Read Around Asia Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.
Best books from Asia (1405)
1121.
Beyond Storms and Stars - a Memoir by Noeleen Heyzer EN
SingaporeDescription:
Very inspiring story about personal developement and achievements regarding gender equality
1122.
Inheritance by Balli Kaur Jaswal EN
Description:
In 1971, a teenage girl briefly disappears from her house in the middle of the night, only to return a different person, causing fissures that threaten to fracture her Punjabi Sikh family. As Singapore’s political and social landscapes evolve, the family must cope with shifting attitudes toward castes, youth culture, sex and gender roles, identity and belonging. Inheritance examines each family member’s struggles to either preserve or buck tradition in the face of an ever-changing nation. Reader Reviews: “A rich and gorgeous portrait of a family—and nation—struggling against history, culture, ... continue
1123.
Human Acts by Han Kang EN
Country: Asia / 
South Korea
South Korea
Description:
From the internationally bestselling author of The Vegetarian, a “rare and astonishing” (The Observer) portrait of political unrest and the universal struggle for justice. In the midst of a violent student uprising in South Korea, a young boy named Dong-ho is shockingly killed. The story of this tragic episode unfolds in a sequence of interconnected chapters as the victims and the bereaved encounter suppression, denial, and the echoing agony of the massacre. From Dong-ho’s best friend who meets his own fateful end; to an editor struggling against censorship; to a prisoner and a factory worker,... continue
1124.
1125.
Pachinko : The New York Times Bestseller by Min Jin Lee EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
* The million-copy bestseller* * National Book Award finalist * * An instant New York Times Bestseller and one of their 10 Best Books of 2017 * * Selected for Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf book club * 'This is a captivating book... Min Jin Lee's novel takes us through four generations and each character's search for identity and success. It's a powerful story about resilience and compassion' BARACK OBAMA. Yeongdo, Korea, 1911. Teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a fisherman, falls for a wealthy yakuza. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant – and that her lover i... continue
1126.
Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
This is not a murder story. It is the story of those left behind. Parasite meets The Good Son in this piercing psychological portrait of three women haunted by a brutal, unsolved crime. In the summer of 2002, nineteen-year-old Kim Hae-on was murdered in what became known as the High School Beauty Murder. There were two suspects: Shin Jeongjun, who had a rock-solid alibi, and Han Manu, to whom no evidence could be pinned. The case went cold. Seventeen years pass without justice, and the grief and uncertainty take a cruel toll on her younger sister, Da-on, in particular. Unable to move on with h... continue
1127.
The Vegetarian : A Novel by Han Kang EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE • “[Han] Kang viscerally explores the limits of what a human brain and body can endure, and the strange beauty that can be found in even the most extreme forms of renunciation.”—Entertainment Weekly “Ferocious.”—The New York Times Book Review (Ten Best Books of the Year) “Both terrifying and terrific.”—Lauren Groff “Provocative [and] shocking.”—The Washington Post Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her min... continue
1128.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
In a small, tidy apartment on the outskirts of the frenzied metropolis of Seoul, Kim Jiyoung--a millennial "everywoman"--spends her days caring for her infant daughter. Her husband, however, worries over a strange symptom that has recently appeared: Jiyoung has begun to impersonate the voices of other women--dead and alive, both known and unknown to her. Truly, flawlessly, completely, she became that very person. As she plunges deeper into this psychosis, Jiyoung's concerned husband sends her to a psychiatrist, who listens to her narrate her own life story--from her birth to a family who expec... continue
1129.
The Disaster Tourist : A Novel by Yun Ko-Eun EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
This stunning “dystopian feminist eco-thriller” from an award-winning South Korean author “takes on climate change, sexual assault, greed, and dark tourism” (Ms. Magazine). Welcome to the desert island of Mui, where a paid vacation to paradise is nothing short of a disaster in this “mordantly witty novel [that] reads like a highly literary, ultra–incisive thriller” (Refinery29). Jungle is a cutting–edge travel agency specializing in tourism to destinations devastated by disaster and climate change. And until she found herself at the mercy of a predatory colleague, Yona was one of their top rep... continue
1130.
Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
The day after her last shift at an audio theatre for the blind, Ayami guides a detective novelist through Seoul only to discover a frayed reality where the multiverse asserts itself, overlapping realities and potential outcomes before her eyes.