BW3: Collection of Countries in Asia

 

Happy Sunday!  We are wandering around Asia this month which is the biggest continent on Earth with 48 Countries, not including the transcontinental countries of Russia, Turkey, and Georgia. There are number of ways to explore Asia, whether you pick a region or cross the continent, exploring the Silk Road or the oldest road called the Grand Trunk road, follow the Asian Highway Network, or the extreme altitudes and rugged terrain of Pamir Highway.  I barely touched the surface when I read Journeys on the Silk Road years ago and didn't continue my explorations for quite some time.  I also usually get stuck in Japan or China, but plan to venture out during my armchair travels and explore more countries and authors in the coming months and years.  

Check out Penguin Random's House list of One World, Many Voices: Asian Authors

Pima Country Public Library's West Asian and West Asian American Books

Brown History's list of 30 South Asian Novels to Read Before You Die

LSE's Sixteen recommended reads for East and Southeast Asian Heritage Month

The Center for Fiction's book recommendations of East Asian Novels

Five Books best books on Central Asia’s Golden Age

New York Times Follow the Silk Road, Book By Book (gift article link) with many rabbit trails to explore. 

Enjoy your explorations across the continent of Asia. 

BW42: More Book News

Since we are trekking through Asia and having a spooktacular reading month,  I thought it would be interesting to see what interesting spooky or paranormal books are available.  

Japanese Ghost Stories

Synopsis:  Japanese Ghost Stories is a collection of the eerie and terrifying from around Japan. This book opens a window into the hidden aspects of the Japanese world of the paranormal, a place where trees grow human hair, rocks weep and there's even a graveyard where Jesus is reputed to have been buried. Covering ancient and modern times, Japanese Ghost Stories offers not only good, old-fashioned scary stories, but some special insights into Japanese culture and psychology.

Synopsis:   Forget Godzilla. Forget the giant beasties karate-chopped into oblivion by endless incarnations of Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and the Power Rangers. Forget Sadako from 'The Ring' and that creepy all-white kid from 'The Grudge.' Forget everything you know about tales of terror before reaching for this book.

Yokai Attack! is a nightmare-inducing one-stop guide to Japan's traditional creepy-crawlies. Yokai are ethereal sorts of beings, like ghosts, nearly always encountered at night; everyone has their own take on how they might look in real life and what sorts of specific characteristics and abilities they might have

 

Synopsis:  Eminent Chinese scholar John Minford's superb translation captures the consummate skill and understated humor of Pu Songling's classic Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. With elegant prose, witty wordplay, and subtle charm, the 104 stories in this collection reveal a world in which nothing is as it seems. In his tales of shape-shifting spirits, bizarre phenomena, haunted buildings, and enchanted objects, Pu Songling pushes the boundaries of human experience and enlightens as he entertains.

Synopsis:  'The Disappearance of Tejas Sharma…and other hauntings’ is an anthology of 12 ghost stories mostly set in India, and is meant for an audience with a penchant for the supernatural. Even with the constraints of a short story, each tale is rich in details and these dozen stories cover all the time tested classical elements of supernatural fiction. From the story of the young man who inexplicably vanishes to the epic tale of the haunted Peepal tree in Rajasthan; from the true story of a ghost station in West Bengal to the medieval legend of the scary well on a remote island; from the mysterious tick and cross markings in a graveyard to the haunting music coming from a locked room…  

More books for your wishlist!

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 Link to your reviews:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.  

BW40: Trek through Asia

My goodness, I lost track of time and had so much fun eurorailing through Europe, spent an extra month exploring the continent.  If you are doing the Continental, how about you?  Did you have such a grand time you spent extra time exploring or did you move on already? That's all right, I'll catch up to you soon.  It's time to move into Asia, and my first stop is Ekaterinburg to check out the great stone monument straddling the border of Asia and Europe.  One stone is from the furthest point of the European part, Cape Rock, another stone came from  the furthest point of the Asian part, Cape of Deghnev and symbolizes the union of two parts of the world.

I haven't quite figured out my route yet, so plan on trekking around Russia for a bit before boarding the international train and winding my way down through Mongolia to China.  Then I have decide whether I want to fly over to India and backtrack to Pakistan or continue on to Japan. Decisions, decisions!

Currently in my back pack is Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Midnight Palace,  Haruki Murakami's The Wind Up Bird Chronicles, Joel Rosenberg's Twelfth Iman, and Qui Xiaolong's A Loyal Character Dancer.

Check out the link above Trek through Asia where I've listed two or three books for each country to get you started. For all things Russian, from fiction to nonfiction to learning Russian, go to Russia Online.  Find out what books Chinese leaders are reading or check out Iran's Tabriz Book fair which starts today.  Head on over to Zeroland for a comprehensive list of all Japanese Literature - lots of fun links.

Happy traveling!

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Link to your reviews:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.