Books from Indonesia
27 popular indonesian books
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 Indonesia.
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.
21.
The Question of Red by Laksmi Pamuntjak EN
Description:
From award-winning Indonesian author Laksmi Pamuntjak comes a tale of profound love against the backdrop of myth, culture, and politics. In this sweeping saga of love, loss, revolution, and the resilience of the human spirit, Amba must find the courage to forge her own path. Amba was named after a tragic figure in Indonesian mythology, and she spends her lifetime trying to invent a story she can call her own. When she meets two suitors who fit perfectly into her namesake's myth, Amba cannot help but feel that fate is teasing her. Salwa, respectful to a fault, pledges to honor and protect Amba,... continue
22.
The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata EN
Description:
Andrea Hirata is an Indonesian novelist. His debut novel The Rainbow Troops (known as Laskar Pelangi in Indonesia) shattered national sales records, making him the best selling author in Indonesia to date, reached over 5 millions readers, and contributed significantly to the development of modern Indonesian literature. The Rainbow Troops, set on Belitong Island, Indonesia, tells the story of a tight-knit group of students and their teachers fighting for education and dignity, even as they face continual hardship. Fabulously rich in natural resources, Belitong is also home to chronic poverty an... continue
23.
The Ten Thousand Things by Maria Dermout EN
Description:
In Wild, Cheryl Strayed writes of The Ten Thousand Things: "Each of Dermoût’s sentences came at me like a soft knowing dagger, depicting a far-off land that felt to me like the blood of all the places I used to love.” And it's true, The Ten Thousand Things is at once novel of shimmering strangeness—and familiarity. It is the story of Felicia, who returns with her baby son from Holland to the Spice Islands of Indonesia, to the house and garden that were her birthplace, over which her powerful grandmother still presides. There Felicia finds herself wedded to an uncanny and dangerous world, full ... continue
24.
The Wandering by Intan Paramaditha EN
Description:
The most ingenious and unusual novel you will read all year, where you choose your own story You’ve grown roots, you’re gathering moss. You’re desperate to escape your boring life teaching English in Jakarta, to go out and see the world. So you make a Faustian pact with a devil, who gives you a gift, and a warning. A pair of red shoes to take you wherever you want to go. You’re forever wandering, everywhere and nowhere, but where is your home? And where will you choose to go? To New York, to follow your dreams? To Berlin or Amsterdam? Lima or Tijuana? Or onto a train that will never stop? The ... continue
25.
This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer EN
Description:
Minke is a young Javanese student of great intelligence and ambition. Living equally among the colonists and colonized of 19th-century Java, he battles against the confines of colonial strictures. It is his love for Annelies that enables him to find the strength to embrace his world.
26.
Description:
Aus dem Indonesischen von Martina Heinschke. Die Erzählung beginnt mit der Nachricht von einem brutalen Mord. Margio, ein stiller Junge, zwanzig Jahre alt, als Treiber bei der Wildschweinjagd allseits geschätzt, hat überraschend seinen Nachbarn getötet, nicht mit einer Waffe - er hat ihm vielmehr die Kehle durchgebissen. Der Roman kreist um die Hintergründe der Tat. Sprachlich präzise, dicht und mit ungewöhnlichen Metaphern lässt Eka Kurniawan Margios Welt entstehen: schwierige Familienverhältnisse, die Beziehungen zwischen den Nachbarn, die Bindung an die Großeltern, Margios Geschick bei der ... continue
27.
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto EN
Description:
A lonely shopkeeper takes it upon herself to solve a murder in the most peculiar way in this captivating mystery by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties. Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady—ah, lady of a certain age—who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing—a dead man in ... continue