Popular Asian Memoir Books
Find memoir books written by authors from Asia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (91)
41.
Leer Lolita en Teherán by Azar Nafisi ES
IranDescription:
Cada jueves a la mañana a lo largo de dos años, Azar Nafisi, una valiente y brillante profesora iraní, reúne clandestinamente en el salón de su casa a siete de sus alumnas más aventajadas con el fin de leer libros prohibidos: obras de Jane Austen, Henry James, Scott Fitzgerald, y por supuesto, de Vladimir Nabokov, el autor de Lolita. Mientras las jóvenes poco a poco se expresan a través de los libros, se dan cuenta cómo sus propias vidas se van transformando y mezclando con la trama de las obras a las que se entregan.
42.
Leer Lolita en Teheran by Azar Nafisi ES
Description:
Leer Lolita en Teherán es, en el acto y en el título, una abierta manifestación de la libertad de la imaginación frente a las prohibiciones, políticas o de cualquier índole. También podría haberse llamado Leer Gatsby, o James, o incluso Austen, que son las partes en que se divide el libro (podría agregarse a Saúl Bellow).
Nafisi, es profesora de Literatura, y luego de su abandono de la Universidad, dictó durante dos años un taller para un grupo de jóvenes. El taller, y el libro dialogan con las obras li... continue
43.
Long Road Home : Testimony of a North Korean Camp Survivor by Yong Kim EN
Country: Asia / 
North Korea
North Korea
Description:
Kim Yong shares his harrowing account of life in a labor camp—a singularly despairing form of torture carried out by the secret state. Although it is known that gulags exist in North Korea, little information is available about their organization and conduct, for prisoners rarely escape both incarceration and the country alive. Long Road Home shares the remarkable story of one such survivor, a former military official who spent six years in a gulag and experienced firsthand the brutality of an unconscionable regime. As a lieutenant colonel in the North Korean army, Kim Yong enjoyed unprecedent... continue
44.
Los días del Cáucaso by Banine, ES
Country: Asia / 
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Description:
UNO DE LOS MÁS ORIGINALES, DIVERTIDOS Y TREPIDANTES LIBROS AUTOBIOGRÁFICOS DEL SIGLO XX. El elegante, irónico y conmovedor retrato de una mujer y una época extraordinarias. «Con una prosa exquisita y una gloriosa capacidad para captar lo absurdo y lo cómico ;incluso en medio de los más trágicos sucesos;, Banine nos ofrece el relato de su embriagadora y turbulenta juventud, desde las orillas del mar Caspio hasta París». The Spectator «Tan vívida e ingeniosamente nos revela la autora un mundo por completo desconocido que, apenas comienzas Los días del Cáucaso, ya te encuentras del todo absorto e... continue
45.
Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin EN
ChinaDescription:
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The extraordinary memoir of a peasant boy raised in rural Maoist China who was plucked from his village to study ballet and went on to become one of the greatest dancers of his generation. From a desperately poor village in northeast China, at age eleven, Li Cunxin was chosen by Madame Mao's cultural delegates to be taken from his rural home and brought to Beijing, where he would study ballet. In 1979, the young dancer arrived in Texas as part of a cultural exchange, only to fall in love with America-and with an American woman. Two years later, through a series of ... continue
46.
MongoliaDescription:
Exteremely interesting'emotionally engaging (Stuart Kelly). Uuganaa is a Mongol living in Britain, far from the world she grew up in: as a nomadic herder she lived in a yurt, eating marmot meat, distilling vodka from goat's yoghurt and learning about Comrade Lenin. When her new-born son Billy is diagnosed with DownOCOs Syndrome, she finds herself facing bigotry and taboo as well as heartbreak. In this powerful memoir, Uuganaa skilfully interweaves the extraordinary story of her own childhood in Mongolia with the sadly short life of Billy, who becomes a symbol of union and disunion, cultures an... continue
47.
My Life as a Traitor by Zarah Ghahramani EN
Description:
It was part youthful zeal and part teen crush that led Zarah Ghahramani to join a student protest movement. But dabbling in student politics was to lead to disaster when one day she was bundled into a car and taken to Tehran's most notorious prison: Evin. Far from her comfortable middle-class home, Zarah had to find refuge from her ruthless interrogators in a windowless concrete cell. Day after day she was humiliated and viciously beaten until all she wanted was simply to die, her spirit broken. In My Life as a Traitor, Zarah tells the story of her horrifying ordeal and her eventual release, a... continue
48.
My Past Is a Foreign Country : A Muslim Feminist Finds Herself by Zeba Talkhani EN
Country: Asia / 
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
Description:
'Brilliant and brutally honest, this memoir ropes you in with every page. The intimacy that Zeba evokes will remind you of your own sister opening her heart to you.' Meena Kandasamy, author of When I Hit You, shortlisted for The Women's Prize 28-year-old Zeba Talkhani charts her experiences growing up in Saudi Arabia amid patriarchal customs reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale, and her journey to find freedom in India, Germany and the UK. Talkhani offers a fresh perspective on living as an outsider and examines her relationship with her mother and the challenges she faced when she experienced h... continue
49.
No Friend But the Mountains : Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani EN
Description:
"Our government jailed his body, but his soul remained that of a free man." -- From the Foreword by Man Booker Prize-winning author Richard Flanagan In 2013, Kurdish-Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani was illegally detained on Manus Island, a refugee detention centre off the coast of Australia. He has been there ever since. This book is the result. Laboriously tapped out on a mobile phone and translated from the Farsi. It is a voice of witness, an act of survival. A lyric first-hand account. A cry of resistance. A vivid portrait of five years of incarceration and exile. Winner of the Victoria... continue
50.
Once Upon a Time in the East : A Chronicle of Growing Up by Xiaolu Guo EN
Description:
'This generation's Wild Swans' Daily Telegraph 'One of the most startling and fascinating memoirs I've read in recent years...a story of China' Libby Purves 'Impressive...moving...exhilarating' Financial Times 'Guo is rebellious, flamboyant and fundamentally optimistic...fascinating' Scotland on Sunday 'This stunning memoir picks up where Jung Chang's 1991 bestseller Wild Swans left off...This book will make your jaw drop, then clench in anger' Five stars, Sunday Telegraph 'Riveting...Guo is a bolder, angrier and more ambitious figure than her forebears' The Times Xiaolu Guo meets her parents ... continue