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Reading is a way round the world

I am attempting to read a book from every country in the world. This is where I’m keeping score.

I used to have a cookbook for kids — still do, come to think of it — called Cooking is a Way Round the World. Hence the post title. To quote Julie:

In one of my Goodreads groups, a clever person had the idea of each of us challenging ourselves to read a book by an author from every country. Obviously, this is a big challenge, and not something that can be banged out in three minutes, or even three months (for most of us!)

This struck me as an excellent idea. I think of it as like Munroing: there may be a few nutters who race to climb all 284 peaks in the fastest possible time, but for most people it’s a lifetime target, just picking off a few a year as opportunity allows.

Until the sport’s governing body comes up with an official set of rules, I’m allowing myself any genre, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, whatever; and I’m starting with the 192 member states of the UN plus any additional pseudo-nations I think are worth adding. At the moment the target is 201: the UN states, with the UK broken down into four regions, plus Palestine, Tibet, Antarctica, Greenland and the Cook Islands. EDIT: And as of July 2011, South Sudan; which isn’t a member of the UN yet, but I assume will be soon.

Just racking my brains for books I’d already read, my starting score was 36.

My current total is: 157 read, 44 to go.

Details below the fold.

‘Countries’ which are not UN member states are marked with an asterisk. Greyed-out countries are ones I haven’t read yet.

You can also see which countries I’ve ticked off on a map here.

Afghanistan
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

Albania
The Palace of Dreams, Ismail Kadare

Algeria
The Stranger, Albert Camus

Andorra
The Teacher of Cheops, Albert Salvadó

Angola
The Whistler, Ondjaki

Antarctica*

Antigua and Barbuda
Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid

Argentina
Labyrinths, Jorge Luis Borges

Armenia
Remnants: Way of the Womb, Hagop Oshagan

Australia
Clive James, Peter Carey, Patrick White, etc

Austria

Azerbaijan
How Life Imitates Chess, Garry Kasparov

Bahamas
Mama Lily and the Dead, Nicolette Bethel

Bahrain
Voices II: Contemporary Bahraini Short Stories, ed. & trans. Hasan Marhamah
Bras, Boys, and Blunders: Juliet & Romeo in Bahrain by Vidya Samson

Bangladesh

Barbados
Whispering Death: The Life and Times of Michael Holding, Michael Holding with Tony Cozier

Belarus
Voices from Chernobyl and Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War, both by Svetlana Alexievich

Belgium

Belize
Beka Lamb, Zee Edgell

Benin
African Philosophy: Myth & Reality, Paulin J. Hountondji

Bhutan
Tales in Colour and Other Stories and Bhutanese Tales Of The Yeti, Kunzang Choden

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina
How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone, Saša Stanišić

Botswana

Brazil
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Jorge Amado
Epitaph of a Small Winner, Machado de Assis

Brunei Darussalam
The Forlorn Adventure, Amir Falique

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso
Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman, Malidoma Patrice Somé

Burundi
The Running Man, Gilbert Tuhabonye

Cambodia
Survival in the Killing Fields, Haing Ngor and Roger Warner

Cameroon

Canada
Being in Being : The Collected Works of a Master Haida Mythteller, Skaay of the Qquuna Qiighawaay (trans. Robert Bringhurst)
also Margaret Atwood, Yann Martel, etc

Cape Verde
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo, Germano Almeida

Central African Republic
My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria, Andrée Blouin

Chad
Told by Starlight in Chad, Joseph Brahim Seid

Chile
House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende

China
Wild Swans, Jung Chang

Colombia
Gabriel García Márquez, obviously

Comoros

Congo
Broken Glass, Alain Mabanckou

Cook Islands*
Island Boy, Sir Tom Davis, Pa Tuterangi Ariki

Costa Rica

Côte d’Ivoire
Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote, Ahmadou Kourouma

Croatia
The Culture of Lies, Dubravka Ugrešić

Cuba
Three Trapped Tigers, Guillermo Cabrera Infante

Cyprus
Echoes from the Dead Zone, Yiannis Papadakis

Czech Republic
Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hašek, Milan Kundera
War with the Newts, Karel Čapek

