Reading Asia in 2019

It's time for a long overdue post about my ongoing Around the World reading project. In 2019 I focused on Asia, with the hopes of finishing my goal to read a book from every country that I hadn't gotten to yet. I got pretty close, and definitely knocked out some books I collected back in 2012 when I started dreaming up this project. I gave up long ago on feeling the need to try to do it all in a year, because the more I get to know about some of these countries, the longer I want to stay. And sometimes I accidentally read a lot from a country I wasn't even trying to read (Japan is that country this year!)

I've been keeping very careful track since 2012 (books read prior to 2012 are not "counted" in the project) so this map attempts to capture that - the orange is what remains to be read - Afghanistsan, Azerbaijan, East Timor, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, The Maldives, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan (some of these I might be able to include during the focus on the Middle East, particularly the -stans), the blue is what I read for the first time in 2019 (and some, like Thailand and the Philippines, I read multiple books), the green I had read previously and also read additional titles in 2019, and the pink are countries I'd read previously but did not read more of in 2019.

I do not have one picture with all the titles, because I used the library, both in print and for ebooks and audiobooks. But this first picture shows the titles from the major publishers that I had at home. Some I collected intentionally for this project, while others came in for other reasons.

I was really impressed by the number of titles I found from independent presses this year. I subscribe to Restless Books, Two Lines Press, and Milkweed Editions, and both Restless and Two Lines sent me books from Asian countries that I was able to include. (Two Lines sent me Bright, I purchased Mina on sale.) Feminist Press also put out a book of short stories from the same author Two Lines published a novel from. Tilted Axis had several of the harder to find countries, which was a thrill. I applaud all these publishers and the work they are doing in translation and in English to raise up the voices we would not hear otherwise, truly impressive.

And this last picture are the books I did not get to. A few are Western titles by non-native authors, and those weren't as high priority as reading what we call "own voices" authors. I did want to get to the Lukyanenko because I try to include genre fiction when I can... it's just that it's not really set in Kazakhstan, but the author is from there. I read another book for Bhutan, Burma/Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, and both Seven Years in Tibet and Chef are set in places that aren't "countries" but rather distinct regional locations with their own stories. I still want to read all these books but I did have reasons to prioritize some of the others. When I was dedicating time at the end of December to squeeze a few more in, I went first for books from countries I hadn't touched yet - Cambodia and Bangladesh. The book about finding George Orwell in Burma only makes sense if you read George Orwell's first novel based on his time in Burma, and I struggled to do so.

Here is the list. This is just the titles I read this year so those other titles I've hinted at on the map in green and pink can be found in Goodreads, as can reviews of all these titles. If you go to my profile, you can look at my books and search by title or view the shelves by location (all of these are under "Location-CountryName.")

Bangladesh
A Golden Age by Tahmina Anam

Bhutan
The Circle of Karma by Kunzang Choden

Cambodia
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner

China
Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction edited by Ken Liu
Double Awesome Chinese Food by Margaret Li
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

Japan
After Dark by Haruki Murakami
After the Quake by Haruki Murakami
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami
The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada
The Guest Cat by Takato Hiraide
My Brother’s Husband, V. 1 by Gengoroh Tagame
My Brother’s Husband, V. 2 by Gengoroh Tagame
The Restaurant of Love Regained by Ito Ogawa 

Korea, North and South
Blood Sisters by Kim Yideum
Mina by Kim Sagwa
The White Book by Han Kang

Kyrgyzstan
Jamila by Chingiz Aitmatov

Laos
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang 

Mongolia
The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag

Myanmar/Burma
The Long Path to Wisdom by Jan-Philipp Sandlear

Nepal
The City Son by Samrat Upadhyay

Pakistan
Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie

The Philippines
America is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo
The Body Papers by Grace Talusan
Monsoon Mansion by Cinelle Barnes
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

Singapore
Aunty Lee’s Delights by Ovidia Yu
The Black Tides of Heaven by J.Y. Yang

Sri Lanka
Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje

Taiwan
The Lost Garden by Li Ang 

Thailand
Arid Dreams by Duanwad Pimwana
Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad
The Blind Earthworm in the Labyrinth by Veeraporn Nitiprapha
Bright by Duanwad Pimwana
The Sad Part Was by Prabda Yoon
Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap

Uzbekistan
The Devil’s Dance by Hamid Ismailov

Vietnam
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Reading Envy 042: It Begins with Rain

Jenny is joined by Jason, a welcome repeat guest! We take shelter from the incoming rain accompanying Hurricane Joaquin, but we had no idea how bad the devastation would be in our home state of South Carolina. Jason's home and my home were okay, but that definitely isn't true for everyone! You can donate to aid victims of the flooding in South Carolina if you so desire.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 042: It Begins with Rain.

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Book selections:



By the Iowa Sea: A Memoir by Joe Blair
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterrill
The Painter by Peter Heller
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
All the Living by C.E. Morgan
The Professor's House by Willa Cather

Other books mentioned:
The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
Delicate Edible Birds: And Other Stories by Lauren Groff
Arcadia by Lauren Groff
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave by Peter Heller
Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsango River (Vintage Departures) by Peter Heller
The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet's Largest Mammals by Peter Heller
Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
Stoner by John Williams

Other mentions:
National Book Award longlists
NPR "Morning Edition" Book Club
Avid Bookshop (Athens, GA)
Wild (movie)
Dual Survival (tv show)
5 Under 35 Award from the National Book Foundation
"Twins" by C. E. Morgan (in the New Yorker)
The Readers (podcast)
Books on the Nightstand (podcast)

Related podcast episodes:
Reading Envy Episode 014: Flannery O'Connor with Zombies
Reading Envy Episode 025: Mule and Plow
Reading Envy Episode 037: Breakdancing to Bach

Stalk us online:
Jason on Twitter
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter

Library Books Mid-September 2015

The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chodron
It Will End with Us by Sam Savage
The Coroner's Lunch (Dr. Siri #1) by Colin Cotterill
The Complete Visual Guide to Good Dog Training: The Balanced Way to A Well Behaved Pet by Babette Haggerty
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
Man at the Helm by Nina Stibbe
The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
The Chimes by ANna Smaill
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir by Roz Chast

This month has been a busy month of books from the library (libraries, really). Three of the books on this pile are on the Man Booker Prize Longlist (Obioma, Smaill, Tyler) and I was trying to read at least the first 50 pages of as many of those books as I could.

I went to our leisure reading collection to pull the Chast because I was preparing to speak with a librarian who specializes in comics and graphic novels, and I was thinking I would have one fresh in my mind to talk about, and knew the Chast had been a finalist for the National Book Award (USA) last year. I ended up not using it as one of my primary choices, but I can say I have read it! When I was over in that collection, the Helm, Quick, and Toews followed me home. Whoops.

The Savage seemed out of place in the New Books section, a slim black paperback in a sea of academic hardbacks. Reading the description I found it is set in South Carolina, so decided it was worth a try, maybe a quick read.

I had wanted to read another Chodron after reading her book When Things Fall Apart. This one was not as easy of a read, but still great. I requested the Cotterill from interlibrary loan immediately following the recording of Reading Envy Podcast 037, where Juliane mentioned that series in passing. That was enough to peak my curiosity, not to mention that it is set in a country I had yet to read a book from for my Around the World challenge.

The dog training one was a whimsy pick from the new books section at the public library - I have two dogs who badly need training but we haven't taken the time to do a class yet.  I thought maybe it would help!