Asia / North Korea flag North Korea
Description:
An extraordinary insight into the life under one of the world's most ruthless and secretive dictatorships - and the story of one woman's terrifying struggle to escape.
Recommended: 29 Nov 2022


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