Around the World in 80 Books

[Dark Muse]

I came across this reading challenge in which the goal was to read a book from 52 different counties in 2012, and I was intrigued by the idea, but to complete all 52 books within a year, the majority of my reading would have to revolve around purely the completion of the challenge, and I want to keep some room open for my other reading interests.

So I decided to create my own reading challenge. The goal is to try to read a book from 80 different countries, but without having any time limitations on it so I can read the books at my leisure.

I thought I would post a thread here for my challenge to keep track of my progress and if anyone else wants to join in, than feel free to post your own books you have read from around the world.

[lawpark]

Why 80?

[Dark Muse]

Why 80?

No real reason just got the idea from the story which I always enjoyed as a kid, "Around the World in 80 Days." Plus I thought that would really challenge me to read books as I might not normally have and from parts of the world I might not normally have considered.

[anishastrologer]

what books have you decided to read. do you plan to read books by writers from different countries and genres and eras or just those that you have heard about?

[Dark Muse]

what books have you decided to read. do you plan to read books by writers from different countries and genres and eras or just those that you have heard about?

I have not pre-planned all the books I will be reading. I will start with books I already own and than from there I will start investigating books from other parts of the world of which I am not already familiar with in a literary sense.

It is primarily to read books by authors from various difference countries, I am open to genre an era.

[LizzzyBF]

You might want to have a look at Jim Flynn's The Torchlight List when you're looking for books for this challenge.

[Dark Muse]

You might want to have a look at Jim Flynn's The Torchlight List when you're looking for books for this challenge.

It sounds like it could be quite helpful, thank you for the referal.

[Scheherazade]

Will you be reading from different countries starting from today or will you include the ones you read in the past?

I love lists... So might join you! :)

[irinmisfit92]

It's very easy to find Japanese novels that are translated into English, such as those written by Haruki Murakami, but it's really hard to find English-translated Indonesian novels. I'm an Indonesian and I know that we have an extremely vast and diverse culture, including literature. I recommend you read "AKU" by Chairil Anwar if you can EVER get it in English translation. XD It's pretty poetic.

One of the most famous lines in the poem is:

I am a wild animal among those abandoned and thrown away. (However the way he phrases it in Indonesian is very strong)

[Dark Muse]

Will you be reading from different countries starting from today or will you include the ones you read in the past?

I love lists... So might join you! :)

I will include books that I am currently reading, but started prior to this idea, but from that point I will be reading all new books for it, and I won't be considering past books I have already read.

[Dark Muse]

I went through my bookshelves/stacks to see just how many countries I already have covered, and I have to say it is more than I would have thought. Though it is still a far cry from 80 it will keep me busy reading for a while before I have to venture out.

So presently I own books by authors from these countries:

Greece
France
Italy
Russia
Spain
Japan
Turkey
Ireland
Nigeria
Norway
China
India
Poland
Australia
Serbia
Portugal
Hungary
Germany
New Zealand
Iceland
Zambia
Canada

[Stewed]

I got out a book at the library called Best European Fiction 2011. It's all short stories, and it makes it look like there's better stuff coming out of places like Slovenia and Luxembourg than there is from North America. Granted it's Eurocentric, but it's widening my horizons a bit all the same.

[Kore]

I think it's a great idea and 80 countries is a lot. I'm pretty sure that along the way you might discover some really obscure writers. If I may, I'd like to recommend just a couple of books.

For Israel - Etkar Keret (he writes short stories, he is accesible in English)
Czech Republic - they have many great writers. Bohumil Hrabal is my favorite. I'd recommend his Closely Observed Trains.
Austria - again, many fine writers. Robert Musil and Joseph Roth would be great choices.
Albania - Ismail Kadare
Croatia - Dubravka Ugresic

[TheFifthElement]

I'm pretty sure you must have a book in amongst your shelves from the United Kingdom, so you should probably add that to your list ;)

If you're looking for something from South Africa, you might want to consider J M Coetzee. He's an excellent writer. Disgrace is a 'good' read (I say good because it is excellent, but actually a difficult read).

[Dark Muse]

I'm pretty sure you must have a book in amongst your shelves from the United Kingdom, so you should probably add that to your list ;)

If you're looking for something from South Africa, you might want to consider J M Coetzee. He's an excellent writer. Disgrace is a 'good' read (I say good because it is excellent, but actually a difficult read).

Hahaha I was worried that using the UK might be kind of cheating since I have probably read more lit from the UK than even American lit.

[magictrick]

Do American authors not count? I noticed you don't have U.S on your list :p

This is an interesting idea. I will take a look at my own bookshelf and see how diverse it is. Though from what I expect to find it will be only U.K, French, U.S, German and Canadian.

[Dark Muse]

Do American authors not count? I noticed you don't have U.S on your list :p

This is an interesting idea. I will take a look at my own bookshelf and see how diverse it is. Though from what I expect to find it will be only U.K, French, U.S, German and Canadian.

Well since America is my home base I was not sure that would really count.

[mal4mac]

Hahaha I was worried that using the UK might be kind of cheating since I have probably read more lit from the UK than even American lit.

Have you read a full book by a Welsh author? No doubt everyone has read individual Dylan Thomas poems, but a full book? Here's a list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Welsh_novelists

Some I've heard of and should have read, but I don't think I have!

[Dark Muse]

Have you read a full book by a Welsh author? No doubt everyone has read individual Dylan Thomas poems, but a full book? Here's a list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Welsh_novelists

Some I've heard of and should have read, but I don't think I have!

I have once read a YA (Young Adult Book) by a Welsh Author, but to my knowledge I have not an adult novel by such, but it is one thing I would be quite interested to do, I will have to check out the list.

[TheFifthElement]

If you fancy reading something old and Welsh The Mabinogion might be right up your street. It's believed to be the original basis for the King Arthur myths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabinogion

I think you can count US and UK. It might be interesting if there were something by a Native American writer to give a different US perspective?

[Dark Muse]

If you fancy reading something old and Welsh The Mabinogion might be right up your street. It's believed to be the original basis for the King Arthur myths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabinogion

I think you can count US and UK. It might be interesting if there were something by a Native American writer to give a different US perspective?

I love the Legend of King Arthur, so I will have to check that out.

And I like the idea of reading something by a Native American, I will definitely keep that in mind.

[thelastmelon]

That's a nice challenge, Dark Muse.
I once had a "challenge" to read at least one book from every continent of the world, but your project is way bigger - and more.. specific. I like it!

[Dark Muse]

I have finished my first book for the challenge.

1. Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

[sickboy]

an excellent choice for that country. hope you enjoyed kafka as much as i did.
also, i recently ran across this site with an applet of a world map with books tagged in respective countries which they were inspired from.
though i doubt it would be of any help at all, here.

http://www.bookdrum.com/maps.html

[Dark Muse]

an excellent choice for that country. hope you enjoyed kafka as much as i did.
also, i recently ran across this site with an applet of a world map with books tagged in respective countries which they were inspired from.
though i doubt it would be of any help at all, here.

http://www.bookdrum.com/maps.html

I did very much enjoy it, and that sounds interesting, I will have to check it out.

[thelastmelon]

I finished my first one as well:

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

[Dark Muse]

1. Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

[Smoke-Indigo]

Well, I'm taking on this challenge, 80 books from around the world. Hell yeah I'm doing this! Also is the book counted separately if it's indigenous literature? If I read Inuit literature and then Canadian literature, do they count as two Canadian books even though they're vastly different cultures?

[Dark Muse]

Well, I'm taking on this challenge, 80 books from around the world. Hell yeah I'm doing this! Also is the book counted separately if it's indigenous literature? If I read Inuit literature and then Canadian literature, do they count as two Canadian books even though they're vastly different cultures?

