The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Asia

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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
379 The Second World War Winston Churchill 1948 British English
819 Burmese Days George Orwell 1934 British English
918 The Plot Against America Philip Roth 2004 American English
1244 The Travels of Marco Polo Marco Polo 1300 Italian Old french
1384 Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond 1997 American English
1400 The Great Railway Bazaar Paul Theroux 1975 American English
1529 Orientalism Edward W. Said 1978 Palestinian English
1895 Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris 2000 American English
2819 The Great Fire Shirley Hazzard 2003 Australian English
3001 The Rise of the West William H. McNeill 1963 American English
3078 River Town Peter Hessler 2001 American English
3473 We Do Not Part Han Kang 2021 Korean Korean
3544 The Good Women Of China Xinran 2002 Chinese Chinese
4193 Oriental Despotism Karl August Wittfogel 1957 German English
4499 The Rise And Fall Of The Great Powers Paul Kennedy 1987 British English
4624 The Party Richard McGregor 2010 Unknown English
4628 The Opium War Julia Lovell 2011 British English
4765 400 Million Customers Carl Crow 1937 American English
4846 The Last Quarter Of The Moon Chi Zijian 2005 Chinese English
4851 Peking Story David Kidd 1960 American English
4857 Der Tod Im Reisfeld Peter Scholl-Latour 1970 German German
5009 Against the Day Thomas Pynchon 2006 American English
5165 Forgotten Kingdom Peter Goullart 1955 Russian English
5448 The Lover A. B. Yehoshua 1977 Israeli Hebrew
5459 Forgotten Ally Rana Mitter 2013 British English
5524 Mao's China And After Maurice Meisner 1977 American English
5982 Soulstealers Philip A. Kuhn 1990 American English
6295 Oracle Bones Peter Hessler 2006 American English
6431 Riding The Iron Rooster Paul Theroux 1988 American English
6465 Red Azalea Anchee Min 1993 Chinese English
6478 Second World War John Keegan 1989 British English
6705 Ruined City Jia Pingwa 1993 Chinese Chinese
6838 Frontier Can Xue 2008 Chinese Chinese
6888 The Boxer Rebellion Diana Preston 1999 Unknown English
6917 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Grace Lin, Janet Song 2009 Chinese English
6989 Red China Blues Jan Wong 1996 Canadian English
7086 Lajja Taslima Nasrin 1993 Bangladeshi Bengali
7154 The Loneliness Of Sonia And Sunny Kiran Desai 2025 Unknown English
7165 Beijing Comrades Bei Tong 1998 Chinese English
7216 Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio Pu Songling 1740 Chinese Classical chinese
7596 Wealth And Power Orville Schell, John Delury 2013 Chinese English
7627 Whale Cheon Myeong-kwan 2004 Korean Korean
7634 The Golden Road William Dalrymple 2024 Unknown English
7765 Annapurna Maurice Herzog 1951 French French
7788 Cold Enough For Snow Jessica Au 2022 Australian English
7934 Mr. China Tim Clissold 2004 British English
8032 A Barbarian In Asia Henri Michaux 1933 French French
8188 Questions Of Travel Michelle de Kretser 2012 Australian English
8211 China Shakes The World James Kynge 2006 British English
8222 Tombstone Yang Jisheng 2008 Chinese Chinese
8232 China Susan Shirk 2007 Unknown English
8246 The Man Awakened From Dreams Henrietta Harrison 2005 Unknown English
8287 The Last Days Of Old Beijing Michael Meyer 2008 Unknown English
8351 China Road Rob Gifford 2007 British English
8422 The Man Who Loved China Simon Winchester 2008 British English
8462 The Age Of Openness Frank Dikötter 2008 Unknown English
8537 Prisoner Of The State Zhao Ziyang 2009 Chinese Chinese
8615 Shark's Fin And Sichuan Pepper Fuchsia Dunlop 2008 British English
