Read Around Asia Challenge

Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.

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Recommended Challenge Books (330)
21.
The Fisherman King

Folktales Of Bhutan by Kunzang Choden EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Bhutan flag Bhutan
Description:
[Finalist for the 2020 Epigram Books Fiction Prize] Eight years ago, Lisan the fisherman, who has always believed he was descended from royalty, left his wife and the Water Village. Now he’s back, and he says he can prove it. Six hundred years ago, a forbidden relationship between the royal children of Brunei set into motion a chain of events that will end with the death of a king...or the death of a god. As the story of Lisan’s true intentions – and what he was really doing in those years away – unravels, the story of those doomed royal children also spins to its inevitable conclusion.... continue
Recommended: 18 Jan 2023

22.

The Forlorn Adventure by Amir Falique EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Brunei flag Brunei
Description:
It is 2025, and A'jon Emir is honored to be the first Bruneian to travel to outer space. Selected by NASA to assist in a project to build a space station on the moon, A'jon has been tasked to install software with the potential to unlock the secrets of reading ancient languages and help its users observe the planet for potential threats. Although he must leave his fiancée behind, A'jon knows a life-changing opportunity awaits as he boards a plane bound for America. But little does he know that the world he is leaving behind is about to change--possibly forever. After he completes intense train... continue
Recommended: 20 Feb 2022

23.

The Fisherman King by Kathrina Mohd Daud EN

Rating: 4     1 Vote
Country: Asia / Brunei flag Brunei
Description:
[Finalist for the 2020 Epigram Books Fiction Prize] Eight years ago, Lisan the fisherman, who has always believed he was descended from royalty, left his wife and the Water Village. Now he’s back, and he says he can prove it. Six hundred years ago, a forbidden relationship between the royal children of Brunei set into motion a chain of events that will end with the death of a king...or the death of a god. As the story of Lisan’s true intentions – and what he was really doing in those years away – unravels, the story of those doomed royal children also spins to its inevitable conclusion.... continue
Recommended: 12 Aug 2022

24.

Written In Black by KH Lim EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Brunei flag Brunei
Description:
A darkly humorous coming-of-age novel set in Brunei on the island of Borneo, Written in Black offers a snapshot of a few days in the life of ten-year-old Jonathan Lee, attending the funeral of his Ah Kong, or grandfather, and still reeling from the drama of his mother leaving for Australia and his brother getting kicked out of the house and joining a rock band. Annoyed at being the brunt of his father’s pent-up anger, Jonathan escapes his grandfather’s wake in an empty coffin and embarks on a journey through the backwaters of Brunei to bring his disowned brother back for the funeral and to lea... continue
Recommended: 01 Nov 2022

25.

In the shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey ratner EN

Rating: 5     2 Votes
Country: Asia / Cambodia flag Cambodia
Description:
A beautiful celebration of the power of hope, this New York Times bestselling novel tells the story of a girl who comes of age during the Cambodian genocide. You are about to read an extraordinary story, a PEN Hemingway Award finalist “rich with history, mythology, folklore, language and emotion.” It will take you to the very depths of despair and show you unspeakable horrors. It will reveal a gorgeously rich culture struggling to survive through a furtive bow, a hidden ankle bracelet, fragments of remembered poetry. It will ensure that the world never forgets the atrocities committed by the K... continue
Genre
Recommended: 19 Dec 2018

26.

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung EN

Rating: 3.5     32 Votes
Country: Asia / Cambodia flag Cambodia
Description:
One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed. Harrowing yet hopeful, Loung's powerful story is an unforgettable account of a family shaken and shattered, yet mir... continue
Recommended: 25 Apr 2021

27.

Tomorrow I'm Dead : How a Seventeen-year-old Killing Field Survivor Became the Cambodian Freedom Army's Greatest Soldier by Bun Yom EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Cambodia flag Cambodia
Description:
In 1975, US troops had withdrawn from Cambodia, leaving the people defenseless against Pol Pot’s army, the Khmer Rouge. As the army took over Cambodia, thousands of innocent people were ordered out of their homes. In April 1975, fourteen-year-old Bun Yom was forced at gunpoint, along with his family, to march toward the steaming jungle. After a soldier separated Yom from his family, he had no idea he would not see them again for nine years. In his account of his involuntary journey from a normal childhood to enslavement in conditions so inhumane it seemed only death could free him, Yom shares ... continue

28.
Under the Drops of Falling Rain

Under the Drops of Falling Rain by Oum Suphany EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Cambodia flag Cambodia
Genre
Recommended: 16 Mar 2023

29.

Monkey: The Journey To The West by Wu Cheng-en EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / China flag China
Description:
Probably the most popular book in the history of the Far East, this classic combination of picaresque novel and folk epic mixes satire, allegory, and history into a rollicking tale. It is the story of the roguish Monkey and his encounters with major and minor spirits, gods, demigods, demons, ogres, monsters, and fairies.
Genre
Recommended: 18 Jan 2018

30.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu EN

Rating: 3.5     127 Votes
Country: Asia / China flag China
Description:
"Wildly imaginative, really interesting." —President Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy The Three-Body Problem is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience the Hugo Award-winning phenomenon from China's most beloved science fiction author, Liu Cixin. Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome t... continue
Recommended: 18 Jan 2018


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