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. (102)
81.
The Birdwoman's Palate by Laksmi Pamuntjak EN
IndonesiaDescription:
In this exhilarating culinary novel, a woman's road trip through Indonesia becomes a discovery of friendship, self, and other rare delicacies. Aruna is an epidemiologist dedicated to food and avian politics. One is heaven, the other earth. The two passions blend in unexpected ways when Aruna is asked to research a handful of isolated bird flu cases reported across Indonesia. While it's put a crimp in her aunt's West Java farm, and made her own confit de canard highly questionable, the investigation does provide an irresistible opportunity. It's the perfect excuse to get away from corrupt and c... continue
82.
The Crazed : A Novel by Ha Jin EN
ChinaDescription:
Professor Yang, a respected teacher of literature, has had a stroke and it falls to Jian Wan - who is also engaged to Yang's daughter - to care for him. It initially seems a simple duty until the professor begins to rave, pleading with invisible tormentors and denouncing his family... Are these just manifestations of illness, or is Yang spewing up the truth? In a China convulsed by the Tiananmen uprising, those who listen to the truth are as much at risk as those who speak it. Lyrical and heart-breaking, The Crazed is an incisive portrait of modern Chinese society.
83.
The Great Passage by Shion Miura EN
JapanDescription:
An award-winning story of love, friendship, and the power of human connection. Kohei Araki believes that a dictionary is a boat to carry us across the sea of words. But after thirty-seven years of creating dictionaries, it's time for him to retire and find his replacement. He discovers a kindred spirit in Mitsuya Majime--a young, disheveled square peg with a penchant for collecting antiquarian books and a background in linguistics--whom he swipes from his company's sales department. Along with an energetic, if reluctant, new recruit and an elder linguistics scholar, Majime is tasked with a car... continue
84.
Iran85.
The Illusion of Return : A Novel by Samir El-Youssef EN
LebanonDescription:
The nameless narrator of this startling novella believed himself to be under no illusion: a Palestinian refugee, he had escaped the deadly tumult of Lebanon, the roving militias and endlessly complicated religious violence, by having long ago fled to London. He knew he could never go back. But then one day an old friend, who had also escaped, calls him and asks to meet at the airport on a stop-over on his way back to Lebanon. For the narrator, it summons up everything he thought he had suppressed, both the yearning to go home and the secret reason he can't. Thus the reunion with his old friend... continue
86.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini EN
Country: Asia / 
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
Soon to be a major Broadway stage production. Coming July 2022! The #1 New York Times bestselling novel beloved by millions of readers the world over. “A vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people [of Afghanistan] have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence—forces that continue to threaten them even today." –New York Times Book Review The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, caught in the tragic sweep of history, The Kite Runner transports readers to Afghanistan at a tense and ... continue
87.
The Occasional Virgin : A Novel by Hanan al-Shaykh EN
Description:
On a sunny beach on the Italian Riviera, two thirtysomething women, Yvonne and Huda, relax by the sparkling sea. But despite the setting, as their vacation unfolds, their complicated pasts seep through to the idyllic present. Both women spent their childhoods in Lebanon—Yvonne raised in a Christian family, Huda in a Muslim one—and they now find themselves torn between the traditional worlds they were born into and the successful professional identities they’ve created. Three months later, when Huda (a theater director from Toronto) visits Yvonne (an advertising executive) in London, a chance e... continue
88.
The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan EN
SingaporeDescription:
"University sophomore Miwako Sumida has hanged herself, leaving those closest to her reeling. In the months before her suicide, she was hiding away in a remote mountainside village, but what, or whom, was she running from? To Ryusei, a fellow student at Waseda; Chie, Miwako's best friend; and Fumi, Ryusei's older sister, Miwako was more than the blunt, no-nonsense person she projected to the world. Heartbroken, Ryusei begs Chie to take him to the village where Miwako spent her final days. While he is away, Fumi receives an unexpected guest at their shared apartment in Tokyo, increasingly fearf... continue
89.
The World of the End by Ofir Touché Gafla EN
IsraelDescription:
The American debut of a bestselling Israeli novel about a man who crosses into another world for the sake of love.
90.
Though I Get Home by Yz Chin EN
MalaysiaDescription:
In these stories, characters navigate fate via deft sleights of hand: a grandfather gambles on the monsoon rains; a consort finds herself a new assignment; a religious man struggles to keep his demons at bay. Central to the book is Isabella Sin, a smalltown girl transformed into a prisoner of conscience in Malaysia's most notorious detention camp.