Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

This thread is for dropping ideas, questions, resources, comments, and discussion about Task One: A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25.

Here are a few great lists to get you started:

http://bookriot.com/2014/09/16/rough-...

https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/asia

This one was challenging for me, but I think I'm going to read Boxers & Saints Boxed Set. As a stretch I'm going to count this too, because it was on my TBR list The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians.

The Dowry Bride by Shobhan Bantwal

India counts as Southeast Asia, right? So Jhumpa Lahiri would work here.

I'll recommend How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. Read it this year and absolutely loved it.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea is brilliant. I really grew to care about the various people by the end and it's truly eye-opening.

Can it be nonfiction? I was thinking of Without You There is No Us.

^ I think it can. This has to be about what you want to read, so I believe you can read anything that you believe fits the task.

I'm gonna be reading The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.

I plan to read Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China which I already own but have not read.

I plan on reading India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking or People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo - and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up Both have been on my TBR pile for awhile.

Katie wrote: "Can it be nonfiction? I was thinking of Without You There is No Us."

Ooh! good call. That's on my tbr list.

Reading Lolita in Tehran...

Memoirs of a Geisha

I'm going to read
Memoirs of a Geisha...finally!

So I have this huge collection of East Asian literature... and I've devoured all of it. So it's either a reread or... my husband gave me "Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan" by Jake Adelstein, which is about an American man who ends up working for the Japanese Police force for awhile. I think I'm going with that. :D

Melissa wrote: "India counts as Southeast Asia, right? So Jhumpa Lahiri would work here."

Yes, India would definitely count.

I have "The Kiterunner" in my plans for this one...

Definitely some Lahiri here.

Becky wrote: "I have "The Kiterunner" in my plans for this one..."

I am also gonna read "The Kiterunner" for this challenge since it has been on my TBR list forever...

Thanks for mentioning The Kite Runner! It's sitting on a nightstand next to me as I write this :)

I have Death of a Red Heroine and Interpreter of Maladies slated to read in the first few months of 2015, so I will count one of those :)

Reading The Wind-up Bird Chronicle for this one!

I'm also doing Murakami but Kafka on the Shore

I will be reading The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill for this one. Just picked it up at the library yesterday.

Also doing Murakami here, but Norwegian Wood. Just started it today in fact. This is my first Murakami. Or make that the first Murakami I'm going to finish. I started The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle several years ago and never got through it.

While living in Tokyo and in Singapore, I read a few books with Asian settings. I can highly recommend these:
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Moshin Hamid (The narrator is the protagonist. He spots an American at a cafe in Lahore, Pakistan, and sits at the table with him. He begins to tell the man about a time he was in the US. Most of the story is based in the US in this regard, but the two are at the table for most of the story, so it also takes place in Asia.)
Soy Sauce for Beginners by Kirsten Chen
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Sky of Red Poppies by Zohreh Ghahremani
Chasing China; A Daughter's Quest for Truth by Kay Bratt

Terri wrote: "I'm thinking about reading David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet." Loved The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. That was my first David Mitchell book.

Kind of embarrassing that at first I only thought of China and Japan, when I have several TBR books set in Iran, India and other parts of Asia, as people mentioned above. Shows my automatic stereotyped reaction to "Asia' is pretty limited.

For this task I have If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

I'll be reading The Old Garden by Hwang Sok-yong. My parents read this in the original Korean and recommended it to me. Hopefully the translation does it justice!

Completed this task with . Three stars.

I'm reading Pearl Buck's Peony: A Novel of China, which deals with the differences between Chinese and Jewish culture and identity. So far, I recommend it!

I just finished reading Three Souls by Janie Chang, it was excellent. Five stars.

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons

I had Memoirs of a Geisha and The Kite Runner picked out on my challenge list, but I'm currently reading Midnight's Children and that counts, too.

Do I get extra points for bonus books? ;-)

Finished The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall which is set in India. Enjoyable. Reminds me of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.

Had some trouble with this one, but I've decided to go with Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China. I've mostly gone with fiction for these tasks, so it'll be good to mix it up a bit!

Just finished reading Never Fall Down. It covers YA, non-fiction, takes place in Asia, and audio book for me. I also have The Coroner's Lunch in my cue.

A Map of Betrayal: a Novel by Ha Jin

I'm going with number9dream. Takes place in Tokyo

Just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, great book for this topic.

I read The Novice: A Story of True Love. It is a simple, beautiful book that can be read in a couple of evenings. I'm so glad I found it.

I read The Time In Between. It is set in Vietnam.

I have had the YA novel Cinder on the TBR list for quite awhile. I think I will make it my pick for this category.

I just finished reading The Orphan Master's Son. While I appreciated the author's craft, I found the book a difficult read. I had to put it down at times and prepare myself to read passages that I knew were going to be disturbing accounts of violence, cruelty, and torture.

In the Shadow of the Banyan This is my pick for this one. I was originally planning to read The Kite Runner Both take place in Asia.

I want to read by Pearl S. Buck or Lisa See the because was such a great read. Another book I'm considering is Khaled Hosseini novel .

Just finished . Set in the KSA - I'm never sure whether that counts as Asia or Africa, hanging as it does between the two.

I've never read Haruki Murakami before now so; The Wind-up Bird Chronicle for me for this challenge