Reading The World - A Personal Challenge
Friday, July 27th, 2007SOUTH AMERICA - Reading The World
South America
Countries read are in bold blue
Potential books to be read are listed below each country. Books read are in red. An asterisk (*) indicates books I own but have not read yet.
1. Argentina (Buenos Aires)
- A Secret for Julia, by Patricia Sagastizabal
2. Bolivia (Sucre)
- The Fat Man From La Paz: Contemporary Fiction from Bolivia, by Rosario Santos
3. Brazil (Brasilia)
- The Alchemist, by Paulo Coehlo (finished 15 June 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
- The War of the End of the World, by Mario Vargas Llosa
4. Chile (Santiago)
- Memoirs, by Pablo Neruda
- The House of Spirits, by Isabel Allende
5. Colombia (Bogota)
- One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez*
6. Ecuador (Quito)
- The Amnesia Clinic, by James Scudamore
- Huasipungo (aka: The Villagers), by Jorge Icaza
7. Guyana (Georgetown)
8. Paraguay (Asuncion)
- At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig, by John Gimlette
9. Peru (Lima)
- Conversation in the Cathedral, by Mario Vargas Llosa*
- The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder (finished 23 December 2007; rated 3/5; read my review)
10. Suriname (Paramaribo)
- Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice, by Mark Plotkin
11. Uruguay (Montevideo)
- Let the Wind Speak, by Juan Carlos Onetti
12. Venezuela (Caracas)
- The Lady, The Chef, and The Courtesan, by Marisol
NORTH AMERICA - Reading The World
North America
Countries read are in bold blue
Potential books to be read are listed below each country. Books read are in red. An asterisk (*) indicates books I own but have not read yet.
1. Antigua and Barbuda (St. Johns)
- Annie John, by Jamaica Kincaid
2. Bahamas (Nassau)
3. Barbados (Bridgetown)
- In The Castle of My Skin, by George Lamming
4. Belize (Belmopan)
5. Canada (Ottawa)
- Fall on Your Knees, by Ann-Marie MacDonald (Finished 26 April 2007; set in Cape Breton Island; rated 4/5; read my review)
- Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood (finished 13 May 2007; rated 4.5/5; set in Toronto; read my review)
- The Outlander, by Gil Adamson (finished 27 December 2007; rated 5/5; set in Western Canada; read my review)
- The Tenderness of Wolves, by Stef Penney (finished 5 April 2008; rated 5/5; set in Ontario Canada; read my review)
- The Way the Crow Flies, by Ann-Marie MacDonald*
- The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, by Wayne Johnston (set in Newfoundland)
- Mercy Among the Children, by David Adams Richards (set in New Brunswick)
6. Costa Rica (San Jose)
7. Cuba (Havana)
- Dreaming in Cuba, by Christina Garcia
8. Dominica (Roseau)
- The Orchid House, by Phyllis Shad Allfrey
9. Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo)
- Feast of the Goat, by Mario Vargas Llosa*
- In The Time of Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez
10. El Salvador (San Salvador)
11. Grenada (St. George’s)
- Under the Silk Cotton Tree, by Jean Buffong
12. Guatemala (Guatemala City)
13. Haiti (Port-au-Prince)
- The Dew Breaker, by Edwidge Danticat
- Krik?Krak! by Edwidge Danticat
14. Honduras (Tegucigaipa)
- The Soccer War, by Ryszard Kapuscinski
15. Jamaica (Kingston)
- Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys
16. Mexico (Mexico City)
- Mexico, by James Michener*
- Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, by Hayden Herrera
- Consider This, Senora, by Harriet Doerr
17. Nicaragua (Managua)
- The Jaguar Smile, by Salman Rushdie
- The Country Under My Skin: A Memoir of Love and War, by Gioconda Belli
18. Panama (Panama City)
19. Saint Kitts and Nevis (Basseterre)
20. Saint Lucia (Castries)
21. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Kingstown)
22. Trinidad and Tobago (Port-of-Spain)
- Chutney Power, by Willi Chen
- The Lonely Londoners, by Sam Selvon
23. United States (Washington D.C.)
- The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck (finished 18 January 2007; rated 5/5; set in California; read my review)
- To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (finished 21 March 2007; rated 5/5; set in Alabama; read my review)
- Travels With Charley in Search of America, by John Steinbeck (finished 29 March 2007; rated 5/5; set in 1960s America; read my review)
- Summer Crossing, by Truman Capote (finished 21 July 2007; rated 4.5/5; set in New York City; read my review)
Friday, July 27th, 2007
AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA - Reading The World
Australia - Oceania
(click on map to enlarge)
Countries read are in bold blue
Potential books to be read are listed below each country. Books read are in red. An asterisk (*) indicates books I own but have not read yet.