That is an interesting question which I had not thought of before. Even though they are very different cultures I think they would still count as both being from Canada.

Though if one wanted to challenge themselves further they could separate the two.

And as for myself, since I actually live in America, at first I was thinking that I should not count America at all, but now I am considering trying to read a book from a Native American author to count for America.

[B. Laumness]

As long as you read in one language, you can read as many foreign books as you want, you read only translations, you stay in your little world, you do not fully understand the other cultures, you just perceive them with a distorting scope . It would be much more fruitful to learn other languages in order to read the original texts.

[grace86]

Your challenge is a great one! I like the idea of reading Native American Literature for your American choice. May I recommend Leslie Marmon Silko's, Ceremony. It was very good.

**Edit** Sherman Alexie is also another great author for your Native American choice.

[Dark Muse]

Your challenge is a great one! I like the idea of reading Native American Literature for your American choice. May I recommend Leslie Marmon Silko's, Ceremony. It was very good.

I appreciate the recommendation and I will look into it.

[thelastmelon]

Dark Muse posted a list of the books she had from different countries, so I figured I could do the same. And my list is based on the un-read novels I have at home, and if I included the ones I've already read, I am sure it'd look a bit different. But this is what I've got to work with so far. 20 countries.

Nigeria
India
Egypt
Argentina
France
Morocco
Mozambique
Zimbabwe
South Africa
USA
Russia
Sweden
New Zealand
Ireland
Turkey
Peru/Spain (Mario Vargas Llosa - which one would you put him in?)
Kenya
Cameroon
England
Australia

[Bustrofedon]

Great idea for a book list. Just out of curiosity, are you using the author or the setting as the basis?

[Dark Muse]

Great idea for a book list. Just out of curiosity, are you using the author or the setting as the basis?

I am using the author. Books that are written by authors from each of these countries.

[TheFifthElement]

Muse, if you haven't got a Dutch author (The Netherlands) you can't go far wrong with something by Cees Nooteboom. I'd recommend Lost Paradise, which is just stunning, or Rituals which is a bit bleak but amusing. He's a great writer, not well known enough in my opinion.

Also, for Norway I would recommend either something by Knut Hamsun (Hunger is really his best work) or something by Tove Jansson. I read a book called The True Deceiver a while ago which was amazing. Of course there is always the Moomintrolls :D

[Dark Muse]

Muse, if you haven't got a Dutch author (The Netherlands) you can't go far wrong with something by Cees Nooteboom. I'd recommend Lost Paradise, which is just stunning, or Rituals which is a bit bleak but amusing. He's a great writer, not well known enough in my opinion.

Also, for Norway I would recommend either something by Knut Hamsun (Hunger is really his best work) or something by Tove Jansson. I read a book called The True Deceiver a while ago which was amazing. Of course there is always the Moomintrolls :D

I do not think I have anything by Dutch writers so I will keep your recommendations for that in mind.

For Norway, I acutally have Pan by Knut Hamsun, but since a few months back I read "The Bridal Wreath" by Sigrid Undset, I plan on reading "The Wife" the 2nd book in the trilogy soon.

[thelastmelon]

Also, for Norway I would recommend either something by Knut Hamsun (Hunger is really his best work) or something by Tove Jansson. I read a book called The True Deceiver a while ago which was amazing. Of course there is always the Moomintrolls :D
I don't believe Tove Jansson would be suited for Norway as she is Finnish. She'd be much better to read for Finland. :)

[TheFifthElement]

I don't believe Tove Jansson would be suited for Norway as she is Finnish. She'd be much better to read for Finland. :)
:lol: Dur, silly me!
She's a great read wherever she's from :D

[JuniperWoolf]

:lol: Dur, silly me!
She's a great read wherever she's from :D

Haha, woops. I've done that before. My social studies teacher asked, "is anyone's family from Sweden?" to which I yelled out "Francois is Swiss!" :willy_nilly:

The teacher was just like "uhhh, great, but does anyone here have family from Sweden?"

[kasie]

Great idea for a book list. Just out of curiosity, are you using the author or the setting as the basis?

I wondered that as well because I was going to suggest Bruce Chatwin's On the Black Hill as a title for Wales, then I realised that Chatwin was English. However he has managed to tune into the Welsh psyche so well in the book (no mean feat for an Englishman, let me tell you!) that he could be regarded as an Honorary Welshman.

I looked at the list of Welsh authors suggested by mal4mac and found not only had I heard of some of them (and had read some as well) but had actually met one or two! If you are daunted by choosing an unknown author you might like to refer to the list of publications by the Library of Wales. This is '...a Welsh Assembly Government projest designed to ensure that all the rich and extensive literature of Wales that has been written in English will now be available to readers in and beyond Wales....texts until now unavailable, out of print or merely forgotten... to showcase what has been unjustly neglected... to bring back into play the voices and actions of the human experience that has made us, in all our complexity, a Welsh people.'

I find this a refreshing and comforting attitude - the Welsh language activists fought so long and so hard for the reinstatement and recognition of Welsh as a living language - a not unworthy cause - that they tended not only to ignore but to deride and denigrate works written in English in Wales by Welsh authors. I am glad to see this area of creativity receiving its due recognition at last.

[thelastmelon]

Haha, woops. I've done that before. My social studies teacher asked, "is anyone's family from Sweden?" to which I yelled out "Francois is Swiss!" :willy_nilly:

The teacher was just like "uhhh, great, but does anyone here have family from Sweden?"

Being a Swede and all.. that is really quite annoying. Haha!

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.


2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

[CarpeNixta]

Awesome challenge, let me see what I've read so far:

Brazil: Livro de Maguas by Florbela Espanca
England: Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Greece: 100 poems by Constantin Kavafis
Mexico: La Nostalgia de la Muerte by Xavier Villaurrutia
Spain: Fuente Ovejuna & others plays by Lope de Vega.
USA: Poems by Anne Sexton

[Babyguile]

I don't envy you this task!

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye

[malayang-diwa]

If you are ever gonna read something from the Philippines, I would recommend Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal or any book by F. Sionil Jose.

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye

5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson

[Dark Muse]

5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson

Wow you are doing good.

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson

6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson
6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett

7. China - The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Hsün

[Dark Muse]

1. Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

[mortalterror]

1. Greece - The Collected Poems of Cavafy
2. Japan - The Essential Akutagawa
3. France - Alcools by Guillaume Apollinaire
4. Syria - The Pages of Day and Night by Adunis
5. Russia - The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
6. India - Tagore's Selected Poems
7. Peru - The Black Heralds by Cesar Vallejo
8. China - Three Hundred Tang Poems by Various
9. Vietnam - A Thousand Years of Vietnamese Poetry by Various
10. Saudi Arabia/Iran/Turkey - Anthology of Islamic Literature by Various
11. USA - A Dance With Dragons by G.R.R. Martin

[Dark Muse]

1. Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson
6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
7. China - The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Hsün

8. Cameroon - Les Honneurs perdus by Calixthe Beyala

[Patrick_Bateman]

What a great idea

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson
6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
7. China - The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Hsün
8. Cameroon - Les Honneurs perdus by Calixthe Beyala

9. Mozambique - Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto

[papayahed]

Hey! I got two for the price of one:

England - Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson
6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
7. China - The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Hsün
8. Cameroon - Les Honneurs perdus by Calixthe Beyala
9. Mozambique - Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto

10. Norway - The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I am by Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold

[papayahed]

1. England - Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
2. Russia - We by Yevgeny Zamatin

[Heteronym]

So what are you going to read from Portugal? :)

[Dark Muse]

Originally I was thinking of reading "The Last Pope" by Luis Miguel Rocha, but I just go "Blindness" by Saramago over the holiday and I am pretty excited about wanting to read that one so I might go with that first instead.

