Compiled by Susan Kelley DiSanto, Librarian
*Memoir, non-fiction
Nnu Ego, a woman who is driven from the home of her first husband after she fails to produce a child, is given to Nnaife, a man who repels her but helps her fulfill her desire to be a mother.
A poignant story of a resourceful Nigerian woman who overcomes strict tribal domination of women and countless setbacks to achieve an independent life for herself and her children.
Bride Price by by Buchi Emecheta
A story about a Nigerian girl who is allowed to finish her education because a diploma will enhance her bride price, who then rebels against traditional marriage customs.
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Set in colonial
The Book of Not by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Sequel to Nervous Conditions
Changes: A Love Story by Ama Ata Aidoo
A novel which examines the role of Women in Modern African society and women’s problems around the globe.
Purple Hibiscus: A Novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A teenaged Nigerian girl and her older brother struggle to cope with life in their tense, stifling household--caused by their father's demands for perfection--after getting a taste of freedom during a visit to their aunt's home.
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
When the Igbo people of eastern
Anthills of the
This novel describes power politics in an imaginary West
African country, Kangan, 'where a military coup has brought to prominence a
Sandhurst-trained officer ill-prepared for political leadership.
Tropical Fish: Tales From
A collection of related stories about the Mugisha sisters,
three adolescents who live in
“Baingana looks at contemporary
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
An adventure in the wilds of
The Icarus Girl by Helen
Oyeyemi
Eight-year-old daughter of an English
father and a Nigerian mother, has always suffered from wild mood swings, so her
parents take her to
*A Long Way
Gone : Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Ishmael Beah describes his experiences after he was driven from
his home by war in
The author recalls the memories of his youth in Koroussa, French Guinea and describes his mother's supernatural powers, his father's profession as a goldsmith, and his own beliefs and sacred traditions.
Cry the
Accused of murdering a white man, a young black South
African turns to his minister father and a white attorney for help, but the
racial problems of the country prevent justice from being served.
Too Late The Phalarope by Alan Paton
After violating his country's strictest law governing relationships between the races, a young white South African police lieutenant must struggle alone against the censure of the intolerant society that refuses to forgive his crime.
Ah But Your Land is Beautiful by Alan Paton
Alan Paton's books have vividly described life in
contemporary
Tales From a Troubled Land by Alan Paton
Collection of 10 short stories.
*Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight : An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
Alexandra Fuller chronicles the experiences she has while
growing up on several farms in southern and central
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay.
The story of Peekay, an English boy living in South Africa during World War II who learns about prejudice and slavery through friendship.
*The Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano,.
A slave narrative written in 1788 by Olaudah Equiano, in
which he tells about his childhood in
So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
Recently widowed Senegalese school teacher Ramatoulaye writes her old friend, Aissatou, about her emotional struggle to survive after her husband's decision to take a second wife.
Master Harold and the Boys, a play by Athol Fugard
Drama set in
My Children, My
An impatient black youth, his "old-fashioned," teacher, and a young white woman learn from each other about the human trauma that lies at the heart of South Africa's system of apartheid in 1984.
Tsotsi by Athol Fugard
Set amid the sprawling
July's People by Nadine Gordimer ----
Demonstrates the tensions and complex interdependencies
between whites and blacks in
The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer observes
Jump and other Stories by Nadine Gordimer
Presents sixteen short stories set in
None to Accompany Me by Nadine Gordimer
Nobel Prize winner
Gordimer's novel follows two couples, one black, one white, and their evolving
interaction with each other and with society during the unraveling of South
African apartheid.
Telling Tales by Nadine Gordimer
The 21 stellar writers in this international short-story collection include five Nobel winners. Their stories capture the range of emotions and situations of our human universe: tragedy, comedy, fantasy, satire, dramas of sexual love and of war in different continents and cultures.
