Ongoing challenge with no time limit.
Book settings from 80 different countries.
These are just ideas; I won't read them all!
- Afghanistan: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Argentina: The Book of Murder by Guillermo Martinez
- Australia: Breath by Tim Winton
- Belgium: Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb (Japanese setting)
- Canada: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
- Chile: Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda
- China: Wild Swans by Jung Chang
- England: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- France: Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
- Germany: The Reader by Bernard Schlink
- Greece: The Birds by Aristophanes
- Hungary: Embers by Sandor Marai
- Iceland: Independent People by Halldor Laxness
- India: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
- Iran: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- Ireland: The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
- Japan: Silence by Shusaku Endo
- Mexico: A Tale of Two Gardens by Octavio Paz (Indian setting)
- New Zealand: The Bone People by Keri Hulme
- Nigeria: Purple HIbiscus by Adichie
- Norway: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
- Poland: Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (sci-fi setting)
- Russia: Sofia Petrovna by Lydia Chukovskaya
- Senegal: So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
- South Africa: Life & Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee
- Spain: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- Sudan: The Translator by Daoud Hari
- Sweden: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
- Ukraine: Evenings on a Farm in Dikanka by Gogol
- Zimbabwe: Zenzele by J. Nozipo Maraire
Albania
The Three-Arched Bridge by Ismail Kadare
? by Kadare
Algeria
? by Camus
Armenia
Three Apples Fell From Heaven by Micheline Aharonian Marcom
Austria
The Piano Teacher by Jelinek
The Third Man by Graham Greene
Azerbaijan
Ali and Nino by Kurban Said
Belgium
Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett
Belize
Belize by Carlos Ledson Miller
Bolivia
CrossFire by Jeanette Windle
Biting Silence by Arturo Von Vacono
Borneo
Kalimantaan by C. S. Godshalk
Botswana
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
by Alexander McCall Smith
Tears of the Giraffe
by Alexander McCall Smith
Brazil
Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon by Jorge Amado
Burma (Myanmar)
The Piano Tuner
Cambodia
Finding Moon by Tony Hillerman
Cameroon
Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono
- The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
- Mad Shadows by Marie-Claire Blais
- The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
- Sitting Practice by Caroline Adderson
- Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
- Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
- Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
- The Road Past Altamont by Gabrielle Roy (originally in French)
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (now lives in U.S.)
- Jacob Two-Two's First Spy Case by Mordecai Richler
- Bear by Marian Engel
- Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) by Anne-Marie MacDonald
- A Certain Mr. Takahashi by Ann Ireland
Chile
? by Allende
China
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
by Lisa See
Sky Burial
by Xinran
Columbia
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Congo
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Cuba
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
Czechoslovakia
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Denmark
Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry
Smilla's Sense of Snow
Dominican Republic
? by Julia Alvarez
Egypt
The Map of Love
El Salvador
A Book of Common Prayer by Didion, Joan
Estonia
Czar's Madman by Jaan Kross
Finland
Ice Moon by Jan Costin Wagner
House of Orphans
Winter Fire by William R. Trotter
Germany
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
(Australian author)
Greece
The Birds by Aristophanes
Haiti
The Comedians by Graham Greene
Hungary
Kaddish for a Child not Born
by Imre Kertesz
India
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Indonesia
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Iran
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Persepolis
Iraq
Naphtalene by Alia Mamdouh,
Ireland
The Sea by John Banville
Israel
A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz
? by Yehoshua
A Literary Murder by Batya Gur
Italy
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino
Jamaica
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Japan
After Dark by Murakami
Silence by Endo
Strangers by Yamada
Jordan
Staircase of a Thousand Steps by Masha Hamilton
West of the Jordan by Laila Halaby
Kazakhstan
The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years by Chingiz Aitmatov
Nine Layers of Sky by Liz Williams
Kenya
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
Lebanon
Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury
Lithuania
The Last Girl by Stephan Collishaw
Mexico
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo
Morocco
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami
Netherlands
Discovery of Heaven by Mulisch
New Zealand
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Nigeria
Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Things Fall Apart - Achebe
Norway
Kristin Lavransdatter I: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset
Oman
Sandstorm by James Rollins
Papua New Guinea
Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones
Peru
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
Phillipines
When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe
Poland
Shosha by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Portugal
? by Saramago
Russia
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
(Russian author, sci-fi setting)
Samoa
Where We Once Belonged by Sia Figiel
Scotland
The Translator - Leila Aboulela
Senegal
So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
Sierra Leone
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene.
Slovenia
Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho
South Africa
The Life and Times of Michael K - JM Coetzee
South Korea
The New Year by Pearl S. Buck
Spain
Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene,
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (read in 2006)
Sri Lanka
Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
Sudan
The Translator - Leila Aboulela
The Translator by Daoud Hari
Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
Sweden
The Wonderful Adventures of Nils by Selma Lagerhof
Switzerland
Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party by Graham Greene.
Thailand
Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap
Trinidad & Tobago
? by Naipaul
Turkey
Birds without Wings by Louis DeBernieres
? by Pamuk
Zabelle by Nancy Kricorian
Tunisia
The African Quest by Lyn Hamilton
The Tremor of Forgery by Patricia Highsmith
Ukraine
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka by Gogol
Uruguay
The Tree of Red Stars by Tessa Bridal
Uzbekistan
Private Wars by Greg Rucka
The Railway by ?
Vietnam
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Wales
A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
Sixpence House by Paul Collins
Zimbabwe
Zenzele by J. Nozipo Maraire
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
I read The Stranger by Albert Camus (Algeria) about 1970-1971, but I think it would be good. A bit "strange" as the title indicates, but very much giving an existentialist view of the world. I may have to read it again, myself.
I have shamelessly stolen your list as a template for my own. I'm still working on it but if you'd like a quick look, it's at:
http://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/around-the-world-in-80-countries/
Well it reminds me that I had a challenge for 2007, it was an ABC Challenge. You had to choose authors whose names begin by the 26 letters of the alphabet. But I decided to take a journey through the world. The result : I'm stuck in Scandinavia from the beginning, I only read one on the 26. But as you say we have a life time to go around the world;o)
i don't think camus is a good choice to represent algeria
why don't you try addia djebar?
I would recomment Miguel Street by Naipaul. I think it is a very well written book..very simple at first glance but very eloquent!
I admire you and wish you the best! If you would be interested in sharing with there's who love to read books from around the world, on GoodReads we host a Book group called Around the World in Books. Each month we read a book from or about a different country and then "discuss" it through the Internet. We currently have about 130 members of which about 10 are highly active per book. Hope you check us out and add to our discussions.
[...] excuses always find their way into my schedule. But a few days ago, I came across a project called Around the World in 80 Countries. The author of the website dared herself and others to read 80 books written by authors from 80 [...]