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson
6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
7. China - The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Hsün
8. Cameroon - Les Honneurs perdus by Calixthe Beyala
9. Mozambique - Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
10. Norway - The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I am by Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold

11. Egypt - Den stulna romanen (Zina al-riwaya al-masruqa) by Nawal El Saadawi

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson
6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
7. China - The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Hsün
8. Cameroon - Les Honneurs perdus by Calixthe Beyala
9. Mozambique - Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
10. Norway - The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I am by Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold
11. Egypt - Den stulna romanen (Zina al-riwaya al-masruqa) by Nawal El Saadawi
12. Finland - The Sweet Poison Cook by Arto Paasilinna

[irinmisfit92]

http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=Anwar_Surabaya_Indonesia

http://punyabagus.blogspot.com/2008/06/chairil-anwar-poet-of-generation.html

These websites have insights about Chairil Anwar, the most famous Indonesian poet who died at 27 during World War II. I hope you will enjoy it, because not many people, even here, appreciate poetry and prose.

Pramoedya Ananta Tour is also a pretty renowned novelist from Indo.

Enjoy!

[Dark Muse]

1. Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson
6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
7. China - The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Hsün
8. Cameroon - Les Honneurs perdus by Calixthe Beyala
9. Mozambique - Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
10. Norway - The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I am by Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold
11. Egypt - Den stulna romanen (Zina al-riwaya al-masruqa) by Nawal El Saadawi
12. Finland - The Sweet Poison Cook by Arto Paasilinna

13. Iceland - Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson
6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
7. China - The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Hsün
8. Cameroon - Les Honneurs perdus by Calixthe Beyala
9. Mozambique - Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
10. Norway - The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I am by Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold
11. Egypt - Den stulna romanen (Zina al-riwaya al-masruqa) by Nawal El Saadawi
12. Finland - The Sweet Poison Cook by Arto Paasilinna
13. Iceland - Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason

14. Italy - The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano

[coluta]

How is this last one? I've been meaning to read it for a long time.

Also, my list (I include here what I've read in the last 12 months or so and in case I've read more than one book from one country I will name only the last one):

1. Turkey - Orhan Pamuk - The Museum of Innocence
2. France - Michel Houellebecq - The Platform
3. Germany - Erich Maria Remarque - All Quiet on the Western Front
4. US - The Tender Bar: A Memoir - J. R. Moehringer
5. UK- George Orwell - Books vs. Cigarettes
6. Italy - Giovanni Papini - The Failure (Un Uomo Finito)
7. Spain- Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind
8. Colombia- Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera
9. Japan - Haruki Murakami - Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
10. Israel - Amos Oz- The Black Box
11. Afghanistan - Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner

I am not sure if the last one counts, though. He moved to US when he was 15.

[Dark Muse]

I am not sure if the last one counts, though. He moved to US when he was 15.

I have the same problem at times too. It is hard for me to decide at times if I should count a certain author or not because of their current location vs where they were born, or the place in which it seems they have in fact spent most of their life vs where they were born.

[Dark Muse]

1. Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

[Dark Muse]

1. Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

[Eva36]

1. Belgium - Ex-drummer by Herman Brusselmans
2. Netherlands - The Happy Hooker by Xaviera Hollander
3. Finland - The Maid Silja by Frans Eemil Sillanpää

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson
6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
7. China - The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Hsün
8. Cameroon - Les Honneurs perdus by Calixthe Beyala
9. Mozambique - Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
10. Norway - The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I am by Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold
11. Egypt - Den stulna romanen (Zina al-riwaya al-masruqa) by Nawal El Saadawi
12. Finland - The Sweet Poison Cook by Arto Paasilinna
13. Iceland - Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason
14. Italy - The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano

15. Canada - The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
16. Denmark - Elefantskötarnas barn by Peter Høeg

[The Strander]

I am a Chinese and I recommend you Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber.

[peggynevers]

You might want to have a look at "Jim Flynn's" The Torchlight List when you are looking for books for this challenge.

[Nazish]

From Pakistan, you must read The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.
From Afghanistan : The Kite Runner :)

[BitofEndearment]

I went through my bookshelves/stacks to see just how many countries I already have covered, and I have to say it is more than I would have thought. Though it is still a far cry from 80 it will keep me busy reading for a while before I have to venture out.

So presently I own books by authors from these countries:

Greece
France
Italy
Russia
Spain
Japan
Turkey
Ireland
Nigeria
Norway
China
India
Poland
Australia
Serbia
Portugal
Hungary
Germany
New Zealand
Iceland
Zambia
Canada

Suggestions:
Israel - Etgar Keret
Egypt - Naguib Mafouz
Argentine - Jorge Luis Borges
Peru - Mario Vargas Ilosa
Columbia - Gabriele García Marquez
Mexico - Octavio Paz
Czech Republic - The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Antigua and Barbuda - Jamaica Kincaid
South Africa - Nelson Mandela

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson
6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
7. China - The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Hsün
8. Cameroon - Les Honneurs perdus by Calixthe Beyala
9. Mozambique - Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
10. Norway - The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I am by Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold
11. Egypt - Den stulna romanen (Zina al-riwaya al-masruqa) by Nawal El Saadawi
12. Finland - The Sweet Poison Cook by Arto Paasilinna
13. Iceland - Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason
14. Italy - The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
15. Canada - The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
16. Denmark - Elefantskötarnas barn by Peter Høeg

17. Kenya - Nairobi Heat by Mukoma Wa Ngugi

[JBI]

Suggestions:
Israel - Etgar Keret
Egypt - Naguib Mafouz
Argentine - Jorge Luis Borges
Peru - Mario Vargas Ilosa
Columbia - Gabriele García Marquez
Mexico - Octavio Paz
Czech Republic - The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Antigua and Barbuda - Jamaica Kincaid
South Africa - Nelson Mandela

Is anything else by Kundera worth reading?

[Dark Muse]

1. Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset



10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

[Dark Muse]

1. Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

[SkyCetacean]

This is a cool idea! I wish I could try it myself but where I would get eighty books from foreign lands is beyond me... (My local library's pretty Eurocentric.)

[Jackson Richardson]

1. Greece - The Collected Poems of Cavafy


I know Cavafy wrote in Greek, but he was born, lived and wrote in Alexandria in Egypt. When he was born it was part of the Ottoman Empire. When he died it was independent.

I haven't read him, but I understand Nikos Kazantzakis is an important Greek author, author of Zorba the Greek and Christ Recrucified.

Anyone mentioned Ireland? Ulysses must be the Great Irish Novel if anything. The Real Charlotte by Sommerville and Ross is a good, although describing the protestant ascendency rather than the catholic majority, although highly critically.

[Dark Muse]

Anyone mentioned Ireland? Ulysses must be the Great Irish Novel if anything. The Real Charlotte by Sommerville and Ross is a good, although describing the protestant ascendency rather than the catholic majority, although highly critically.

I will probably be reading Ulysses for Ireland unless something else unexepcted comes up.

[Dark Muse]

1. Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

[Cleft]

If you want to get a less popular and deeper look on Israeli literature, I would recommend reading "Past Perfect" by Yaakov Shabtai. Etgar Keret and Amos Oz are nice, but the 'Israeliness' of their books isn't intrinsic, and therefore far less interesting for someone like you (or so I think). Another interesting, not so well known book is "The Brummstein" by the Danish author Peter Adolphsen.

Good luck!

