I'm sorry Jack, but that video was a pure act of sabotage to my good intentions for 2024. I wanted to reduce the number of books on my TBR, and then I watched this video. Mission failed. I will definitely be traveling to Asia through literature in the near future.
Hey Jack! Just echoing another comment saying that the Philippine novel (La Tercera) is a rather challenging read for foreign readers since a lot of it is written in our local languages. If you find it to be too difficult of a read, another book I'd recommend is Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan, which is an excellent thriller and political commentary about Jesuit priests tracking down a serial killer in one of Manila's poorest neighborhoods
As someone pointed out, the Kuwait book isn't written by a Kuwaiti or Arab author, so may I recommend The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi! Much love from Lebanon ❤
2 recommendations from Mongolia!! 1. The Green Eyed Lama - the first Mongolian novel published in the West 2. Suncranes and Other Stories - a collection of some of our best known short stories translated into English
I’m hyped that a book from Indonesia is being included here Jack! I also have another recommendation, ‘The Sea Speaks His Name’ by Leila S. Chudori, which is a historical fiction, that is about an important period of the country’s history when dictatorship existed and eventually ended, the book tells how political activists and their families dealt with that mess. A book that absolutely twisted my heart!
omg hello! I’m from Singapore and I can definitely support this. I had the opportunity to read this book, aka “Laut Bercerita” a while back and it did not disappoint. It was deeply painful yet the pain felt addictive at every page you turn. Good recommendation! 💯
aaaaaa jack you did so good at picking the book for malaysia!! (maybe a biased opinion since hanna alkaf is my distant relative lmao) but 13th May 1969 is a significant part of malaysian history and understanding how the racial tensions came about and the implications of them are quite central to the cultural and social landscape of malaysia ☺️☺️ happy reading!!
I was so so hoping he'd pick the weight of our sky omg I'm so happyyyyyy, she's my fav Malaysian author!!! I have all her books and we once had a playful argument on Twitter about kacang on nasi lemak lmaooo
Omg, thanks for choosing My Pen is the wing of the bird. I really appreciate it as for now it’s so important for people to read about what people in Afghanistan go through currently.
I really appreciate and admire this new idea of yours, all countries need to be recognized by their literature, history and people instead of their politics, as an audience of your videos from Iran taking a part of this video really warms my heart and I’m sure you’ll find even more Iranian/Persian books that you’ll enjoy in the future.
ohh myy goodd I‘m so incredibly happy you’ve written this comment, I really hope there will be more people recognizing countries as a whole, countries are more than their political history !
As a syrian I hope we are known for something that's more than the war we had There are so many amazing books by so many amazing authors that could represent us better Syria is more than just the war that happened I'm sick of us being known only for political stuff We have a rich literature history Some syrian authors I'd recommend : Hanna Mina Ghada al-Samman Firas al-Sawwah Colette Khoury Salim Barakat Hasan sami yusuf I hope one day the world will remember us in a better way And I hope the world will understand that we're humans who have lives We're more than the war
4 месяца назад+6
Would you recommend any specific books by authors you mentioned that are translated in English?
Well said!! We definitely are much much more than just the recent war…. As we hold the oldest inhabited city in the world, the civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, we are full of culture and traditions and history…. Hope we can cast a light on the beauty we Syrians have created threw literature, architecture, and traditions and not just keep being identifying as refugees and people who are suffering from a war
Thank you for your comment. My boyfriend is Iranian but has spent several years in Syria. One apparently Syrian thing (I guess? please correct me) he always tells me about is your beautiful garden restaurants where people sit beneath the flowers and trees and talk and eat for hours. I dream so much about these restaurants I cannot tell you. It just sounds so wonderfully, peacefully, lovingly homely! So yeah, the first thing I think of when I hear Syria is actually this. I imagine people having fun outdoors with their families, close to nature. As a kid, I knew Syria for its rich cultural and colourful history - although I never had the experience to see it with my own eyes. I love the stories that my boyfriend tells me about Syria. He knows about the war, of course, and is deeply sad about it, but war is never the heart of the stories he tells me. I just wanted to let you know that. He remembers your country in vital colours. I'm sending you so much love. You have been incredibly strong for so many years (although you had no choice, which is horrible) and I'm thinking of you often. ❤ -Coming from a German student
Hello, As someone from Saudi I wouldn’t necessarily recommend “Riyadh Girls”. Its not bad, its just not the greatest book and is pretty average in writing, but as someone else said it was very modern at the time. I think westerners like it cuz it echoes some of their biases and is about girls seeking a more western lifestyle (through media). I’d recommend books by Ghazi Algosaibi, his books are so well known and he writes a lot of historical fiction that sells really well even though they’ve been around for so long. "A life in administration” although an autobiography is the most well known book by a Saudi author guaranteed.
Also, I think your choice for the Kuwaiti book might be harmful. Other than the fact that its not a Kuwaiti author (one that barely grew up in the culture too) nor is it surrounding Kuwaiti characters; from the synopsis and the few reviews I saw, her books seem to heavily focus on Islamic extremists rather than the everyday person, coloring the whole culture and people she’s writing about as a part of the problem. (I’ve never read her books, but I’m rather discouraged to do so) Its also a little disappointing considering how prolific Kuwaiti fiction is compared to the rest of the GCC. Highly recommend reading Saud Alsanousi, “Mama Hissa’s Mice” is about a Kuwaiti family, while “The Bamboo Stalk” is about a half filipino Kuwaiti boy who tried to learn more about his Kuwaiti side. Although they’re both ‘big boys’ they’re greatly famous books with a tv show for the latter.
Lastly, I think it’d be more valuable to read an Emirati book that is written through a local lens. Especially since the lives of immigrants and expats in the GCC and specifically the UAE are greatly different from that of the locals. We also don’t get much accurate exposure, leading many to remain ignorant on our culture and norms. 42:42 this book sounds amazing, but a book like “The Diesel” or “The confession” (if you can find it in english) might be a better representation of the UAE.
deepak was one of my uni professors- his classes are unforgettable and he leaves a lasting impression on all his students, seriously wish i could go back and take more classes with him, i hope you enjoy reading temporary people! (he also did not assign or force us to read his book but he's such an amazing prof that we all end up buying it and reading it anyway)
So happy you chose "In The Light of What We Know" from Bangladesh. Hopefully, this book will encourage you to read more Bengali books. Bengali literature is so diverse and the writers are phenomenal. I am going to recommend you to read "Tree Without Roots". It's the translated version of the novel "Lalsalu" by Syed Waliullah
I’d also recommend ‘The Stolen Bicycle’ by Wu Ming-Yi from Taiwan! It’s a great historical fiction with a magical realism tone. The author is well-regarded and actively supports independent bookstores here in Taiwan. This video is such a great idea! can’t wait to add those other books to my reading list~
i was sure the book for lebanon was going to be by gibran khalil but i’m pleasantly surprised that you chose hoda barakat instead. love both writers work.
ikr I thought he'd pick smt like Exploding Mangos or some other super popular book but he did his RESEARCH and now Im impressed af. Jack did his homework!