1. Australia (Canberra)
- The True History of the Kelly Gang, by Peter Carey*
- The Idea of Perfection, by Kate Grenville*
- The Secret River, by Kate Grenville*
2. Fiji (Suva)
3. Kiribati (Bairiki)
4. Marshall Islands (Majuro)
5. Micronesia (Palikir)
6. Nauru (no official capital)
7. New Zealand (Wellington)
- The Bone People, by Keri Hulme (finished 12 July 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
- The Colour, by Rose Tremain*
8. Palau (Koror)
9. Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby)
- Throwim Way Leg, by Tim Flannery
10. Samoa (Apia)
- Where We Once Belonged, by Sia Figiel
11. Solomon Islands (Honiara)
12. Tonga (Nuku’alofa)
13. Tuvalu (Funafuti)
- The Happy Isles of Oceania, by Paul Theroux
14. Vanuatu (Port-Vila)
Friday, July 27th, 2007
ASIA - Reading The World
Asia
Countries read are in bold blue
Potential books to be read are listed below each country. Books read are in red. An asterisk (*) indicates books I own but have not read yet.
1. Afghanistan (Kabul)
- A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini (finished 8 December 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
- The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (finished 13 June 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
2. Azerbaijan (Baku)
- Ali and Nino, by Kurban Said
3. Bahrain (Manama)
4. Bangladesh (Dhaka)
5. Bhutan (Thimphu)
6. Brune (Bander Seri Begawan)
7. Burma/Myanmar (Yangon)
- The Lizard Cage, by Karen Connelly*
- The Glass Palace, by Amitav Ghosh
8. Cambodia (Phnom Penh)
- Highways To A War, by Christopher J. Koch
- First They Killed My Father, by Loung Ung
9. China (Beijin)
- Balzac and The Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie (finished 8 January 2007; rated 3.5/5; read my review)
- Peony in Love, by Lisa See (finished 18 June 2007; rated 3.75/5; read my review)
- The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck (finished 28 November 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
- Wild Swans, by Jung Chang
- Oracle Bones, by Peter Hessler
10. Cyprus (Nicosia)
11. East Timor (Dili)
12. India (New Delhi)
- The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai (finished 16 March 2007; rated 4.25/5; read my review)
- The Space Between Us, by Thrity Umrigar (finished 21 April 2007; rated 3.5/5; read my review)
- The God of Small Things, by Arundhai Roy (finished 29 September 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
- Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, by Kiran Desai (finished 21 December 2007; rated 3/5; read my review)
- Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts*
13. Indonesia (Jakarta)
- This Earth of Mankind, by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
14. Iran (Tehran)
- Laughing Without An Accent, by Firoozeh Dumas (finished 17 May 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
- Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi*
- My Father’s Notebook, by Kader Abdolah
- Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been: New Writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora, by Persis M. Karim
- The Blood of Flowers, by Anita Amirrezvani
15. Iraq (Baghdad)
16. Israel (Jerusalem)
- A Woman in Jerusalem, by A.B. Yehoshua*
17. Japan (Tokyo)
- The Great Fire, by Shirley Hazzard (finished 8 August 2007; rated 4/5; read my review)
- Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden*
- Shipwrecks, by Akira Yoshimura
18. Jordan (Amman)
- A Beggar at Damascus Gate, by Yasmine Zahran
- Pillars of Salt, by Fadia Faqir
19. Kazakstan (Astana)
20. Korea, North (Pyongyang)
- The Guest, by Hwang Sok-Yong
21. Korea, South (Seoul)
22. Kuwait (Kuwait City)
23. Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek)
24. Laos (Vientiane)
- The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman
25. Lebanon (Beirut)
- Gate of the Sun, by Elias Khoury*
26. Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)
27. Maldivs (Male)
28. Mongolia (Ulan Bator)
29. Nepal (Kathmandu)
30. Oman (Muscat)
31. Pakistan (Islamabad)
- The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid (finished 11 January 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
- When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, by Cecilia Manquerra Brainard
- Maps For Lost Lovers, by Nadeem Aslam32. Philippines (Manila)
33. Quatar (Doha)
34. Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)
35. Singapore (Singapore City)
36. Sri Lanka (Colombo)
37. Syria (Damascus)
- A Lake Beyond the Wind, by Yahya Yakhlif
38. Tajikistan (Dushanbe)
39. Tibet (Lhasa)
- The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiesson
40. Thailand (Bangkok)
41. Turkey (Ankara)
- The Flea Palace, by Elif Shafak (finished 15 June 2007; rated 2.5/5; read my review)
- Birds Without Wings, by Louis De Bernieres (finished 28 July 2007; rated 4/5; read my review)
- Bliss, by O.Z. Livaeli*
42. Turkmenistan (Ashgabat)
43. United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi)
44. Uzbekistan (Tashkent)
45. Vietnam (Hanoi)
- The Sorrow of War, by Bao Ninh
46. Yeman (Sana)
Friday, July 27th, 2007EUROPE - Reading The World
Europe
(click on map to enlarge)
Countries read are in bold blue
Potential books to be read are listed below each country. Books read are in red. An asterisk (*) indicates books I own but have not read yet.