Red Dust by Gillian Slovo
Modern South African story. Written with the pace of a
thriller" (Times Literary Supplement),
Red Dust is set in a rural South
African town, where three people are about to meet their past. Sarah Barcant
has left her law career in
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
Set in post-apartheid
A Woman Named Solitude by Andre Schwarz-Bart
Begins in
*Wild Swans:
Three Daughters of
A Chinese woman chronicles the struggle of her grandmother,
her mother, and herself to survive in a
Lili : a novel of Tiananmen by Annie Wang
Growing up during
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
(historical/character study) Set in nineteenth century
Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Friends Snow Flower and Lily find solace in their bond as
they face isolation, arranged marriages, loss, and motherhood in
nineteenth-century
Peony in Love by Lisa See
In post-Ming dynasty China, Peony, a young girl betrothed to someone she has never met, observes a handsome man while hidden from view at a performance of the opera "The Peony Pavilion"--a work that has compelled young Chinese women to starve themselves to death--and, dead at sixteen, begins a transformative journey as a "hungry ghost."
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Sijie Dai
Two boys, moved to the country for "re-education" as part of Mao's Cultural Revolution, find little to amuse them, but things change when they discover a stash of Western classics in Chinese translation and use the stories of Balzac to capture the attention of the beautiful daughter of the local tailor.
*Bound Feet and Western Dress by Pang-Mei Chang
Tells the story of the author's great-aunt Chang Yu-i, a woman who challenged Chinese tradition by refusing to have her feet bound, marrying and divorcing preeminent poet Hsu Chih-mo, and running the Shanghai Women's Savings Bank during the 1930s.
Monkey: A Journey to the West retold by David Kherdian
The classic Chinese tale of pilgrimage and adventure. A
rogue trickster encounters a bizarre cast of characters while traveling to
*Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Yen Mah
The author tells the story of her painful childhood in China where she lived until the age of fourteen with her father, stepmother, and siblings, all of whom considered her bad luck because her mother died shortly after giving birth to her.
*Colors of the Mountain by Da Chen
A memoir of a boyhood during the time of Mao Zedong's
Cultural Revolution in
*
A candid memoir about growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
*Sounds of the River: a Memoir by Da Chen
Teenager Da Chen struggles to adapt to his new life at the
*Mr. China's son : a villager's life by He Liyi
Through the accounts of a prominent Chinese villager and his
family, the author examines the years leading up to
*Red Azalea by Anchee Min
A memoir from a one-time supporter of the Maoist regime who
experienced life in
Wild Ginger by Anchee Min
Wild Ginger, subjected to the abuse of her classmates because of her half-French heritage, becomes a national hero of the Cultural Revolution when an act of bravery brings her to the attention of Chairman Mao, but her rise in the Party is threatened when she falls in love with Evergreen, a handsome local boy who is head of the Red Guards.
Waiting by Ha Jin
Lin Kong struggles to balance his life between the two women he loves and the country that is trying to rule his life.
War Trash ; a Novel by Ha Jin
Yu Yuan, a "volunteer" in the Chinese Army sent to bolster the Communists during the Korean War, sees his hopes of ever returning home evaporate when he is captured by the Americans and sent to a POW camp where his ability to speak English results in his being the unofficial translator for the pro-Nationalist and pro-Communist factions in the camp.
A Free Life by Ha Jin
A Family of Chinese immigrants struggle to fulfill the
American dream following the massacre at
Kitchen Gods Wife by Amy Tan
Winnie and Helen have kept each other's worst secrets for more than fifty years. Now, because she believes she is dying, Helen wants to expose everything.
Bonesetters Daughter by Amy Tan
While tending to her ailing mother, Ruth discovers her
mother's writings and is transported to a backwoods village in
Brothers: a Novel by Da Chen
Two half brothers born to a powerful general, one to the general's wife and one to his mistress, know nothing of each others existence. One is driven to glorify his father, the other wants revenge.
*The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
A memoir of the American-born daughter of Chinese immigrants who lived within the traditions and fears of the Chinese past as well as the realities of the alien modern American culture.
