Read Around Asia Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.
Best books from Asia (1405)
1192.
Mater 2-10 by Hwang Sok-yong EN
Country: Asia / 
South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Virtuoso Hwang Sok-yong is back with another powerful story--an epic, multi-generational tale that threads together a century of Korean history. Centered on a family of rail workers, Mater 2-10 vividly depicts the lives of workers and common folk, starting from the Japanese colonial era, continuing through Liberation, and right up to the twenty-first century, rendering in elegant prose a history of modern Korea. A true voice of a generation, Hwang shows again why he is unmatched when it comes to depicting the grief of a divided nation and bringing to life the cultural identity and trials and t... continue
1193.
Sociedade do cansaço by Byung-Chul Han PT
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Os efeitos colaterais do discurso motivacional, O mercado de palestras e livros motivacionais está crescendo desde o início do século XXI e não mostra sinais de desaquecimento. Religiões tradicionais estão perdendo adeptos para novas igrejas que trocam o discurso do pecado pelo encorajamento e autoajuda. As instituições políticas e empresariais mudaram o sistema de punição, hierarquia e combate ao concorrente pelas positividades do estímulo, eficiência e reconhecimento social pela superação das próprias limitações. Byung-Chul Han mostra que a sociedade disciplinar e repressora do século XX des... continue
1194.
I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying : A Memoir by Youngmi Mayer EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
From standup comedian Youngmi Mayer, an unforgettable memoir written with "raw, enviable freedom that simply floors you," interrogating whiteness, gender, and sexuality in America, navigating a tumultuous childhood in Korea and Saipan, and coming to terms with her parents' shortcomings (Michelle Zauner). "Do you know what happens if you laugh while crying? Hair grows out of your butthole." It was a constant truism Youngmi Mayer's mother would say threateningly after she would make her daughter laugh while crying. Her mother used it to cheer her up in moments when she could tell Youngmi was ove... continue
1195.
Yeonnam-Dong's Smiley Laundromat : A Novel by Kim Jiyun EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
For readers who loved Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Book Shop, this heartwarming Korean bestseller tells the story of a mysterious diary left in a laundromat brings together patrons from all walks of life. Yeonnam-Dong's Smiley Laundromat is a place where the extraordinary stories of ordinary people unfold. Situated at the heart of rapidly gentrifying district of Seoul, the laundromat is a haven of peace and reflection for many locals. And when a notebook is left behind there, it becomes a place that brings people together. One by one, customers start jotting down candid diary entries, opening th... continue
1196.
The White City by Roma Tearne EN
Sri LankaDescription:
Hera has known great loss over decades of endless winter. The first snows coincided with the arrest of her brother on terrorism charges, and since then she has witnessed the total collapse of normal life in a devastated London. Her only source of comfort through it all has been her relationship with Raphael. Now, as the thaw begins, can she at last track down her elusive lover? Within this compelling vision of a dystopian near-future, Roma Tearne offers us a moving study of human endurance --
1197.
Island of a Thousand Mirrors : A Novel by Nayomi Munaweera EN
Description:
Before violence tore apart the tapestry of Sri Lanka and turned its pristine beaches red, there were two families. Yasodhara tells the story of her own Sinhala family, rich in love, with everything they could ask for. As a child in idyllic Colombo, Yasodhara's and her siblings' lives are shaped by social hierarchies, their parents' ambitions, teenage love and, subtly, the differences between Tamil and Sinhala people; but the peace is shattered by the tragedies of war. Yasodhara's family escapes to Los Angeles. But Yasodhara's life has already become intertwined with a young Tamil girl's... Sar... continue
1198.
The Story of a Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam EN
Description:
Dinesh is a young man trapped on the frontlines between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers. Desensitized to the horror all around him, life has been pared back to the essentials: eat, sleep, survive. All this changes when he is approached one morning by an older man who asks him to marry his daughter Ganga, hoping that victorious soldiers will be less likely to harm a married woman. For a few brief hours, Dinesh and Ganga tentatively explore their new and unexpected connection, trying to understand themselves and each other, until the war once more closes over them. Told in meditative, n... continue
1199.
In the Skin of a Lion : A Novel by Michael Ondaatje EN
Description:
Bristling with intelligence and shimmering with romance, this novel tests the boundary between history and myth. Patrick Lewis arrives in Toronto in the 1920s and earns his living searching for a vanished millionaire and tunneling beneath Lake Ontario. In the course of his adventures, Patrick's life intersects with those of characters who reappear in Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning The English Patient. 256 pp.
1200.
Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje EN
Description:
In the late 1970s Ondaatje returned to his native island of Sri Lanka. As he records his journey through the drug-like heat and intoxicating fragrances of that "pendant off the ear of India, " Ondaatje simultaneously retraces the baroque mythology of his Dutch-Ceylonese family. An inspired travel narrative and family memoir by an exceptional writer.