But, in truth, the English-language publishing world is still pretty much confined to New York. And since it is still very much New York–centric, this centralization creates a ripple effect in the industry as a whole. It is a known fact that the U.S. is one of the countries that dominate the global publishing industry, and its influence may even be extending far outside its borders. As a publisher based abroad, our non-U.S. and non–English language books always lose the competition. In fact, when looking at bestsellers charts of bookstores in the Philippines, U.S.-published ones always dominate the lists. The good news is that it’s not always the case in other parts of the world, especially in countries where English doesn’t get a foothold. To give the much-deserved spotlight to the works in the trenches, below is a list of books that are popular elsewhere, but may not be necessarily known in the U.S. From classics and fiction to children’s books, you’ll find a lot of stuff here to add to your reading list. And maybe you can learn a bit about other cultures, too. For a definitive list of books from around the world, here’s a recommended reading: “If You Can Only Read One Book Per Country, Make It This.” Josephine flies for Kuwait to work as a maid. There he meets Rashid, and they secretly get married. But while Josephine is from a poor family, Rashid is from an affluent clan and his family is not in favor of the couple’s marriage. At the time, Josephine already bears their child, which angers Rashid’s mother. Rashid has to send Josephine and the child, now 2 months old, back to the Philippines. The child would grow up as Jose. A few years later, however, he is summoned to Kuwait. Caught between two worlds, Jose grapples with his identity. Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, The Bamboo Stalk is a “celebrated novel in the Arabic-speaking world.” In 2016, it was adapted into TV series but was banned in Kuwait due to its provocative theme. In the book, which was published in 1986 in Japan, Kito shares her daily struggles living with the illness. “I write because writing is evidence that I am still alive,” she pens in one entry. Kito, unfortunately, would die at the age of 25. Alternatively titled A Diary with Tears, the book sold over 1.1 million copies in Japan. It was such a huge hit that it was even adapted into a TV series in 2005 — variations of the title include 1 Litre no Namida, One Litre of Tears, and Ichi Ritoru no Namida — and a film in the same year. The TV series was very popular around Southeast Asia at the time, and having personally watched it, I was moved. The story is a roller coaster one, set at a ranch in Mexico sometime in the 20th century. It’s the romantic but tragic tale of Tita and Pedro, who can’t marry because of a family tradition. Being the youngest child in the family, Tita has to take care of her abusive mother, Mama Elena, until the matriarch dies. Mama Elena instead asks Pedro to marry Rosaura, Tita’s oldest sister. And because Pedro doesn’t want to get separated from Tita, the one he truly loves between the two sisters, he accepts Mama Elena’s request. But since Bob Ong released their debut ABNKKBSNPLAko? sometime in the early 2000s, they haven’t revealed their real identity, which is protected by a pseudonym. When asked why they prefer to be anonymous, even having published more than 15 books, they said that “it was probably just the concept of not embracing celebrity which is foreign to most people.” In ABNKKBSNPLAko?, which actually means “Aba, nakakabasa na pala ako?!” or “Wow, I can actually read now?!” in English, the author writes their “autobiography.” It is their most popular work to date, and it even had a film adaptation in 2014. Unfortunately, the book is only available in Filipino. In The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, the title character, who dies at 64 of pneumonia, narrates his life story from the day he died. At times, I find the book humorous, witty, and odd. “Fifteen pages into Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, when the narrator, delirious and on the brink of death, is carried off by a gruff, talking hippopotamus, I remember putting the book down and staring out the window for a breath, delighted and taken aback,” the translator writes in the Introduction. Considered a masterpiece, the book was published in 1881. In 2020, Penguin Classics put out a new English translation. First published in 2009, The Diary of Amos Lee follows 9-year-old Amos Lee as he navigates everyday life and his relationship with his family. The writing feels quirky, diary-like, and accessible, which what has probably drawn many audiences. Because of the book’s popularity, it was even adapted into a TV series in Singapore. This is the first of a book series, and Foo went on to publish follow-ups after its success. In the mid-2000s, Lola Basyang’s classic children’s tales were retold by Filipino writer Christine Bellen through a set of picture books, and it was reissued anew in 2017. They include short stories such as “The Monkey Prince,” “Fearless Pedro,” and “The Palace of the Dwarves” among others. The picture books are also accompanied by illustrations from various local artists. Set in 1750, Kintu is a family saga that somewhat narrates the history of Uganda. It follows the title character, Kintu, and his descendants as they try to contend with an ancient curse inflicted in the clan. The book was the author’s doctoral thesis. It won the Commonwealth short story prize in 2014 and the Windham-Campbell prize in 2018. Kling would publish more additions to the series: Das Känguru Manifest, Die Känguru-Offenbarung, and Die Känguru-Apokryphen. In July’s People, which was published in 1981, Gordimer reimagines an alternate future for South Africa — one in which a civil war ends the Apartheid. Gordimer is the awardee of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991.
