Reading is a way round the world

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 199*. Just racking my brains for books I’ve already read, my initial score was 34.

My current total is: 64

Details below the fold.

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

‘Countries’ which are not UN member states are marked with an asterisk.

Afghanistan - Albania – Algeria – Andorra – Angola – *Antarctica - Antigua and BarbudaArgentina – Armenia – Australia – Austria – Azerbaijan – Bahamas – Bahrain – Bangladesh – Barbados – Belarus – Belgium – Belize – Benin – Bhutan – Bolivia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Botswana – Brazil – Brunei Darussalam – Bulgaria – Burkina Faso – Burundi – Cambodia – Cameroon – CanadaCape Verde – Central African Republic – ChadChileChinaColombia – Comoros – Congo – Costa Rica – Côte d’Ivoire – Croatia – CubaCyprusCzech Republic – Democratic Republic of the Congo – Denmark – Djibouti – Dominica – Dominican Republic – Ecuador – Egypt – El Salvador – Equatorial Guinea – Eritrea – Estonia – Ethiopia – Fiji – FinlandFrance – Gabon – Gambia – Georgia – Germany – Ghana – Greece – *Greenland – Grenada – Guatemala – Guinea – Guinea-Bissau – Guyana – Haiti – Honduras – HungaryIcelandIndia – Indonesia – Iran – Iraq – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Jamaica – Japan – Jordan – Kazakhstan – Kenya – Kiribati – Kuwait – KyrgyzstanLaos – Latvia – Lebanon – Lesotho – Liberia – Libya – Liechtenstein – Lithuania – Luxembourg – Macedonia, FYRO – Madagascar – Malawi – Malaysia – Maldives – Mali – Malta – Marshall Islands – Mauritania – Mauritius – Mexico – Micronesia, Federated States of – Moldova – Monaco – Mongolia – Montenegro – Morocco – Mozambique – Myanmar – Namibia – Nauru – Nepal – NetherlandsNew Zealand – Nicaragua – Niger – Nigeria – North Korea – Norway – Oman – Pakistan – Palau – *Palestine – Panama – Papua New Guinea – Paraguay – Peru – Philippines – PolandPortugal – Qatar – Romania – Russia – Rwanda – Saint Kitts and Nevis – Saint Lucia – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – Samoa – San Marino – Sao Tome and Principe – Saudi Arabia – Senegal – Serbia – Seychelles – Sierra Leone – Singapore – SlovakiaSlovenia – Solomon Islands – Somalia – South Africa – South Korea – SpainSri Lanka – Sudan – Suriname – Swaziland – Sweden – Switzerland – Syrian Arab Republic – Tajikistan – Tanzania – Thailand – *Tibet – Timor-Leste – Togo – Tonga – Trinidad and Tobago – Tunisia – Turkey – Turkmenistan – Tuvalu – Uganda – Ukraine – United Arab Emirates – UK [*England - *Northern Ireland - *Scotland - *Wales]United States of America – Uruguay – Uzbekistan – Vanuatu – Venezuela – Viet Nam – Yemen – Zambia - Zimbabwe

Afghanistan
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

Algeria
The Stranger, Albert Camus

Antigua and Barbuda
Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid

Argentina
Labyrinths, Jorge Luis Borges

Australia
Brilliant Creatures, Clive James

Azerbaijan
How Life Imitates Chess, Garry Kasparov

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

Canada
Being in Being : The Collected Works of a Master Haida Mythteller, Skaay of the Qquuna Qiighawaay (trans. Robert Bringhurst)

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

Chad

Told by Starlight in Chad, Joseph Brahim Seid

Chile
House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende

China
Wild Swans, Jung Chang

Colombia
The Autumn of the Patriarch, Gabriel García Márquez

Congo
Broken Glass, Alain Mabanckou

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

Cuba
The Motorcycle Diaries, Che Guevara

Cyprus
Echoes from the Dead Zone, Yiannis Papadakis

Czech Republic
The Trial, Franz Kafka

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

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

Finland
The Year of the Hare, Arto Paasilinna

France
Chéri, Colette

Germany
Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse

Greece
Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis

Guatemala
The President, Miguel Angel Asturias

Hungary
Journey By Moonlight, Antal Szerb

Iceland
Independent People, Halldór Laxness

India
The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie

Iran
My Father’s Notebook, Kader Abdolah

Ireland
Ulysses, James Joyce

Italy
The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Japan
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami

Kenya
A Grain of Wheat, Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o

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

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

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

Netherlands
The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank

New Zealand
The Bone People, Keri Hulme

Nigeria
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe

Palestine
The Butterfly’s Burden, Mahmoud Darwish

Papua New Guinea
Maiba, Russell Soaba

Peru
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Mario Vargas Llosa

Poland
The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad

Portugal
The Maias, José Maria de Eça de Queiroz

Russia
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Saint Lucia
Tiepolo’s Hound, Derek Walcott

Samoa
Leaves of the Banyan Tree, Albert Wendt

Slovakia
Rivers of Babylon by Peter Pišťanek

Slovenia
The Golden Boat by Srečko Kosovel

South Africa
Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela

Spain
Don Quixote, Cervantes

Sri Lanka
Anil’s Ghost, Michael Ondaatje

Swaziland
The Wah-Wah Diaries, Richard E. Grant

Togo
An African in Greenland, Tété-Michel Kpomassie

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

Uganda
Abyssinian Chronicles, Moses Isegawa

United Kingdom:

Crome Yellow, Aldous Huxley

Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966-1996, Seamus Heaney

Whit, Iain Banks

Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas

United States of America
Moby Dick, Herman Melville

Vanuatu
Black Stone, Grace Mera Molisa

Yemen
The Hostage, Zayd Mutee‘ Dammaj

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

*The UN states, with the UK broken down into four regions, plus Palestine, Tibet, Antarctica and Greenland.

11 Comments

  1. 1 August 2008 at 1:27 pm | Permalink

    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!

  2. Harry
    1 August 2008 at 2:31 pm | Permalink

    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.

  3. 1 August 2008 at 3:26 pm | Permalink

    Tsitsi Dangarembga is another Zimbabwean.

  4. Harry
    1 August 2008 at 5:12 pm | Permalink

    Thanks, I’ll keep her in mind.

  5. 1 August 2008 at 5:39 pm | Permalink

    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!”

  6. Harry
    1 August 2008 at 6:42 pm | Permalink

    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.

  7. 1 August 2008 at 10:59 pm | Permalink

    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.

  8. 4 August 2008 at 3:35 pm | Permalink

    Some books from The Bahamas:

    Bahamas – No Seeds in Babylon or God’s Angry Babies, Ian Strachan, or You Can Lead A Horse To Water, Winston Saunders

    All are available online.

    You could also read my play, which is available from Lulu.com. I take full responsibility for the awfulness of the photos.

  9. Harry
    4 August 2008 at 5:48 pm | Permalink

    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.

  10. 5 August 2008 at 12:20 pm | Permalink

    I’ve posted longer lists on Shoshana’s blog.

  11. Harry
    5 August 2008 at 2:22 pm | Permalink

    Excellent, thanks for that.

2 Trackbacks

  1. By Heraclitean Fire » scribble scribble on 28 October 2008 at 8:23 pm

    [...] I need to find rather obscure books for the Read The World challenge, I’ve been buying second-hand copies online. And that has meant an irritation [...]

  2. By Sherry Chandler on 23 November 2008 at 1:06 pm

    [...] Harry, whose experiences are intriguing, I’ve joined the “Around the World” group at [...]

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