for qazaqstan 🇰🇿 i would recommend The Nomads by Iliyas Yessenberlin if you can find it! it’s an epic historical fiction & a classic (but it is quite long and dense in content). or Blood and Sweat by Abdizhamil Nurpeisov (also a classic and *i think* it is available on kindle) 🙌 btw i love that you chose chingiz aitmatov for kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬! he is a very popular author in all of central asia, so it’s cool to see people from other places get excited over his work :)
@@katevee7639 "kazakhstan" is a russified version, so it’s based on how the name of our country sounds in russian. basically, kazakhstan is spelled that way officially only because of the effects of russian colonization. however, in kazakh language, there are some letters/sounds that just don’t exist in russian and letter қ (cyrillic k with a descender) is one of them. in kazakh, kazakhstan is spelled as "қазақстан". probably not a lot of people know this but our government is planning to switch from using the cyrillic alphabet (the usage of which was also forced onto us and many other central asian countries by russia in the 20th century) to the latin alphabet by 2030. in the proposed version of the new alphabet, latin letter "q" would be the equivalent of the cyrillic letter "қ". so, spelling it as "qazaqstan" is more accurate/correct phonetically to the kazakh language. i hope my explanation was helpful 🤧 btw i don’t expect everyone to spell it that way, after all, the official name is still kazakhstan (…for now) and not many foreigners (and even our fellow countrymen) follow the news of kz closely. it’s just a personal preference to me and many other kazakh people 🫶
@@katevee7639 sorry idk why my answer to you got deleted but i’ll try again 🥲 "kazakhstan" is a russified version, meaning it’s based on how the name of our country is spelled and pronounced in russian. so basically, it is written this way officially only because of the effects of russian c0lonizati0n. spelling it as "qazaqstan", however, is more accurate phonetically to the way it is in *kazakh* language. and since we’re planning to switch from the cyrillic alphabet to the latin alphabet in 5 years, kazakhstan could potentially officially become "qazaqstan" in the future. for now though, it’s just a personal preference to me and many other kazakh people. i don’t really expect anyone else to spell it like that 🫶
@@katevee7639 sorry my answer to you keeps getting deleted, i guess there’s quite a bit of censorship on this channel regarding a certain country (r****a) which is disappointing… i’ll try again with some censorship: "kazakhstan" is a r**sified version, meaning it’s based on how the name of our country is spelled and pronounced in r**sian. basically, it is written this way officially only because of the effects of r**sian col0nizati0n. spelling it as "qazaqstan", however, is more accurate phonetically to the way it is in *kazakh* language. and since we’re planning to switch from the cyrillic alphabet to the latin alphabet in 5 years, kazakhstan could potentially officially become "qazaqstan" in the future. for now though, it’s just a personal preference to me and many other kazakh people. i don’t really expect anyone else to spell it like this 🫶
I love books about the Vietnamese immigrant experience, but if you also want to read literature translated from Vietnamese and set in Vietnam, I would recommend Dumb Luck (Vũ Trọng Phụng) or Ticket to Childhood (Nguyễn Nhật Ánh) if you can find them. There’s so much more that hasn’t been translated though
Yess! Was about to comment the same :) Dumb Luck is such a classic, I read the Vietnamese version which is brilliant but apparently the translated version is good too!
Agreed. The book here is by a Vietnamese American so the voice is much influenced by their experience as an immigrant or another word, is Americanized. There is so much great Vietnamese literature that I wish can be translated and introduced.
Same for literature from Laos. The Lao diaspora is important, but we hear even less from voices in Laos. I think a lot of the Southeast Asian literatures face this unfortunately
12:46 Indonesia represent here! 👋👋 Thank you so much for your sweet review for the novel and maybe for another suggestion I want to recommend two of my favorite novels, 'The Outcast' (Original title: Maryam) by Okky Madasari and 'The Sea Speaks His Name' (Original title: Laut Bercerita) by Leila S. Chudori. The first one tells a story about a girl named Maryam who was born as Ahmadiyah moslem, one of branches in Indonesia's Islam which unfortunately experience many discrimination within Islam people themselve. Whlist the later one tells about 1998 tragedy in Indonesia from perspective of Laut, a college student. Not sure if both novels suit your taste, but I hope you can give a chance to them. And hope you will enjoy your time in Bali! 🩵🩵
Hi Jack. "How to Pronounce Knife" is very much considered a Canadian book, at least in Canada. The author won the (Scotiabank) Giller Prize for it in 2020.
I like the idea of this video ❤ For book from Saudi Arabia I don’t recommend Girls of Riyadh, but instead I recommend the quintet book (Cities of Salt) by Abdelrahman Munif. For book from Kuwait I recommend two books for a Kuwaiti author (Mama Hissa’s Mice) and (Bamboo Stalk) by Saud Al-Sanousi and I think you missed some countries in Asia like Yemen
@@HeII0-_-w0rlldyou’d be surprised. The majority of Saudi Arabia is still extremely conservative. It’s only a small minority in the major cities that are more liberated nowadays.
Days late! But Jack! I know this little series is based on the world and continents, countries etc around the world but do you think one day you could do a video listing novels from Indigenous cultures? 🫶🏻 Love from Canada
Hi Jack! The Philippine novel (La Tercera) that you got can be quite a challenging read for foreign readers. It is a great story, but prepare your translating device as this has tons of sentences and phrases in the local language.
That kind of makes me want to read it more! But also, my partner is Filipino, and he's not vocal about teaching our kids about that heritage; hes fully embraced Americana. Our daughter just did a school report on the Philippines (which he did help her with, particularly the pronunciation). I would love to have a more detailed and nuanced understanding of the culture, regions, languages, etc so I can better encourage our kids to learn about some of those things too. Particularly since my husband is from a few different parts of the country. (Born in one area but primarily lived in two others.)
It’s representative of the shibboleths we use in othering “others” (ie foreigners, outgroups, pariahs, diasporic Filipinos etc). I think it’d be fine to leave it as is for foreign readers because they’d be able to understand Filipino psyche more, for better or worse. We do tend to gatekeep much more than other Asians a lot of the time- whether socially, financially, politically, linguistically, and culturally. And that obsession with gatekeeping is evident in our society, our culture, our economy, and even our literature.
Such a lovely idea! As half-Yemeni I was so sad there was no book featured. You can try: A Land Without Jasmine by Wajdī Ahdal or They Die Strangers by Mohammad Abdul-Wali 🤍
I really love these around the world videos you're doing! A couple months ago I started a project on Google Earth to map all the books I've read so far. It's made me realize that my reading isn't very diverse (mostly from Europe/the US) and I'm also pursuing the goal of reading a book from every country.
@@murlough3533 yes!! Itamar Viera Junior, Clarisse Lispector, Raphael Montes, Socorro Acioli, Jeferson Tenório, Stênio Gardel, Jorge Amado, Conceição Evaristo and Martha Batalha are some authors that I believe have some of their novels translated to English at least.
Really cool that you are doing this ❤️ I want to recommend a book from China that is not related to Cultural Revolution called Bad Kids. I hope you will give it a go. I think people tend to always read books from China related to Cultural Revolution and missed out on all other genre of books but also it perpetuates misconception that China has not changed since the 1950s and 60s. Also another book from Taiwan I would recommend is Fang Si Chi’s First Love Paradise.
Reading FSC was a surreal and painful experience - I'm not sure if it's for everyone but it should be, if you know what I mean. I'm Chinese so I've read the original and the beauty of her writing definitely magnified the pain of reading. It's such a prominent case of misuse of literature and how it can actually kill, figuratively and literally.
Oooh on _The Bad Kids,_ while I know the drama adaptation did censor it, I still really enjoyed the cdrama adaptation too. I actually wrote a paper on it for one of my media studies classes on film noir, where the paper topic was neo-noir! I haven’t read the original book though but I would like to. I remember someone doing a compare and contrast between the two and it was really interesting to see; I actually talked about how it was similar to how film noir and American films in general used to be censored back in the day, so media creators had to be more creative with their depictions of death and grey morality.
I'd like to mention "Prison N°5" by Zehra Doğan. It's a graphic novel by a Kurdish author who was a political prisoner and had to draw with whatever she could find inside the prison, it's really an amazing book and highlights a lot of struggles Kurdish women have to face
@@peebee8119 oh nooo I was having some trouble finding it :( I read it in Italian, maybe if enough people request it they will make an English version?
Against The Loveless World is such a beautiful novel that doesn't get talked about enough and is only mentioned as **important** - which it is, of course, but in my opinion it's so much more than that.
Honestly, didn't expect to see a book from Kyrgyzstan here. Aitmatov's books were translated into many languages, but I haven't seen anyone other than Kyrgyz or Russian people talk about him or his books. I'd suggest "Jamila" (1958) which brought him a world recognition and fame, which the French writer Louis Aragon called the most beautiful and touching love story. "Duishen/The First Teacher" is a story about a teacher who was sent to a remote village to start first school and teach kids there. The education as we know it today was brought to Kyrgyzstan by Russians during USSR. Many Kyrgyz people were against it, boys were supposed to help their parents on the farms and the girls were married off very early. "Tales of the Mountains and Steppes" is a good one too. "The White Ship" is very popular too.
