Several years ago, I saw the brilliant TED talk by Ann Morgan about how she managed to read a book from every single country in one year. I was really inspired by this, and decided to set myself my own Read Around the World challenge, only without the time constraints!
I love reading challenges as it’s always a great way to expose myself to new literature and authors and I’ve learned so much already from the books I’ve read.
I’ve set myself two main rules that I try and follow whenever possible which are that the book needs to be by an author from the country and the book be set in the country itself. Part of the reason I’m doing this challenge is to learn more about the countries themselves and so I felt this was the best way to do so. Sometimes I may need to make exceptions if I can’t find books that fit that criteria (for example the only book I could find for Andorra in English was set in Egypt).
I try and also stick to fiction, although again I’ll likely have to switch to non-fiction for some of the harder countries.
I don’t have a particular order for how I’m reading the books, it tends to be based mostly on availability (I try and get most books from the library) however whenever I visit a country I do then try and focus on that country next.
Here is a map showing all the countries that I have read so far:
Books Read for my Read Around the World Challenge
Afghanistan – A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Democratic Republic of the Congo – Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujilla
Egypt – The Republic of False Truths by Alaa Al Aswany
Ghana – His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
Kenya – A Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Madagascar – Return to the Enchanted Island by Johary Ravaloson
Nigeria – The Bride Price by Buchi Emecheta
Senegal – So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
South Africa – Dancing the Death Drill by Fred Khumalo
Sudan – Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
Zimbabwe – This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Bangladesh – I Remember Abbu by Humayun Azad
Cambodia – In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
China – Broken Stars by Ken Liu
Hong Kong – Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang
India – The A-Z Djinn Detective Agency by Parinita Shetty
Iran – The Immortals of Tehran by Alireza Taheri Araghi
Iraq – Iraq +100 by Hassan Blasim
Israel – Central Station by Lavie Tidhar
Japan – The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide
Kazakhstan – The Dead Wander in the Desert by Rollan Seisenbayev
Malaysia – The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
North Korea – Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee – A Look Inside North Korea by Jang Jin-sung
Philippines – Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 1 by Dean Francis Alfar
Saudi Arabia – HWJN by Ibraheem Abbas
Singapore – How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee
South Korea – One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun
Taiwan – The Man with the Compound Eyes by Ming-Yi Wu
Yemen – A Land Without Jasmine by Wajdi Al-Ahdal
Albania – The Accident by Ismail Kadare
Algeria – The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris by Leila Marouane
Andorra – The Teacher of Cheops by Albert Salvadó
Catalonia – The Selected Stories of Mercè Rodoreda by Mercè Rodoreda
Croatia – Kontakt: An Anthology of Croatian SF by Darko Macan
Czechia – The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Denmark – The Brummstein by Peter Adolphsen
England – Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Estonia – The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk
Finland – Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta
France – The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Germany – Nightmare in Berlin by Hans Fallada
Greece – The Odyssey by Homer
Iceland – Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjón
Ireland – The Tain
Italy – Under The Jaguar Sun by Italo Calvino
Kosovo – My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci
Poland – One Human Minute by Stanislaw Lem
Romania – Carpathica 2020 by Cristian Cârstoiu
Russia – War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Scotland – The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan
Sweden – Waiting for the Machines to Fall Asleep by Peter Öberg
Switzerland – Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Turkey – The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
Ukraine – Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov
Wales – The Mabinogion
Antigua and Barbuda – A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Barbados – The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord
Canada – Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Grenada – The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross
Jamaica – Augustown by Kei Miller
Mexico – Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
United States of America – The Sport of Kings by C.E. Morgan
South America:
Argentina – A Russian Doll and Other Stories by Adolfo Bioy Casares
Chile – Daughters of Fortune by Isabele Allende
Colombia – One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Oceania:
Australia – The Silver Brumby b Elyne Mitchell
Micronesia – My Urohs by Emelihter Kihleng
New Zealand – The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Other:
Antarctica – Escape from the Antarctic by Ernest Shackleton
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Do you have any book suggestions for countries I’ve not yet read as part of my Read Around the World challenge? Are you doing a similar challenge and would like some recommendations? Let me know!
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