8635 The Dragon's Gift Deborah Brautigam 2009 Unknown English
8647 The Raj Quartet Paul Scott 1976 British English
8745 The Beijing Of Possibilities Jonathan Tel 2009 Unknown English
8816 Loot Tania James 2023 Unknown English
8820 China In Ten Words Yu Hua 2011 Chinese Chinese
9177 China's Second Continent Howard W. French 2014 American English
9317 The Dark Side Of Love Rafik Schami 2004 German German
9354 Our Story Rao Pingru 2013 Chinese Chinese
9356 The Old Garden Hwang Sok-yong 2000 Korean Korean
9536 The Emperor Far Away David Eimer 2014 Unknown English
9547 Stilwell and the American Experience in China Barbara Wertheim Tuchman 1971 American English
9583 Night Sky With Exit Wounds Ocean Vuong 2016 American English
9597 The Naked Eye Yoko Tawada 2004 Multiple German
9603 The Interpreter From Java Alfred Birney 2016 Dutch Dutch
9604 Lenin's Kisses Yan Lianke 2003 Chinese Chinese
9647 Heart Lamp Banu Mushtaq 2024 Unknown English
9656 The People's Republic Of Amnesia Louisa Lim 2014 Unknown English
9660 Brehm's Life Of Animals Alfred Edmund Brehm 2015 German German
9660 The Silk Road Sven Hedin 2012 Swedish Swedish
9688 Leftover Women Leta Hong Fincher 2014 Unknown English
9697 When Red Is Black Qiu Xiaolong 2004 Chinese English
9699 The Beautiful Country And The Middle Kingdom John Pomfret 2016 American English
9767 The Reign Of Greed José Rizal 1891 Filipino Spanish
9941 One Child Mei Fong 2016 Unknown English
9955 The Souls Of China Ian Johnson 2017 American English
10021 Mending Bodies Hon Lai-Chu 2010 Chinese Chinese
10107 Unlikely Partners Julian Gewirtz 2017 Unknown English
10114 Tokyo Year Zero David Peace 2007 British English
10119 Flashlight Susan Choi 2025 American English
10192 Little Soldiers Lenora Chu 2017 Unknown English
10195 Waiting To Be Arrested At Night Tahir Hamut Izgil 2023 Unknown Uyghur
10215 Iron Moon Qin Xiaoyu 2017 Chinese English
10303 Judgment At Tokyo Gary J. Bass 2023 Unknown English
10419 The Wayfinder Adam Johnson 2025 American English
10454 Empire Of Cotton Sven Beckert 2014 American English
10499 Dekada '70 Lualhati Bautista 1984 Filipino Filipino
10569 The Third Revolution Elizabeth C. Economy 2018 Unknown English
10581 Strangers In The Land Michael Luo 2025 American English
10584 Some People Need Killing Patricia Evangelista 2023 Unknown English
10584 The South Tash Aw 2025 Malaysian English
10610 China's New Red Guards Jude Blanchette 2019 Unknown English
10647 Indica Pranay Lal 2016 Indian English
10659 The Travels of Ibn Battutah Ibn Battúta 1355 Moroccan Arabic
10693 Daughters Of The Bamboo Grove Barbara Demick 2025 American English
10701 The Great Reclamation Rachel Heng 2023 Unknown English
10720 The Beast In The Clouds Nathalia Holt 2025 American English
10766 The Banished Immortal Ha Jin 2019 American English
10811 The Summer House Masashi Matsuie 2012 Japanese English
10817 ‘Gapô Lualhati Bautista 1988 Filipino Filipino
10885 Kampung Boy Lat 1979 Malaysian Malay
10899 The Man With The Compound Eyes Wu Ming-yi 2011 Taiwanese Chinese
10949 Five Spice Street Can Xue 1988 Chinese Chinese
11068 All The Wrong Places James Fenton 1994 British English
11086 The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen 2017 American English
11316 Homeseeking Karissa Chen 2025 Unknown English
11478 Someone To Watch Over You Kumi Kimura 2021 Unknown English
11499 Hunter Shuang Xuetao 2019 Chinese Chinese
11500 Azadi Arundhati Roy 2020 Indian English
11547 The Ten Thousand Things Maria Dermoût 1955 Dutch Dutch
11575 The Painted Veil W. Somerset Maugham 1925 British English
11663 A State Of Freedom Neel Mukherjee 2018 British English
11663 Patriot Number One Lauren Hilgers 2018 Unknown English