How, as we ask every year, did Asia fare in the “Best Books” lists of 2025? As before, this list takes a broad view of what constitutes an “Asian” book. Unlike some years past, there was considerable consensus on a number of titles from and about Asia: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai, The South by Tash Aw, We Do Not Part by Han Kang, A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar and, in non-fiction, Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy.
Click on the title for our review where listed.
- The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
- The South by Tash Aw
- We Do Not Part by Han Kang
- Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
- A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
- Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
- Katabasis by RF Kuang
- Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee
- Apple in China by Patrick McGee
- Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick
- One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
- Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
- A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
- Moderation by Elaine Castillo
- The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
- A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
- Audition by Katie Kitamura
- Flashlight by Susan Choi
- Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee
- The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping by Joseph Torigian
- Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World by David Van Reybrouck
- China’s Church Divided: Bishop Louis Jin and the Post-Mao Catholic Revival by Paul P Mariani
- Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company by Patrick McGee
- Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva by Janaki Bakhle
- Chequered Past, Uncertain Future: The History of Pakistan by Tahir Kamran
- Marginlands: A Journey Into India’s Vanishing Landscapes by Arati Kumar-Rao
- Heat, a History: Lessons From the Middle East for a Warming Planet by On Barak
- Mirages of Reform: The Politics of Elite Protectionism in the Arab World by Steve L Monroe
- Tomorrow Is Yesterday: Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine by Hussein Agha and Robert Malley
- The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
- Gingko Season by Naomi Xu Elegant
- We Do Not Part by Han Kang
- Primordial by Mai Der Vang
- A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
- Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
- The South by Tash Aw
- Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa
- All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu
- Audition by Katie Kitamura
- The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
- Katabasis by RF Kuang
- Moderation by Elaine Castillo
- Mỹ Documents by Kevin Nguyen
- One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
- Strangers in the Land by Michael Luo
- The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine
- Where Are You Really From by Elaine Hsieh Chou
- The Summer House by Masashi Matsuie
- Audition by Katie Kitamura
- Flashlight by Susan Choi
- Good Girl by Aria Aber
- Hot Girls with Balls by Benedict Nguyễn
- Homeseeking by Karissa Chen
- Blob: A Love Story by Maggie Su
- These Memories Do Not Belong to Us by Yiming Ma
- The Beast in the Clouds by Nathalia Holt
- Audition by Katie Kitamura
- The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien
- One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
- The True Happiness Company by Veena Dinavahi
- Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen
- I Wanna Be Your Girl, Vol 1 by Umi Takase
- The Red Car to Hollywood by Jennie Liu
- Spacewalking with You, Vol. 1 by Inuhiko Doronoda
- Tall Water by SJ Sindu
- Tiger Slayer by Ruby Lal
- When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur
- Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen
- We Do Not Part by Han Kang
- The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
- Strange Pictures by Uketsu
- Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
- Heart Lamp Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq
- A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
- Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
- Long Distance Stories by Aysegül Savas
- The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
- Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei
- Katabasis by RF Kuang
- Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin
- The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
- Flashlight by Susan Choi
- Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
- We Do Not Part by Han Kang
- A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
- Flashlight by Susan Choi
- Katabasis by RF Kuang
- Audition by Katie Kitamura
- One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
- Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara
- A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
- Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
- Blob: A Love Story by Maggie Su
- Cannon by Lee Lai
- Down in the Sea of Angels by Khan Wong
- Holler: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance by Denali Sai Nalamalapu
- Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology by Angela Hsieh
- The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
- The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli by Karina Yan Glaser
- The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
- This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Nicole Goux