Really surprised you didn't choose Pramoedya Ananta Toer's The Earth Of Mankind (Bumi Manusia) or any of Eka Kurniawan's books for Indonesia. I really appreciate the book you choose bcs now I'm now intrigued with the book
Love to see a different book from the usual ones for Pakistan. I've not read 'An Abundance of Wild Roses' yet but it's good to see it instead of the same few famous books being repeated (a lot of them not even good, in my opinion). I'll definitely recommend 'All My Rage' by Sabaa Tahir for Pakistan. Although it is mostly set in the US, the characters are Pakistani Americans and the way the author has interwoven Pakistan and its culture in the book is absolutely wonderful and heartwarming. This is the first English book I read about my own country that I felt actually does justice to an extremely misrepresented place and people.
ikr the fact he didn't pick a common book is so telling- Jack dug deep and did his homework I recommend all of Saba Tahir's books- read her fantasy series too. It felt good to read a book in that genre that felt so close.
omfg i am so happy to see how to pronounce knife on this list!! i had to read it for a writing class once and it always stuck with me as an all-time favorite
As a south korean who live abroad I really enjoyed the book 'Pachinko' by a korean american author, Min Jin Lee. It covers the historical background of korea very well and also introduces new perspectives despite the same historical era. The overall plot, character and description was fantastic. The book had been written in english so i hope you get a chance to read it. Really interested to hear your thoughts on it too! Thank you for your videos!
Hey from Kuwait 🇰🇼👋 the book you’ve picked isn’t by a Kuwaiti author at all Some books by Kuwaiti authors The old woman and the river by ismail Fahd ismail All that I want to forget by Bothayna Al-essa The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi Mama Hessa’s Mice by Alsanousi Lost in Mecca by Bothayna Alessa The mariner by Taleb Al-Refai Head above water by shahad alshammari (it’s a memoir)
Also « An Unlasting Home », even if the author has lived in different countries, I think that she was born in Kuwait, went to school partially in Kuwait and now lives in Kuwait. I wish that Jack had done the bare minimum research for each author!!
An amazing Kuwaiti book is البلاء الشديد والميلاد الجديد which roughly translates to "The Severe Affliction and The Rebirth" it is written by Fayez Alkandari, a Kuwaiti Guant@namo detainee of 14 years (of course with no crime or trial,) he has a beautiful view of life and a perspective full of wisdom. I've heard they were translating the book to English but I don't know anything about that
Girls of Riyadh is not the book I’d go to unless you’re looking for something modern. If you’re looking for a classic read then Cities of Salt is a must.
@@norarjonawhy is that? The struggles of the girl who wishes to live liberally in a suffocatingly conservative society is very relevant to many young Saudi women. Although the conservatives do like to deny that.
countries he missed if anyone wants to comment recommendations - armenia, azerbaijan, cyprus, georgia, kazakhstan, maldives, mongolia, myanmar, tajikistan, timor-leste, turkmenistan, yemen. also loved the edition of tibet so maybe some kurdish authors and authors from hong kong?
Pretty sure that Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Cyprus were in the Europe video. It kind of makes sense to balance the videos with the number of countries to cover per video. I agree, however, that geographically and politically, they rather belong to Asia.
I'm a Sri Lankan and it is very nice to see you reading Sri Lankan literature. I would recommend reading cross match, michael ondaatje books and Shyam Selvadurai books. Swimming in the monsoon sea and funny boy are books by Shyam 🤎
I love these kind of videos about translated literature!! I have a master's in world lit and I loved loved it!! For those who can read persian or french, I highly highly recommend Le cri des femmes afghanes, an anthology of persian poetry written by Afghan women!! My favourite book I read this year
Cleared my Friday night schedule just to watch this video. I just love how Jack works so hard to create fresh and fun ideas for everyone to get into reading. Such a great guy.
Hello, Jack! My name is Liza and I'm from Uzbekistan. I was really surprised to find my homecountry here, that's really cool. Big thanks to you because not a lot of people out there know about my country, and of course thank you for opening Hamid Ismailov to me, it's such a shame that I don't know him. Due to some reasons he doesn't live here since 90th, so big big thanks to you, now it's challange for me to find his books in russian. Such a funny thing: I'm koreand who was born and raised in Uzbekistan speaking in russian and trying to find the book of an uzbek author in russian translation lol P.S. sorry for my english((
There's a "read the world" challenge on The Storygraph (several actually). I had a look at the missing countries and these are books other people read for those countries (don't know if they're good though) Maldives: -The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S. A. Chakroborty- , Folk Tales of the Maldives by Xavier Romero-Frias Mongolia: When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the EAst by Quan Barry, The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag Myanmar: Letters from Burma by Aung San Suu Kyi, Smile As They Bow by Nu Nu Yi
Add a book from Hong Kong! I know it's not a country in a political sense, but is in every other way! An autonomous region is what they call it, and it needs representation. Same for Uighur and Macau
I don't think there is a city/"special region" in another country that had such an independent culture. But it isn't popular to talk about what happened to Hong Kong because people were probably too young to even know
Hong Kong and Macau are not autonomous regions. There are five autonomous regions in China (Ningxia, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia). Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative regions. Also, there are 56 ethnicities native to China, Uyghur is just one of them.
After reading a book about Rebije Kadir "dragon fighter: one woman's epic struggle for peace with china" I become really interested in Uighur history and culture, but the author is german. I would love to read something written by an uighur author.
I loved The Borrowed by Chan Ho Kei - a detective fiction set over the lifetime of one policeman in Hong Kong. I agree- China (and India) are such large and culturally diverse nations it’s really hard to just choose a single book to represent that nation.
For the Philippines, I suggest a book that every high school student in the country has been required to read: Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) by Jose Rizal. It's a great read that I only appreciated when I read it again way after high school. It's a detailed look into a significant era in Philippine history and how it shaped where we are now. The english translation is pretty good. For something more modern, I suggest Smaller and Smaller Circles, or Killing Time in a Warm Place.
I love your openness to learn and shine light on authors from various backgrounds. Your efforts to be inclusive while remaining incredibly respectful is not lost on me. ❤️
Just want to give a round of applause for the comments section of this video, so much positivity and so many suggestions - my tbr is growing exponentially! 🙌🙌🙌
I'll have to rewatch this video a couple of time to choose which books will increase my already endless TBR list. You make all of them sound quite attractive .
I love this series and since I'm also working my way through reading from every country as well, it's fun to see that we've chosen some of the same books!
Ok so if you do this type of video for North America, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read “The Murmur of the Bees” by Sofía Segovia. It takes place in Mexico by a Mexican author. This is my all time favorite book and was my intro to magical realism. I have never felt so much love, hatred, and grief for characters. It’s a love letter to Mexico and explores the holiness of the land we grow up in. While I read a translated version, her prose feel like a warm blanket.
I'm 10 mins into the video and i thought of just turning on the subtitles. And i just want to thank you for putting the books' information on top of your video instead of the usual at the bottom like any other video out there. I just really appreciate that tiny thing for subtitle readers 😊
How to Pronounce Knife is amazing and the author is from Laos, she was at the Bangkok literary festival last year, she is amazing. But the book is set in the States, Canada mainly. For Bhutan I also loved Beyond the Earth and the Sky. It is a Canadian who moved there to teach English Girls of Riyadh was awful, Sex and the City but in Riyadh. I hated this book😊 Having lived in Thailand 🇹🇭 for 9 years I would say that there are better, but glad that you are promoting world literature.
Agree re: How To Pronounce Knife- Thammavongsa is a great writer and we love her stuff here in Canada- but mate…pls don’t equate Canada with the States lol
jack these videos are amazing i'm so glad you are making this series and i hope there is like an update later on your opinion about these books. i love reading books from diffrent countries and cultures but you encouraged me to try reading from EVERY country that would be great ! also i recommend from kuwat i recommend The Book Censor's Library by bothaina al essa. also from palestin try books by ghassan kanafani
God how i wish u could read the himu series from bangladesh in it's native, the world is missing out sm on the bangladeshi literature for the language barrier. also i'm surprised how khaled hosseini's books didn't make it to ur afganistan's list? his work is just oooooh, the kite runner and the mountains echoed are the type of book i can never forget, i can never move on from, i love it sm but i don't have the balls to read them again
there's a book called Hidden Manifestation by Oliver Mercer, and it talks about how using some secret techniques you can attract almost everything in life it's not some bullshit law of attraction, it's the real deal
@@russelhundchen8000 there are multiple reasons. The most egregious ones for me are: he writes about the ethnic tensions in a very simple black-and-white way, imploring often racist stereotypes. He has been supportive of the Bush administration. Also, he writes Afghanistan in a very orientalistic/unauthentic view (makes sense since he grew up in the diaspora and wealthy family. writes about life in afghanistan from a outsider perspective) . Also I don’t really like the way he writes lol
Some New Zealand recs if you want them. Ngaio Marsh was a contemporary of Agatha Christie and wrote similar stuff but didn't get as much recognition because she was from New Zealand. Janet Frame is an author you would probably like as she wrote a lot of poetry and short stories about her time in an asylum and was even supposed to have a lobotomy, but the lobotomy was cancelled after her debut short story collection won a literary award. Fleur Beale wrote several books that are a fictional portrayal of an actual religious cult in New Zealand. Michael Bennett published a great crime novel called Better the Blood in 2022 and it's a really good thriller that also includes Maori culture and language and the book got a sequel called Return to Blood this year
Hi Jack. I have been following you for a while, I really love all your content. I am from Nepal and it would mean the world for all of us if you could please read Karnali Blues from Nepal❤❤❤.
