Books Around the World

In 2008 I took on a self-imposed literary challenge: to read at least one book set in or written about every country on earth. With close to 200 countries, averaging about two weeks per book, I figure after I set aside the 10 or so countries I’ve already read it’ll take me about seven years to read the remainder of them.

If you’d like to join me for the challenge, send me a note and I’ll list your name here and link to your list. You can also join me/follow all the book ratings, reviews and discussion over here.

The rules are easy: any full-length book goes and they need not be in any particular order, but they must be substantially set in the country it’s being credited to. Pass-throughs, mentions and other occasional references to a country don’t count - if that were the case, between essays and anthologies and travel-related books, I’d practically be done with the whole world by now.

Below I’ll list and link to each book as I finish it. When I’ve read more than one book in any given country (as is especially the case with the U.S. and Canada), I’ll choose one of my favorites to list here. A list of countries is available here.

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Ireland - Angela’s Ashes

Russia - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Kiribati - The Sex Lives of Cannibals

Fiji - Kite Strings of the Southern Cross

Czech Republic - The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The United States - The Color of Water

Canada - North to the Night

China - Daughter of the River

Tibet - Courting the Diamond Sow
(I choose to recognize it as its own country here)

Australia - Mutant Message Down Under

Dominican Republic - Song of the Water Saints

Iran - Reading Lolita in Tehran

France - Chocolat

Brazil - Off the Map: Journey Through the Amazonian Wild

Iceland - The Windows of Brimnes

Zimbabwe - Love in the Driest Season

India - The Namesake
(For some reason I was under the impression that this one took place substantially in Calcutta, but it doesn’t — it’s the story of an Indian family that takes place in Boston/Cambridge and New York, so I won’t count it on its own. Between it and Eat, Pray, Love, I’ll count that as India down, but if anyone’s got other suggestions I’d be happy to have them).

CURRENTLY READING:

Côte d’Ivoire - Nine Hills to Nambonkaha

UP NEXT:

India - Eat, Pray, Love

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Who else is participating?

Blair at Blair Necessities

Mimi at All Things Mimi

Kari at Grit

Chris at Deskside Manners

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Have a suggestion for a country I haven’t read yet? Send it