Top 10 Books on Beijing

Over at The Guardian the most recent entry to their “Top 10 Book Lists” (which is exactly what it sounds like—top 10 lists selected by famous authors, critics, musicians, etc.) is Catherine Sampson’s list of top 10 books on Beijing. As she mentions, many of these books are “rich in satire, and in metaphors for political oppression. Most of them are written by Chinese writers who have chosen to live abroad in order to write freely about their country.”

There are a number of recent titles on the list that have gotten a lot of play recently, including Beijing Coma, Serve the People! and I Love Dollars, but the whole list looks pretty interesting, and the brief description she provides for each book is really useful.

Here’s the complete list:

1. Beijing Coma by Ma Jian

2. Please Don’t Call Me Human by Wang Shuo

3. A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li

4. The Uninvited by Yan Geling

5. The Crazed by Ha Jin

6. The Last Empress by Anchee Min

7. Serve the People! by Yan Lianke

8. I Love Dollars by Zhu Wen

9. The Dragon’s Tail by Adam Williams

10. Beijing Doll by Chun Sue