1. Albania (Tirane)
- Broken April, by Ismail Kadare
2. Andorra (Andorra la Vella)
3. Armenia (Yerevan)
4. Austria (Vienna)
- The Fig Eater, by Jody Shield*
- The Terror of Ice and Darkness, by Christoph Ransmayr
5. Belarus (Minsk)
6. Belgium (Brussels)
- Summer in Termuren, by Louis Paul Boon
7. Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo)
- The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway (finished 10 April 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
- People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks (finished 4 July 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
8. Bulgaria (Sofia)
9. Cape Verde (Praia)
10. Croatia (Zagreb)
- Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, by Rebecca West
- Cafe Europa, by Slavenka Drakulic
11. Czech Republic (Prague)
- Giraffe, by J.M. Ledgard
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera
12. Denmark (Copenhagen)
- Leeway Cottage, by Beth Gutcheon*
- The Royal Physician’s Visit, by Per Olov Enquist
13. Estonia (Tallinn)
- The Czar’s Madman, by Jaan Kross
14. Finland (Helsinki)
- Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name, by Vendela Vida (Lapland)
- Seven Brothers, by Aleksis Kivi
15. France (Paris)
- Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky (finished 17 February 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
- Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert
16. Georgia (Tbilisi)
- Ali and Nino, by Kurban Said
17. Germany (Berlin)
- The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (finished 28 January 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
- The Reader, by Bernhard Sclink
- Stones From The River, by Ursula Hegi*
- Paper Kisses: A True Love Story, by Reinhard Kaiser
18. Greece (Athens)
- Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis De Bernieres
19. Hungary (Budapest)
- Embers, by Sandor Marai (finished 30 March 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
- Fatelessness, by Kmre Kertesz
20. Iceland (Reykjavik)
- Independent People, by Halldor Laxness (finished 05 May 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
- The Fish Can Sing, by Halldor Laxness
21. Ireland (Dublin)
- The Blackwater Lightship, by ColmToibin (finished 9 November 2007; rated 4/5; read my review)
- The Gathering, by Anne Enright (finished 9 March 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
- Silver Wedding, by Maeve Binchy*
- The Law of Dreams, by Peter Behrens
22. Italy (Rome)
- A Thousand Days in Tuscany, by Marlena De Blasi*
- The Almond Picker, by Simonetta Agnello Hornby
- The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco
- The Leopard, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
23. Latvia (Riga)
24. Liechtenstein (Vaduz)
25. Lithuania (Vilnius)
26. Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
27. Macedonia (Skopje)
- Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, by Rebecca West
28. Malta (Valletta)
29. Moldova (Chisinau)
30. Monaco (Monaco)
- Anything Considered, by Peter Mayle
31. Montenegro (Podgorica)
32. Netherlands (Amsterdam, The Hague)
- The Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank
33. Norway (Oslo)
- Giants in the Earth, by O.E. Rolvaag*
- Sophie’s World, by Jostein Gaarder*
- In the Wake, by Per Peterson
- Kristin Lavransdatter, by Sigrid Undset
34. Poland (Warsaw)
- The Zookeeper’s Wife, by Diane Ackerman (finished 12 May 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
- Anything by the author Ryszard Kapuscinski
- Nine, by Andrezej Stasiuk
35. Portugal (Lisbon)
- Alentejo Blue, by Monica Ali (finished 22 February 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
36. Romania (Bucharest)
- Land of Green Plums, by Herta Muller
- The Hooligan’s Return, by Norman Manea
37. Russia (Moscow)
- The Madonnas of Leningrad, by Debra Dean (finished 7 May 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
- Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak (finished 24 November 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
- The Brothers Karmazov, by Fyodor Doestoevsky*
