Read Around Asia Challenge

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

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Best books from Asia (1405)
1011.

I Shall Not Hate : A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity by Izzeldin Abuelaish EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / Palestine flag Palestine
Description:
A Harvard-educated Palestinian physician who was raised in a Gaza Strip refugee camp recounts the 2009 bombing attack that killed his daughters, describing how he has cared for patients on both sides of the conflict and won awards for humanitarian acts urging peaceful resolutions.

1012.

We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I : A Palestinian Memoir by Raja Shehadeh EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / Palestine flag Palestine
Description:
Aziz Shehadeh was many things: lawyer, activist, and political detainee, he was also the father of bestselling author and activist Raja. In this new and searingly personal memoir, Raja Shehadeh unpicks the snags and complexities of their relationship. A vocal and fearless opponent, Aziz resists under the British mandatory period, then under Jordan, and, finally, under Israel. As a young man, Raja fails to recognise his father's courage and, in turn, his father does not appreciate Raja's own efforts in campaigning for Palestinian human rights. When Aziz is murdered in 1985, it changes Raja irre... continue

1013.

burned alive by Souad EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / Palestine flag Palestine
Description:
Souad here relates how she survived an attempted 'honour killing' in her West Bank village for having had premarital sex. She calls for an end to the code of silence that allows this practice to continue in certain Islamic societies.

1014.

My First and Only Love by Sahar Khalifeh EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Palestine flag Palestine
Description:
A deeply poetic account of love and resistance through a young girl's eyes by acclaimed writer, Sahar Khalifeh, called "the Virginia Woolf of Palestinian literature" (Börsenblatt) After many decades of restless exile, Nadal returns to her family home in Nablus, where she had lived with her grandmother before the 1948 Nakba that scattered her family across the globe. She was a young girl when the popular resistance began and, through the bloodshed and bitter struggle, Nidal fell in love with Rabie, a freedom fighter. He was her first and only real love--him and all that he represented: Palestin... continue

1015.

You Exist Too Much : A Novel by Zaina Arafat EN

Rating: 4 (3 votes)
Country: Asia / Palestine flag Palestine
Description:
A “provocative and seductive debut” of desire and doubleness that follows the life of a young Palestinian American woman caught between cultural, religious, and sexual identities as she endeavors to lead an authentic life (O, The Oprah Magazine). On a hot day in Bethlehem, a 12–year–old Palestinian–American girl is yelled at by a group of men outside the Church of the Nativity. She has exposed her legs in a biblical city, an act they deem forbidden, and their judgement will echo on through her adolescence. When our narrator finally admits to her mother that she is queer, her mother’s response ... continue

1016.

Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear : Poems from Gaza by Mosab Abu Toha EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Palestine flag Palestine
Description:
In this poetry debut, the first collection from any Gazan poet to be published in English, Mosab Abu Toha writes directly from the experience of growing up and living one's entire life in Gaza, the world's largest open-air prison camp. These poems emerge from Mosab's life under siege, first as a child, and then as a young father. A survivor of four brutal military attacks, he bears witness to a grinding cycle of destruction and assault, and yet, his poetry is infused with a profoundly universal humanity. In direct, vivid language, Abu Toha writes about being unwelcome in your own land, and eve... continue
Genre

1017.

They Called Me a Lioness : A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom by Ahed Tamimi, Dena Takruri EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Palestine flag Palestine
Description:
A Palestinian activist jailed at sixteen after a confrontation with Israeli soldiers illuminates the daily struggles of life under occupation in this moving, deeply personal memoir. “I cannot even begin to convey the clarity, the intensity, the power, the photographic storytelling of They Called Me a Lioness.”—Ibram X. Kendi, internationally bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Kirkus Reviews “What would you do if you grew up seeing your home repeatedly raided? Your parents arrested? Your mother shot? Your uncle killed? Try, for just a moment, to ima... continue

1018.

Palestine +100: Stories from a century after the Nakba by Mazen Maarouf, Tasnim Abutabikh, Emad El-Din Aysha, Selma Dabbagh, Saleem Haddad, Anwar Hamed, Majd Kayyal, etc EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / Palestine flag Palestine
Description:
Palestine + 100 poses a question to twelve Palestinian writers: what might your country look like in the year 2048 – a century after the tragedies and trauma of what has come to be called the Nakba? How might this event – which, in 1948, saw the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs from their homes – reach across a century of occupation, oppression, and political isolation, to shape the country and its people? Will a lasting peace finally have been reached, or will future technology only amplify the suffering and mistreatment of Palestinians? Covering a range of approaches – from SF noi... continue

1019.

Jerusalem : A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / Palestine flag Palestine
Description:
A collection of 120 recipes exploring the flavors of Jerusalem from the New York Times bestselling author of Plenty, one of the most lauded cookbooks of 2011. In Jerusalem, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi explore the vibrant cuisine of their home city—with its diverse Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities. Both men were born in Jerusalem in the same year—Tamimi on the Arab east side and Ottolenghi in the Jewish west. This stunning cookbook offers 120 recipes from their unique cross-cultural perspective, from inventive vegetable dishes to sweet, rich desserts. With five bustling restaurant... continue

1020.

Mother of Strangers : A Novel by Suad Amiry EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / Palestine flag Palestine
Description:
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR from NPR • Set in Jaffa in between 1947 and 1951, this “fable-like historical novel of young love ... darkly humorous and touching” (Oprah Daily) is based on a true story during the beginning of the destruction of Palestine and displacement of its people. Based on the true story of two Jaffa teenagers, Mother of Strangers follows the daily lives of Subhi, a fifteen-year-old mechanic, and Shams, the thirteen-year-old student he hopes to marry one day. In this prosperous and cosmopolitan port city, with its bustling markets, cinemas, and cafés on the hills overlooking the... continue