Read Around Asia Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Asia.
Best books from Asia (1403)
1251.
Butterfly : From Refugee to Olympian, My Story of Rescue, Hope and Triumph by Yusra Mardini EN
SyriaDescription:
"Being a refugee is not a choice. Our choice is to die at home or risk death trying to escape." - Yusra MardiniYusra Mardini fled her native Syria to the Turkish coast in 2015 and boarded a small dinghy full of refugees bound for Greece. When the small and overcrowded boat's engine cut out, it began to sink. Yusra, her sister and two others took to the water, pushing the boat for three and a half hours in open water until they eventually landed on Lesbos, saving the lives of the passengers aboard. This is the story of that remarkable woman, whose journey started in a war-torn suburb of Damascu... continue
1252.
Komm dahin, wo es still ist : Eine Erkundung by Vanessa Vu, Ahmad Katlesh DE
Description:
Die Lebenswege des Schriftstellers Ahmad Katlesh und der Journalistin Vanessa Vu sind geprägt, aber nicht bestimmt von Kriegen, Flucht und Migration. Katlesh floh aus Syrien und lebte mehrere Jahre in Jordanien, bevor er 2017 nach Deutschland kam. Vu ist in Deutschland geboren und lebte die ersten Jahre in einem Asylbewerberheim in Niederbayern, ihre Eltern kamen aus Vietnam. Im Tanz lernten beide sich kennen, in den darauffolgenden E-Mails näherten sie sich einander an. Sie entdecken trotz unterschiedlicher Migrationsbiografien parallele Erfahrungen, schlagen Brücken entlang ve... continue
1254.
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria by Wendy Pearlman EN
Description:
LONG-LISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL Reminiscent of the work of Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich, an astonishing collection of intimate wartime testimonies and poetic fragments from a cross-section of Syrians whose lives have been transformed by revolution, war, and flight. Against the backdrop of the wave of demonstrations known as the Arab Spring, in 2011 hundreds of thousands of Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom, democracy and human rights. The government’s ferocious response, and the refusal of the demonstrators to back down, sparked a brutal civil war that over the past fi... continue
1255.
The City Where Dreams Come True by Gulsifat Shahidi EN
Country: Asia / 
Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Description:
THE CITY WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE A Collection of Four Stories by Gulsifat Shahidi Viewed from the perspective of three generations, Shahidi presents a rare and poignant insight into the impact which Tajikistan's terrible civil war had on its people and its culture during the early '90s. Informed partly by her own experiences as a journalist, these beautifully interwoven stories are imbued with both her affection for her native land and her hopes for its future. The narrators - Horosho, his granddaughter Nekbaht, her husband Ali and his cousin Shernazar - each endure harrowing episodes of loss, ... continue
1256.
1257.
Country: Asia / Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Description:
DIVAN of RUDAKITranslation & Introduction Paul SmithAbu 'Abd Allah Ja'far ibn Muhammad Rudaki (858-941) the 'father of Persian Poetry' and possibly the ruba'i, was born in the village of Rudak near Samarkand. First a wandering 'dervish' poet/minstrel he later served at the court of the Samanids of Bokhara. Nasr ibn Ahmad summoned him to his court and he prospered there amassing great wealth. He had 200 slaves in his retinue... and 400 camels carried his belongings when he travelled. In 937 he fell out of favour at court (and was blinded at this time as some commentators suggest) after the deat... continue
1259.
Bangkok Wakes to Rain : A Novel by Pitchaya Sudbanthad EN
ThailandDescription:
"A house in the center of Bangkok becomes the point of confluence where lives are shaped by upheaval, memory, and the lure of home. Witness to two centuries' flux in one of the world's most restless cities, a house plays host to longings and losses past, present, and future. A nineteenth-century missionary doctor pines for the comforts of New England even as he finds the vibrant foreign chaos of Siam increasingly difficult to resist. A post-war society woman marries, mothers, and holds court, little suspecting the course of her future. A jazz pianist is summoned in the 1970s to conjure music t... continue
1260.
Description:
"Explores the quality of human resilience through the adventures of Kampol Changsamran, a young boy left behind by his parents after their break-up"--