- A Russian Journal, by John Steinbeck*
- War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy*
38. San Marino (San Marino)
39. Serbia (Belgrade)
- Bridge on the Drina, by Ivo Andric
40. Slovakia (Bratislava)
- Zoli, by Colum McCann
41. Slovenia (Ljublijana)
- Veronika Decides To Die, by Paulo Coelho (finished 2 November 2007; rated 3.5/5; read my review)
42. Spain (Madrid)
- The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (finished 7 July 2007; rated 4.75/5; read my review)
- For Whom The Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway (finished 7 April 2007; rated 2.5/5; read my review)
43. Sweden (Stockholm)
- Hanna’s Daughters, by Marianne Fredriksson*
- April Witch, by Majqull Axelsson
- Doctor Glas, by Hjalmar Soderberg
- The Princess of Burundi, by Kjell Eriksson*
44. Switzerland (Bern)
- Hotel Du Lac, by Anita Brookner*
45. Ukraine (Kiev)
- Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer
46. United Kingdom (London)
- Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell (finished 26 March 2007; rated 5/5; set in England; read my review)
- Arthur and George, by Julian Barnes (finished 30 April 2007; rated 4/5; set in England; read my review)
- Old Filth, by Jane Gardam (finished 29 May 2007; rated 3.75/5; set in London and Wales; read my review)
- How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewelln (finished 15 August 2007; rated 5/5; set in South Wales; read my review)
- Resistance, by Owen Sheers (finished 6 March 2008; rated 4.5/5; set in Wales; read my review)
47. Vatican City (na)
Thursday, July 26th, 2007AFRICA - Reading the World
Africa
(click on map to enlarge)
Countries read are in bold blue
Potential books to be read are listed below each country. Books read are in red. An asterisk (*) indicates books I own but have not read yet.
1. Algeria (Algers)
- Children of the New World: A Novel of the Algerian War, by Assia Djebar
- Between Sea and Sahara: An Algerian Journal, by Eugene Fromentin
2. Angola (Luanda)
- Angola Beloved, by T. Ernest Wilson
3. Benin (Port-Novo)
- The Viceroy of Ouidah, by Bruce Chatwin
4. Botswana (Gaborone)
- The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith
5. Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou)
6. Burundi (Bujumbura)
- This Voice in My Heart: A Genocide Survivor’s Story of Escape, Faith and Forgiveness, by Gilbert Tuhabonye and Gary Brozek
7. Cameroon (Yaounde)
8. Central African Republic (Bangui)
9. Chad (N’Djamena)
- The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur, by Daoud Hari (finished 15 February 2008; rated 5/5; read my review)
10. Comoros (Moroni)
11. Congo (Brazzaville)
- The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver*
- A Bend in the River, by V.S. Naipal*
12. Congo, Democratic Republic of (Kinshasa)
- The Catastrophist, by Ronan Bennett
- Facing the Congo: A Modern-Day Journey Into the Heart of Darkness, by Jeffrey Tayler
13. Cote d’Ivoire/Ivory Coast (Yamoussoukro)
- As The Crow Flies, by Veronique Tadjo
- Whiteman, by Tony D’Souza
- The Suns of Independence, by Ahmadou Kourouma
14. Djibouti (Djibouti)
15. Egypt (Cairo)
- The Cairo Trilogy, by Naguib Mahfouz*
- Three Novels of Ancient Egypt, by Naguib Mahfouz*
- The Yacoubian Building, by Alaa Al Aswany
16. Equatorial Guinea (Malabo)
- Travels in West Africa, by Mary Kingsley
17. Eritrea (Asmara)
18. Ethiopia (Addis Ababa)
- The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, by Dinaw Megestu
- Sweetness in the Belly, by Camilla Gibb
19. Gabon (Liberville)
- African Silences, by Peter Matthiessen
20. Gambia (Banjul)
21. Ghana (Accra)
- The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, by Ayi Kwei Armah
22. Guinea (Conakry)
- L’Enfant Noir (aka: The Dark Child: The Autobiography of an African Boy), by Camara Laye
23. Guinea-Bissau (Bissau)
24. Kenya (Nairobi)
- The Camel Bookmobile, by Masha Hamilton
- Out of Africa and Shadows on Grass, by Isak Dinesen
25. Lesotho (Maseru)
- Singing Away Hunger: The Autobiography of an African Woman, by Mpho Matsepo Nthunya
- Stories By and About Women in Lesotho, by K. Limakatso Kendall
26. Liberia (Monrovia)