*The Daughter of Han: The Autobiography of a Chinese Working Woman by Ning Lao
Describes Chinese customs, such as wedding and funeral; the problems of the Chinese big family system; and attitudes toward Christianity, as reported through the life of a Chinese working woman.
The Story of Qiuju by Chen Yuanbin
A Collection of four stories, the title story of Qiuju is a tale of one woman's search for justice. The heroine is a simple, kind-hearted, but firm character, who exemplifies the merits of Chinese country women. All four of the short stories in this collection reflect the author's observations of contemporary Chinese society and China's history.
The Rainbow Road by Hu Qu
A Small Town called Hibiscus by Gu Hua
Set in a mountain town in south Hunan, this novel describes the impact of political events on several families. It is set during the tempestuous era immediately following the Cultural Revolution. It is an eyewitness account that is by turns appalling, tragic and humane.
Imperfect Paradise by Shen Congwen
Twenty-five short stories - one of the greatest 20th century Chinese writers
Eighteen of Lu Hsun’s most important stories
Siddhartha By Hermann Hesse
Classic novel that has inspired generations of seekers. Blending Eastern mysticism and psychoanalysis, Hesse presents a strikingly original view of man and culture and the arduous process of self-discovery, reconciliation, harmony, and peace.
The Journey to the East By Hermann Hesse
When H.H., a German choirmaster, is invited on an expedition with a secret society, he finds himself questioning his own beliefs and motives as the trip begins to degenerate into open conflict.
Demian by Hermann Hesse
A brilliant psychological portrait of a troubled young man's quest for self-awareness, this coming-of-age novel achieved instant critical and popular acclaim upon its 1919 publication.
Steppenwolf: A Novel by Herman Hesse
Harry Haller is a sad and lonely figure, a reclusive intellectual for whom life holds no joy. He struggles to reconcile the wild primeval wolf and the rational man within himself without surrendering to the bourgeois values he despises. His life changes dramatically when he meets a woman who is his opposite, the carefree and elusive Hermine.
Narcissus and Goldmund. By Herman Hesse
The story of a passionate yet uneasy friendship between two
men of opposite character. Narcissus, an ascetic instructor at a cloister
school, has devoted himself solely to scholarly and spiritual pursuits. One of
his students is the sensual, restless Goldmund, who is immediately drawn to his
teacher’s fierce intellect and sense of discipline. When Narcissus persuades
the young student that he is not meant for a life of self-denial, Goldmund sets
off in pursuit of aesthetic and physical pleasures, a path that leads him to a
final, unexpected reunion with Narcissus.
Selected short stories by Franz Kafka
Contains fifteen of Kafka's best-known and most typical short stories.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque
Depicts the experiences of a group of young German soldiers
fighting and suffering during the last days of World War I.
The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh
Examines the story of a family in transition, spanning three decades, moving from India in the 1940s to Cambridge in the 1970s, describing the clash in culture in comic and tragic ways.
The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh
In the dangerous Sundarbans Islands off the coast of India, three people from different backgrounds find their worlds colliding after a young woman is saved from crocodile-infested waters by an illiterate fisherman.
The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
A family saga set against the backdrop of Burma, India, and Malaya's nineteenth- and twentieth-century history, beginning when the British invasion of 1885 separates a poor boy named Rajkumar from his love, Dolly, a handmaiden for the royal family, which the invasion forces into exile
Presents a fictional autobiography in which Trinidadian Mohun Biswas struggles to rid himself of the influence of his wife's relatives and finally does so by buying a house, and his freedom, in one stroke.
*Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India by Madhur Jaffrey
In a book that is both an appealing account of an unusual childhood and a testament to the power of food to evoke memory, a highly regarded writer on Indian food offers an enchanting memoir of her early life in Delhi, occurring during a time and within a society that has since disappeared.
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Collection of Short Stories which chart the emotional journeys of characters seeking love beyond the borders of nations and generations.
Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
A young man born of Indian parents in America struggles with issues of identity from his teens to his thirties.
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhummpa Lahiri
A collection of eight stories that take us from Cambridge
and Seattle to India and Thailand as they enter the lives of sisters and
brothers, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, friends and lovers.
Sister’s of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
Anju and Sudha, cousins in an upper-caste Calcutta family, grow up together, bonded by fate and heart, but their lives take opposite turns when they are urged into arranged marriages, until tragedy brings them back together again.
Arranged Marriage by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
A collection of short stories describing the changes women immigrants from India face when confronted with different societal values in the United States.
Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Tilo, an Indian clairvoyant, becomes queen of the pirates who kidnapped her for her powers, and she gains immortality and the skills of a mistress of spices, which she uses to help mortals before falling in love with Raven.
The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
As twelve-year-old Anand continues his studies to become a full-fledged member of The Brotherhood of the Conch, he journeys back to Moghul times, where he encounters powerful sorcerers, spoiled princes, noble warriors, and evil jinns.
The Unknown Errors of Our Lives by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Nine short stories
A Singular Hostage by Thalassa Ali
Set in India early 1800’s, Young Englishwoman Mariana Givens is drawn into a perilous conspiracy when she joins the entourage of British Governor-General Lord Auckland who is traveling across India to a meeting with the fabled Ranjit Singh, Maharajah of the Punjab, and becomes involved in the rescue of an infant kidnapped by Singh.
Keeping Corner by Kashmira Sheth
In India in the 1940s, thirteen-year-old Leela's happy,
spoiled childhood ends when her husband since age nine, whom she barely knows,
dies, leaving her a widow whose only hope of happiness could come from Mahatma
Ghandi's social and political reforms.
Mango Season by Amulya Malladi
While visiting her family in India, Priya plans on
announcing her engagement to an American man, but upon her arrival she learns
that her parents have selected a husband for her and must choose between her
own desires and her parents' wishes.
A Breath of Fresh Air by Amulya Malladi
Anjali's ideal life is shattered when her first husband reappears after nearly fifteen years, and she must find a way to reconcile her feelings of both betrayal and love for the man who abandoned her during a catastrophic gas leak.
Cracking India: a Novel by Bapsi Sidhwa
Lenny, the young girl of an affluent family of Lahore in
1947, becomes aware of the religious differences of people around her when her
nanny is kidnapped.
Motherland: a novel by Vineeta Vijayaraghavan
A fifteen-year-old Indian girl reluctantly returns to India, where she confronts her heritage head on in the person of her grandmother Ammamma as she struggles to come to terms with her dual loyalties. A first novel.
Clear light of day by Anita Desai
Subtly evokes the traumatic history of India after the British departed in a haunting story of a Hindu family in Old Delhi and the relationships among four absorbing people
Twilight in Delhi by Ahmed Ali
Set in Delhi around 1911, this is an historical account of the decay of an entire culture and way of life.
Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Set in mid-1980s India, on the cusp of the Nepalese movement for an independent state. In this alternately comical and contemplative novel, Desai deftly shuttles between first and third worlds, illuminating the pain of exile, the ambiguities of post-colonialism and the blinding desire for a "better life," when one person's wealth means another's poverty.
The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri
In a novel that incorporates elements of Hindu mythology, an apartment building becomes a metaphor for the divisions and cultural clashes of modern India.
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
On a December day in 1969 twins Rahel and Estha, born to a wealthy family living in the province of Kerala, India, find their lives changed after the death of their English cousin who was visiting for the holidays.
Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet by Kashmira Sheth.
Growing up with her family in Mumbai, India, sixteen-year-old Jeeta disagrees with much of her mother's traditional advice about how to live her life and tries to be more modern and independent.
East, West by Salman Rushdie
Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie
The story of Saleem Sinal, born precisely at midnight, August 15, 1947, the moment India became independent. Saleem's life parallels the history of his nation.
Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie
The Last Song of Dusk by Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi
a young woman blessed with legendary beauty, leaves her family home to meet her future husband, carrying with her a gift for song that spell-binds any man she meets.
Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya .
A traditional peasant woman in early twentieth-century India struggles with poverty and the changes arriving in her agrarian village, particularly the tanning factory that takes her son's life.
Madras on Rainy Days by Samina Ali
Pregnant with her American lover's child, a young Indian woman raised in the U.S. reluctantly agrees to an arranged marriage in her homeland and develops a genuine affection for her new husband, but a secret of his own keeps their love from blossoming further.
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Nanzeen, married off to an older man, moves from her Bangladeshi village to live with him in London in the 1980s and 1990s, where she raises a family, learns to love her husband, and comes to a realization that she has a voice in her own life.
In Beautiful Disguises by Rajeev Balasubramanuyam
A teenage girl who dreams of becoming a movie star is forced to face reality when she runs away from her home in a small South Indian town to escape an arranged marriage and takes a job as a maid in a wealthy Delhi household.
Climbing the Stairs by Padma Vendatraman
In India, in 1941, when her father becomes brain-damaged in a non-violent protest march, fifteen-year-old Vidya and her family are forced to move in with her father's extended family and become accustomed to a totally different way of life.
The Sari Shop: a Novel by Rupa Bajwa
Ramchand, a lowly clerk in a sari shop sees both sides of the class gap when he strives to improve his own status in society, but is soon disillusioned. “ A touching, devastating tale of life in a modern Indian city.”
*An Area of Darkness: a Discovery of India by V.S. Naipaul
Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul recounts his first journey to his ancestral homeland of India.
*Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Memoir of the author's miserable childhood growing up in the perpetually damp country of Ireland, with the sterotypically long-suffering mother and drunken father whose nurtures in his son an appetite for stories.
Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran
Iranian immigrants settle in Ireland and open a small café. The novel is flavored with Persian spices and Irish temperaments.
Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
set in rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amidst the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own. Tsukiyama's weaves the details of "the silk work" and Chinese village life into a story of courage and strength.
The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama
Sequel to Women of the Silk, We learn what happened to Pei, as she arrives in 1930's Hong Kong with a young orphan, Ji Shen, in her care. A dramatic story of hardship and survival.
A poignant portrait of mother-daughter love in the face of death
The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
Set in Japan just before WWII, Tsukiyama's novel tells of a young Chinese man's encounters with four locals while he recuperates from tuberculosis.
As World War II threatens their comfortable life in Hong Kong, young Joan and Emma Lew escape with their family to spend the war years in Macao. Through periods of great happiness and sorrow, the sisters learn that their complicated ties to each other--and to the other members of their close-knit family-are a source of strength as they pursue their separate dreams.
Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
The story of a geisha, Komako, who gives herself, without illusions, to a love affair doomed to transience.
Cloud of Sparrows by Takashi Matsuoka
In 1861 Japan a prophetic nobleman, a Shogun secret police chief, a legendary swordsman, a seductive geisha, and a group of American missionaries find their lives intertwined.
Autumn Bridge by Kakashi Matsuoka
In 1311, a beautiful woman awaits her fate in the tower of Cloud of Sparrows Castle where she is imprisoned, and begins writing the secret history of the Okumichi clan and the gift of prophecy they share.
The tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
Translation of an early eleventh-century novel about the life of Japanese nobleman Genji, the son of an emperor who finds himself falling in love with women who remind him of the mother he lost in his youth.
When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
A novel in which the members of a Japanese American family present their unique perspectives on the experience of being forced into an internment camp during World War II.
An Artist of the Floating World By Kazuo Ishiguro
This is the story of an artist as an aging man, struggling through the wreckage of Japan's World War II experience.
Never Let Me Go By Kazuo Ishiguro
Thirty-one-year-old Kathy, along with old friends from Hailsham, a private school in England, are forced to face the truth about their childhood when they all come together again.
