Asia in 2024: Round-up of “Best Books” lists

How, as we ask every year, did Asia fare in the “Best Books” lists of 2024? As before, this list takes a broad view of what constitutes an “Asian” book. Click on the title for our review and listen to the podcast where listed.

Economist

NYT 100 Notable Books

Washington Post Fiction Non-Fiction

  • At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning With China by Edward Wong
  • Behind You Is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj
  • The Magnificent Ruins by Nayantara Roy
  • Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
  • The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota
  • The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq by Steve Coll
  • Connie: A Memoir by Connie Chung
  • Hiroshima: The Last Witnesses by MG Sheftall

Foreign Affairs

  • Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century by Joya Chatterji
  • A Nasty Little War: The Western Intervention Into the Russian Civil War by Anna Reid
  • The Ghosts of Iraq’s Marshes: A History of Conflict, Tragedy, and Restoration by Steve Lonergan, Jassim Al-Asadi, and Keith Holmes
  • A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan Thrall
  • The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy by Suisheng Zhao
  • Japan’s Quiet Leadership: Reshaping the Indo-Pacific by Mireya Solís

History Today

China Books Review

CrimeReads

  • Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton
  • Shanghai by Joseph Kanon
  • Black River by Nilanjana Roy

Smithsonian

  • Silk: A World History by Aarathi Prasad (podcast)
  • The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides
  • I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now
  • Sea Beach by Ismail Ferdous
  • My Vietnam, Your Vietnam by Christina Vo and Nghia M Vo
  • Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food by Fadi Kattan
  • Dac Biet: An Extra-Special Vietnamese Cookbook by Nini Nguyen with Sarah Zorn
  • Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss and Family Recipes by Chantha Nguon
  • The Manicurist’s Daughter: A Memoir by Susan Lieu

TIME: 100 Must Read of Books of 2024

  • Mina’s Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder
  • Shanghailanders by Juli Min (podcast)
  • Knife by Salman Rushdie
  • The Lucky Ones by Zara Chowdhary
  • The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş
  • The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
  • Connie by Connie Chung
  • How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
  • Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan
  • Memory Piece by Lisa Ko
  • Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
  • Root Fractures by Diana Khoi Nguyen
  • Your Utopia by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur
  • […]: Poems by Fady Joudah

Globe & Mail

  • Batshit Seven by Sheung-King
  • Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
  • The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel
  • Here After by Amy Lin
  • Everything and Nothing At All  y Jenny Heijun Will
  • Knife by Salman Rushdie
  • Blood Rubies by Mailan Doquan

CBC: The best Canadian fiction of 2024

  • Batshit Seven by Sheung-King
  • A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
  • Death by a Thousand Cuts by Shashi Bhat
  • Bad Land by Corinna Chong
  • Peacocks of Instagram by Deepa Rajagopalan
  • Never Been Better by Leanne Toshiko Simpson

Electric Lit’s Best Novels of 2024

  • The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
  • Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
  • Memory Piece by Lisa Ko
  • The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
  • The Anthropologists by Aysegül Savas
  • Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang
  • Exhibit by RO Kwon

Publisher’s Weekly

  • Smoke and Ashes by Amitav Ghosh
  • Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay
  • The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş
  • The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
  • The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota
  • Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto by Kohei Saito, translated by Brian Bergstrom
  • The Invention of the Darling by Li-Young Lee
  • A Year of Last Things by Michael Ondaatje
  • The City in Glass by Nghi Vo
  • The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki, translated by Jesse Kirkwood
  • Little Shrew by Akiko Miyakoshi
  • We Who Produce Pearls: An Anthem for Asian America by Joanna Ho, illustrated. by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiy
  • Uprooted: A Memoir About What Happens When Your Family Moves Back by Ruth Chan