[thelastmelon]

1. England - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
3. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
4. France - Trois Femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye
5. Sweden - Välkommen till den här världen by Amanda Svensson
6. USA - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
7. China - The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Hsün
8. Cameroon - Les Honneurs perdus by Calixthe Beyala
9. Mozambique - Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
10. Norway - The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I am by Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold
11. Egypt - Den stulna romanen (Zina al-riwaya al-masruqa) by Nawal El Saadawi
12. Finland - The Sweet Poison Cook by Arto Paasilinna
13. Iceland - Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason
14. Italy - The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
15. Canada - The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
16. Denmark - Elefantskötarnas barn by Peter Høeg
17. Kenya - Nairobi Heat by Mukoma Wa Ngugi

18. Afghanistan - The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi
19. Turkey - The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
20. Ireland - Chamber Music by James Joyce

[aaron stark]

I see Belgium is still missing. I recommend Dimitri Verhulst- The Misfortunates if you're planning on reading a great and yet recent novel or else our greatest classic of all time: Hugo Claus- The Sorrow of Belgium

[Sarah Melo]

I am brazilian and I've got to tell you that we have some amazing literary works. If you're interested, you could try Machado de Assis - Dom Casmurro. It was an wonderful experience reading this one. Also, I think you could check out José Saramago from Portugal and Mia Couto from Mozambique :)

[Dark Muse]

Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

13. Mexico - Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo

[islandclimber]

For Hungary, might I suggest "The Melancholy of Resistance" by Laszlo Krasznahorkai? His prose is dark and hypnotic. His sentences seem endless. His characters vacillate between hope and despair but rarely make the leap to either extreme. It's a work of half-apocalypse and incomprehensible revelation that even his characters often fail to grasp. It's a hyper-reality placed beside the surreal; it's madness next to reason... It's brilliant.

Or Péter Nádas' "Parallel Stories." I just finished it. I haven't had the chance to let it sink fully in quite yet. But it might just be one of the best books I've read.

[bouquin]

Where I've been so far...

Ireland
1. The Butcher Boy (Patrick McCabe)
2. The Book of Evidence (John Banville)
3. The Trusting and the Maimed and Other Stories (James Plunkett)
4. Mercier et Camier (Samuel Beckett)

Scotland
5. The Ballad of Peckham Rye (Muriel Spark)
6. The Wasp Factory (Iain Banks)
7. How Late It Was, How Late (James Kelman)

England
8. In the Springtime of the Year (Susan Hill)
9. Where Angels Fear to Tread (E. M. Forster)
10. The Accidental Woman (Jonathan Coe)
11. David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
12. Murder Must Advertise (Dorothy L. Sayers)
13. Regeneration (Pat Barker)
14. Black Dogs (Ian McEwan)
15. The Third Man and The Fallen Idol (Graham Greene)

France
16. Journal d'un corps (Daniel Pennac)

Germany
17. Perfume (Patrick Süskind)
18. The Emigrants (W. G. Sebald)

Italy
19. The Leopard (Giusseppe di Lampedusa)

Albania
20. Spring Flowers, Spring Frost (Ismail Kadare)

Turkey
21. My Name is Red (Orhan Pamuk)

India
22. The Home and the World (Rabindranath Tagore)

Australia
23. Oscar and Lucinda (Peter Carey)

New Zealand
24. Bliss and Other Stories (Katherine Mansfield)

Argentina
25. L'Année ou le Lion s'est échappé (Carlos Sampayo)

Peru
26. The Green House (Mario Vargas Llosa)

USA
27. Cannery Row (John Steinbeck)
28. Farewell, My Lovely (Raymond Chandler)
29. Lullaby (Chuck Palahniuk)
30. Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston)
31. Cat's Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut)
32. Franny and Zooey (J. D. Salinger)
33. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Canada
34. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
35. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)

South Africa
36. Cry, the Beloved Country (Alan Paton)
37. Selected Stories (Nadine Gordimer)

Zimbabwe
38. Nervous Conditions (Tsitsi Dangarembga)

Portugal
39. All the Names (Jose Saramago)

Spain
40. Un Coeur si Blanc (Javier Marias)




_______________
Currently reading: LA PLACE DE L'ETOILE (Patrick Modiano)

[thelastmelon]

bouquin: One book per country for this challenge though, so that'd make 19 countries for you so far. (:

[bouquin]

So is the reading challenge around the world in 80 countries or around the world in 80 books (as indicated in the thread title)?




_______________
Currently reading: If This is a Man (Primo Levi)

[Dark Muse]

So is the reading challenge around the world in 80 countries or around the world in 80 books (as indicated in the thread title)?

My original intention was to challenge myself to read one book per country, so it would be 80 books from 80 different countries.

[bouquin]

bouquin: One book per country for this challenge though, so that'd make 19 countries for you so far. (:


In my case, I prefer a different travel plan - more in keeping with Phileas Fogg's who went around the world in 80 days but did not actually journey to 80 countries.

[Dark Muse]

Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

13. Mexico - Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo

14. New Zeland - The Bone People by Keri Hulme

[Dark Muse]

1.Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

13. Mexico - Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo

14. New Zeland - The Bone People by Keri Hulme

15. Iran - My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad

[Adolescent09]

Not to discourage you or anything, Dark Muse (in fact I cheer you on enthusiastically for undertaking this), but the two books on this list, which just so happen to be the only two books I have read (Dostoevsky's Demons and Johann Goethe's Faust) are intricate behemoths to tackle. Chipping away at Demons alone will take 2 months for a seasoned Classical reader, which I am certain you are. It took me more than 7 months. Faust is a completely different kind of monster but equally daunting. Oddly, it took me longer to read Faust than Don Quixote, and yet the latter is nearly twice the size. I wish you the best in your pursuit, though! :) I'm sure Fogg wouldn't give up ;)

Edittt: Oh crap, I just re-read the topic title and I realized you don't want time limits. That's a relief! You have my full support either way and I would be happy to undergo doing the challenge with you. It would be so much fun to discuss a book while reading it with a fellow LitNetter!

[Dark Muse]

Not to discourage you or anything, Dark Muse (in fact I cheer you on enthusiastically for undertaking this), but the two books on this list, which just so happen to be the only two books I have read (Dostoevsky's Demons and Johann Goethe's Faust) are intricate behemoths to tackle. Chipping away at Demons alone will take 2 months for a seasoned Classical reader, which I am certain you are. It took me more than 7 months. Faust is a completely different kind of monster but equally daunting. Oddly, it took me longer to read Faust than Don Quixote, and yet the latter is nearly twice the size. I wish you the best in your pursuit, though! :) I'm sure Fogg wouldn't give up ;)

Edittt: Oh crap, I just re-read the topic title and I realized you don't want time limits. That's a relief! You have my full support either way and I would be happy to undergo doing the challenge with you. It would be so much fun to discuss a book while reading it with a fellow LitNetter!

Hehe thank you, and in fact those are the books I have already read, so I have them well under my belt already.

[Adolescent09]

Hehe thank you, and in fact those are the books I have already read, so I have them well under my belt already.

Wow!! Very impressive, Dark Muse; Kudos to you! :D

[hannah_arendt]

I went through my bookshelves/stacks to see just how many countries I already have covered, and I have to say it is more than I would have thought. Though it is still a far cry from 80 it will keep me busy reading for a while before I have to venture out.

So presently I own books by authors from these countries:

Greece
France
Italy
Russia
Spain
Japan
Turkey
Ireland
Nigeria
Norway
China
India
Poland
Australia
Serbia
Portugal
Hungary
Germany
New Zealand
Iceland
Zambia
Canada

When it comes to Poland I recommend Wisława Szymborska, Czesław Miłosz, Stanisław Lem.

