This entirely subjective list of 45 highlights from 2025 include reviews of fiction, literature, poetry and non-fiction. Translations remained strong in this year’s list, including literature, poetry and non-fiction, ranging from Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Hindi and Kyrgyz. Non-fiction entries range from history, memoir and essays to art and literature. (The year in question refers to the date of review, not of publication.)

How, as we ask every year, did Asia fare in the “Best Books” lists of 2025?

This entirely subjective list of 50 highlights from 2024 include reviews of fiction, literature, poetry and non-fiction. Translations remained strong in this year’s list, including literature, poetry and non-fiction, ranging from Chinese, Korean and Japanese, through Thai, Tagalog and Vietnamese to Kazakh, Bengali, Telegu, Arabic, Russian and French. Non-fiction entries ranges from history, biography and memoir to art, photograpy and culture.

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.

Another bumper year of podcasts. Here is a selection of a dozen highlights from short stories and pop-classics in translation to biography, history, society and the arts.

Translations remained strong in this year’s (as always, subjective) list of books we thought worthy of particular mention, ranging from Chinese, Korean and Japanese, through Tagalog, Hindi, Turkish, French and Spanish and including autobiography, poetry and graphic novels as well as fiction. Non-fiction ranges from history and biography to art and culture.

How, as we ask every year, did Asia fare in the “Best Books” lists of 2023? A bit better than 2022, possibly. As before, this list takes a broad view of what constitutes an “Asian” book.