27. Libya (Tripoli)
- In The Country of Men, by Hisham Matar
28. Madagascar (Antananarivo)
29. Malawi (Lilongwe)
30. Mali (Bamako)
- Men of Salt: Crossing the Sahara on the Caravan of White Gold, by Michael Benanav
31. Mauritania (Nouakchott)
32. Mauritius (Port Louis)
33. Morocco (Rabat)
- Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail, by Malika Oufkir adn Michele Fitoussi (finished 16 May 2007; rated 4/5; read my review)
34. Mozambique (Maputo)
- Dumba-Nengue, by Lina Magaia
35. Namibia (Windhoek)
- Born of the Sun, by Joseph Diescho
36. Niger (Niamey)
37. Nigeria (Abuja)
- Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (finished 7 January 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
- Purple Hibiscus, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (finished 24 January 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
38. Rwanda (Kigali)
- A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, by Gil Courtemanche*
39. Sao Tome and Principe (Sao Tome)
40. Senegal (Dakar)
- So Long A Letter, by Mariama Ba
- Scarlet Song, by Mariama Ba
- The Ambiguous Adventure, by Cheikh Hamidou Kane
41. Seychelles (Victoria)
42. Sierra Leone (Freetown)
- A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah
43. Somalia (Mogadishu)
- Knots, by Nuruddin Farah
44. South Africa (Pretoria, Cape Town, Bleoemfontein)
- Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee (finished 14 December 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
- Life and Times of Michael K, by J.M. Coetzee (finished 17 February 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
- Playing in the Light, by Zoe Wicomb
- Cry The Beloved Country, by Alan Paton
45. Sudan (Kartoum)
- The Translator, by Leila Aboulela (finished 23 March 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
- Acts of Faith, by Phillip Caputo*
46. Swaziland (Mbabane)
47. Tanzania (Dodoma)
- Baby Khaki’s Wings, by Anar Ali
- Desertion, by Abdulrazak
48. Togo (Lome)
49. Tunisia (Tunis)
- Lion Mountain, by Mustapha Tlili
- Pillar of Salt, by Albert Memmi
50. Uganda (Kampala)
- Tropical Fish: Tales From Entebbe, by Doreen Baingana
51. Zambia (Lusaka)
52. Zimbabwe (Harare)
- The Grass is Singing, by Doris Lessing*
- Don’t Lets Go the Dogs Tonight, by Alexandra Fuller
- Nervous Conditions, by Tsitsi Dangarembga
- Rainbow’s End, by Lauren St. John
Reading The World
In the last year, I have become interested in reading world literature. I was surprised the other day when I sat down and reviewed my 2007 reads and found I’d read many books either set in other countries, or authored by foreign writers.
Several lit-bloggers have proposed world literature challenges: Reading Across Borders, Around the World in 80 Books, and Book Around the World. One of my favorite blogs is Around the World in 100 Books - a blog devoted to reading world literature.
So, I have decided to set up my own plan to read around the world. I’m not setting a deadline. I’m not formally joining any of the challenges (except for Reading Across Borders which is an ongoing challenge I’m doing).
There is some disagreement among scholars how many countries actually exist. The numbers range from 189 to 194. I have decided to use the list compiled by WorldAtlas.com and found here. My goal is to read at least one book for each country listed. The book(s) I choose will either be in translation from that country, primarily set in that country or written by an author from that country. I want to get a sense of each country from the books I read.
I plan to gather my ideas about books from several sources, including (but not limited to) the following:
1. Michelle’s blog at 3m3a and her list of potential books from around the world
2. Bonnie’s blog at Book Around The World
3. The wonderful blog Around The World in 100 Books
4. Books in Translation Yahoo group
5. The magazine World Literature Today
So Far This is What My World Literature Map looks like:
create your own visited countries map or vertaling Duits NederlandsIf you would like to customize a map like this for YOUR world reading, you may do so by visiting this site.