As a persian book lover who would also consider herself as one of your biggest fans, I'm so grateful that the book tube community is slowly but surely introducing more of persian literature to the world.
For Myanmar I have two authors on my tbr: Wendy Law-Yone I read a german non fiction from her about her love for Dürrenmatt (swiss author) (weird deep cut) but she has written fiction "The Road of Wanting" and "The Coffin Tree". The other author, I haven't read a book from yet, is Pyae Moe Thet War she has a book of short stories out right now and a new release at the end of this year.
For Armenia most of the great books I’ve read unfortunately aren’t translated, but I’d lovee to recommend Meline Toumanis “There was and there was not” it is a nonfiction memoir and focuses on the Armenian genocide that happened in 1915 and both of the Turkish and Armenian communitys stances on the topic. Hope to see pt2 soon & hope you have a good read:D
It’s an interesting rec, and as an Azeri, I’d like to see both sides of the story of the crime that is pushed onto us as well. If you have any fiction recs that are translated into Russian or English, I’d like to check them out as well. It’s hard to find anything but Манюня and Дом, в котором… online.
Hi Jack! I really appreciate that you've made this video. I would like to recommend you Tongueless, a Hong Kong social horror by Lau Yee-Wa. It explores the tension between post-colonial Hong Kong and China through the setting of a school. The book uses language as the symbol of changes in the political climate. I think the book has really constructed a thrilling and suffocating atmosphere that has plagued the city. It also highlighted the hopelessness in being in an environment that nothing a person has done will ever be enough, but at the same time keeps asking the person to give more. It is also a story about power and domination. The powerless has never been right, the powerful has never been wrong but power also shifts so one must constantly try to avoid elimination. Hong Kong literature isn't always visible to eyes outside the region but it's worth a read.
thank you for including Nepal. i however would like to make a suggestion, a book called A flower in the midst of thorns in English, original title is Jeevan kada ki phool which translates to is life a flower or thorns...its an autobiography of Jhamak kumari Ghimire who was born with cerebral palsy. and its a story of her struggles with her disability and finding a meaning to her life.
for Kazakhstan, you could try the book by Mukhtar Auezov called "The Path of Abay". It says it is available on amazon at least. It IS quite lengthy, however, is one of the best pieces of prose in kazakh literature. The book's main character - Abay - is a real poet, not joking - one of the greatest in kazakh literature. This book is like fictional biography, based on a lot of real facts and includes and describes lots of traditions and philosophies of Kazakh nation of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The story is captivating and somewhat coming-of-age novel)
Persian girl here 👋 I recommend this books :: three drops of blood.. missing soluch..the blind owl..her eyes..i will turn off the lights.. madame Ahou's husband.. symphony of the dead ❤❤
Jack, my dear, thanks for the video but I am certain you mixed Dostoevsky's novels because you talk about Devils but put Karamazov Brothers in the description...
I'm sorry Jack, but that video was a pure act of sabotage to my good intentions for 2024. I wanted to reduce the number of books on my TBR, and then I watched this video. Mission failed. I will definitely be traveling to Asia through literature in the near future.
Got me in beginning 😂
I look forward to the Africa edition of this list!
Hey Jack! Just echoing another comment saying that the Philippine novel (La Tercera) is a rather challenging read for foreign readers since a lot of it is written in our local languages. If you find it to be too difficult of a read, another book I'd recommend is Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan, which is an excellent thriller and political commentary about Jesuit priests tracking down a serial killer in one of Manila's poorest neighborhoods
fine i will bump this up my tbr haha
That sounds interesting. Thanks for the recommendation.
I loved Smaller and Smaller Circles!
Agreed
haven't read it yet, but Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista seems really interesting as well
As someone pointed out, the Kuwait book isn't written by a Kuwaiti or Arab author, so may I recommend The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi! Much love from Lebanon ❤
I loove the Bamboo Stalk 💚
OH MY GOD THAT WAS SUCH A GOOD BOOK
Also Mama Hissa's Mice by the same author, Saud Al Sanousi, OR The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al Essa, also from Kuwait. 😊
I love this book
@@sawadhussain5761ugh mama hessas mice is sooooooooo goood!!
2 recommendations from Mongolia!!
1. The Green Eyed Lama - the first Mongolian novel published in the West
2. Suncranes and Other Stories - a collection of some of our best known short stories translated into English
ugh i've had the green eyed lama on my tbr for soooo long!
yesss and also don’t forget any books/essays from L.Tudev
Jangar?
I’m hyped that a book from Indonesia is being included here Jack! I also have another recommendation, ‘The Sea Speaks His Name’ by Leila S. Chudori, which is a historical fiction, that is about an important period of the country’s history when dictatorship existed and eventually ended, the book tells how political activists and their families dealt with that mess. A book that absolutely twisted my heart!
omg hello! I’m from Singapore and I can definitely support this. I had the opportunity to read this book, aka “Laut Bercerita” a while back and it did not disappoint. It was deeply painful yet the pain felt addictive at every page you turn. Good recommendation! 💯
This is a brilliant book❤
Tbh I clicked this video thinking Laut Bercerita would be the book that represent Indonesia!!
Did you get to read Anjani's letter to Laut? That part is soo heartbreaking💔 she was so depressed to the point she spiralled into psychotic episodes💔💔
@@famishedmonstersame honestly
aaaaaa jack you did so good at picking the book for malaysia!! (maybe a biased opinion since hanna alkaf is my distant relative lmao) but 13th May 1969 is a significant part of malaysian history and understanding how the racial tensions came about and the implications of them are quite central to the cultural and social landscape of malaysia ☺️☺️ happy reading!!
I was so so hoping he'd pick the weight of our sky omg I'm so happyyyyyy, she's my fav Malaysian author!!! I have all her books and we once had a playful argument on Twitter about kacang on nasi lemak lmaooo
As a Malaysian I’ll have to add this to my never ending TBR now!
Omg, thanks for choosing My Pen is the wing of the bird. I really appreciate it as for now it’s so important for people to read about what people in Afghanistan go through currently.
I really appreciate and admire this new idea of yours, all countries need to be recognized by their literature, history and people instead of their politics, as an audience of your videos from Iran taking a part of this video really warms my heart and I’m sure you’ll find even more Iranian/Persian books that you’ll enjoy in the future.
ohh myy goodd I‘m so incredibly happy you’ve written this comment, I really hope there will be more people recognizing countries as a whole, countries are more than their political history !
@@elzzharu I hope so too…
So true
I really hope at the future we could look at countries like this
Don't be shy pls drop ur fav persian lore/stories and novels
5:53 🇧🇩🇧🇩🇧🇩
Thank you for including us! Love your videos! Also, you might wanna try books by Tahmina Anam.
Read her book The Golden Days
Is it The Golden Days or "A Golden Age?"@@dollybose2315
As a syrian I hope we are known for something that's more than the war we had
There are so many amazing books by so many amazing authors that could represent us better
Syria is more than just the war that happened
I'm sick of us being known only for political stuff
We have a rich literature history
Some syrian authors I'd recommend :
Hanna Mina
Ghada al-Samman
Firas al-Sawwah
Colette Khoury
Salim Barakat
Hasan sami yusuf
I hope one day the world will remember us in a better way
And I hope the world will understand that we're humans who have lives
We're more than the war
Would you recommend any specific books by authors you mentioned that are translated in English?
