Asian literature By Asian Authors

[Belial]

I know some of the readers in here are interested in Asian literature. Here is a place for us to discuss the richness of literature from Middle East to Far East and Pacific.

Who are your favourite Asian writers? What's your favourite books? Which authors/book you don't like? What do you plan to read? Etc. Maybe you read some non-fiction books? Share with everybody.

I'm gonna start. My favourite book is "Inter Ice Age 4" by Abe Kobo. First Japanese science-fiction book, from 1954. I've read it few times already, and I'll read it again and again. I've read many Japanese books, most of the titles I don't remember. I like Haruki Murakami. Actually, I don't remember most of the books I've read. That was too long ago. I seriously need the help of Goodreads in remembering what I've read, but I joined that not too long ago.

Lately I've started reading Indonesian literature. I found Dee (real name: Dewi Lestari), a Supernova series, but I still haven't read that. First volume is translated into English, available in Amazon/Kindle. In Indonesia I've watched several of films based on Dee's books and I enjoyed them for the light and fun stories, with lots of optimism (in the end). I was kinda taken aback with her collection of short stories "Filosofi Kopi". The book was too static and cerebral. Afaik, it's not translated to English.
There are other books in the "Modern Library of Indonesia" series (just like Supernova), but I haven't read them. The books in the series are of course in English.

On my "to read" list there are some Indonesian LGBT books. Novels or short stories anthologies.
And also a superhero book "Turbulence" by Indian writer Samit Basu. (In English).

I've read first volume of Indian superheroine comic "Devi". I definetely recommend it if you're tired of USA superheroes. When possible, I plan to get the whole series.

Ah, and I've read "The Apex Book of World SF" which has a lot of Asian SF stories. Some better than others, but the details... I'd need to read it again. But it's worth to read the book.

So, what did you read from Asian literature and what's your opinion? What would you recommend to others?

 

[Meadow337]

Here are my books:

Amirrezvani Anita

Blood Of Flowers (2011)​

Tash Aw

The Harmony Silk Factory (2010)
Map of the Invisible World: A Novel (2010)​

Pearl S. Buck

The Eternal Wonder (2013)​

Jung Chang

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (2011)​

Wu Cheng-en

Journey to the West (2011)​

Wayson Choy

The Jade Peony (2007)​

Li Cunxin

Mao's Last Dancer (2011)​

Kiran Desai

The Inheritance of Loss (2005)​

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Mistress of Spices (1997)​

Fumiko Enchi

A Tale of False Fortunes (2011)​

Tan Twan Eng

The Garden of Evening Mists
The Gift of Rain (2007)​

Pai Kit Fai

The Concubine's Daughter (2011)​

Daniel Fox
Stone and Water

[1] Books of Stone and Water 1: Dragon in Chains (2011)
[2] Books of Stone and Water 2 - Jade Man's Skin (2011)
[3] Books of Stone and Water 3 - Hidden Cities (2011)​

Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner (2004)
A thousand splendid suns (2007)​

Hsia, R. Po-chia

A Jesuit in The Forbidden City​

Hu

Encountering the Chinese​

Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go (2006)​

Ruth Prawer Jhabwala

Heat and Dust (2010)​

Ha Jin

The Bridegroom
A Free Life (2011)
A Good Fall (2009)
Nanjing Requiem (2011)
Waiting (2011)
War Trash (2011)
The Writer as Migrant​

Mitsuyo Kakuta

Women On the Other Shore (2011)​

Eugenia Kim

The Calligrapher's Daughter (2011)​

Chang-rae Lee

The Surrendered (2010)​

Yiyun Li

Gold Boy, Emerald Girl
The Vagrants​

Princess Der Ling

Two Years in The Forbidden City (2011)​

Derwin Mak

The Dragon and the Stars (2010)​

Anchee Min

Becoming Madame Mao
Empress Orchid (2004)
Red Azalea (2011)
Wild Ginger (2002)​

Haruki Murakami

A Wild Sheep Chase (2011)​

Julie Otsuka

The Buddha in the Attic (2011)
When the Emperor Was Divine​

Salman Rushdie

The Enchantress of Florence (2008)
Fury (2002)
Imaginary Homelands
The Jaguar Smile (2011)
Joseph Anton (2012)
Luka and the Fire of Life
Midnight's children (2011)
Moor's Last Sigh (1995)
The Satanic Verses (1989)
Shalimar the Clown (2006)​

