Books set in other cultures

[FairyPenguin]

I really enjoy reading books that are set in other cultures and ways of life, both current and historical. I love finding out about how other people live/lived.

For example, I have liked:

The Kite Runner
The Help
Memoirs of a Geisha
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Wild Swans
Plain Truth (Amish community)
Faye Kellerman books (Jewish family)
Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel
Nothing To Envy (North Korea true stories)

Also, I read a book set within a Quaker community which I was very interesting (I can't remember the title!).

Can anyone recommend other books that I might like, please? Thanks!

[yesbutnobut]

Highly recommend the 'Ibis Trilogy' by Amitav Ghosh: set in India and China and evokes the days when opium transported to China. Starts with 'Sea of Poppies', brilliantly written, impeccably researched and filled with a cast of memorable characters. I'm currently re-reading them.

[highlandcoo]

Really good post OP.

Yy to A Fine Balance, The Makioka Sisters, Music and Silence and Homegoing. All excellent.

Can I also suggest:

A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

I'm off to investigate The Gift of Rain and Night of the Miraj - both sound great.

[AstrantiaMajor]

A Rising Man. A detective story set in India. A really well crafted story with good explanations of the political upheaval

[TomUI]

Leila Aboulela's books are fantastic!

The Translator
Minaret
The Kindness of Enemies

[FairyPenguin]

I have finished Like Water For Chocolate, which I really enjoyed. I am currently reading Half of a Yellow Sun.

In-between those two, I have learned a bit about Greek gods from reading a couple of my daughter's Percy Jackson books.

Really appreciate all the recommendations so far - building up my reading list.

I have previously read and enjoyed quite a few of the suggestions, including:
Victoria Hislop
Amy Tan
Lisa See
The Other Hand
Norwegian Wood
Snow Falling on Cedars
Shadow of the Wind
Winter in Madrid
The Color Purple

The only recommendation I've read and didn't enjoy was Captain Corelli's Mandolin. In fact, I started it a couple of times and tried persevering with it, but it is one of a few books that I have never finished. I didn't enjoy the style of writing.

I saw the film Lion, and would like to read the book that it is based on, so I shall look forward to that.

Thank you everyone.

[Hogterm]

James Clavell has some good books about Japan. I think Shogun is the title

[hellokittymania]

Sorry for the mistakes but I am using dictation as I am visually impaired and it's quicker than writing

[WorldWideWish]

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

Love your list OP!

[hellokittymania]

They are heavy breathing but the books bye Loung Ung Who lived through the years of Pol Pot's regime are very good . You will probably need tissues though .

Short girls and other books by Bich Nguyen. It's pronounced as Bik by the way . There is a brilliant interview with her on NPR { National public radio }. One of her memories of coming to the US was how everybody at school kept miss pronouncing her name .

There are some wonderful children's books by an author called Minfong Ho that are based on historic events in Thailand and Cambodia .

Xin Ran is another good author who often discusses girls in China and what their life is like .

The mayor of Mogadishu was very good .

There is another author from Somalia named Noruddin Farah Who writes a lot of books .

Beyond the beautiful forever's by Katherine Boo about India and I hope the title is correct .

The book based on the film that will be released this year called lion was very very good and a true story . I bought it in Australia but I am sure you will be able to find it in the UK.

Reading lolita in Tehran

I just bought a book on iBooks called Aussie midwives I believe it's about midwives who work in very rural Australia

The lightless Sky which is a book about a teenage refugee making his way from Afghanistan to the UK on his own .

The books by James Michener were very good but quite long .

[sunita77]

Marking place

[JonesyAndTheSalad]

www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2016/02/12-books-every-australian-should-read

other great Australian reads.

[Murine]

I really enjoyed Zoe Ferraris' Night of the Miraj (also titled Finding Nouf depending when it was published), set in Saudi Arabia. It gave an insight into a culture which I knew little about and was a very engaging read. There are another two books in the series which I'm in the lookout for too.

[slightlyglitterbrained]

Do you like SF or magical realism OP? I tend to read more science fiction than literary fiction, and have been reading a lot more SF written from/drawing on non-Western perspectives & cultures recently.

[HappydaysArehere]

The Gift of Rain. Set in Malaysia before and during the Japanese invasion. This is one lovely book.

[Littleelffriend]

The glass blower of murano

[perfectlybroken]

Oh I love the red tent! Need to read them again. I really enjoyed the butterfly mosque and alif the unseen by g. Willow Wilson.

[FairyPenguin]

Thank you for all the recommendations. I have started reading Like Water For Chocolate and am enjoying it so far, especially the delicious-sounding recipes.

[mugglebumthesecond]

Currently reading The Poisonwood Bible. Set in the Congo in the 50s. Loving it!

[Kai1977]

Oh and The Red Tent

[Kai1977]

Midnight's Children
A Hundred Years of Solitude
Love in the Time of Cholera
Snow Falling on Cedars (set in the US but focuses on the Japanese immigrant families who were interned during the war there)
Like Water for Chocolate
Life of Pi
Small Island (mainly set in the UK but also talks about life in Jamaica)
The Shadow of the Wind
The Minituarist
Burial Rites
Various novels by Isabel Allende

I've not reas it but heard good things about A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding.

[TheWayYouLookTonight]

Another good one for Japan:

The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide

[SatsukiKusakabe]

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga - Zimbabwe, fantastic book about the effects of postcolonialism and patriarchy.

Love Haruki Murakami for Japan, start with Norwegian Wood.

[Whineforwine]

Tiny Sunbirds Far Away

[n0ne]

I adore the Latin American trilogy by Louis de Bernieres. He's not from that part of the world so it might be complete nonsense but it's so evocative.

[applecatchers36]

Captain Corelli's mandolin
The last train to Trieste (Romania set during communism)
Americanah ( Nigeria & Us, a lot about cultural displacement)