[Lykren]

Question, Dark Muse -

What translation of Faust did you use, and what did you think of it? I'm getting to Faust on my own reading list as well, and it sounds like a work which is very difficult to translate. If you could recommend or disqualify a specific translation for me it would be helpful. Thanks!

[Dark Muse]

I read a Project Gutenberg version, but Part II is really hard to find online, on a fluke the day I looked I happened to find a completed copy, but it appears the addition I had read is no longer avialable online. I am a afraid I cannot recall the translators name off the top of my head.

I hear that Walter Kaufmann is supposed to be a good transtation.

A lot of people also really like David Luke.

Herold Bloom recommended Stuart Atkins.

[WyattGwyon]

Hello Muse,
What if an author was a citizen of the U.S.S.R. when a novel was written but the republic in which they were born is now an independent country? For example, does Mikhail Bulgakov's The White Guard, whose action takes place entirely in and around Kiev and whose point of view is that of Kiev dwellers, count as Ukrainian?

[Dark Muse]

Hello Muse,
What if an author was a citizen of the U.S.S.R. when a novel was written but the republic in which they were born is now an independent country? For example, does Mikhail Bulgakov's The White Guard, whose action takes place entirely in and around Kiev and whose point of view is that of Kiev dwellers, count as Ukrainian?

That is a very interesting question. Mikhail Bulgakov is generally speaking considered to be a Russian author, but considering the changing landscape, and the fact that the book itself is centered on Kiev, I would say one could go either way with that one. It could be counted for Ukrainian.

[cafolini]

Excuse me, important news: Maya Angelou publishes her new book: Mom & I & Mom. Can't miss it.

[lawpark]

I read a Project Gutenberg version, but Part II is really hard to find online, on a fluke the day I looked I happened to find a completed copy, but it appears the addition I had read is no longer avialable online. I am a afraid I cannot recall the translators name off the top of my head.

I hear that Walter Kaufmann is supposed to be a good transtation.

A lot of people also really like David Luke.

Herold Bloom recommended Stuart Atkins.

The other day I find a copy by Stuart Atkins in my bookshelf that I have not read yet after 20 years ... it was a version published by Princeton with Part One and Two together.

[Dark Muse]

1.Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

13. Mexico - Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo

14. New Zeland - The Bone People by Keri Hulme

15. Iran - My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad

16. Scotland - Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

[Dark Muse]

1.Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

13. Mexico - Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo

14. New Zeland - The Bone People by Keri Hulme

15. Iran - My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad

16. Scotland - Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

17. Iceland - Iceland's Bell by Halldor Laxness

[mal4mac]

Some more recommendations, of books that I've read and like:

Sri Lanka - "What the Buddha Taught" by Rahula.
Wales - Dylan Thomas - some short collection of his best poems! Note that Martin Amis was born in Wales, when his dad was working at Swansea university, so he's another option (London Fields maybe?)
Southern Ireland - Joyce, Dubliners
Northern Ireland - Seamus Heaney - Beowulf, or whatever takes your fancy if a translation isn't allowed.
Czech Republic (born in Prague) - Kafka - Metamorphosis and other stories
Argentina - Ficciones, Borges
Trinidad - A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipul
Austria - Frijof Capra - The Tao of Physics (...were all famous "Austrian" literary figures born in Prague :))
Italy - "Inferno" is obvious choice, but try Primo Levi - the Periodic Table for something modern.
Botswana - "The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency", if you are allowed to use the "set in" criteria rather than "place of birth". "Set in" would be useful, "Burmese Days" by Orwell, and many others, would then be allowed.

Corfu - My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell. Corfu is part of Greece, so are you going to allow distinct regions of countries? This is another "set in" rather than "born in" example: Durrell, although English, was born in India. Difficult man to classify! Is D.H.Lawrence's "Kangaroo" an Australian or English novel? Wouldn't recommend reading Lawrence, anyway - but the question is moot... And what about Lawrence of Arabia?


On the Polish question - Isaac Bashevis Singer was born in Poland. Can't you count him? It might be worth checking the birth places of other famous American authors to blag a few more European countries!

[papayahed]

1. England - Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
2. Russia - We by Yevgeny Zamatin

3. USA - Sewer, Gas & Electric. The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff
4. Ireland - Dracula by Bram Stoker
5. Mexico - The Strain by Guillermo De Toro and Chuck Hogan

[TheFifthElement]

Hmm. How about around the world in 80 books by ladies? From this year's reading:
1. UK - A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
2. China - 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
3. USA - Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
4. India - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5. France - Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi

[TheFifthElement]

Hmm. How about around the world in 80 books by ladies? From this year's reading:
1. UK - A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
2. China - 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
3. USA - Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
4. India - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5. France - Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi

6. Italy - The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

[Dark Muse]

*Updated*


1.Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

13. Mexico - Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo

14. New Zeland - The Bone People by Keri Hulme

15. Iran - My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad

16. Scotland - Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

17. Iceland - Iceland's Bell by Halldor Laxness

18. Australia - Jacke Maggs by Peter Carey

[Dono]

If no one has mentioned it before now, the "american" selection wouldn't really be culturally complete without something from our native people. I'd recommend "I will Fight No More Forever" or "Black Elk Speaks". Both autobiographical stories of powerful first nation people.

[TheFifthElement]

Update



1. UK - A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
2. China - 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
3. USA - Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
4. India - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5. France - Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi
6. Italy - The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

7. Hungary - The Proof by Agota Kristof

[Scheherazade]

1.Japan ~ Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Dominica ~ Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

3. England ~ Master and Commander by O'Brien

4. India ~ A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

5. Canada ~ MaddAddam by Atwood

6. Turkey ~ My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

7. Portugal ~ Blindness by Jose Saramago

8. USA ~ Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

9. Colombia ~ 100 Years of Solitude by Marquez

10. Afghanistan ~ The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

11. Czech Republic ~ The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

12. Germany ~ Perfume by Patrick Suskind

13. Sweden ~ The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell

14. Italy ~ The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

15. Ireland ~ Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

[Dark Muse]

*Updated*


1.Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

13. Mexico - Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo

14. New Zeland - The Bone People by Keri Hulme

15. Iran - My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad

16. Scotland - Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

17. Iceland - Iceland's Bell by Halldor Laxness

18. Australia - Jacke Maggs by Peter Carey

19. Finland - Purge by Sofi Oksanen

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*
Sticking with the ladies...

1. UK - A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
2. China - 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
3. USA - Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
4. India - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5. France - Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi
6. Italy - The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
7. Hungary - The Proof by Agota Kristof
8. Iceland - The Creator by Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*
1. UK - A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
2. China - 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
3. USA - Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
4. India - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5. France - Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi
6. Italy - The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
7. Hungary - The Proof by Agota Kristof
8. Iceland - The Creator by Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir
9. Finland - Travelling Light by Tove Jansson

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*
1. UK - A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
2. China - 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
3. USA - Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
4. India - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5. France - Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi
6. Italy - The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
7. Hungary - The Proof by Agota Kristof
8. Iceland - The Creator by Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir
9. Finland - Travelling Light by Tove Jansson
10. Australia - All The Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld (which is awesome, by the way)

[hopeingod]

Great selections, and a challenge worth taking. As a literature major in my youth, I had to read books written by writers from other countries, and I always felt it extremely worthwhile. Russian literature held my interest, as did European writers. I do hope you finish your list. Maybe, after I retire in eight months, I'll take that same challenge. Thanks for the push.

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*
1. UK - A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
2. China - 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
3. USA - Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
4. India - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5. France - Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi
6. Italy - The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
7. Hungary - The Proof by Agota Kristof
8. Iceland - The Creator by Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir
9. Finland - Travelling Light by Tove Jansson
10. Australia - All The Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
11. Palastine - Touch by Adania Shibli
12. Nigeria - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (wow!)