Lisa See

On Gold Mountain (2011)
Peony in Love (2011)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005)​

Shanghai Girls

[1] Shanghai Girls (2009)
[2] Dreams of Joy (2011)​

Murasaki Shikibu

Genji (2011)​

Indu Sundaresan

Splendor Of Silence (2010)​

Szeto, Kin-Yan

The Martial Arts Cinema of the Chinese Diaspora​

Amy Tan

The Bonesetter's Daughter (2009)
The Hundred Secret Senses (2011)
The Joy Luck Club (1998)
Rules for Virgins (2011)​

Simon Winchester

Korea (2004)
The Man Who Loved China
The River at the Centre of the World (2008)​

Qiu Xiaolong
Inspector Chen

[1] Chen 1 - Death of a Red Heroine (2011)
[2] Chen 2 - A Loyal Character Dancer (2011)
[3] Chen 3 - When Red is Black (2011)
[4] Chen 4 - A Case of Two Cities (2011)
[5] Chen 5 - Red Mandarin Dress (2011)
[6] Chen 6 - The Mao Case (2011)
[7] Chen 7 - Don't Cry Tai Lake​

Xinran Xue

Sky Burial, An Epic Love Story of Tibet (2011)​

Mingmei Yip

Petals from the Sky (2011)​

Jin Yong

The Book and The Sword (2011)
A Deadly Secret (2011)
Sword Of The Yueh Maiden (2011)​

Eagle Shooting Hero

[1] LOCH Book 1 - Eagle Shooting Hero (2011)
[2] LOCH Book 2 - Eagle Shooting Hero (2011)
[3] LOCH Book 3 - Eagle Shooting Hero (2011)
[4] LOCH Book 4 - Eagle Shooting Hero (2011)​

Heavenly Sword

[1] HSDS Book 1 - Heavenly Sword Dragon Slaying Saber (2011)
[2] HSDS Book 2 Heavenly Sword Dragon Slaying Saber (2011)
[3] HSDS Book 3 - Heavenly Sword Dragon Slaying Saber (2011)
[4] HSDS Book 4 Heavenly Sword Dragon Slaying Saber (2011)​

ROCH

[1] ROCH Book 1 Divine Eagle, Gallant Knights (2011)
[2] ROCH Book 2 - Divine Eagle, Gallant Knights (2011)
[3] ROCH Book 3 Divine Eagle, Gallant Knights (2011)
[4] ROCH Book 4 - Divine Eagle, Gallant Knights (2011)​

 

[Belial]

Wow... that's a lot of books. I'm familiar with the "Journey to the West" and "Genji" but I've never read it all. Which are your favourites?

My point wasn't to ask about books covering Asia, but by books of Asian writers. Simon Winchester doesn't fall in this category, no matter how good his books are. I have doubts labelling the Asian writers who move from their countries during their childhood as Asian writers. Like Chang-rae Lee. He moved to USA when he was 3, so ummm... I'd think he's from USA, just with Korean descent. I don't consider people born in USA as Asians, no matter what's their descent. IMHO she can't be called Asian writer. I'd also consider person of Vietnamese ethnicity born and raised in Poland as Polish.

But I'm curious why did you add them to the "Asian literature"?

 

[Meadow337]

Because for me, books about Asia, and / or Asian authors where-ever they may currently be residing fall into that category. Whether its a non-fiction book, or some one writing about their experience .. or their family experience ... or in the case of Lisa See and Julie Otsuka - an immigrant experience - those are still all "Asian".


hmm lol you can't ask me to pick favourites - they are all 'favourites' in a sense because they are still on my reader. The books I don't like and won't read again get deleted.

FYI this is not a comprehensive list as I am still in the process of getting all the books I have read and want to reread onto my reader.

