These are books I’ve loved, that people I know and respect have loved, and some that I have seen, coveted, and yearn to love…for a list of what I believe are the top ten books about Asia of the past decade, this can be found at http://asiabythebook.thingsasian.com/2009/12/27/my-top-ten-books-for-the-past-ten-years/

1) Brothers by Yu Hua (Pantheon) No, I have not yet read it. Yes, I will buy this gargantuan novel just as soon as that is possible, fall into it, and stay there for days. (And I did because my good friend and publisher Albert Wen gave it to me for Christmas–it is an amazing, dark, funny, sad piece of work.)

2) The Vagrants by Yiyun Li (Random House) Read, savored and reviewed by  Kristianne Huntsberger on http://asiabythebook.com

3) The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (Picador) Another title reviewed on http://asiabythebook.com by Ryan Mita, who recommends it without reservation. It also won Japan’s Yomiuri Prize in 2004, but was not published in the United States in translation until this year.

4) Oshinbo a la Carte: Ramen and Gyoza by Kariya Tetsu (VIZ Media) When Ernie Hoyt isn’t reviewing books on http//asiabythebook.com he’s reviewing them on his own blog http://tokyoern.blogspot.com and this graphica food lit volume is particularly enticing to me–can’t wait to find it! (Once again, I was given this book by my publisher/friend and it has made me look at graphica in a whole different light–it’s an instructional bonanza as well as an art form. Elementary school textbooks should be put in graphica-format for reluctant readers yo!)

5) The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill (Soho Press) Confession–I know and like this author but I loved his fictional character Dr. Siri long before I met Mr. Cotterill. If you haven’t encountered this coroner in the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos, this latest volume of his adventures is a fine place to make his acquaintance. (Colin is a bit more elusive.)

6) Handmade in India: A Geographic Encyclopedia of Indian Handicrafts by Aditi and M.P. Ranjan (Abbeville) This collection of folk art and the creations of skilled artisans in India is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen this year–cannot wait to own it. Unlike many coffee table books, this one is intended to be read as well as gazed at–for me, it may launch a trip or two to the Subcontinent.

7) Paradise Now by Peter Bialobrezeski (Hatje Cantz) I saw this at Book Expo America this spring, and if there is one book that could displace Neon Tigers for me, it would be this one by the same photographer. If Santa Claus is real, please take note–this is at the top of my Greed List.

Stones Into Schools by Greg Mortenson (Viking) Three Cups of Tea continues to be a well-loved book, telling how a mountaineer took a wrong turn and discovered what he was truly meant to do–build and staff schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He continues his story–and his life’s work in his latest book–read it and help him in whatever way you can.

9) Burmese Painting: A Linear and Lateral History by Andrew Ranard (Silkworm Books) This sumptuous book, published beautifully by a press in Chiang Mai, is a survey course in the art of a little-known country and is a sensual pleasure to read–from the gleaming paintings reproduced in its pages to the quality of the paper used to make the book, to the informative and readable prose–even the ink smells good! Full points to Silkworm Books for making the most beautiful book on my shelves!

10) The Last Empress: Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of Modern China by Hannah Pakula (Simon & Schuster) This is the sort of book that gives biography a good name. Weighing in at well over six hundred pages, it is a history of modern China, as told through the life of one of her most intriguing and powerful women. Well-researched as much as it is well-written, it’s guaranteed to send readers to Pakula’s sources for more about Soong May-ling, her redoubtable sisters, and their country.

Posted on December 6th, 2009 by janetbrown