Read 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!
In the meantime, you don’t have to limit yourself to a time frame. And since I’m sure you have lots of books to read, you don’t have to overload your reading schedule with various countries. All you need to do is to make up your mind and also open up enough shelf space for your new books.
Let’s face it; our bookshelves are full of authors from the same countries thus they are boring. Don’t you think? After all, 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? Given these points, 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! In short, 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 thus 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 also The List from A Year of Reading the World. These are excellent sources for translated books and thus will make you want to read more!
Read Around the World Bookshelf
EUROPE
Albania
Andorra
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
- That Mad Ache – Françoise Sagan
- The President’s Hat – Antoine Laurain
- Vintage 1954 – Antoine Laurain
- The Man Who Risked It All – Laurent Gounelle
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
- If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller – Italo Calvino
- Morning Sea – Margaret Mazzantini
- The Tartar Steppe – Dino Buzzati
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
Macedonia
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
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
- The Comfort of Strangers – Ian McEwan
- Letters from Father Christmas – J. R. R. Tolkien
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark
- Lord of the Flies – William Golding
- The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder – J. Ironmonger
- Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
ASIA
Afghanistan
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brunei
Cambodia
China
- The Noodle Maker – Ma Jian
- Love in a Fallen City – Eileen Chang
- Girl in Translation – Jean Kwok
- The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan
- American Born Chinese – Gene Luen Yang
Georgia
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Japan
I love Japanese literature a lot, so this country has its own page here: Japanese Literature, A Literary Journey.
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Malaysia
Maldives
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nepal
North Korea
Oman
Pakistan
Philippines
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
South Korea
- The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly – Sun-mi Hwang
- Yeoyu – New Voices from Korea
- I Have the Right to Destroy Myself – Kim Young-Ha
Sri Lanka
Syria
Tajikistan
Thailand
East Timor
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Viet Nam
Yemen
AFRICA
Algeria
Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cameroon
Central African Rep.
Chad
Comoros
Congo, Dem. Rep.
Congo, Repub. of the
Cote d’Ivoire
Djibouti
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Gabon
Gambia, The
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
Sao Tome & Principe
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Sudan
Tanzania
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
NORTH AMERICA
Antigua & Barbuda
Bahamas, The
Barbados
Belize
Canada
- Room – Emma Donoghue
- Last Night in Montreal – Emily St. John Mandel
- Life of Pi – Yann Martel
- The Imperfectionists – Tom Rachman
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Saint Kitts & Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad & Tobago
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
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson
- The Accidental Tourist – Anne Tyler
- A Home at the End of the World – Michael Cunningham
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
- The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
- Good Omens – Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
- A Walk Across the Sun – Corban Addison
- The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
- Getting Even – Woody Allen
- What Is the What – Dave Eggers
- Say Her Name – Francisco Goldman
- The Family Fang – Kevin Wilson
- The Manual of Detection – Jedediah Berry
SOUTH AMERICA
Argentina
- On Heroes and Tombs – Ernesto Sabato
- Mouthful of Birds – Samanta Schweblin
- Ficciones – Jorge Luis Borges