Well said!! We definitely are much much more than just the recent war…. As we hold the oldest inhabited city in the world, the civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, we are full of culture and traditions and history…. Hope we can cast a light on the beauty we Syrians have created threw literature, architecture, and traditions and not just keep being identifying as refugees and people who are suffering from a war
Identified***
❤❤❤
Thank you for your comment. My boyfriend is Iranian but has spent several years in Syria. One apparently Syrian thing (I guess? please correct me) he always tells me about is your beautiful garden restaurants where people sit beneath the flowers and trees and talk and eat for hours. I dream so much about these restaurants I cannot tell you. It just sounds so wonderfully, peacefully, lovingly homely! So yeah, the first thing I think of when I hear Syria is actually this. I imagine people having fun outdoors with their families, close to nature.
As a kid, I knew Syria for its rich cultural and colourful history - although I never had the experience to see it with my own eyes.
I love the stories that my boyfriend tells me about Syria. He knows about the war, of course, and is deeply sad about it, but war is never the heart of the stories he tells me. I just wanted to let you know that. He remembers your country in vital colours.
I'm sending you so much love. You have been incredibly strong for so many years (although you had no choice, which is horrible) and I'm thinking of you often. ❤
-Coming from a German student
marilyn booth is the real mvp of this video, she translated the books for lebanon, oman and saudi arabia!
Hello,
As someone from Saudi I wouldn’t necessarily recommend “Riyadh Girls”. Its not bad, its just not the greatest book and is pretty average in writing, but as someone else said it was very modern at the time. I think westerners like it cuz it echoes some of their biases and is about girls seeking a more western lifestyle (through media).
I’d recommend books by Ghazi Algosaibi, his books are so well known and he writes a lot of historical fiction that sells really well even though they’ve been around for so long. "A life in administration” although an autobiography is the most well known book by a Saudi author guaranteed.
Also, I think your choice for the Kuwaiti book might be harmful. Other than the fact that its not a Kuwaiti author (one that barely grew up in the culture too) nor is it surrounding Kuwaiti characters; from the synopsis and the few reviews I saw, her books seem to heavily focus on Islamic extremists rather than the everyday person, coloring the whole culture and people she’s writing about as a part of the problem.
(I’ve never read her books, but I’m rather discouraged to do so)
Its also a little disappointing considering how prolific Kuwaiti fiction is compared to the rest of the GCC. Highly recommend reading Saud Alsanousi, “Mama Hissa’s Mice” is about a Kuwaiti family, while “The Bamboo Stalk” is about a half filipino Kuwaiti boy who tried to learn more about his Kuwaiti side. Although they’re both ‘big boys’ they’re greatly famous books with a tv show for the latter.
Lastly, I think it’d be more valuable to read an Emirati book that is written through a local lens. Especially since the lives of immigrants and expats in the GCC and specifically the UAE are greatly different from that of the locals.
We also don’t get much accurate exposure, leading many to remain ignorant on our culture and norms.
42:42 this book sounds amazing, but a book like “The Diesel” or “The confession” (if you can find it in english) might be a better representation of the UAE.
Thank you Danah! I came to comment on the same thing about the book from Saudi.
deepak was one of my uni professors- his classes are unforgettable and he leaves a lasting impression on all his students, seriously wish i could go back and take more classes with him, i hope you enjoy reading temporary people! (he also did not assign or force us to read his book but he's such an amazing prof that we all end up buying it and reading it anyway)
Obsessed with series! Can't wait for Africa 📚
OMG IVE BEEN FOLLOWING YOU FOR PRETTY LONG AND IM TIBETAN. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR INCLUDING TIBET IN THIS NGL IT KINDA MADE ME EMOTIONAL 😭
So happy you chose "In The Light of What We Know" from Bangladesh. Hopefully, this book will encourage you to read more Bengali books. Bengali literature is so diverse and the writers are phenomenal. I am going to recommend you to read "Tree Without Roots". It's the translated version of the novel "Lalsalu" by Syed Waliullah
Yeah but Bengali books could be from India as well. Rabindranath Tagore, Sukumar Ray, Bankim Chandra Chattapadhyay are all Indians
@@stillafineline5749 Bengali also has the best Indian director ever, Satyajit Ray!
I’d also recommend ‘The Stolen Bicycle’ by Wu Ming-Yi from Taiwan! It’s a great historical fiction with a magical realism tone. The author is well-regarded and actively supports independent bookstores here in Taiwan.
This video is such a great idea! can’t wait to add those other books to my reading list~
i was sure the book for lebanon was going to be by gibran khalil but i’m pleasantly surprised that you chose hoda barakat instead. love both writers work.
24:01 so happy you chose the weight of our sky. It's such a good book♡♡
even as a Pakistani, the book you chose from my country was one i hadnt heard of myself. your videos are truly treasure.
ikr I thought he'd pick smt like Exploding Mangos or some other super popular book but he did his RESEARCH and now Im impressed af. Jack did his homework!
@@fatimafakhirmusharrafclass3806 i thought it might be something by mohsin hamid, but I read an abundance of wild roses and absolutely loved it
for qazaqstan 🇰🇿 i would recommend The Nomads by Iliyas Yessenberlin if you can find it! it’s an epic historical fiction & a classic (but it is quite long and dense in content). or Blood and Sweat by Abdizhamil Nurpeisov (also a classic and *i think* it is available on kindle) 🙌
btw i love that you chose chingiz aitmatov for kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬! he is a very popular author in all of central asia, so it’s cool to see people from other places get excited over his work :)
Wait, since when it’s written qazaqustan? 😅
@@katevee7639 "kazakhstan" is a russified version, so it’s based on how the name of our country sounds in russian. basically, kazakhstan is spelled that way officially only because of the effects of russian colonization.
however, in kazakh language, there are some letters/sounds that just don’t exist in russian and letter қ (cyrillic k with a descender) is one of them. in kazakh, kazakhstan is spelled as "қазақстан".
probably not a lot of people know this but our government is planning to switch from using the cyrillic alphabet (the usage of which was also forced onto us and many other central asian countries by russia in the 20th century) to the latin alphabet by 2030.
in the proposed version of the new alphabet, latin letter "q" would be the equivalent of the cyrillic letter "қ". so, spelling it as "qazaqstan" is more accurate/correct phonetically to the kazakh language.
i hope my explanation was helpful 🤧
btw i don’t expect everyone to spell it that way, after all, the official name is still kazakhstan (…for now) and not many foreigners (and even our fellow countrymen) follow the news of kz closely.
it’s just a personal preference to me and many other kazakh people 🫶
@@katevee7639 sorry idk why my answer to you got deleted but i’ll try again 🥲
"kazakhstan" is a russified version, meaning it’s based on how the name of our country is spelled and pronounced in russian. so basically, it is written this way officially only because of the effects of russian c0lonizati0n.
spelling it as "qazaqstan", however, is more accurate phonetically to the way it is in *kazakh* language. and since we’re planning to switch from the cyrillic alphabet to the latin alphabet in 5 years, kazakhstan could potentially officially become "qazaqstan" in the future.
for now though, it’s just a personal preference to me and many other kazakh people. i don’t really expect anyone else to spell it like that 🫶
@@katevee7639 sorry my answer to you keeps getting deleted, i guess there’s quite a bit of censorship on this channel regarding a certain country (r****a) which is disappointing… i’ll try again with some censorship:
"kazakhstan" is a r**sified version, meaning it’s based on how the name of our country is spelled and pronounced in r**sian. basically, it is written this way officially only because of the effects of r**sian col0nizati0n.
spelling it as "qazaqstan", however, is more accurate phonetically to the way it is in *kazakh* language. and since we’re planning to switch from the cyrillic alphabet to the latin alphabet in 5 years, kazakhstan could potentially officially become "qazaqstan" in the future.
for now though, it’s just a personal preference to me and many other kazakh people. i don’t really expect anyone else to spell it like this 🫶
@@pretentiousnerd thank you, this was really helpful. Actually I was born there, but moved away when I was six.
I love books about the Vietnamese immigrant experience, but if you also want to read literature translated from Vietnamese and set in Vietnam, I would recommend Dumb Luck (Vũ Trọng Phụng) or Ticket to Childhood (Nguyễn Nhật Ánh) if you can find them. There’s so much more that hasn’t been translated though
Yess! Was about to comment the same :) Dumb Luck is such a classic, I read the Vietnamese version which is brilliant but apparently the translated version is good too!