 

[Belial]

Hmmm, I didn't think about "books about Asia" but rather books written by Asians. People born and brought up in USA were brought up in USA culture. It doesn't matter where the parents are born from. You think Polish Americans consider themselves Polish? Nope, rather Americans. If they've spent whole their life in USA, even if they speak Polish, I wouldn't consider them Polish. Because the cultural difference would be too great.

I wonder what's else in your list.

 

[Meadow337]

I think you are making a very broad generalisation - and you can't just rob people of their background and heritage like that. If a person identifies with their heritage, or is an immigrant or the child of immigrants - that does not make their experience invalid or unimportant. Nor does it matter if a writer travels in a country and writes about their experience or meticulously researches a topic (Simon Winchester) - because they are not Asian does not invalidate their observations.

 

[Belial]

You don't get my point. I was asking about Asian literature. British author going to Asia is not an Asian writer. Period. I wrote "doesn't matter how good his books are", I think. I wanted some suggestions about Asian writers not people writing about Asia. I'm not saying their views are invalid, it's just not what I'm looking for. I'm interested in literature created by Asians. People born asnd brought up in Europe/USA etc. aren't Asians. You may disagree, that's my opinion.

 

[Meadow337]

You don't get my point. I was asking about Asian literature. British author going to Asia is not an Asian writer. Period. I wrote "doesn't matter how good his books are", I think. I wanted some suggestions about Asian writers not people writing about Asia. I'm not saying their views are invalid, it's just not what I'm looking for. I'm interested in literature created by Asians. People born asnd brought up in Europe/USA etc. aren't Asians. You may disagree, that's my opinion.

I think you would be hard pressed to convince some one of Asian descent, who is born anywhere in the world that they are not Asian.


I somehow left off "When Broken Glass Floats" Chanrithy Him.

Other books I have read, but don't currently have:

Pearl S Buck

Catfish and Mandala - Andrew X. Pham

Across China on Foot - Edwin Dingle

Su Tong – My Life as Emperor

 

[abecedarian]

Wow... that's a lot of books. I'm familiar with the "Journey to the West" and "Genji" but I've never read it all. Which are your favourites?

My point wasn't to ask about books covering Asia, but by books of Asian writers. Simon Winchester doesn't fall in this category, no matter how good his books are. I have doubts labelling the Asian writers who move from their countries during their childhood as Asian writers. Like Chang-rae Lee. He moved to USA when he was 3, so ummm... I'd think he's from USA, just with Korean descent. I don't consider people born in USA as Asians, no matter what's their descent. IMHO she can't be called Asian writer. I'd also consider person of Vietnamese ethnicity born and raised in Poland as Polish.

But I'm curious why did you add them to the "Asian literature"?

I understand your point. A few years ago, I was part of a reading challenge on bookcrossing.com they called an Olympic Challenge. The goal was to read at least one book by an author from each country participating in the upcoming Olympic games in Bejing. We were supposed to try to find national writers, which was sometimes very hard to do, at least for me, since I only read English. Anyway, I had to do some sleuthing with some writers, since many wrote in countries they were not born in. So, I went by what they wrote about..I could have counted Rohinton Mistry for Canada or India, for instance. When I could, I'd double read for the country in question..not a real hardship since Canada and India are well covered in literary terms. A Fine Balance had nothing to do with Canada, and certainly taught me a good deal about India. Here is the page with my final list.

 

[Dmitri Dmitriev]

Sadly, I don't seem to have a lot of "Asian literature" on my book shelf. But, I recently read Dream of the Red Chamber, and despite what my avatar says, right now I'm reading Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali.
I would recommend Tagore to anyone and everyone. He is the pride of a nation, and the spirit of a language. Might I say that a love for Tagore is the most important thing I gained from my parents...?

 

[Belial]

I think you would be hard pressed to convince some one of Asian descent, who is born anywhere in the world that they are not Asian.

There are a lot of people of Asian descent in USA who are identifying themselves as an American not an Asian. Can we end this topic?

Abecedarian, sorry I can't see your list. The globallisation doesn't help "national" literature. Actually, I don't know much about Canadian literature, but it's not a topic for that.

Dmitri, I'm gonna check Tagore too.

Anybody read crime stories by Asian authors?

