Top Fictions & Nonfictions in Chinese Reading Community 2021 | New Year Special - II
Happy New Year 🎉 In the first article, we looked at the most popular books and the top-rated books in the Chinese reading community in 2021. In this article, let’s take a look at the top books in both Fiction and Nonfiction, from different languages! Note: The “translation“ here means any book that is translated into Chinese from other languages. You can also watch my video on this topic on BookTube.
🐯 Now let’s take a look! 🐯
This is the second of my two 2022 New Year Special posts. It’s also one of the pairing blogs for my video on this topic.
Click the Chinese title of a book, or the cover of the Chinese editions will direct you to douban.com for more information about the Chinese edition of the book.
Click the English title or title in other languages, or the cover of them will direct you to Goodreads for information in according languages.
Top fiction in chinese books of 2021
Douban: 8.5/10
This is the sequel of a novel the author published a couple of years ago called 秋园 (Qiu Yuan). It talks about the life of a grandmother and her mom, and how people can’t control the direction of their lives in society and live like floating woods, some shattered, some tried to stay strong, in the middle of the river.
This book does not have a translation yet.
Douban: 8.5/10
This is a novel about contemporary family life, especially discussing people’s relationships in this internet age.
It’s a captivating book about the growth of women, self-identification, and the meaning of day-to-day lives.
This book does not have a translation yet.
Douban: 8.4/10
The short story collection Dawn, is the first book of Zhu Xinning’s that has been published in simplified Chinese.
This collection has 13 stories, shows the culture and lifestyle in Taiwan under a reality lens.
This book does not have a translation yet.
more on Top fiction in chinese books of 2021
Top nonfiction in chinese books of 2021
Douban: 9.1/10
National Southwest Association University, founded during the Second Sino-Japanese War ( WWII), left a lot of legacy in Chinese educational history. Writer 杨潇 (Yao Xiao) backpacked the route where the university took when it’s moving. And reflected the correlation of the history and the present.
This book does not have a translation yet.
Douban: 8.7/10
This is a collection of letters from writer San Mao with her friends and family. Including 83 private letters, 23 pictures, across four continents, and 23 years, this book led us to know San Mao from a reality lens.
This is a republic of an older version of the book with the same title but included some letters that have never been published before.
This book does not have a translation yet.
Douban: 8.5/10
This is a collection of 21 nonfiction stories about people who we take as granted in our lives and never set our eyes on.
Explosive workers, rock delivery guys, carpenters……This is a book about life, love, desire, and death. Discussing the truth of living, and the times we tried to establish ourselves, but often had to go with the flow of destiny.
This book does not have a translation yet.
more on Top nonfiction in chinese books of 2021
Top fiction in translation books of 2021
This is a short story collection of South Korean director and writer Lee Chang-dong. It talks about people’s day-to-day life in this rapidly changing South Korean society, and how characters evolving with time.
This is a novel about how people find light in absolute darkness. Talks about the lives of people in Malaysian Chinatown, this book is emerging and captivating.
It’s an exception on this list, because the Maylasian author 黎紫书 (Li Zishu) writes in Chinese, so the book’s original language was Chinese, although it’s in translated fiction list.
This book does not have a translation yet.
This is an experimental novel set in 1958, the pre-revolutionary Havana, Cuba. The title came from a tongue twister in Spanish, and the whole book was playing around languages and words.
It became a classic over the years.
MORE ON Top fiction in translation books of 2021 (chinese edition)
MORE ON Top fiction in translation books of 2021 (original language edition)
Top nonfiction in translation books of 2021
太多值得思考的事物：索尔•贝娄散文选 1940-2000 by 索尔•贝娄
translated by 李纯一 / 索马里
There Is Simply Too Much to Think About by Saul Bellow
This is an essay collection of the Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow, also includes book reviews, film reviews, interviews and speeches.
This is a biography of the profound French poet Arthur Rimbaud, written by another poet, Yves Bonnefoy.
This book is extremely detailed including every aspect of Rimbaud’s life and has the understanding from a literary level.
This is the biography of the profound philosopher, novelists and feminist icon Beauvoir. Including new personal details that are revealed for the first time, and deepen the mystery and fascination with her.
MORE ON Top nonfiction in translation books of 2021 (chinese edition)
MORE ON Top nonfiction in translation books of 2021 (English edition)