Agreed. The book here is by a Vietnamese American so the voice is much influenced by their experience as an immigrant or another word, is Americanized. There is so much great Vietnamese literature that I wish can be translated and introduced.
Same for literature from Laos. The Lao diaspora is important, but we hear even less from voices in Laos. I think a lot of the Southeast Asian literatures face this unfortunately
@@sonesonh396 I feel that! Do you have any recommendation for Laos? I currently have the Mother's Beloved collection.
Omg yes I’m here to recommend Dumb luck too glad to find other who also like it
12:46 Indonesia represent here! 👋👋
Thank you so much for your sweet review for the novel and maybe for another suggestion I want to recommend two of my favorite novels, 'The Outcast' (Original title: Maryam) by Okky Madasari and 'The Sea Speaks His Name' (Original title: Laut Bercerita) by Leila S. Chudori.
The first one tells a story about a girl named Maryam who was born as Ahmadiyah moslem, one of branches in Indonesia's Islam which unfortunately experience many discrimination within Islam people themselve. Whlist the later one tells about 1998 tragedy in Indonesia from perspective of Laut, a college student.
Not sure if both novels suit your taste, but I hope you can give a chance to them. And hope you will enjoy your time in Bali! 🩵🩵
Hi Jack. "How to Pronounce Knife" is very much considered a Canadian book, at least in Canada. The author won the (Scotiabank) Giller Prize for it in 2020.
yeah i just looked it up and its tagged as canadian lit- i hope he picks another
I like the idea of this video ❤
For book from Saudi Arabia I don’t recommend Girls of Riyadh, but instead I recommend the quintet book (Cities of Salt) by Abdelrahman Munif.
For book from Kuwait I recommend two books for a Kuwaiti author (Mama Hissa’s Mice) and (Bamboo Stalk) by Saud Al-Sanousi
and I think you missed some countries in Asia like Yemen
agreeeee + Girls of Riyadh is so outdated regarding Saudis society
@@HeII0-_-w0rlldyou’d be surprised. The majority of Saudi Arabia is still extremely conservative. It’s only a small minority in the major cities that are more liberated nowadays.
Days late! But Jack! I know this little series is based on the world and continents, countries etc around the world but do you think one day you could do a video listing novels from Indigenous cultures?
🫶🏻 Love from Canada
Seconded!! I’m reading Braiding Sweetgrass rn and I’m so in love with it
@@a1exneedsahamdleplease Oh my gosh!!! That is one of my fav book. I want everyone to read it.
"Everything the Light Touches" by Janice Pariat from Northeast India. it's available internationally.
thank you for recommending a book for northeast india! highly appreciated
Hi Jack! The Philippine novel (La Tercera) that you got can be quite a challenging read for foreign readers. It is a great story, but prepare your translating device as this has tons of sentences and phrases in the local language.
thanks for the heads up, that was the book that intrugued me the most!
That kind of makes me want to read it more! But also, my partner is Filipino, and he's not vocal about teaching our kids about that heritage; hes fully embraced Americana. Our daughter just did a school report on the Philippines (which he did help her with, particularly the pronunciation). I would love to have a more detailed and nuanced understanding of the culture, regions, languages, etc so I can better encourage our kids to learn about some of those things too. Particularly since my husband is from a few different parts of the country. (Born in one area but primarily lived in two others.)
He can Google lens it to translate lt (though it won't always be accurate)
It’s representative of the shibboleths we use in othering “others” (ie foreigners, outgroups, pariahs, diasporic Filipinos etc). I think it’d be fine to leave it as is for foreign readers because they’d be able to understand Filipino psyche more, for better or worse. We do tend to gatekeep much more than other Asians a lot of the time- whether socially, financially, politically, linguistically, and culturally. And that obsession with gatekeeping is evident in our society, our culture, our economy, and even our literature.
Such a lovely idea! As half-Yemeni I was so sad there was no book featured.
You can try: A Land Without Jasmine by Wajdī Ahdal or They Die Strangers by Mohammad Abdul-Wali 🤍
I was actually looking for a book from Yemen and literally couldn’t find a single one! Thank you ❤️
Also, WHAT HAVE YOU LEFT BEHIND by Bushra Al Maqtari.
@@sawadhussain5761 Alright, alright! I'll add it to my tbr! No need to scream! (jk ;) ) But I did add it to my tbr!
I really love these around the world videos you're doing! A couple months ago I started a project on Google Earth to map all the books I've read so far. It's made me realize that my reading isn't very diverse (mostly from Europe/the US) and I'm also pursuing the goal of reading a book from every country.
This is such a good idea!
I'm so excited for South America! Brazil has a huge variety of amazing novels everyone around the world should read.
any brazilian suggestions?
@@murlough3533 yes!! Itamar Viera Junior, Clarisse Lispector, Raphael Montes, Socorro Acioli, Jeferson Tenório, Stênio Gardel, Jorge Amado, Conceição Evaristo and Martha Batalha are some authors that I believe have some of their novels translated to English at least.
hora de fazer ele ler Machado de Assis q nem aquela moça do tiktok kkkk
@@mary_nyan SIMkkkkkk
Me too!! I'm intrigued to see how many I know of
Really cool that you are doing this ❤️ I want to recommend a book from China that is not related to Cultural Revolution called Bad Kids. I hope you will give it a go. I think people tend to always read books from China related to Cultural Revolution and missed out on all other genre of books but also it perpetuates misconception that China has not changed since the 1950s and 60s. Also another book from Taiwan I would recommend is Fang Si Chi’s First Love Paradise.
Reading FSC was a surreal and painful experience - I'm not sure if it's for everyone but it should be, if you know what I mean. I'm Chinese so I've read the original and the beauty of her writing definitely magnified the pain of reading. It's such a prominent case of misuse of literature and how it can actually kill, figuratively and literally.
Oooh on _The Bad Kids,_ while I know the drama adaptation did censor it, I still really enjoyed the cdrama adaptation too. I actually wrote a paper on it for one of my media studies classes on film noir, where the paper topic was neo-noir!
I haven’t read the original book though but I would like to. I remember someone doing a compare and contrast between the two and it was really interesting to see; I actually talked about how it was similar to how film noir and American films in general used to be censored back in the day, so media creators had to be more creative with their depictions of death and grey morality.
I would love to see a MENA( middle-east/North African) books centered video one day. This video was as good as i expected it to be ❤
For Kazakhstan I'd recommend "Blood and Sweat" by Abdizhamil Nurpeisov
So happy watching you reading a book from an iranian author 🩵
I recommend you reading more of iranian literature
It brought me so much joy
Can you recommend some Novels I would be glad
I'd like to mention "Prison N°5" by Zehra Doğan.
It's a graphic novel by a Kurdish author who was a political prisoner and had to draw with whatever she could find inside the prison, it's really an amazing book and highlights a lot of struggles Kurdish women have to face
I can't seem to find an English edition?
Me neither, let me know if you find it somewhere?
@@peebee8119 oh nooo I was having some trouble finding it :( I read it in Italian, maybe if enough people request it they will make an English version?
this comment section is gold mineee you guys are all amazing with all these recommendationsss
Against The Loveless World is such a beautiful novel that doesn't get talked about enough and is only mentioned as **important** - which it is, of course, but in my opinion it's so much more than that.
Honestly, didn't expect to see a book from Kyrgyzstan here. Aitmatov's books were translated into many languages, but I haven't seen anyone other than Kyrgyz or Russian people talk about him or his books.
I'd suggest "Jamila" (1958) which brought him a world recognition and fame, which the French writer Louis Aragon called the most beautiful and touching love story.
"Duishen/The First Teacher" is a story about a teacher who was sent to a remote village to start first school and teach kids there. The education as we know it today was brought to Kyrgyzstan by Russians during USSR. Many Kyrgyz people were against it, boys were supposed to help their parents on the farms and the girls were married off very early.
"Tales of the Mountains and Steppes" is a good one too.
"The White Ship" is very popular too.