 

[Meadow337]

Well I think I am going to fore-go commenting, which is a pity because this could have been an interesting discussion, but the narrowness of definition of 'Asian' makes it very hard to engage in a meaningful discussion.

 

[direstraits]

Ok, I'm going to include a couple of people who have grown up in Malaysia, but migrated there at later stages in their lives, which means their Asian-ness is still intact.

• I've recently read that Yangsze Choo's The Ghost Bride is actually making some waves, so go check it out.
• The Devil's Run by Brian Gomez is one of the funniest books I've read, Malaysian or not. Crime caper, lots of local flavour, literally laugh out loud funny. Written by Malaysian for Malaysians, but not all the references are lost on non-Malaysian readers.
• Meadow already listed the ones by Booker Prize short- and longlisted authors Tash Aw and Tan Twan Eng.
• Roslan Mohd Noor's Inspector Mislan novels (start with 21 Immortals), crime novels written by a real-life ex-cop. Not the best written novels, but revealing and interesting whodunnits.
• Ripples and other stories by Shih-li Kow. Acclaimed short story writer.
• Inspector Singh Investigates series of books (start with A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder). Crime novels. Funny author in person.
• Rani Manicka, The Rice Mother. Recommended by abece, which I still haven't read yet (oops, sorry, abece! )

I can't list them all, but I really liked Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress, Dai Sijie. Wonderful.

 

[Meadow337]

It is very difficult if the parameter remains 'born, bred and never left' the country of origin, it excludes far too many authors who, by any definition Asian and who write about Asia including Tash Aw and Tan Twan Eng.

Some of the best crime novels I have read are the Detective Chen books by Qiu Xiaolong but he is also excluded because he immigrated to America even though the books are entirely set in and around Shanghai by a born and bred Chinese person.

 

[Belial]

Meadow, seriously, I'd like you to read with understanding. Direstraits understood my point. And I'm not denying their skills, but that's not the point of this topic for me. If you want a broader topic, I'm not stopping you from starting one.

I peeked into 21 Immortals in Amazon. Lol, the most important question was "is it Caucasian"? I think I might read that. Dunno what's the fuss about "mat salleh" but, good the dead guy isn't one of them.

 

[direstraits]

Very interesting. Are you Malaysian or mat salleh, belial?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Book And Reader mobile app

 

[Belial]

Mat Salleh. (Polish) So, what's the fuss about mat salleh? Why this was the first thing he asked, can you explain that?

It's those little things, the different perspective, that it's so interesting when reading authors from foreign cultures. I don't think in the Western countries such question would be asked. Too politically incorrect.

 

[Peder]

Anyone can be as narrow as they wish in their reading.
In my education we were encouraged to be as broad as we could.
When I wish to be narrow I do it by concentrating on an individual author and reading their works.
I have read works by Asian authors. At least I am pretty sure of it. And among those there are favorites I would recommend.
But I am not going to make the effort to sort out "really" Asian books from those I would call Asian.
Sorry, but that is just too much research at this point.

 

[Meadow337]

I just thought for the purposes of initiating discussion it is better to start broad and then split off into smaller, more specific discussions, especially as I don't think there are many on the forum who read Asian Literature. Let's talk about it broadly, get some interest going (to strengthen my point this thread is basically dead) and then dive into narrower areas.

 

[Peder]

I just thought for the purposes of initiating discussion it is better to start broad and then split off into smaller, more specific discussions, especially as I don't think there are many on the forum who read Asian Literature. Let's talk about it broadly, get some interest going (to strengthen my point this thread is basically dead) and then dive into narrower areas.

I agree, in general, but don't see the big deal about intrinsic nationality of the author, or of narrowing a discussion only to single genuine nationalities either. I certainly don't check the life stories of authors I read, so I can hardly authenticate their nationalities. I would refer the new member to google/amazon for resolving such issues, rather than relying on my word for recommendations.
For discussion, hearing back from the new member about their reading of absolutely Asian works could be a start, just as your list is a good place to start looking.
But disparaging remarks about well-read members like yourself, and anti-American slaps at members like myself, are not going to help the discussion much. That should be obvious even to newcomers, especially those looking for help. /end of grouch/
In this situation, I pass.