Japanese, Chinese, Korean & Other Literature Books

Joris-Karl Huysmans' shocking novel of an innocent's descent into a world of depraved, blasphemous rituals.Durtal, a shy, censorious man, is writing a biography of Gilles de Rais, the monstrous fifteenth-century child-murderer thought to be the original...

In this ingenious book Perec creates an entire microcosm in a Paris apartment block. Serge Valene wants to make an elaborate painting of the building he has made his home for the last sixty years. As he plans his picture, he contemplates the lives of all...

From the winner of the Prix Goncourt, an exciting comic masterwork rooted in the French countryside.    To research his thesis on contemporary agrarian life, anthropology student David Mazon moves from Paris to La Pierre-Saint-Christophe, a...

Lyrical and devastating, The Singularity is a breathtaking study of grief, migration, and motherhood from one of Sweden’s most exciting new novelists. In an unnamed coastal city filled with refugees, the mother of a displaced family calls out her...

From the first Japanese author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, The Rainbow is a sweeping narrative of three interwoven half-sisters and their evolving concept of family. With plenty of unexpected twists and an engagingly empathetic tone, this is...

The Korean smash hit available for the first time in English, a slice-of-life novel for readers of Matt Haig's The Midnight Library and Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of AJ Fikry.Yeongju is burned out. With her high-­flying career, demanding...

'A cyberpunk coming-of-age tale' -- Japan TimesTwo babies are left in a Tokyo station coin locker and survive against the odds, but their lives are forever tainted by this inauspicious start.Raised amidst the outcasts and misfits of Toxitown, they carve...

Originally banned in China but later named one of that nation’s most influential books, a searing novel that portrays one man’s transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. “A work of astounding...

A quartet of indomitable women gather on the shores of the Mediterranean determined to transform their fortunes in Von Arnim’s light, enchanting character study written with exquisite poise and tenderness. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BRENDA BOWENMrs...

The Ladies' Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) recounts the spectacular development of the modern department store in late nineteenth century Paris. The store is a symbol of capitalism, of the modern city, and of the bourgeois family; it is emblematic of...

A fascinating discovery, Kawabata’s unfinished final novel Dandelions is a great master’s last word   A fascinating discovery, Dandelions is Kawabata's final novel, left incomplete when he committed suicide in 1972...

Tense, subtly disturbing Japanese literary horror perfect for fans of Tender is the Flesh and The VegetarianAn unforgettably creepy child narrator weaves uncanny tales about her new stepmother in this feminist horror novella + short story...

WINNER OF THE 2009 MAN BOOKER PRIZE.WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION.A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be...

A short, brilliant book which gives a remarkable insight into the mind of a supremely gifted writer, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running details Murakakami’s athletic obsession and how it informs his art. Philosophical and reflective, this is a...

Exploring life in a restrictively religious home through the eyes of ten-year-old Jas, Rijneveld's International Booker Prize-winning debut carries its heavy themes with confidence, in wildly beautiful prose. Winner of the International Booker...

(Available after 10-14 days) In Oe's masterpiece of the human condition and family psychology, estranged brothers Mitsusaburo and Takashi have long since left their family home in a remote forested valley on Shikoku, in the south of Japan: Mitsusaburo...

Kobo Abe, the internationally acclaimed author of Woman in the Dunes, combines wildly imaginative fantasies and naturalistic prose to create narratives reminiscent of the work of Kafka and Beckett.In this eerie and evocative masterpiece, the nameless...

"A beautiful translation...Yoshimoto deploys a magically Japanese light touch to emotionally and existentially tough subject matter: domestic disarray, loneliness, identity issues, lovesickness...[a] nimble narrative." ―ELLE.In Moshi Moshi,...

(Available after 3-20 days) From the author of the internationally bestselling, award-winning The Devotion of Suspect X comes the latest novel featuring "Detective Galileo" In 2011, The Devotion of Suspect X was a hit with critics and readers alike. The...

Bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs Mieko Kawakami invites readers back into her immediately recognizable fictional world with this new, extraordinary novel and demonstrates yet again why she is one of today’s most uncategorizable, insightful, and...