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Daunt Books Children's Short Story Competition 2013

Asia

• Subcontinent
• East Asia
• Southeast Asia

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  Slowly Down the Ganges by Eric Newby

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  This account of the author's 1960's river journey brims over with engaging characters and entertaining anecdotes. He brilliantly captures the sights and sounds, the frustrations and rewards, the sheer enchantment of travel in India.

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  A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  A classic of travel writing, exquisetly written and observed, Eric Newby describes his journey from Mayfair to the Hindu Kush. Highly recommended.

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  Into the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O'Hanlon

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  The fabulous, well-informed naturalist and adventurer Redmond O'Hanlon takes us on a journey into the steamy, insect-ridden jungles of Borneo for two months in search of the rhinoceros. Hilarious and very satisfying.

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  Bangkok a Cultural and Literary History by Maryvelma O'Neil

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  O'Neil recounts the history of a literary, cultural and architectural melting point. Bangkok is a city of trade, of sex and of Buddhism. One of the more interesting options for reading on Bangkok.

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  The Man-Eater of Punanai by Christopher Ondaatje

  Price: £9.95    Add to Basket

  An evocative, thoughtful memoir set on a tea plantation amid the jungles of Sri Lanka> Ondaatje brings to life an idyllic childhood, his family and the story of a local village terrorised by a man-eating leopard.

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  The Mekong by Milton Osborne

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  A history of the river through the age of missionaries, settlers, explorers, war and Pol Pot. Fascinating and nicely personal due to Osborne's forty years spent studying and travelling through the region.

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  Tigers in Red Weather by Ruth Padel

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  A lyrical, intoxicating travel book from the poet Ruth Padel, describing her journey through Asia in search of the tiger. From meeting scientists to eating leeches, this is a beautifully written and wildly informative account which speaks of nature, poetry, science and philosophy in one breath.

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  The Golden Horde by Sheila Paine

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  Sheila Paine's magnificent quest across Central Asia and into Europe. Her arduous journey and her serious interest in craftsmanship make all other travel writers seem like day trippers.

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  Himalaya by Michael Palin

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Michael Palin's account of his journey along the full length of the Himalaya through Lahore and Peshawar, over the Khyber Pass and into Tibet. Adventures which include milking a yak and seeing a 50p dentist, all told with his usual infectious enthusiasm. Highly entertaining.

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  East and West by Chris Patten

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  Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 until the handover in 1997, Chris Patten watched the last throes of the British Empire. This is his account of his time in service and his views on global economics, trade and diplomacy; essential reading for anyone interested in the changes wrought by the end of British rule.

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  The Travels by Marco Polo

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  Like The Histories of Herodotus, Marco Polo's Travels give us an enchanting and utterly unique insight into a lost era.

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  The Asiatics by Frederic Prokosch

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  A truly remarkable adventure, this is the story of a young American who hitchhiked his way across Asia during the 1930s. Unbelievable, courageous, lively and deeply insightful, this is a companion to days gone by, and a marvellously entertaining read.

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  The Cave of the Yellow Dog by Byambasuren Davaa & Lisa Reisch

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Oscar-nominated director Byambasuren Davaa returns to her homeland to explore the customs and lifestyle of the last remaining Mongolian nomads. This is a fascinating and emotional story of a free people, their traditions and their spirituality, all of which are in danger of being lost forever in the conflict with modernisation.

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  Confessions of a Yakuza by Junichi Saga

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  The true story of one of the last of Japan's gangland bosses, told to his doctor, Junichi Saga, as he lay dying. Entertaining and astonishing, this man was a genuine Japanese Goodfella.

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  The Mystery of Mallory & Irvine by Tom Holzel and Audrey Salkeld

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  In 1924 George Mallory and Andrew Irvine set off for Everest never to return. Journalist Noel Odell, as the clouds parted for a moment, watched them head towards the top but that was the last time they were ever seen. Following the discovery of Mallory's body in 1999, this is a fascinating account of their mysterious disappearance.

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  In Search of Genghis Khan by Timothy Severin

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  A mix of history and travelogue, explorer Severin describes his journey on horseback in the footsteps of Genghis Khan.

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  Making Sense of Pakistan by Franzana Shaikh

  Price: £18.99    Add to Basket

  A brilliant history of Pakistan, from partition to the present day, which is both scholarly and lucid.

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  The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon

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  Written by a woman in the Japanese court in the first century, this is a fascinating insight into the life of the nobility of the time, cushioned as they were from reality by poetry, whim, fashion and love.

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  Singapore Burning: Heroism and Surrender in World War II by Colin Smith

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  A collection of first-hand accounts about the fall of Singapore and the Japanese occupation. An enthralling, personal history that brings to life tales of heroism, cowardice and brutal violence.

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  The Fall of Hong Kong by Philip Snow

  Price: £13.99    Add to Basket

  From every view point, Philip Snow explores the fall of Hong Kong to the Japanese in 1941, their subsequent four years of control and the return of Hong Kong to the British. An exhaustively well-researched, authoritative volume that helps us to understand the Hong Kong of today.

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  Burying the Bones by Hilary Spurling

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  The daughter of a dislikeable American missionary, Pearl S. Buck grew up in imperial China and considered herself Chinese until a terrorist uprising forced her family to flee for their lives. Her exotic and harrowing stories about girls growing up in the shadow of their brothers, periods of turbulent change and the agrarian poor brought the reality of the Chinese people to the West and won her both the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize. Spurling’s terrific biography reveals Buck as a forgotten feminist heroine and as a woman who never quite felt at home.

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  In the Empire of Genghis Khan by Stanley Stewart

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  A wonderful evocation of the landscape and an insight into the nomadic people of Mongolia. Stewart's book was awarded the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 2001.

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  The River of Time by Jon Swain

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  An account of the years between 1970 and 1975 when journalist Jon Swain lived in the Mekong Delta. He writes with sensitivity about the beauty of the country, the violence, the corruption and widespread destruction at the hands of the Europeans.

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  Pakistan: A Modern History by Ian Talbot

  Price: £11.99    Add to Basket

  An objective, well-researched history of Pakistan. Essential reading for anyone interested in where Pakistan has come from and where it's going.

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  In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki

  Price: £6.99    Add to Basket

  This brief, beguiling book is the classic work on Japanese aesthetics.