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*
1. UK - A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
2. China - 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
3. USA - Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
4. India - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5. France - Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi
6. Italy - The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
7. Hungary - The Proof by Agota Kristof
8. Iceland - The Creator by Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir
9. Finland - Travelling Light by Tove Jansson
10. Australia - All The Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
11. Palastine - Touch by Adania Shibli
12. Nigeria - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Haiti - Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*
1. UK - A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
2. China - 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
3. USA - Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
4. India - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5. France - Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi
6. Italy - The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
7. Hungary - The Proof by Agota Kristof
8. Iceland - The Creator by Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir
9. Finland - Travelling Light by Tove Jansson
10. Australia - All The Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
11. Palastine - Touch by Adania Shibli
12. Nigeria - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Haiti - Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat
14. Chippewa - The Round House by Louise Erdrich

[bouquin]

Around the world in 80 books :

Iceland
1. Independent People (Halldor Laxness)


Ireland
2. The Butcher Boy (Patrick McCabe)
3. The Book of Evidence (John Banville)
4. The Trusting and the Maimed and Other Irish Stories (James Plunkett)
5. Mercier et Camier (Samuel Beckett)


Scotland
6. The Wasp Factory (Iain Banks)
7. How Late It Was, How Late (James Kelman)
8. The Ballad of Peckham Rye (Muriel Spark)


England
9. In the Springtime of the Year (Susan Hill)
10. Where Angels Fear to Tread (E. M. Forster)
11. The Accidental Woman (Jonathan Coe)
12. David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
13. Murder Must Advertise (Dorothy L. Sayers)
14. Regeneration (Pat Barker)
15. Black Dogs (Ian McEwan)
16. The Third Man and The Fallen Idol (Graham Greene)


Portugal
17. All the Names (José Saramago)


Spain
18. Un Cœur Si Blanc (Javier Marias)


France
19. La Place de l'Etoile (Patrick Modiano)
20. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Victor Hugo)
21. Exercices de Style (Raymond Queneau)
22. Journal d'un Corps (Daniel Pennac)


Switzerland
23. The Swiss Family Robinson (Johann Wyss)


Germany
24. The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (Heinrich Böll)
25. Le Stechlin (Theodor Fontane)
26. The Emigrants (W. G. Sebald)
27. Perfume (Patrick Süskind)
28. The Quest for Christa T. (Christa Wolf)
29. Eva's Cousin (Sybille Knauss)


Netherlands
30. Max Havelaar (Multatuli)


Denmark
31. Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (Peter Hoeg)


Norway
32. La Faim (Knut Hamsun)


Sweden
33. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Steig Larsson)
34. Meurtriers Sans Visage (Henning Mankell)


Czech Republic
35. The Castle (Franz Kafka)


Austria
36. La Pianiste (Elfriede Jelinek)
37. Amok (Stefan Zweig)
38. Wittgenstein's Nephew (Thomas Bernhard)


Italy
39. The Leopard (Giuseppe di Lampedusa)
40. If This is a Man (Primo Levi)


Albania
41. Froides Fleurs d'Avril (Ismail Kadaré)


Serbia
42. Le Pont Sur Le Drina (Ivo Andric)


Hungary
43. Les Braises (Sandor Maraï)


Belarus
44. Un Eté à Baden-Baden (Leonid Tsypkin)


Russia
45. The Life of Insects (Victor Pelevin)
46. Le Voyageur Enchanté (Nicolaï Leskov)
47. Pères et Fils (Ivan Tourgueniev)


Turkey
48. My Name is Red (Orhan Pamuk)


India
49. The Home and the World (Rabindranath Tagore)


Japan
50. Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami)


Philippines
51. The Mango Bride (Marivi Soliven)


Australia
52. Oscar and Lucinda (Peter Carey)
53. Voss (Patrick White)


New Zealand
54. Bliss and Other Stories (Katherine Mansfield)


Chile
55. La Maison aux Esprits (Isabel Allende)


Argentina
56. L'Année où le Lion S'est Echappé (Carlos Sampayo)


Peru
57. The Green House (Mario Vargas Llosa)


Colombia
58. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)


Cuba
59. Le Royaume de ce Monde (Alejo Carpentier)


Mexico
60. Like Water for Chocolate (Laura Esquivel)


U. S. A.
61. So Long, See You Tomorrow (William Maxwell)
62. The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros)
63. Housekeeping (Marilynne Robinson)
64. The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway)
65. Cannery Row (John Steinbeck)
66. Farewell, My Lovely (Raymond Chandler)
67. Lullaby (Chuck Palahniuk)
68. Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zola Neale Hurston)
69. Cat's Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut)
70. Franny and Zooey (J. D. Salinger)
71. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)


Canada
72. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
73. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)


South Africa
74. Life & Times of Michael K (J. M. Coetzee)
75. Cry, the Beloved Country (Alan Paton)
76. Selected Stories (Nadine Gordimer)


Zimbabwe
77. Nervous Conditions (Tsitsi Dangarembga)


Nigeria
78. Waiting for an Angel (Helon Habila)
79. A Man of the People (Chinua Achebe)


Egypt
80. Dérives sur le Nil (Naguib Mahfouz)

[Dark Muse]

*Updated*


1.Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

13. Mexico - Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo

14. New Zeland - The Bone People by Keri Hulme

15. Iran - My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad

16. Scotland - Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

17. Iceland - Iceland's Bell by Halldor Laxness

18. Australia - Jacke Maggs by Peter Carey

19. Finland - Purge by Sofi Oksanen

20. Greece - Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

[papayahed]

3. USA - Sewer, Gas & Electric. The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff
4. Ireland - Dracula by Bram Stoker
5. Mexico - The Strain by Guillermo De Toro and Chuck Hogan

6. Peru- Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa

[papayahed]

1. England - Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
2. Russia - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
3. USA - Sewer, Gas & Electric. The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff
4. Ireland - Dracula by Bram Stoker
5. Mexico - The Strain by Guillermo De Toro and Chuck Hogan
6. Peru- Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa
7. Australia - Only in Spain by Nellie Bennett
8. Canada - Star Wars: Darth Bane Trilogy Book 1 by Drew Karpyshyn


The last two seem like a technicality but I'm claiming them anyways (until I read something else from those countries).

[Marbles]

Interesting topic. It's good to see people endeavouring to internationalise their reading habits. An old thread but I think it's always relevant. I was taking stock of the novels I have read this year and I think my list is a bit more diverse than it was in the last two years. If I have read multiple novels from one country, I am listing only one book.

What about dual nationals? Immigrants? Is Milan Kundera's later French works qualify as French novels? He's is originally a Czech native and wrote his early novels in Czech language? Should Nabokov be classified as Russian or American if we're reading one of his novels which were written originally in Russian? Is Salman Rushdie Indian or British? Was Khalil Gibran, who like Nabokov wrote with equal facility in his native Arabic as well as adopted English, Lebanese or American? Do you conciser V.S. Naipaul to be Caribbean, or Indian or British, or Indian-Caribbean-British?

1. Turkey: Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
2. Russia: The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
3. Czech Republic or Czechoslovakia: The Joke by Milan Kundera
4. Pakistan: Trespassing by Uzma Aslam Khan
5. Brazil: The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis
6. India: Fire on the Mountain by Anita Desai
7. Argentina - Ficciones by J.L.Borges (partial)
8. Colombia - Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Marquez
9. France - Selected Stories by Honoré de Balzac
10. Canada - The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
11. United States - The Pearl by John Steinbeck
12. England - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
13. Albania - The Palace of Dreams by Ismail Kadare
14. Japan - Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
15. Nigeria - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
16. Switzerland? - Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
17. Sudan - Minaret by Leila Aboulela
18. Ireland - The Gathering by Anne Enright
19. Lebanon/France(?) - Samarkand by Amin Maalouf

Hmmm only 19 countries. No good!

