A memoir of youth in Henan province and the liberating power of the pen, by a prolific Chinese writer still relatively little known in this country, despite a festoon of international prizes... read more
A fine illustrated survey from the prehistoric to the present that looks at the interplay between different parts of Asia and also with the rest of the world.
The author has been travelling in China for 30 years. This is her first book, and it is a compelling portrait of the country's culture and its recent mutations.
The Great Game has not changed though the players have: Keay looks at the history of this contested and remote area and at those that have roamed its wildernesses.
A Korean novel, beautifully translated, in which an unexpected pregnancy forces two sisters to confront the legacy of their own mother's neglect. Delicate, sad, a little dreamy.
The tricky business of merging the inner world with the outer - a balancing act that the generous Iyer has been practising for decades now, in Tibet, Japan, Korea, Iran and elsewhere.
A collection of nine essays that elaborate on the development and themes of Mingei, the Japanese art movement that found beauty in commonplace objects.
The grandmother in question was Vietnamese, and exiled in the Vietnam war. A good-looking book on this healthy and nourishing cuisine. Has Ducasse's imprimatur so should be excellent.
From the author of the best book on Dreyfus, this is a biography of the Indian monk who inspired Freud, Gandhi, and Tagore and introduced Westerners to yoga and the Vedanta.
A superb account of how European imperialism in Asia was undermined by a network of ingenious radicals, who used printing presses, global travel and the colonisers' languages to spread their... read more
Takes the reader from the earliest written accounts to the present in vivid portraits. The empress Masako is there, and presumably princess Murasaki Shikibu, whose diary is not only fascina... read more