The Remains of the Day By Kazuo Ishiguro
The story of blind devotion and repressed love between a fanatically proper butler and a high-spirited, strong-minded young housekeeper employed by a British lord who is unwittingly a Nazi dupe.
When We were Orphans By Kazuo Ishiguro
Christopher Banks, an English boy who was orphaned after his parents disappeared in Shanghai under suspicious circumstances, returns to Shanghai twenty years later in the hopes of learning what really happened to his parents.
Color of the Sea by John Hamamura
Sam's pain over losing the love of his life when her parents take her back to Japan is overshadowed when he is drafted by the U.S. Army and sent to Japan on a secret mission that forces Sam to choose between his loyalties to America and loyalties to his heritage.
A Gesture Life: a Novel by Chang-rae Lee
Hardworking Franklin Hata is careful to never overstep his bounds and to always make his neighbors and customers feel comfortable, but when they learn of his forbidden affair with a Korean comfort woman, his carefully crafted reputation is destroyed.
The DewBreaker by Edwidge Danticat.
A man tries to hide his violent past in Haiti from his new family as he tries to rebuild his life in America.
The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat
Amabelle, a Haitian woman who has grown up as a servant in the home of Dominicans, falls in love with Sebastien, an itinerant sugarcane cutter, and together they try to weather the storms of persecution against their people.
Kirk? Krak? By Edwidge Danticat
Nine stories that encompass both the cruelties and the high ideals of Haitian life.
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
Sophie Caco, a child who was born of rape, leaves Haiti at the age of twelve to join her mother in New York City, where they both battle with the results of sexual abuse.
*Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat
Edwidge Danticat describes the relationship between her father, Mira, and his older brother, Joseph, discussing how their relationship changed from their childhood in Haiti through their immigration to America to their eventual separation.
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Gives a fictionalized account of four sisters in the Dominican Republic under the dictatorship of General Trujillo.
The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
Forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral, haunted all her life by terror and emptiness, returns to her homeland, the Dominican Republic, and finds herself reliving the bloody revolution of 1961, when brutal dictator Rafael "The Goat" Trujillo--under whom Urania's father served as secretary of state--was overthrown.
*When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
Memoirs of the author's childhood and youth in Puerto Rico and New York City.
*Almost a Woman by Esmeralda Santiago
Esmeralda Santiago discusses what it was like to grow up as a Puerto Rican teenager in New York and to go against the wishes of her over-protective mother and discover her true identity
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Set in turn-of-the-century Mexico, Tita, the youngest of three daughters born to a tyrannical rancher,
must obey tradition and remain single and at home to care for her mother.
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Six-year-old Antonio embarks upon a spiritual journey under the watchful guidance of Ultima, a healing woman, that leads him to question his faith and beliefs in family, religion, and other aspects of his Chicano culture
Caramelo By Sandra Cisneros
Celaya "Lala" Reyes, traveling from Chicago to Mexico City each summer, draws together stories of her Mexican-American family of shawl-makers, including her papa and Awful Grandmother.
Woman Hollering Creek and other Stories by Sandra Cisneros
A collection of short stories giving voice to the vigorous and varied life on both sides of U.S.-Mexican border.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo as told through the history of the Buendía family.
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall
passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy,
well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises
in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves
his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully
attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first
declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.
No One Writes to the Colonel and other Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Collection of 10 short stories.
The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Collected Novellas by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Leaf Storm," "No One Writes to the Colonel," and "Chronicle of a Death Foretold."
A collection of short stories.
Anthology of eight Latin American novellas including The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and Her Heartless Grandmother /Gabriel Garcia Marquez; The Snow of the Admiral / Alvaro Mutis; The Daisy Dolls / Felisberto Hernandez; The Pursuer / Julio Cortazar; I Heard Her Sing / G. Cabrera Infante; Miss Florence's Trunk / Ana Lydia Vega; The Road to Santiago / Alejo Carpentier.
