The Greatest Asian Tragedy Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
484 Dream of the Red Chamber Cao Xueqin 1754 Chinese Chinese
549 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry 1995 Indian English
817 Rickshaw Boy Lao She 1936 Chinese Chinese
1031 The Temple of the Golden Pavilion Yukio Mishima 1956 Japanese Japanese
1087 Home and the World Rabindranath Tagore 1916 Indian Bengali
1161 Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami 1987 Japanese Japanese
1300 The Guide R. K. Narayan 1958 Indian English
1365 Nectar in a Sieve Kamala Markandaya 1954 Indian English
1553 Beauty and Sadness Yasunari Kawabata 1964 Japanese Japanese
1986 The Sound of the Mountain Yasunari Kawabata 1954 Japanese Japanese
2208 Waiting Ha Jin 1999 Chinese English
2620 To Live Yu Hua 1993 Chinese Chinese
2654 The Skeleton Amrita Pritam 1950 Indian Punjabi
2929 The Waiting Years Fumiko Enchi 1957 Japanese Japanese
3100 Diary Of A Mad Old Man Junichiro Tanizaki 1961 Japanese Japanese
3323 Retreat Without Song Shahan Shahnur 1929 Armenian Armenian
4408 The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea Yukio Mishima 1963 Japanese Japanese
5089 The Butterfly Lovers Unknown -389 Chinese Chinese
5625 Wave Sonali Deraniyagala 2013 Sri Lankan English
5745 Taebaek Sanmaek Jo Jung-rae 1986 South Korean Korean
6273 Cold Nights Ba Jin 1947 Chinese Chinese
6508 Memories of Rain Sunetra Gupta 1992 Indian English
11663 The Association Of Small Bombs Karan Mahajan 2016 Indian English
12718 Drowning Yu Dafu 1921 Chinese Chinese
13019 Fate In Tears And Laughter Chang Hen-shui 1925 Chinese Chinese
13307 The Death Of Yuli Xu Zhenya 1912 Chinese Chinese
13312 Threshold Of Spring Rou Shi 1932 Chinese Chinese
14496 Farewell To My Concubine Lilian Lee 1985 Chinese Chinese
14665 Raise The Red Lantern Su Tong 1990 Chinese Chinese
16520 The Love Suicides At Sonezaki Chikamatsu Monzaemon 1703 Japanese Japanese
15918 Chu Yuan Guo Moruo 1942 Chinese Chinese
17169 Demon Slayer Koyoharu Gotouge 2016 Japanese Japanese
16939 Patriotism Yukio Mishima 1961 Japanese Japanese
17169 Райский сад первой любви Линь Ихань 2017 Chinese Chinese (traditional)
17169 रश्मिरथी Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' 1981 Indian Hindi
17169 In This Corner Of The World Fumiyo Kouno 2007 Japanese Japanese
17169 Novels By Saratchandra Chattapodhyay Saratchandra Chattapodhyay Indian Bengali