The White ship showed me what a real plot twist looks like
Really surprised you didn't choose Pramoedya Ananta Toer's The Earth Of Mankind (Bumi Manusia) or any of Eka Kurniawan's books for Indonesia. I really appreciate the book you choose bcs now I'm now intrigued with the book
Love to see a different book from the usual ones for Pakistan. I've not read 'An Abundance of Wild Roses' yet but it's good to see it instead of the same few famous books being repeated (a lot of them not even good, in my opinion). I'll definitely recommend 'All My Rage' by Sabaa Tahir for Pakistan. Although it is mostly set in the US, the characters are Pakistani Americans and the way the author has interwoven Pakistan and its culture in the book is absolutely wonderful and heartwarming. This is the first English book I read about my own country that I felt actually does justice to an extremely misrepresented place and people.
ikr the fact he didn't pick a common book is so telling- Jack dug deep and did his homework
I recommend all of Saba Tahir's books- read her fantasy series too. It felt good to read a book in that genre that felt so close.
I have the Afghani, Iraqi and Indonesian books! All are on my tbr list, so excited
omfg i am so happy to see how to pronounce knife on this list!! i had to read it for a writing class once and it always stuck with me as an all-time favorite
Food for thought. So many books and so little time. The ever expanding tbr! Happy reading to you from Lancashire, England.
So sad, no literature from Kazakhstan😢 my fav is Abai Kunanbayev’s poem (it is very short, so can have collection of poems) - Alexander Makedonski
There’s “to hell with poets” from tilted axis
I wished that you chose another book from Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 such as “The Orchards of Arabistan”
It such a wonderful book by a brilliant saudi writer 🤍
As a south korean who live abroad I really enjoyed the book 'Pachinko' by a korean american author, Min Jin Lee. It covers the historical background of korea very well and also introduces new perspectives despite the same historical era. The overall plot, character and description was fantastic. The book had been written in english so i hope you get a chance to read it. Really interested to hear your thoughts on it too! Thank you for your videos!
Hey from Kuwait 🇰🇼👋 the book you’ve picked isn’t by a Kuwaiti author at all
Some books by Kuwaiti authors
The old woman and the river by ismail Fahd ismail
All that I want to forget by Bothayna Al-essa
The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi
Mama Hessa’s Mice by Alsanousi
Lost in Mecca by Bothayna Alessa
The mariner by Taleb Al-Refai
Head above water by shahad alshammari (it’s a memoir)
Also, THE BOOK CENSOR'S LIBRARY by Bothayna Al Essa and Mama Hissa's Mice by Saud Al Sanousi.
Also « An Unlasting Home », even if the author has lived in different countries, I think that she was born in Kuwait, went to school partially in Kuwait and now lives in Kuwait. I wish that Jack had done the bare minimum research for each author!!
البلاء الشديد والميلاد الجديد لفايز الكندري✨ سمعت إنه بيترجم لكن مدري شصار عليه كتاب ما في زيه
An amazing Kuwaiti book is البلاء الشديد والميلاد الجديد which roughly translates to "The Severe Affliction and The Rebirth" it is written by Fayez Alkandari, a Kuwaiti Guant@namo detainee of 14 years (of course with no crime or trial,) he has a beautiful view of life and a perspective full of wisdom. I've heard they were translating the book to English but I don't know anything about that
I loved All That I Want to Forget!
I am so happy you made this video. I am trying to read a book written by an author in every country. Hope I get through them all in my life time!!
same here T_T
Girls of Riyadh is not the book I’d go to unless you’re looking for something modern. If you’re looking for a classic read then Cities of Salt is a must.
I agree.
I was just about to comment the exact same thing
That's the only book I've already read from this list, and I agree: not the most outstanding choice to represent the country 👉👈
@@norarjonawhy is that? The struggles of the girl who wishes to live liberally in a suffocatingly conservative society is very relevant to many young Saudi women. Although the conservatives do like to deny that.
@@Handle947 The subject matter may be relevant, I don't disagree with that, but, to my personal taste, the style is not particularly notable.
countries he missed if anyone wants to comment recommendations - armenia, azerbaijan, cyprus, georgia, kazakhstan, maldives, mongolia, myanmar, tajikistan, timor-leste, turkmenistan, yemen.
also loved the edition of tibet so maybe some kurdish authors and authors from hong kong?
Pretty sure that Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Cyprus were in the Europe video. It kind of makes sense to balance the videos with the number of countries to cover per video. I agree, however, that geographically and politically, they rather belong to Asia.
Daughters of smoke and fire is a great kurdish book!
@@Hevy28I agree!
For Yemen, WHAT HAVE YOU LEFT BEHIND by Bushra Al Maqtari.
And he didn’t include turkey! A geographically, politically, historically and ethnically asian country
this segment has the best comments section! 🙌🙌🙌
What a wonderful selection! I always want to read a book from thailand, and there's much more recommendations here
I'm a Sri Lankan and it is very nice to see you reading Sri Lankan literature. I would recommend reading cross match, michael ondaatje books and Shyam Selvadurai books. Swimming in the monsoon sea and funny boy are books by Shyam 🤎
OMG JACK!! Thank you for picking up my suggestion for Malaysia in your last video!!! ILY ❤
I love these kind of videos about translated literature!! I have a master's in world lit and I loved loved it!! For those who can read persian or french, I highly highly recommend Le cri des femmes afghanes, an anthology of persian poetry written by Afghan women!! My favourite book I read this year
Cleared my Friday night schedule just to watch this video. I just love how Jack works so hard to create fresh and fun ideas for everyone to get into reading. Such a great guy.
For MONGOLIA 🇲🇳 : The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag ❤️ (easily available on Amazon)
I second this! A quick but fascinating read
Finally part 2!!! Love this series.
Hello, Jack! My name is Liza and I'm from Uzbekistan. I was really surprised to find my homecountry here, that's really cool. Big thanks to you because not a lot of people out there know about my country, and of course thank you for opening Hamid Ismailov to me, it's such a shame that I don't know him. Due to some reasons he doesn't live here since 90th, so big big thanks to you, now it's challange for me to find his books in russian. Such a funny thing: I'm koreand who was born and raised in Uzbekistan speaking in russian and trying to find the book of an uzbek author in russian translation lol P.S. sorry for my english((
koryo-saram! i have never met one online before :D its amazing u still retained some aspects of ur culture despite everything
@@sollerona where are you from?)
@@elzbthts philippines! however i do read a lot about different cultures, one of which is the various groups of korean diaspora
@@sollerona wow that’s cool! I’m amazed, not a lot of foreigners know how we call ourselves. Thank you 🥰
Please do South America next (if you add a Guyanese book you’ll be my fav RUclips person) (even though you already were)!
There's a "read the world" challenge on The Storygraph (several actually). I had a look at the missing countries and these are books other people read for those countries (don't know if they're good though)
Maldives: -The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S. A. Chakroborty- , Folk Tales of the Maldives by Xavier Romero-Frias
Mongolia: When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the EAst by Quan Barry, The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag
Myanmar: Letters from Burma by Aung San Suu Kyi, Smile As They Bow by Nu Nu Yi
For Myanmar, I highly recommend « From the Land of Green Ghosts » 💚 a book that really stayed with me and is easily found on Amazon.
S.A. Chakraborty is a white American woman, I think her husband is Bengali.
@@mariyamak thanks for the info, like I said I hadn't done any further research. I edited my comment :)
Thank you Jack for picking my suggestion!!! Can’t wait for you to read Frankenstein in Baghdad!!
omg its on my TBR as well! I cant wait to read it
Add a book from Hong Kong! I know it's not a country in a political sense, but is in every other way! An autonomous region is what they call it, and it needs representation. Same for Uighur and Macau
do you have any suggestions for uighur and macau reads? id love to read some!
I don't think there is a city/"special region" in another country that had such an independent culture. But it isn't popular to talk about what happened to Hong Kong because people were probably too young to even know
Hong Kong and Macau are not autonomous regions. There are five autonomous regions in China (Ningxia, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia). Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative regions. Also, there are 56 ethnicities native to China, Uyghur is just one of them.
After reading a book about Rebije Kadir "dragon fighter: one woman's epic struggle for peace with china" I become really interested in Uighur history and culture, but the author is german. I would love to read something written by an uighur author.
I loved The Borrowed by Chan Ho Kei - a detective fiction set over the lifetime of one policeman in Hong Kong. I agree- China (and India) are such large and culturally diverse nations it’s really hard to just choose a single book to represent that nation.
For Mongolia - I have this book on my tbr "When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East" that sounds really interesting!
