Popular Asian Contemporary Fiction Books
Find contemporary fiction books written by authors from Asia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (17)
1.
Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa EN
KuwaitDescription:
Nahr has been confined to the Cube: nine square metres of glossy grey cinderblock, devoid of time, its patterns of light and dark nothing to do with day and night. Journalists visit her, but get nowhere; because Nahr is not going to share her story with them. The world outside calls Nahr a terrorist, and a whore; some might call her a revolutionary, or a hero. But the truth is, Nahr has always been many things, and had many names. She was named for the river her pregnant mother crossed when she fled from Palestine, but her feckless father called her Yaqoot, Ruby. For a time when she came of ag... continue
2.
JapanDescription:
This thought-provoking and intriguing tale, by the Akutagawa Prize-nominated master short story writer Kanji Hanawa, revolves around the extraordinary real story of the seven-year-old boy who went missing in the bear-inhabited forests of northern Japan for six whole days in 2016, after his parents had apparently abandoned him as a punishment. In Backlight, a child is left alone at the side of a road in the mountains of Hokkaido in northern Japan by his parents. When they return moments later, the boy is gone. Ishida, a Professor of Psychology is enlisted as part of the search team. As days pas... continue
3.
Birthday Stories by Haruki Murakami EN
Description:
In this enviable gathering, Haruki Murakami has chosen for his party some of the very best short story writers of recent years, each with their own birthday experiences, each story a snapshot of life on a single day. Including stories by Russell Banks, Et
4.
Come Rain Or Come Shine by Kazuo Ishiguro EN
Description:
In Kazuo Ishiguro's hands, a snapshot of domestic realism becomes a miniature masterpiece of memory and forgetting.
5.
Iran6.
Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah EN
LebanonDescription:
A 2023 Canada Reads Finalist Longlisted for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize A vivid love letter to the 1980s and one woman's struggle to overcome the challenges of immigration. It's 1986, and Muna Heddad is in a bind. She and her son have moved to Montreal, leaving behind a civil war filled with bad memories in Lebanon. She had plans to find work as a French teacher, but no one in Quebec trusts her to teach the language. She needs to start making money, and fast. The only work Muna can find is at a weight-loss center as a hotline operator. All day, she takes calls from people responding to ad... continue
7.
IsraelDescription:
Jerusalem im Winter 1959/60: Schmuel Asch bricht sein Studium kurz vor der Abschlussarbeit zum Thema Judas ab, wird von seiner Freundin verlassen und seine Eltern können ihn nicht mehr unterstützen wiel sie sich finanziell ruiniert haben. Nur eine Anzeige hält ihn davon ab, die Stadt zu verlassen: ohne jemanden etwas erzählen zu dürfen beginnt er, einem alten Mann des Nachts vorzulesen und sich mit ihm über die Ideale des Zionismus, die jüdisch-arabischen Konflikte, kurz über Gott und die Welt zu unterhalten. Dabei trifft er auch auf die Tochter eines ehemaligen Anführers der Zionisten, von de... continue
8.
Kamusari Tales Told at Night by Shion Miura EN
Description:
From Shion Miura, award-winning author of The Easy Life in Kamusari, comes a spirit-lifting novel about tradition, first love, and ancient lore in a Japanese mountain village. It's been a year since Yuki Hirano left home--or more precisely, was booted from it--to study forestry in the remote mountain village of Kamusari. Being a woodsman is not the future he imagined, but his name means "courage," and Yuki hopes to live up to it. He's adapting to his job and learning constantly. In between, he records local legends--tales pulsing with life, passion, and wondrous gods. Kamusari has other charms... continue
9.
MARTYR! by Kaveh Akbar EN
Description:
Cyrus Shams is lost. The orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, Cyrus never knew his mother. Killed when her plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident, Cyrus has spent his life grappling with the meaningless nature of his mother's death. Now he is set to learn the truth of her life. When Cyrus's obsession with the lives of the martyrs - Bobby Sands, Joan of Arc - leads him to a chance encounter with a dying artist, he finds himself drawn towards the mysteries of his past: an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the Angel of Death; and toward his mother, w... continue
10.
Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami EN
Description:
A boy is obsessed with a woman who sells sandwiches. He goes to the supermarket almost every day, just so he can look at her face. She is beautiful to him, and he calls her "Ms Ice Sandwich", and endlessly draws her portrait