Of Love and Shadows by Isabel Allende
A woman reporter in a Latin American country and a photographer are sent on a routine assignment. The two uncover a hideous crime, the revelation of which could challenge the terrorism of the military regime.
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
The history of a woman born poor, orphaned early, and who eventually rose to a position of unique influence.
The epic story of the passionate Trueba family begins at the turn of the century in South America.
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
Eliza Sommers, left alone and pregnant in Chile when her lover Joaquin runs off to California during the Gold Rush, decides to follow him only to become entranced with her new life of freedom and independence.
Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia
The story of four strong-willed women of the del Pino family of Havana and of Brooklyn who are divided by conflicting political loyalties.
Short Stories by Latin American Women: The Magic and the
Real
Contributors include Dora Alonso, Rosario Ferré, Elena Poniatowska, Ana Lydia Vega, and Luisa Valenzuela. The resulting book is a literary tour de force, stories written by women in this hemisphere that speak to cultures throughout the world.
*Waiting For Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire
Narrated with the urgency of a confession, "Waiting for Snow in Havana" is both an exorcism and an ode to a paradise lost. More than that, it captures the terrible beauty of those times in our lives when we are certain we have died -- and then are somehow, miraculously, reborn.
Contemporary Latin American Short Stories
Collection of thirty-five short stories by Latin American authors.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Amir, haunted by his betrayal of Hassan, the son of his father's servant and a childhood friend, returns to Kabul as an adult after he learns Hassan has been killed, in an attempt to redeem himself by rescuing Hassan's son from a life of slavery to a Taliban official.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A novel set against the three decades of Afghanistan's history shaped by Soviet occupation, civil war, and the Taliban, which tells the stories of two women, Mariam and Laila, who grow close despite their nineteen-year age difference and initial rivalry as they suffer at the hand of a common enemy: their abusive husband.
Palace Walk by Najib Mahfouz
Translation of an Arabic novel which tells the story of the family of Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, a stern and dignified husband and father who leads a not-so-secret life of debauchery in the early years of the twentieth century when Britian occupied Egypt.
Sugar Street by Najib Mahfouz
Story of the family of al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad moving into the middle of the twentieth century while the seeds of contemporary Egypt are sown.
Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif
A massive family saga, a story that draws its readers into two moments in the complex, troubled history of modern Egypt.
In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
A novel about the love and relationship between nine-year-old Suleiman and his
mother in the midst of the political turmoil of Libya under the dictatorship of
Qaddafi in the 1970s.
The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
Life in 17th century Iran. The death of her father leads a teenage girl in seventeenth-century Iran to go live with her mother as a servant in the home of her uncle, a wealthy rug designer in the court of the Shah, where she is able to develop her talent for rug design--a skill that becomes vital to her survival after her lack of a dowry forces her into a contract marriage, renewable every three months, with the son of a horse trader.
The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin by Idries Shah
A collection of teaching stories written by the Sufi masters Rumi, Jami, and Attar.
Damascus Nights by Rafik Schami
In the tradition of A Thousand and One Nights, this magical book celebrates the power of story telling. Seven friends gather for seven nights in present day Damascus to present stories of their own design
The Last Chapter by Leila Abouzeid
What is it like to be a young, intellectual, and religious Moroccan woman in the second half of the twentieth century? Frustrating, especially if you're Aisha, an exceptional high-school student, one of only 2 girls in a class of 42. This thought-provoking, semi-autobiographical book tells the story of Aisha, a young Moroccan woman, and her struggle to find an identity in the Morocco of the second half of the twentieth century.
West of the Jordan: a Novel by Laila Halaby
Four cousins on the brink of maturity struggle with national, ethnic, and sexual identities; a window into the rich and complicated Arab world.
Snow by Orhan Pamuk – (Turkish)
After years of political exile in Western Europe, Ka returns to Istanbul to attend his mother's funeral, where he learns of a series of bizarre events that have changed his childhood hometown and threaten its future.(Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature)
The Painted Bird By Jerzy Kosinski
A young boy, abandoned by his parents during World War II, wanders alone from one village to another in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe.