If I include poetry, then

20. Romania - Selected Poems by Paul Celan
21. Chile - The Captain's Verses by Pablo Neruda
22. Arabia/medieval Syria - The Diwan of Abu'l-Ala Al-Ma'arri by tr. Henry Baerlein
23. Iran/Persia - The Diwan of Hafiz Shirazi (partial)
24. Occupied Palestine - A River Dies of Thirst by Mahmood Darwish (still reading)
25. Poland - I Wrote Stone by Ryszard Kapuściński (still reading)

And quite a lot of poetry from various countries mentioned in the novel section mostly from the UK, medieval Persia and pre-colonial Indian Subcontinent.

[Dark Muse]

What about dual nationals? Immigrants? Is Milan Kundera's later French works qualify as French novels? He's is originally a Czech native and wrote his early novels in Czech language? Should Nabokov be classified as Russian or American if we're reading one of his novels which were written originally in Russian? Is Salman Rushdie Indian or British? Was Khalil Gibran, who like Nabokov wrote with equal facility in his native Arabic as well as adopted English, Lebanese or American? Do you conciser V.S. Naipaul to be Caribbean, or Indian or British, or Indian-Caribbean-British?

I struggled with that question myself, sometimes I am not quite sure who should be counted for what. I myself wasn't quite sure how I should classify V.S. Naipaul and I also could not decide if I should count Conrad as a Polish writer or English/British author.

I would say it really is just a judgement call on each individual reader.

[Marbles]

I struggled with that question myself, sometimes I am not quite sure who should be counted for what. I myself wasn't quite sure how I should classify V.S. Naipaul and I also could not decide if I should count Conrad as a Polish writer or English/British author.

I would say it really is just a judgement call on each individual reader.

Yes, and this raises important questions as to how we classify literature in our times. There are so many good writers today with complex backgrounds and diverse life experiences, and writing in native and/or adopted languages about topics we'd normally not associate with them, that the old classifications of literature based on writers' countries of origin and/or nationality seem unfit to me. I think rapid globalisation and demographic changes which really began after WWII have now matured to the point that we perhaps need to move forward to the spirit of the Middle Ages when only the content and the language mattered (even language was secondary). No one really cared where you came from and which king you were a subject of, or a citizen of xyz country in today's political terminology, as long as you had a good thing to say. I think modern international zeitgeist is returning to the same old outlook that was in currency before the concepts of nation-state and exclusiveness of one's ethnicity and language took root.

Apart from the difficulty of assigning nation-states to writers like Naipaul and Kundera, there is a further question of the carrier language. Should the language of writing be also considered together with nationality? For example, many people whose native or first language is not English or French or Spanish are writing in those languages without being dual citizens or migrants. Just take on look at English novels coming from India, which is a established tradition for a long time, and relatively recently from Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Or consider French writing from the countries of the Maghreb. How would you classify writers from those African and South Asian countries setting their stories in the West and writing in Western languages? Or conversely, what about this guy? (http://tribune.com.pk/story/711627/french-author-becomes-an-urdu-novelist-after-coming-to-pakistan/)

Nobel Committee still insists that novelists/poets write in their 'own' language (whatever they mean by it) to be considered a representative writer from that country (what about countries where there are multiple languages?) Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk who won the Nobel a few years ago wouldn't have got the prize if his novels were written originally in German, which he's very capable of doing.

Although for the majority this is not a problem as they tend to write in the language of the country where they hold nationality, but as we come across more and more major cases of blurred identities of nationality and language, and even of subject matter, do you think we should rethink current classifications?

[lichtrausch]

I think it's unwise to categorize literature by the nationality or heritage of a writer. Otherwise you end up with absurdities like Never Let Me Go being classified as Japanese literature. Categorizing by language isn't ideal either, but at least the original language of a work says something about the work. Even in the case of South Asian literature written in English, you know that the work necessarily borrows from the traditions of English-language literature, because South Asian writers haven't reinvented the English literary language, only adapted it somewhat.

[Marbles]

Even in the case of South Asian literature written in English, you know that the work necessarily borrows from the traditions of English-language literature, because South Asian writers haven't reinvented the English literary language, only adapted it somewhat.

It is my observation that in the case of South Asian literature in English there's a big gulf between novels written directly in English and those produced in national/local languages. In this case the choice of language determines to a great extent one's point of view, moral standpoints and cultural and intellectual references that writers make use of in their works. A sort of de facto liberal understanding of the world pervades in literature written in English, somewhat contrived and forced, and often writers set to write about the 'home society' from an outsider's point of view, not really getting under the skin of things, not really writing from inside the cultural milieu they claim to represent. Far more compelling works in translation do not get noticed but novels authored originally in English are often praised to the skies. In the case of Pakistan, for instance, how many readers of international and/or South Asian fiction know the stellar works produced by Intizar Hussain and Abdullah Hussain (both write in Urdu and have been partially translated) compared to English novelists like Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie and Nadeem Aslam (the last one a long-term migrant to the UK). I'm not familiar with Indian literature in local languages but there too as elsewhere literature produced directly in English gets a lot of more attention. So in this case it is the language which is (unfairly) determining the reach of literature produced in South Asian countries. On the contrary best literature produced in local languages in for example Japan, China, Turkey, Latin America etc is available in English in abundance.

[lichtrausch]

It is my observation that in the case of South Asian literature in English there's a big gulf between novels written directly in English and those produced in national/local languages. In this case the choice of language determines to a great extent one's point of view, moral standpoints and cultural and intellectual references that writers make use of in their works. A sort of de facto liberal understanding of the world pervades in literature written in English, somewhat contrived and forced, and often writers set to write about the 'home society' from an outsider's point of view, not really getting under the skin of things, not really writing from inside the cultural milieu they claim to represent.

I believe it. I'm really looking forward to delving into literature written in the local languages of South Asia. I plan to learn Hindi at some point down the road.

[Lady19thC]

If you want to do Denmark, how about anything by Isak Dinesen? Out of Africa, or some of her short stories? :)

[papayahed]

1. England - Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
2. Russia - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
3. USA - Sewer, Gas & Electric. The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff
4. Ireland - Dracula by Bram Stoker
5. Mexico - The Strain by Guillermo De Toro and Chuck Hogan
6. Peru- Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa
7. Australia - Only in Spain by Nellie Bennett
8. Canada - Star Wars: Darth Bane Trilogy Book 1 by Drew Karpyshyn
9. Sweden- The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg

[Marcus1]

1. China - Diary of a Madman and other stories by Lu Xun
2. Japan - Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
3. India - The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore
4. Russia - Collected Short Stories by Anton Chekhov
5. Poland - Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz
6. Hungary - A Book of Memories by Peter Nadas
7. Czech Republic - Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
8. Germany - The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
9. Austria - The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil
10. France - Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
11. Italy - If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino
12. Finland - The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
13. Norway - The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas
14. Belgium - Memories of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar
15. Denmark - The Sickness Unto Death by Søren Kierkegaard
16. Spain - Nada by Carmen Laforet
17. Portugal - The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
18. Greece - Antigone by Sophocles
19. Kenya - A Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
20. South Africa - Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
21. Cameroon - Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono
22. Senegal - So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
23. Zimbabwe - Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga + Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire
24. Nigeria - The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola + The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
25. Sudan - Seasons of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
26. Egypt - Children of Gebelawi by Naguib Mahfouz
27. Afghanistan - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
28. Mexico - Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo
29. Colombia - 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
30. Cuba - The Lost Steps by Alejo Carpentier
31. Brazil - The Passion According to G.H. by Clarice Lispector
32. Argentina - On Heroes and Tombs by Ernesto Sabato
33. Chile - The Poetry of Pablo Neruda by Pablo Neruda
34. Peru - Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa
35. Guatemala - Mulata - Miguel Ángel Asturias

[Anymodal]

From Mexico: Juan Rulfo's Pedro Páramo
From my country Argentina: Borges' Ficciones

[Marcus1]

I don't think anyone has managed to read 80 countries? Somebody prove me wrong!

