Ha Jin's most important books

Ha Jin was awarded the PEN/Faulkner Award for Waiting and War Trash; Waiting also won the National Book Award. His other books include the novel The Crazed; three short story collections: The Bridegroom, which won the Asian American Literary Award, Under the Red Flag, which won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, and Ocean of Words, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award; and three books of poetry. His latest book is A Free Life.

He recently told Newsweek about his five most important books.

One title to make the list:

"Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy. It helped me structure my novel "Waiting," opening it to both the city and the countryside.

Read about the other books on Ha Jin's list.

--Marshal Zeringue