One factor I like about studying books is how a lot you possibly can study completely different locations and cultures. I’ve visited Asia one time and may’t wait to return, however within the meantime, I can study extra about it, and a few of the very extraordinary conditions folks have been in, by way of studying books about Asia.
The books on this checklist embody all kinds of nations and cultures, and I actually loved the prose, plots, and other people launched to me by the authors. In no explicit order, listed below are 11 nice books set in Asia.
1. The Henna Artist, by Alka Joshi
Lakshmi is a extremely requested henna artist for the elite girls of Jaipur, India. Whereas doing their henna designs, she additionally turns into aware about their secrets and techniques. Whereas she desires to be an impartial and profitable lady, household drama finds her.
Now she has to stability household wants and connections together with her wants for independence and autonomy, all whereas navigating the category system prevalent in 1950’s India.
I actually preferred the perception into life in India and the vital function henna performs of their tradition.
2. The Orphan Keeper, by Camron Wright
This story begins in India, the place Chellamuthu, a younger boy, is kidnapped and brought to an orphanage to attend to be adopted by an unsuspecting (and importantly, well-paying) overseas household.
Months later, when the American adoptive household finds out that he truly does have a household again in India, they attempt to discover a option to contact somebody; unsurprisingly, they get ghosted by the orphanage and Indian authorities aren’t in a position to assist.
As time goes on, he assimilates increasingly more into American tradition, till at some point he meets one other Indian woman and questions on his previous re-surface. I particularly loved this e book as a result of it’s based mostly on a real story.
3. The Tea Lady of Hummingbird Lane, by Lisa See
Li-yan is a lady raised in a distant mountain village of China together with her folks, an ethnic group known as the Akha. Their village and household financial system is centered round tea manufacturing and it’s a important and all-encompassing a part of their lives.
Nonetheless, there are various longstanding traditions and routines – together with killing newborns beneath sure circumstances.
After she turns into pregnant, Li-yan bucks custom and refuses to permit her daughter to be killed, as a substitute anonymously delivering her to an orphanage in a close-by metropolis. Finally, Li-yan breaks away and strikes to the large metropolis for training and to forge her path.
In the meantime, her daughter, Haley, is introduced up in America. Finally, we see how tea has a method of bringing folks collectively.
I usually don’t learn books the place infants are harmed (and I nearly put this one down after that), however I discovered this e book to be inspiring, evocative, and really informative about village life for an ethnic minority in China.
4. The Magnolia Sword, by Sherry Thomas
The Magnolia Sword is a free Mulan retelling, set in 484 AD and isn’t Disney-fied. Mulan has skilled in sword-fighting her complete life to win a duel, however she conscripts within the military rather than her father when invaders arrive.
She enters into an elite preventing staff, which incorporates the good-looking prince, whose mission is to cease the invaders and defend the nation. In the event you like life like fairytale retellings, you’ll get pleasure from this e book!
5. The Island of Sea Girls, by Lisa See
On the Korean island of Jeju, the ladies are the breadwinners and males handle the youngsters, and lots of the girls are a part of the island’s diving collective – the place the ladies exit to sea and dive for sea life.
The e book follows the tales of two girls specifically – Mi-ja and Younger-sook – and the energy and tenacity they present within the face of quite a lot of troublesome life circumstances. This story is predicated on the true island and actual girls and was so fascinating to examine such a singular tradition, profession, and way of life.
North Korea Books
The following three books are all true tales of North Korean defectors – individuals who escaped North Korea, often into China after which to South Korea.
Every e book tells about folks’s experiences dwelling in North Korea, what it was like, the strategies of indoctrination utilized by the regime, the shortages they went by way of, the whole cut-off from the remainder of the world, and ultimately what drove them to flee.
I learn three of those books inside a couple of 12 months and a half as a result of it was simply so loopy and interesting.
6. Nothing to Envy: Atypical Lives in North Korea, by Barbara Demick
Demick follows 6 completely different North Koreans over the course of a few years, seeing the place their lives take them and what completely different experiences they’ve. It was actually putting to see all of the completely different tales advised in conjunction.
Whereas every individual had distinctive experiences, there was nonetheless a lot that was depressingly related. Their preliminary or obvious selection truly served to underscore the always-present oppression in North Korea.
7. In Order to Dwell: A North Korean Lady’s Journey to Freedom, by Yeonmi Park
Yeonmi fled North Korea together with her mom when she was a younger teenager and was pressured right into a slave marriage by the Chinese language “facilitators” who helped her escape.
After a few years and a protracted journey, she makes it to South Korea. It was very shifting to observe how she overcame the completely different obstacles and challenges on her method to freedom.
8. The Lady with Seven Names, Hyeonseo Lee
Hyeonseo lived on the border of China and North Korea and noticed a bit little bit of the glimmer of what life may very well be like once you’re not beneath a repressive totalitarian regime.
At some point she crosses the river to go to China, simply to pay a go to, however realizes she can’t return to Korea after the authorities discover she is lacking. She stays in China, learns Chinese language, and quickly assimilates. She has many loopy experiences within the technique of studying find out how to stay and performance in a very completely different society.
This story was notably fascinating as a result of Hyeonseo isn’t actively making an attempt to flee. It nearly simply occurs to her, as a substitute of one thing she actually seeks out, however the fallout may be very actual.
9. Loopy Wealthy Asians, by Kevin Kwan
You probably have heard of this one – it was lately made right into a film – however as all the time, I believed the e book was higher.
Rachel Chu, an American-born Chinese language lady, agrees to go to Singapore together with her boyfriend, Nick, for a buddy’s marriage ceremony. What she doesn’t understand till she arrives in Singapore is that that is THE marriage ceremony of the season, the bride and groom are excessive society, and her boyfriend’s household and buddies are all loopy, ridiculously STUPID rich.
Whereas making an attempt to get pleasure from her trip, Rachel navigates the household drama, the society households drenched in previous cash, and her boyfriend’s over-protective mom. Whereas I wouldn’t name this e book vital literature, it was mild and enjoyable, diverting, and simple to learn, and I sped by way of it shortly.
10. The Lease Collector, by Camron Wright
Think about you reside in an precise dump, and also you make your dwelling scavenging the smelly and generally harmful trash for usable issues you possibly can promote.
That’s the actuality for Ki Lim and Sang Ly, who stay at Stung Meanchey, a metropolis dump in Cambodia. Whereas the setting for the story feels reasonably hopeless, the relationships that develop are candy and the story finally ends up being heartwarming. I actually liked this e book.
11. Cinder, by Marissa Meyer
That is one in all my favourite books ever and is e book 1 of a 4-part sequence.
A Cinderella retelling, this e book is ready in futuristic New Beijing. Cinder is a cyborg – half human, half machine – and is regarded on as a second-class citizen, and is a servant to her stepfamily (no surprises there). Publicity to an endemic threatens anybody who’s uncovered (yikes, sounds acquainted).
Cinder will get caught up in intrigue surrounding the illness, the lifetime of Prince Kai and the royal household, and the way forward for Earth. I’ll word that the Asian tradition side is pretty minor and serves as a backdrop for the story reasonably than an immersive setting.
Remaining Ideas on Greatest Books Set in Asia
There you will have it – 11 books set in Asia that I fully liked. I bought a very good story and discovered a couple of completely different tradition – what extra may you need? Inform me what different books from Asia that you’ve got learn and would suggest – I all the time love new e book suggestions!