[hofenho]

I went through my bookshelves/stacks to see just how many countries I already have covered, and I have to say it is more than I would have thought. Though it is still a far cry from 80 it will keep me busy reading for a while before I have to venture out.

So presently I own books by authors from these countries:

Greece
France
Italy
Russia
Spain
Japan
Turkey
Ireland
Nigeria
Norway
China
India
Poland
Australia
Serbia
Portugal
Hungary
Germany
New Zealand
Iceland
Zambia
Canada

WOW! You have good information. You better learn

[Dark Muse]

*Updated*


1.Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

13. Mexico - Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo

14. New Zeland - The Bone People by Keri Hulme

15. Iran - My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad

16. Scotland - Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

17. Iceland - Iceland's Bell by Halldor Laxness

18. Australia - Jacke Maggs by Peter Carey

19. Finland - Purge by Sofi Oksanen

20. Greece - Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

21. Hungary - Casanova in Bolzano by Sandor Marai

[Dark Muse]

*Updated*


1.Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

13. Mexico - Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo

14. New Zeland - The Bone People by Keri Hulme

15. Iran - My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad

16. Scotland - Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

17. Iceland - Iceland's Bell by Halldor Laxness

18. Australia - Jacke Maggs by Peter Carey

19. Finland - Purge by Sofi Oksanen

20. Greece - Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

21. Hungary - Casanova in Bolzano by Sandor Marai

22. Nigeria - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

23. Ireland - City of Bohane by Kevin Barry

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*
1. UK - A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
2. China - 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
3. USA - Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
4. India - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5. France - Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi
6. Italy - The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
7. Hungary - The Proof by Agota Kristof
8. Iceland - The Creator by Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir
9. Finland - Travelling Light by Tove Jansson
10. Australia - All The Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
11. Palestine - Touch by Adania Shibli
12. Nigeria - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Haiti - Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat
14. Chippewa - The Round House by Louise Erdrich
15. South Korea – The Vegetarian by Han Kang
16. Germany – The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald
17. Ireland – Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy
18. Canada – Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
19. Austria – A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter
20. Japan – Masks by Fumiko Enchi
21. Norway – Days in the History of Silence by Merethe Lindstrøm
22. Albania - Sworn Virgin by Elvira Dones

[Pike Bishop]

My taste is much more Anglo-American, but here goes:

1. Canada--Anil's Ghost by Micheal Ondaatje
2. USA--Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
3. Argentina--Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
4. Germany--Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
5. England--Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
6. Ireland--Ulysses by James Joyce
7. France--Remembrances of Things Past by Marcel Proust
8. Belgium--Collected Essays by Paul De Man
9. Denmark--The Sickness Unto Death by Soren Kierkegaard
10. Norway--Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
11. Sweden--A Dream Play by August Strindberg
12. Russia--The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
13. Italy--The Divine Comedy by Dante
14. Japan--Stained Glass Elegies by Shusaku Endo
15. Australia--The Great World by David Malouf

[ennison]

I think I'll start Antipodean and head homewards slowly. I'll begin with Sargeson's "I Saw in my Dream". I"ll head for Australia next.

[Dark Muse]

*Updated*


1.Japan - Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2. Russia - Demons by Dostoevsky

3. France - The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Dumas

4. England - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

5. India - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

6. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7. Canada - World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

8. Turkey - My Name Is Red by Orhand Pamuk

9. Norway - The Wife by Sigrid Undset

10. Portugal - Blindness by Jose Saramago

11. Germany - Faust by Goethe

12. Spain - The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

13. Mexico - Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo

14. New Zeland - The Bone People by Keri Hulme

15. Iran - My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad

16. Scotland - Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

17. Iceland - Iceland's Bell by Halldor Laxness

18. Australia - Jacke Maggs by Peter Carey

19. Finland - Purge by Sofi Oksanen

20. Greece - Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

21. Hungary - Casanova in Bolzano by Sandor Marai

22. Nigeria - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

23. Ireland - City of Bohane by Kevin Barry

24. Italy - The Leopard by Giuseppe Di Lamedusa

[Eiseabhal]

I'd like to think such an activity would be original interesting and authentic but for most it is just a way of showing off a paltry knowledge of a handful of translations

[ennison]

I wonder if Bligh's account of his voyage to Timor would be an acceptable book in this sequence.

[papayahed]

1. England - Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
2. Russia - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
3. USA - Sewer, Gas & Electric. The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff
4. Ireland - Dracula by Bram Stoker
5. Mexico - The Strain by Guillermo De Toro and Chuck Hogan
6. Peru- Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa
7. Australia - Only in Spain by Nellie Bennett
8. Canada - Star Wars: Darth Bane Trilogy Book 1 by Drew Karpyshyn
9. Sweden- The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg
10. Turkey - Snow by Orhan Pamuk
11. Israel - The Goal by Goldratt, Eliyahu M.
12. France - The Missing Link by Caroline Mondon
13. Spain - The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte

[papayahed]

1. England - Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
2. Russia - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
3. USA - Sewer, Gas & Electric. The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff
4. Ireland - Dracula by Bram Stoker
5. Mexico - The Strain by Guillermo De Toro and Chuck Hogan
6. Peru- Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa
7. Australia - Only in Spain by Nellie Bennett
8. Canada - Star Wars: Darth Bane Trilogy Book 1 by Drew Karpyshyn
9. Sweden- The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg
10. Turkey - Snow by Orhan Pamuk
11. Israel - The Goal by Goldratt, Eliyahu M.
12. France - The Missing Link by Caroline Mondon
13. Spain - The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte
14. Blitzed -Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler

[papayahed]

1. England - Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
2. Russia - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
3. USA - Sewer, Gas & Electric. The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff
4. Ireland - Dracula by Bram Stoker
5. Mexico - The Strain by Guillermo De Toro and Chuck Hogan
6. Peru- Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa
7. Australia - Only in Spain by Nellie Bennett
8. Canada - Star Wars: Darth Bane Trilogy Book 1 by Drew Karpyshyn
9. Sweden- The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg
10. Turkey - Snow by Orhan Pamuk
11. Israel - The Goal by Goldratt, Eliyahu M.
12. France - The Missing Link by Caroline Mondon
13. Spain - The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte
14. Blitzed -Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler
15. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino

[papayahed]

1. England - Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
2. Russia - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
3. USA - Sewer, Gas & Electric. The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff
4. Ireland - Dracula by Bram Stoker
5. Mexico - The Strain by Guillermo De Toro and Chuck Hogan
6. Peru- Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa
7. Australia - Only in Spain by Nellie Bennett
8. Canada - Star Wars: Darth Bane Trilogy Book 1 by Drew Karpyshyn
9. Sweden- The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg
10. Turkey - Snow by Orhan Pamuk
11. Israel - The Goal by Goldratt, Eliyahu M.
12. France - The Missing Link by Caroline Mondon
13. Spain - The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte
14. Blitzed -Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler
15. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino