Inspiration: Asian

Reading books about other places, cultures, and experiences is a great way to expand your horizons, even when you're stuck at home. For this prompt, we're looking at books about by Asian authors and about the cultures, people, and immigrants of Asian countries.

I went looking for an official list of countries in Asia, and my world view has been expanded to understand Russia and most of the Middle East are included in Asia. I don't know what I thought they were ...

Here are a few I've read:

• Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
• City of Thieves by David Benioff 
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• The Eye of Jade by Diane Wei Liang
• A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (what I'm reading right now)
• The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Songs of Willow Frost and many others by Jamie Ford
• The Joy Luck Club (and other novels) by Amy Tan
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (I'll be honest - I didn't finish it)
• The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
• Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson (graphic novel)
• My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame (graphic novel)
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (and other novels) by Lisa See
• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman (nonfiction)
• The Star Maker by Laurence Yep
• A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (and the scandal later!)
• The Wise Fool by Shahrukh Husain & Micha Archer

A few authors and books I haven't read but would recommend anyway:

• Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan
• Nicola Yoon (YA)
• Mindy Kaling (nonfiction)
• Gene Luen Yang (graphic novels)
• Arcady's Goal by Eugene Yelchin

And a list of lists:

• 5 Korean novels you should read now on Vanity Fair
• 10 award-winning books by Asian authors you should read on Culture Trip
• 10 best Asian novels of all time on The Telegraph
• 10 Japanese books you need to read on Culture Trip
• 12 Asian writers who should be taught in every high school on Mic
• Fiction set in Asia (that teens might enjoy) by the Seattle Public Library

My list seems heavy on Japan and China, with some India. Can you help diversify the list with some additional recommendations?

Arcady's Goal

by Eugene Yelchin

What do you know about the children left behind by Russia's enemies of the people in the beginning of the 20th century?  This work of fiction sheds just a little light on the life of one boy whose luck might just turn for the better.

Arcady has spent most of his life in a children's home.  While life is tough, he excels at one thing - soccer.  Although the children must play all games one-on-one, he is able to beat anyone the guards place against him.  It doesn't sound like much, but his skill is sometimes the only way to win food rations from the stingy guards.

He dreams of the day his talent will lead him to a better life.  When it does, Arcady must learn just how difficult life on the outside can be.

The author's note at the end will have you clamoring for more information.

City of Thieves by David Benioff

Sometimes an "epic journey" takes place over just a few miles and in only a couple days. Especially in 1942 St. Petersburg, Russia, when war rages around you.

Two young men are given a reprieve from prison to perform a special errand for the colonel; it's an impossible mission, but failure means death. The unlikely pair sets out to try, and a friendship grows as the duo experience all the worst that wartime Piter has to offer.

This book takes a grim look at a painful war, but a delicate hand with the relationships that form in a time of distress.