elifRead Around the World is a reading project for the readers who want to explore the world with books. It is also a great project if you desire to broaden your horizons, just by sitting in a chair and reading. What you have to do is to read at least one book by an author from each country. Simple and fun as that! You don’t have to limit yourself to a time frame or overload your reading schedule with various countries. All you need to do is to make up your mind and open up enough shelf space for your new books.
Let’s face it; our bookshelves are full of authors from the same countries. Don’t you think this a bit boring as well? If you had the chance, would you visit the same land over and over again? I hope not! Wouldn’t it be exciting to see somewhere else? Experiencing a culture for the first time is like nothing else. So why not read the whole world? Doesn’t it sound exciting?
“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination and the journey. They are home.”
Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life
I’ll make Read Around the World reading challenge a neverending one, and contribute to this list as long as I blog. If you want to join me, visit this blog every once in a while and share your thoughts. That’s all! I hope you can find great books and share your favourites with me as well.
Like everyone else, I got this idea from Ann Morgan from A Year of Reading the World. Thanks to her, curious readers like me have a comprehensive reading list and a fun reading challenge to complete. She has made it possible for everyone to follow this perfect idea. What a great lady!
Looking for inspiration?
If you need inspiration, I would recommend English PEN’s World Bookshelf and The List from A Year of Reading the World. These are excellent sources for translated books and will make you want to read more!
Read Around the World Bookshelf
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Andorra
Angola
Anguilla
Antigua & Barbuda
Argentina
- On Heroes and Tombs – Ernesto Sabato
- Mouthful of Birds – Samanta Schweblin
- Ficciones – Jorge Luis Borges
Armenia
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas, The
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
British Virgin Is.
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Cayman Islands
Central African Rep.
Chad
Chile
China
- The Noodle Maker – Ma Jian
- Love in a Fallen City – Eileen Chang
- Girl in Translation – Jean Kwok
- The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan
Colombia
Comoros
Congo, Dem. Rep.
Congo, Repub. of the
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Cote d’Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Faroe Islands
Fiji
Finland
France
French Guiana
French Polynesia
Gabon
Gambia, The
Gaza Strip
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Gibraltar
Greece
Greenland
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guam
Guatemala
Guernsey
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Isle of Man
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
I love Japanese literature a lot, so this country has its own page here: Japanese Literature, A Literary Journey.
Jersey
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
(Kurdistan)
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Martinique
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mayotte
Mexico
Micronesia, Fed. St.
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montserrat
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
Netherlands Antilles
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
N. Mariana Islands
North Korea
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Palestine
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Reunion
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saint Helena
Saint Kitts & Nevis
Saint Lucia
St Pierre & Miquelon
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome & Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad & Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Turks & Caicos Is
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
- The French Lieutenant’s Woman – John Fowles
- Hotel Du Lac – Anita Brookner
- The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – Alexander M. Smith
- Transcription – Kate Atkinson
United States
- American Wife – Curtis Sittenfeld
- Invisible – Paul Auster
- Ragtime – E. L. Doctorow
- The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
- Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
- Shibumi – Trevanian
- A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
- The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
- Shopgirl – Steve Martin