Democratic Republic of the Congo
Life and a Half, Sony Lab’ou Tansi

Denmark

Djibouti
The Land Without Shadows, Abdourahman A. Waberi

Dominica

Dominican Republic
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz

Ecuador
Beyond the Islands, Alicia Yánez Cossío

Egypt
The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, 1940-1640 BC, trans. R.B. Parkinson

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea
Shadows of your Black Memory, Donato Ndongo

Eritrea
Who Needs a Story? — Contemporary Eritrean Poetry in Tigrinya, Tigre and Arabic, ed. Charles Cantalupo and Ghirmai Negash

Estonia
Treading Air, Jaan Kross

Ethiopia
Warrior King, Sahle Sellassie

Fiji

Finland
The Year of the Hare, Arto Paasilinna

France
Colette, Balzac, Proust etc

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia
Kvachi, Mikheil Javakhishvili

Germany
Goethe, Thomas Mann, etc
Red Love: The Story of an East German Family, Maxim Leo

Ghana

Greece
Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis

Greenland
Across Arctic America, Knud Rasmussen

Grenada
Ragamuffin, Tobias S. Buckell

Guatemala
The President, Miguel Angel Asturias

Guinea
The King of Kahel, Tierno Monénembo
The Radiance of the King, Camara Laye

Guinea-Bissau
Para Vasco: poemas da Guiné-Bissau / For Vasco: poems from Guinea-Bissau

Guyana
From Sir, With Love, E.R. Braithwaite

Haiti
Masters of the Dew, Jacques Roumain

Honduras
Complete Works and Other Stories, Augusto Monterroso

Hungary
Journey By Moonlight, Antal Szerb

Iceland
Independent People, Halldór Laxness

India
Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth

Indonesia
This Earth of Mankind, Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Iran
My Father’s Notebook, Kader Abdolah
The Colonel, Mahmoud Dowlatabadi

Iraq
Thirsty River, Rodaan Al Galidi

Ireland
Joyce, Yeats, Swift etc etc

Israel

Italy
The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Jamaica

Japan
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami

Jordan
Cities of Salt, Abdelrahman Munif

Kazakhstan
Almaty-Transit, Dana Mazur

Kenya
A Grain of Wheat, Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o

Kiribati

Kuwait
The Chronicles of Dathra, a Dowdy Girl from Kuwait, Danderma

Kyrgyzstan
The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years, Chingiz Aitmatov

Laos
Mother’s Beloved: Stories from Laos, Outhine Bounyavong

Latvia

Lebanon
The Book of Khalid, Ameen Rihani

Lesotho
Chaka, Thomas Mofolo

Liberia
Redemption Road, Elma Shaw

Libya
The Bleeding of the Stone, Ibrahim Al-Koni

Liechtenstein
Nora by Ferdinande von Brackel, translated by Princess Marie of Liechtenstein
Stamping Grounds: Exploring Liechtenstein and Its World Cup Dream, Charlie Connelly

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Macedonia, FYRO

Madagascar
Translations from the Night, Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo

Malawi
The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison, Jack Mapanje

Malaysia
21 Immortals: Inspector Mislan and the Yee Sang Murders by Rozlan Mohd Noor and Ripples and Other Stories by Shih-Li Kow

Maldives

Mali
The Fortunes of Wangrin, Amadou Hampaté Bâ

Malta
The Maltese Baron… and I Lucian, Francis Ebejer

Marshall Islands
Life in the Republic of the Marshall Islands , ed. Anono Lieom Loeak, Veronica C. Kiluwe, Linda Crowl

Mauritania
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean in Search of Happiness, Amadou Ndiaye

Mauritius
Blue Bay Palace, Natacha Appanah

Mexico
Down the Rabbit Hole, Juan Pablo Villalobos

Micronesia, Federated States of
My Urohs, Emelihter Kihleng

Moldova
From Tajikistan to the Moon, Robert Frimtzis

Monaco

Mongolia
The Blue Mountain, Galsan Tschinag

Montenegro

Morocco

Mozambique
We killed Mangy-Dog & other Mozambique stories, Luis Bernardo Honwana

Myanmar
From the Land of Green Ghosts, Pascal Khoo Thwe

Namibia
Dante International, Sharon Kasanda

Nauru
Legends, Traditions and Tales of Nauru, Timothy Detudamo

Nepal
The Soul of the Rhino, Hemanta Mishra

Netherlands
The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank

New Zealand
The Bone People, Keri Hulme

Nicaragua
The Country Under My Skin, Gioconda Belli

Niger
The Epic of Askia Mohammed, Nouhou Malio

Nigeria
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe

North Korea
This is Paradise! My North Korean Childhood, Hyok Kang

Norway
The Ice Palace, Tarjei Vesaas

Oman
Mirabella and the Pearl of Chulothe, Laila Al Bellucci

Pakistan
Kartography, Kamila Shamsie
Basti, Intizar Husain

Palau

Palestine*
The Butterfly’s Burden, Mahmoud Darwish

Panama
America’s Prisoner: The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega, Manuel Noriega and Peter Eisner

Papua New Guinea
Maiba, Russell Soaba

Paraguay
Exotic Territory: A Bilingual Anthology of Contemporary Paraguayan Poetry, ed. & trans. Ronald Haladyna

Peru
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Mario Vargas Llosa

Philippines
Noli Me Tangere, José Rizal

Poland
The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad

Portugal
The Maias, José Maria de Eça de Queiroz

Qatar
Qatari Voices, ed. Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar and Carol Henderson

Romania

Russia
Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Nabokov, Solzhenitsyn etc

Rwanda

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia
Tiepolo’s Hound, Derek Walcott

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
City of Arches, Vivian Child

Samoa
Leaves of the Banyan Tree, Albert Wendt

San Marino
The Republic of San Marino, Charles de Bruc

Sao Tome and Principe

Saudi Arabia
Yes, (Saudi) Minister! A Life in Administration, Ghazi Algosaibi

Senegal
God’s Bits of Wood, Ousmane Sembène

Serbia

Seychelles
88 Days – A true story of Somali Pirates in the Indian Ocean, Francis Roucou

Sierra Leone
The Devil That Danced on the Water, Aminatta Forna

Singapore
Equal to the Earth, Jee Leong Koh

Slovakia
Rivers of Babylon by Peter Pišťanek

Slovenia
The Golden Boat by Srečko Kosovel

Solomon Islands
The Big Death: Solomon Islanders Remember World War II

Somalia

South Africa
Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela

South Korea
The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏng: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth-Century Korea, trans. and ed. JaHyun Kim Haboush

South Sudan

Spain
Cervantes, Lorca

Sri Lanka
Anil’s Ghost, Michael Ondaatje

Sudan
Season of Migration to the North, Tayeb Salih

Suriname
The Free Negress Elisabeth, Cynthia Mc Leod

Swaziland
The Wah-Wah Diaries, Richard E. Grant

Sweden

Switzerland
The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse

Syria
A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution, Samar Yazbek

Tajikistan
The Sands of Oxus, Sadriddin Aini

Tanzania

Thailand

Tibet*
Born in Tibet, Chögyam Trungpa

Timor-Leste

Togo
An African in Greenland, Tété-Michel Kpomassie

Tonga
Songs Of Love: New And Selected Poems (1974-1999), Konai Helu Thaman

Trinidad and Tobago
Beyond the Boundary, C.L.R. James

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Tuvalu

Uganda
Abyssinian Chronicles, Moses Isegawa

United Arab Emirates
The Diesel, Thani al-Suwaidi

United Kingdom
England*: too many to mention
Northern Ireland*: Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon
Scotland*: Iain Banks, Robert Burns, Robert Henryson etc
Wales*: Dylan Thomas

United States of America
too many to mention
Moby Dick
, Herman Melville

Uruguay
Soccer in Sun and Shadow, Eduardo Galeano

Ukraine
Only Yesterday, S.Y. Agnon

Uzbekistan
The Railway, Hamid Ismailov

Vanuatu
Black Stone, Grace Mera Molisa

Venezuela
Doña Bárbara, Rómulo Gallegos

Vietnam
The Paradise of the Blind, Duong Thu Huong

Yemen
The Hostage, Zayd Mutee‘ Dammaj

Zambia
Poceza m’Madzulo: Some Chinyanja Radio Plays of Julius Chongo with English Translations, Ernst R. Wendland

Zimbabwe
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller

21 replies on “Reading is a way round the world”

I don’t know what rules you’ve set up for yourself, since we’re all different, but Alexander McCall Smith was actually born in Zimbabwe, though he writes about Botswana. I’m filing him under Zimbabwe, I think, though it appears Zimbabwe is a much easier country to fill than Botswana!

I don’t really know what rules I’m using either, but I don’t think McCall Smith qualifies. I think I might scratch him altogether and look for someone else for Zimbabwe.

Harry, we’re flexible on the rules. I’ve already reclassified a few books and expect this to continue; certainly when I read an author who’s clearly a better fit. I’ve also shifted some of my exemplars from the books I’ve previously read–this morning I thought “Michael White! He’s an Aussie writer whose work is incredibly relevant to my profession! I should list him rather than Garth Nix!”

Harry, we’re flexible on the rules.

Good :)

The point of the exercise, for me, is to read a lot of books I wouldn’t otherwise have read, and I’m sure that will happen however I approach it.

At the moment the prospect seems a little daunting, but I’m not setting a deadline and I should have a few decades left to tick off the remaining 163 countries, so there’s no rush.

That’s exactly it for me, too, Harry. My horizons can get way too narrow if I don’t take care to expand them. I’m very excited about some of the books I’ve put on my list, but I never would have thought to look for them if not for this challenge.

Yes, it occurred to me I could order Jee Leong’s book to tick off Singapore, as well.

I might pick your brains for other Caribbean writers later, as well.

Thanks Harry for your lovely commentaries, reviews and insight. As we re-read the literary world map about us all through Heraclitean Fire I wonder if we could stop by at some ports of call and re-fuel with what’s new by way of titles, the read, the unread, and the yet to be read… What I mean is, say, how about stopping by at Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and checking out what’s new there. Be invited, feel most invited, great countries, great cultures and great lovers of the word, and check out The Anuki Country Press. There could be more from that island in the Pacific…

You should try reading Kim Young-Ha’s books or Shin Kyung-sook’s books for South Korea part. They are both good and available in English, I believe.

I’ve read Pippi Longstocking…

I’m trying not to leave all the most difficult countries until last, so that I have something interesting to look forward too. Sweden is a treat I can promise myself for later.

So you find Sweden a difficult country? Interesting :) If you want help with finding good swedish writers who are tanslated to english, just tell me! (And, Sweden is not on your list of countries.)

Sorry, I explained that badly. No, Sweden should be easy to find books for, even for someone who doesn’t like crime fiction. I’ve liked the occasional Tranströmer I’ve read, maybe I’ll get his collected poems.

I can see Sweden in the list at the top of the page, between Switzerland and Swaziland; it’s greyed out because I haven’t read it yet.

Ah, now I see. I looked at the long list with countries and books.

Yes, thats what I thougt. Sweish crimes isn’t very good, only popular. So don’t go there if you don’t have too :) Tranströmer is very good! Selma Lagerlöf is also classic and have written many books that still is a pleasure to read.

Hello, Harry! My name is Diego from Argentina. I realise it’s been quite a few years since your last reply, but I just happen to be tryin’ to do the same thing as you: reading one book of each country. So far I’ve read books from 90 different countries, so I still have a long way ahead… Anyway, I wanted to ask you if this list you posted is updated or if you could advance much further. (It’s quite complicated to find writers from remote places, so it would great to see how you managed to solve it in places like Palau or Kiribati). In the meantime, there are a few countries you are missing in this list that I have already read, so if you accept suggestions, here I go:

Austria: “The Golem” – Gustav Meyrink.
Belgium: “Desire” – Hugo Claus.
Botswana: “The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales” – Bessie Head (though born in South Africa, it is considered a writer from Botswana).
Israel: “Panther in the basement” – Amos Oz.
Morocco: “The last friend” – Tahar Ben Jelloun.
Rwanda: “The barefoot woman” – Scholastique Mukasonga.

Well, that would be all… Thank you and take care!
Diego.

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