For the Philippines, I suggest a book that every high school student in the country has been required to read: Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) by Jose Rizal. It's a great read that I only appreciated when I read it again way after high school. It's a detailed look into a significant era in Philippine history and how it shaped where we are now. The english translation is pretty good. For something more modern, I suggest Smaller and Smaller Circles, or Killing Time in a Warm Place.
I love your openness to learn and shine light on authors from various backgrounds. Your efforts to be inclusive while remaining incredibly respectful is not lost on me. ❤️
Just want to give a round of applause for the comments section of this video, so much positivity and so many suggestions - my tbr is growing exponentially! 🙌🙌🙌
I'll have to rewatch this video a couple of time to choose which books will increase my already endless TBR list. You make all of them sound quite attractive .
🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼
Thank you so so so much!! 🥺🥺😻😻😻
I love this series and since I'm also working my way through reading from every country as well, it's fun to see that we've chosen some of the same books!
Ok so if you do this type of video for North America, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read “The Murmur of the Bees” by Sofía Segovia. It takes place in Mexico by a Mexican author.
This is my all time favorite book and was my intro to magical realism. I have never felt so much love, hatred, and grief for characters. It’s a love letter to Mexico and explores the holiness of the land we grow up in.
While I read a translated version, her prose feel like a warm blanket.
I'm 10 mins into the video and i thought of just turning on the subtitles. And i just want to thank you for putting the books' information on top of your video instead of the usual at the bottom like any other video out there. I just really appreciate that tiny thing for subtitle readers 😊
How to Pronounce Knife is amazing and the author is from Laos, she was at the Bangkok literary festival last year, she is amazing. But the book is set in the States, Canada mainly.
For Bhutan I also loved Beyond the Earth and the Sky. It is a Canadian who moved there to teach English
Girls of Riyadh was awful, Sex and the City but in Riyadh. I hated this book😊
Having lived in Thailand 🇹🇭 for 9 years I would say that there are better, but glad that you are promoting world literature.
Agree re: How To Pronounce Knife- Thammavongsa is a great writer and we love her stuff here in Canada- but mate…pls don’t equate Canada with the States lol
I'm so glad you could find a book from Kyrgyzstan 😍 You should definetely check out more books from Chingiz Aitmatov☺
jack these videos are amazing i'm so glad you are making this series and i hope there is like an update later on your opinion about these books. i love reading books from diffrent countries and cultures but you encouraged me to try reading from EVERY country that would be great !
also i recommend from kuwat i recommend The Book Censor's Library by bothaina al essa.
also from palestin try books by ghassan kanafani
The Book Censor’s Library looks amazing, thank you for the suggestion! I have ordered it.
@@cindydechief5680 I hope you like it !
God how i wish u could read the himu series from bangladesh in it's native, the world is missing out sm on the bangladeshi literature for the language barrier. also i'm surprised how khaled hosseini's books didn't make it to ur afganistan's list? his work is just oooooh, the kite runner and the mountains echoed are the type of book i can never forget, i can never move on from, i love it sm but i don't have the balls to read them again
there's a book called Hidden Manifestation by Oliver Mercer, and it talks about how using some secret techniques you can attract almost everything in life it's not some bullshit law of attraction, it's the real deal
This is so amazinggggg
So so grateful that you didn’t choose Khaled Hosseini to rep Afghanistan !
why? just curious! :)
Yes thank god
Why ? (I really don't know I don't mean to offend)
why? what's wrong with him (his books are quite popular)
@@russelhundchen8000 there are multiple reasons. The most egregious ones for me are: he writes about the ethnic tensions in a very simple black-and-white way, imploring often racist stereotypes. He has been supportive of the Bush administration. Also, he writes Afghanistan in a very orientalistic/unauthentic view (makes sense since he grew up in the diaspora and wealthy family. writes about life in afghanistan from a outsider perspective) . Also I don’t really like the way he writes lol
I can’t wait till you do a book from every country in Africa!!!
Every country in ASIA? OPEC, SAARC and ASEAN found shaking and crying.
UNION JACK IS BACK!
Some New Zealand recs if you want them. Ngaio Marsh was a contemporary of Agatha Christie and wrote similar stuff but didn't get as much recognition because she was from New Zealand.
Janet Frame is an author you would probably like as she wrote a lot of poetry and short stories about her time in an asylum and was even supposed to have a lobotomy, but the lobotomy was cancelled after her debut short story collection won a literary award.
Fleur Beale wrote several books that are a fictional portrayal of an actual religious cult in New Zealand.
Michael Bennett published a great crime novel called Better the Blood in 2022 and it's a really good thriller that also includes Maori culture and language and the book got a sequel called Return to Blood this year
Hi Jack. I have been following you for a while, I really love all your content. I am from Nepal and it would mean the world for all of us if you could please read Karnali Blues from Nepal❤❤❤.
As a persian book lover who would also consider herself as one of your biggest fans, I'm so grateful that the book tube community is slowly but surely introducing more of persian literature to the world.
For Myanmar I have two authors on my tbr: Wendy Law-Yone I read a german non fiction from her about her love for Dürrenmatt (swiss author) (weird deep cut) but she has written fiction "The Road of Wanting" and "The Coffin Tree". The other author, I haven't read a book from yet, is Pyae Moe Thet War she has a book of short stories out right now and a new release at the end of this year.
I recommend you « From the Land of Green Ghosts » if you haven’t read it yet too 💚 and thanks for the recommendations !
Thank you Jack! I needed this.
For Armenia most of the great books I’ve read unfortunately aren’t translated, but I’d lovee to recommend Meline Toumanis “There was and there was not” it is a nonfiction memoir and focuses on the Armenian genocide that happened in 1915 and both of the Turkish and Armenian communitys stances on the topic. Hope to see pt2 soon & hope you have a good read:D
It’s an interesting rec, and as an Azeri, I’d like to see both sides of the story of the crime that is pushed onto us as well. If you have any fiction recs that are translated into Russian or English, I’d like to check them out as well. It’s hard to find anything but Манюня and Дом, в котором… online.
He put Armenia into the previous video on Europe
I was hoping you'd actually read them, im curious on ur thoughts on them, love the book from every country tho!
Try Forough Farokhzaad from Persian literature ❤
Any particular books and translations you recommend?
@@sausana2501 I highly recommend her book "Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season".
Hi Jack! I really appreciate that you've made this video. I would like to recommend you Tongueless, a Hong Kong social horror by Lau Yee-Wa. It explores the tension between post-colonial Hong Kong and China through the setting of a school. The book uses language as the symbol of changes in the political climate. I think the book has really constructed a thrilling and suffocating atmosphere that has plagued the city. It also highlighted the hopelessness in being in an environment that nothing a person has done will ever be enough, but at the same time keeps asking the person to give more. It is also a story about power and domination. The powerless has never been right, the powerful has never been wrong but power also shifts so one must constantly try to avoid elimination.
Hong Kong literature isn't always visible to eyes outside the region but it's worth a read.
thank you for including Nepal. i however would like to make a suggestion, a book called A flower in the midst of thorns in English, original title is Jeevan kada ki phool which translates to is life a flower or thorns...its an autobiography of Jhamak kumari Ghimire who was born with cerebral palsy. and its a story of her struggles with her disability and finding a meaning to her life.
So glad you mentioned "we measure the earth with our bodies" and tibet!! It's a beautiful read!!!!
for Kazakhstan, you could try the book by Mukhtar Auezov called "The Path of Abay". It says it is available on amazon at least. It IS quite lengthy, however, is one of the best pieces of prose in kazakh literature. The book's main character - Abay - is a real poet, not joking - one of the greatest in kazakh literature. This book is like fictional biography, based on a lot of real facts and includes and describes lots of traditions and philosophies of Kazakh nation of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The story is captivating and somewhat coming-of-age novel)
Really appreciate these kinds of videos Jack!
Persian girl here 👋
I recommend this books :: three drops of blood.. missing soluch..the blind owl..her eyes..i will turn off the lights.. madame Ahou's husband.. symphony of the dead ❤❤
I’m super happy Jack included Malaysia!! As a Malaysian, I’m such a big fan!!! Like I’m internally screaming so hard right now!🫨🫨
Jack, my dear, thanks for the video but I am certain you mixed Dostoevsky's novels because you talk about Devils but put Karamazov Brothers in the description...
amazing brother lots of love from India take care of your health and keep spreading your knowledge