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Book Recommendations for General Fiction, set in East Asia (except China)

Click on the buttons below to filter by subgenre/theme, time period and setting.
All of these books have been read, reviewed, and recommended by our professional reviewers.
Learn how we choose recommended books here.
Total Books Recommended: 70

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Genre: Fiction
Literary Fiction - 39
Historical Fiction - 16
Thrillers - 9
Mystery - 5
Romance/Love Stories - 1
Short Stories - 4
Speculative, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Alt. History - 2
Poetry & Novels in Verse - 1

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Firsts
Debuts - 26
1st in Series - 2

Humor & Uplifting
Uplifting - 2
Humor & Satire - 2

Families
Generational Sagas - 8
Parenting & Families - 7

Ages & Stages
Adult Books From Child's Perspective - 6
Coming of Age - 15
Mid-Life Onwards - 1
Dealing with Loss - 11

Ethnicity
Books in Translation - 22
Immigrants & Expats - 14
Black Authors - 2
Asian Authors - 50

Gender & Sexuality
Female Friendships - 5
Strong Women - 12
LGBTQ+ - 6

Philosophy & Spiritual
Religious or Spiritual Themes - 3

Magical or Supernatural
Magical or Supernatural - 3
Magical Realism - 5

Miscellaneous
Books with Discussion Guides - 26
Small Press Titles - 10
Books about Books - 1
Physical & Mental Differences - 3
Books About Animals - 2
War Related - 20
Nature & Environment - 2
Music and the Arts - 1
LibraryReads Picks - 1

Number of Pages
400+ Pages - 6
250-400 Pages - 70
Less Than 250 Pages - 20

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Time Period
17th Century or Earlier - 1
18th Century - 2
19th Century - 2
20th Century (multiple decades) - 12
Early 20th Century - 2
1920s & '30s - 3
1940s & '50s - 13
1960s & '70s - 9
1980s & '90s - 9
Contemporary - 30
Across The Centuries - 1

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  • Ghost Girl, Banana
    Wiz Wharton
    Paperback: 05/06/2025
     
    Set between the last years of the "Chinese Windrush" in 1966 and Hong Kong's Handover to China in 1997, a ...
  • Vanishing World
    Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori
    Hardcover: 04/15/2025
     
    From the author of the bestselling literary sensations Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings comes a ...
  • Hunchback
    Hunchback: A Novel
    Saou Ichikawa
    Hardcover: 03/18/2025
     
    A bombshell bestseller in Japan, a provocative, defiant debut novel about a young woman in a care home seeking...
  • We Do Not Part
    Han Kang
    Hardcover: 01/21/2025
     
    Han Kang's most revelatory book since The Vegetarian, We Do Not Part tells the story of a friendship between ...
  • The Puzzle Box
    Danielle Trussoni
    Hardcover: 10/08/2024
     
    Two sisters. A lost imperial treasure. The world's greatest puzzle master has twenty-four hours to solve the ...
  • Mina's Matchbox
    Yoko Ogawa
    Hardcover: 08/13/2024
     
    From the award-winning, psychologically astute author of The Memory Police, a hypnotic, introspective novel ...
  • The Night of Baba Yaga
    Akira Otani, Sam Bett
    Hardcover: 07/02/2024
     
    A fierce mixed-race fighter develops a powerful attachment to the yakuza princess she's been forced to protect...

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