Read Around Asia Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.
Best books from Asia (982)
801.
Your Republic Is Calling You by Kim Young-ha EN
Country: Asia / 
South Korea
South Korea
Description:
This psychological thriller of a North Korean spy living in Seoul is “perhaps the most intriguing and accomplished Korean fiction yet to appear in English” (Kirkus). Foreign film importer Kim Ki-Yong is a family man with a wife and daughter. Living a prosperous life in Seoul, South Korea, he’s an aficionado of Heineken, soccer, and sushi. But he is also a North Korean spy who has been living among his enemies for twenty-one years. Then, after more than a decade of silence from the home office, he receives a mysterious email stating that he has one day to return to headquarters. But is the mess... continue
802.
Almond : A Novel by Won-Pyung Sohn EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
WALL STREET JOURNAL STORIES THAT CAN TAKE YOU ANYWHERE PICK * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S STAY HOME AND READ PICK * SALON'S BEST AND BOLDEST * BUSTLE'S MOST ANTICIPATED The Emissary meets The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime in this poignant and triumphant story about how love, friendship, and persistence can change a life forever. This story is, in short, about a monster meeting another monster. One of the monsters is me. Yunjae was born with a brain condition called Alexithymia that makes it hard for him to feel emotions like fear or anger. He does not have friends--the two almond-sha... continue
803.
Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
In this "mesmerizing" novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Pachinko, the Korean-American daughter of first-generation immigrants strives to join Manhattan's inner circle (USA Today). Meet Casey Han: a strong-willed, Queens-bred daughter of Korean immigrants immersed in a glamorous Manhattan lifestyle she can't afford. Casey is eager to make it on her own, away from the judgements of her parents' tight-knit community, but she soon finds that her Princeton economics degree isn't enough to rid her of ever-growing credit card debt and a toxic boyfriend. When a chance encounter with ... continue
804.
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2023 • Shondaland's The Best Books to Read for Summer 2023 • San Francisco Chronicle's 17 Books We Can't Wait to Read This Summer • Publishers Weekly's Fall 2023 Adult Announcements: Literary Fiction • Goodreads's 88 Upcoming Books the Goodreads Editors Can't Wait to Read • Los Angeles Times's 10 Books to Add to Your Reading List in August • Apple Books's Best Books of August This “sweeping intergenerational saga" tells the story of a pampered and defiant South Korean matriarch thrust into the afterlife from which she seeks a second chance to make amends (Ki... continue
806.
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Yeonghye es una mujer aparentemente normal, joven, sin mayores virtudes o defectos. Una noche, sin ninguna actitud previa que hiciera suponer un cambio en su carácter, su marido la encuentra tirando a la basura toda la carne almacenada en el congelador. Cuando él la increpa por lo que está haciendo, ella le dice que ha tenido un sueño y que abandonará la ingesta de carnes. Su determinación es absolutamente radical e irrevocable, pero el marido y la familia no están preparados para esta decisión ni para la transformación que comienz... continue
807.
Whale : SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE by Cheon Myeong-Kwan EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
** SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE ** A sweeping, multi-generational tale blending fable, farce, and fantasy--a masterpiece of modern fiction perfect for fans of One Hundred Years of Solitude Whale is the English-language debut of a beloved and bestselling South Korean author, a born storyteller with a cinematic, darkly humorous, and thoroughly original perspective. A woman sells her daughter to a passing beekeeper for two jars of honey. A baby weighing fifteen pounds is born in the depths of winter but named “Girl of Spring.” A storm brings down the roof of a ramshackle restaur... continue
808.
My Year Abroad : A Novel by Chang-rae Lee EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER A New York Times Notable Book * Named a Best Book of the Year by Vogue, TIME, and Marie Claire “A manifesto to happiness—the one found when you stop running from who you are.” –New York Times Book Review “An extraordinary book, acrobatic on the level of the sentence, symphonic across its many movements—and this is a book that moves…My Year Abroad is a wild ride—a caper, a romance, a bildungsroman, and something of a satire of how to get filthy rich in rising Asia.” – Vogue From the award-winning author of Native Speaker and On Such a Full Sea, an exuberant, provocat... continue
809.
Concerning My Daughter by KIM. HYE-JIN EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Prize-winning Korean author Kim Hye-Jin's debut confronts familial love, duty, mortality, and generational schism through the incendiary gaze of a tradition-bound mother faced with her daughter's queer relationship. When a widowed, aging mother allows Green, her thirty-something daughter, to move into her apartment, all she wants for her is a stable and quiet existence like her own. Ideally, a steady income and, most importantly, a good husband with whom to start a family. But when Green turns up with her long-term girlfriend in tow, her mother is enraged and unwilling to welcome their relatio... continue
810.
Three Generations by Yom Sang-Seop EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Touted as one of Korea’s most important works of fiction, Three Generations (published in 1931 as a serial in Chosun Ilbo) charts the tensions in the Jo family in 1930s Japanese occupied Seoul. Yom’s keenly observant eye reveals family tensions withprofound insight. Delving deeply into each character’s history and beliefs, he illuminates the diverse pressures and impulses driving each. This Korean classic, often compared to Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters, reveals the country’s situation under Japanese rule, the traditional Korean familial structure, and the battle between the modern ... continue