Read Around Asia Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.
Best books from Asia (1241)
1121.
A True Good Thai by Sunisa Manning EN
ThailandDescription:
In 1970s Thailand, three young people meet each other with fateful results. Det has just lost his mother, the granddaughter of a king. He clings to his best friend Chang, a smart boy from the slums, as they go to college; while there, Det falls for Lek, a Chinese immigrant with radical ideals. Longing for glory, Det journeys into his friends’ political circles, and then into the Thai jungle to fight. During Thailand’s most famous period of political and artistic openness, these three friends must reconcile their deep feelings for one another with the realities of perilous political... continue
1122.
La sombra blanca : retrato del artista canalla by Saneh Sangsuk ES
Description:
Un auténtico descubrimiento. Una novela-monstruo, furiosa, fulgurante y venenosa, de un extraño lirismo, que pulveriza los clichés occidentales sobre Bangkok. Recluido en una cabaña en medio de ningún sitio, un hombre decide confesar. Acuciado por la urgencia, como si la muerte estuviera cercana, empieza a hablar. Pero lo que al principio parece una simple declaración amorosa, va transformándose a lo largo de las páginas en un terrible retorno al pasado.
La sombra blanca es una novela autobiográfica en la que Saneh Sangsuk emprend... continue
1123.
Welcome Me to the Kingdom : Stories by Mai Nardone EN
Description:
An immersive debut set across the temples, slums, and gated estates of late-twentieth century Bangkok, Welcome Me to the Kingdom tells the story of three families striving to control their own destinies in a merciless, sometimes brutally violent, metropolis. We came with the drought. From the window of the train, the rich brown of the Chao Phraya River marked the turn from the northeast into the central plains. We came for Bangkok on the delta. The thin tributaries that laced the provinces found full current at the capital. And in the city, we’d heard, the wealth was wide and deep. In 1980, yo... continue
1124.
Arid Dreams : Stories by Duanwad Pimwana EN
Description:
From Thailand's preeminent contemporary female writer, Duanwad Pimwana's first English-language collection is a social realist exploration of Thai culture.
1125.
Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Safak EN
TurkeyDescription:
*As mentioned on BBC's Desert Island Discs* 'A fascinating exploration of faith and friendship, rich and poor, and the devastating clash of tradition and modernity' Independent Set across Istanbul and Oxford, from the 1980s to the present day, Three Daughters of Eve is a sweeping tale of faith and friendship, tradition and modernity, love and an unexpected betrayal. Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground - an old polaroid of three you... continue
1126.
Snow by Orhan Pamuk EN
Description:
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Touching, slyly comic, and humming with cerebral suspense—a masterful novel of "political intrigue and philosophy, romance and noir" (Vogue) and the lethal chemistry between secular doubt and Islamic fanaticism from the Nobel Prize winner. An exiled poet named Ka returns to Turkey and travels to the forlorn city of Kars. His ostensible purpose is to report on a wave of suicides among religious girls forbidden to wear their head-scarves. But Ka is also drawn by his memories of the radiant Ipek, now recently divorced. Amid blanketing snowfall and universal suspicion, Ka fin... continue
1127.
The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak EN
Description:
In her second novel written in English, one of Turkey's most acclaimed and outspoken writers confronts her country's violent past in a vivid and colorful tale about the tangled histories of two families.
1128.
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak EN
Description:
'In the first minute following her death, Tequila Leila's consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore. Her brain cells, having run out of blood, were now completely deprived of oxygen. But they did not shut down. Not right away . . . ' Our brains stay active for ten minutes after our heart stops beating. For Tequila Leila, each minute brings with it a new memory- growing up with her father and his two wives in a grand old house in a quiet Turkish town; watching the women gossip and wax their legs while the men went to mosque; sneaking cigarettes and Wes... continue
1129.
Last Train to Istanbul by Ayşe Kulin EN
Description:
Ayse Kulin is a clever writer. She draws the reader into the story of the life and loves of a Turkish family in wartime, and by the time the reader realizes that she has also cranked up the tension with a rescue plot, it is too late to put the book down unfinished.
1130.
My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk EN
Description:
** ORDER NIGHTS OF PLAGUE, THE NEW NOVEL FROM ORHAN PAMUK ** Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Award 'Wonderful' The Spectator 'Magnificent' Observer 'Sumptuous' New Yorker 'Unforgettable' Guardian My Name is Red is an unforgettable murder mystery, set amid the splendour of sixteenth century Istanbul, from the Nobel prizewinning author In the late 1590s, the Sultan secretly commissions a great book: a celebration of his life and his empire, to be illuminated by the best artists of the day - in the European manner. At a time of violent fundamental... continue