Chauncey "Chance" Gardiner emerges from nowhere to become a much-quoted media darling, but no one can seem to figure out why.
Sri
Lanka
Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai
In 1980 Sri Lanka, fourteen-year-old Amrith's uneventful summer, filled with typing lessons and hopes of a part in his school's production of "Othello," is turned upside down when he falls in love with a boy.
Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai
A coming of age story about Arjun Chelvaratnam, who struggles with his homosexuality, entering into an affair with a schoolmate and breaking not only sexual taboos, but also social structures that separate the Tamil and Sinhalese.
*Last Night I
Dreamed of Peace The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram
An English translation of the diary of Dang Thuy Tram, a doctor who volunteered to serve in a Viet Cong battlefield hospital in the Quang Ngai Province during the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1970, when she was killed by American forces. Includes notes, photographs, and an introduction by Frances FitzGerald.
Night, Again : Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam ed. by Linh Dinh
A collection of short stories by Vietnamese writers.
Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong
Translated from the Vietnamese, portrays three women fighting to maintain their dignity in a society that expects ever greater sacrifices from them.
*First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung
Chronicles the brutality of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, from the author's forced "evacuation" of Phnom Penh in 1975 to her family's subsequent movements from town to town and eventual separation.
The Metamorphosis / [based on the story by] Franz Kafka ; adapted by Peter Kuper
A graphic novel adaptation of Franz Kafka's story of a young man who faces disgraced and alienated after waking up one morning to find himself transformed into a giant beetle.
*Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.
Contains black-and-white comic strip images in which the author shares the story of her life in Tehran, Iran, where she lived from ages six to fourteen while the country came under control of the Islamic regime.
*Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi.
The author continues the story of her life, discussing her move from Iran to Vienna in 1984, her feelings of alienation in the foreign country, and her return home where she starts college, falls in love, and questions whether she can continue to live in the repressive society.
The Family: A Contemporary Chinese Classic by Ba Jin
Based on his personal experience, Ba Jin drew a parallel between the decaying Chinese society and the decadent Gao family in the 1920s. With his pen, he lashed out at the oppressive feudalism, which plagued China at that time.
Beowulf adapted and illustrated by Gareth Hinds.
Presents a graphic novel adaptation of the Old English epic poem, "Beowulf," in which a Norse hero saves Denmark's royal house from monsters, returns home to become his own people's greatest king, and then faces a murderous dragon to protect them.
Safe Area Gora†zde by Joe Sacco.
A graphic novel based on the author's 1995-96 visits to Gora†zde, one of the U.N.-created "safe areas" in Eastern Bosnia, showing the brutality and humanity that coexisted there during the Bosnian War of 1992-95.
*Deogratias : a Tale of Rwanda by Stassen ; translateby Alexis Siegel.
A graphic novel that describes the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda in 1994 through the eyes of a boy named Deogratias, a Hutu, who is in love with Benigne, a Tutsi.
*Maus : a Survivor's Tale I & II by Art Spiegelman.
Memoir about Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and about his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his story, and with history itself. Cartoon format portrays Jews as mice and Nazis as cats.
Berlin: City of Stones by Jason Lutes
Lutes has a clean, clear style in both his drawing and writing that make him
deceptively easy to read as he explores personal stories unfolding in a
turbulent period in history. A projected multi-volume series following the
lives of citizens in Weimar-era Berlin, the promise of this first installment
suggests "Berlin" will be a major work of historical fiction.
Buddha by Osamu Tezuka
The key founder of the Japanese comics style, the creator of Astro Boy helped
turn an entire nation into comics fans. Though it first appeared in Japan in
the early 1970s, Tezuka's imaginative version of the life of the Buddha has
only now appeared in English. "Buddha" exemplifies Tezuka's playful
style and deeply humane themes in a work for older audiences.