willoyd Report post Posted January 11 (edited) As June said in the first post of her trip round the world's nations, I've been thinking about this for some time. Given that I've only just reached the half-way point of my Tour of the USA, it's probably a bit precipitate to start a new challenge, but I think I can handle too, and having seen June complete her journey recently, I'm inspired to get going on mine, so two challenges it is! In terms of places I've decided to start with: + the 193 full member countries the United Nations +.the 2 observer countries: Vatican City, Palestine + an ex-member: Taiwan + the United Kingdom split into its 4 constituent countries (I've read loads of English literature, but little from the others) + the only continent otherwise not represented in this tour: Antarctica which takes me to 200, a good starting point, although that may well change as things progress. As for criteria in choosing each book, I'm going for aims rather than rules, simply because I suspect, from reading others' challenges, it would be nigh on impossible to find books which I can read (eg most will need to be available in translation) that satisfy similar conditions to those I used in my Tour of the USA. So, my main aim is to read an example of adult literature set in the country with an author born in or a citizen of that country (or resident as next best) - books regarded as 'classics' (modern or older) preferred. I will generally go for fiction,but, again unlike my Tour of the USA, non-fiction is allowed; it may even, on occasions, be preferred if I think it gives more insight into the country and/or its literature. A late resort would be a book about the country written by someone who is neither from nor a resident (eg, a history of...). As well, whichever 'criteria' are satisfied, it will have to be a book I haven't read before.- this is about expanding my literary experience after all! To keep posts manageable, I'm splitting countries up by continents in the checklists below: Europe; Africa; Asia; North America; South America and Oceania/Antarctica. Books in blue are those that have been read. Books in black are suggestions. Read to date: 3 / 200 Edited May 1 by willoyd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
willoyd Report post Posted January 11 (edited) Europe (0/48) Albania: Broken April / Chronicle in Stone - Ismail Kadare Andorra: The Teacher of Cheops - Albert Salvado Austria: The Exiles' Return - Elizabeth de Waal; The Tobacconist - Robert Seethaler; Peter Handke, Beware of Pity - Stefan Zweig, Vienna Passion - Lilian Faschinger Belarus: King Stakh's Wild Hunt - Uladzimir Karatkevich, Svetlana Alexievich (NF), Alindarka's Children - Alhierld Bakharevich Belgium: The Sorrow of Belgium - Hugo Claus Bosnia and Hezorgovina: The Bridge over the Drina - Ivo Andric Bulgaria: Under The Yoke - Ivan Vazov, Bai Ganyo - Aleko Konstantinov, East of the West - Miroslav Penkov (shorts), Auto da Fe - Elias Canetti Croatia: Our Man in Iraq - Robert Perisic, The Ministry of Pain/Baba Yaga Laid An Egg - Dubravka Ugresic Cyprus: Margarita's Husband - Andriana Ierodiaconou, Ledra Street - Nora Nadjarian (shorts) Czech Republic: Closely Watched Trains - Bohumil Hrabel, The Good Soldier Svejk - Jaroslave Hasek Denmark A History of Danish Dreams - Peter Hoeg; We The Drowned - Carsten Jensen, The Angelic Avengers - Isak Dinesen England: The Good Companions - JB Priestley Estonia: The Autumn Ball - Mati Unt, Border State - Tonu Onepalu, Treading Air - Jaan Kross Finland: The True Deceiver - Tove Jansson France: Les Miserables - Victor Hugo; La Curee - Emile Zola; Life, A User's Manual - Georges Perec Germany: The Tin Drum - Gunter Grass; Buddenbrooks - Thomas Mann Greece: The Murderess - Alexandros Papadiamantis, The Scapegoat - Sophia Nikolaidou, Why I Killed My Best Friend - Amanda Michalopoulou, Zorba the Greek/Report to Greco - Nikos Kazantzakis Hungary: The Door/Katalin Street - Magda Szabo Iceland: Independent People - Halldor Laxness Ireland: Ulysses - James Joyce Italy: The Leopard - Giuseppe di Lampedusa; The Garden of the Finzi-Continis - Giorgio Bassani Latvia: The Book of Riga - various (shorts), Flesh-Coloured Dominoes - Zigmunds Skujins Liechtenstein: Die letzte Reise der Hindenburg - Armin Ohri; Stamping Grounds - Charlie Connolly (NF). Lithuania: White Shroud - Antanas Skema, Tula - Jurgis Kuncinas, Vilnius Poker - Ricardas Gavelis, The Last Book Smuggler - Birute Putrius Luxembourg: The Pleasure of Drowning - Jean Burlesk Malta: In the Name of the Father (and of the Son) - Immanuel Mifsud, Children Come By Ship/others - Oliver Friggieri Moldova: The Good Life Elsewhere - Vladimir Lorchenkov Monaco: Making Monte Carlo - Mark Braude (NF) Montenegro: The Son/The Coming - Andrej Nikolaidis Netherlands: The Dark Room of Domocles - Willem Hermans, The Assault / The Discovery of Heaven - Harry Mulisch, The Evenings - Gerard Reve Northern Ireland: The Watch House - Bernie McGill North Macedonia: My Husband - Rumena Buzarovska (shorts) Norway: The Ice Palace / The Birds - Tarjei Vesaas Poland: The Books of Jacob/Flights / Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk, The Issa Valley - Cselaw Milosz. Isaac Bashevis Singer Portugal: All The Names / The Stone Raft / The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago Romania: Nostalgia - Mircea Cartarescu, Life Begins On Friday - Iona Parvulescu Russia: Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky; Life and Fate - Vasily Grossman San Marino: The Republic of San Marino - Giuseppe Rossi Scotland: Waverley by Walter Scott Serbia: The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obreht Slovakia: Rivers of Babylon - Peter Pistanek, Night Circus and other stories - Ursula Kovalyk (shorts) Slovenia: Alamut - Vladimir Bartol, The Harvest of Chronos - Mojca Kumerdej Spain: Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes; Nada - Carmen Laforet Sweden: The Red Room / The People of Hemso - August Strindberg; To Cook A Bear - Mikael Niemi; The Saga of Gosta Berling - Selma Lagerlof Switzerland: I'm Not Stiller - Max Frisch. The Assistant - Robert Walser Ukraine: Death and the Penguin - Andrei Kurkov, Voroshilovgrad - Serhiy Zhadan Vatican City: When In Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City - Robert Hutchinson (NF) Wales: One Moonlit Night - Caradog Prichard Edited May 1 by willoyd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
willoyd Report post Posted January 11 (edited) Africa (2/54) Algeria: What the Day Owes the Night - Yasmina Khadra; Fantasia - Assia Djebar Angola: Transparent City - Ondjaki, The Book of Chameleons - Jose Eduardo Agualusa Benin: books by Florent Couao-Zotti (in French) Botswana: A Question of Power - Bessie Head Burkina Faso: The Parachute Drop - Nobert Zongo Burundi: Baho! - Roland Rugero Cameroon: Mission to Kala - Mongo Beti Cape Verde: The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo - Germano Almeida Central African Republic: Daba's Travels from Ouadda to Bangui/Princess Mandapu (in French) - Makombo Bambote Chad: Told By Starlight in Chad - Joseph Brahim Seid Cormoros: A Girl Called Eel - Ali Zamir Congo, DR: Before the Birth of the Moon - Valentin Y Mudimbe Congo, Rep: Broken Glass/Black Moses - Alain Mabanckou Cote d'Ivoire: In the Company of Men / As the Crow Flies (and other) - Veronique Tadjo Djibouti: In the United States of Africa - Abdourahman Waberi Egypt: Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy v1) - Naguib Mahfouz Equatorial Guinea: By Night the Mountain Burns - Juan Tomas Avila Laurel, Shadows of Your Black Memory - Donato Ndongo Eritrea: The Consequences of Love - Suleiman Addonia, Gratitude in Low Voices - Dawit Gebremichael Habte (NF) Eswatini: Weeding the Flowerbeds - Sarah Mkhonza (NF), When the Ground Is Hard - Malla Nunn (YA) Ethiopia: Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese Gabon: Mema - Daniel M Mengara Gambia: Reading the Ceiling - Dayo Forster Ghana: Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi; The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born - Ayi Kwei Armah; Search Sweet Country - Kojo Laing Guinea: The Dark Child - Camara Laye (NF) Guinea-Bissau: The Ultimate Tragedy - Abdulai Sila Kenya: A Grain of Wheat / The River Between - Ngugi wa Thiongo'o Lesotho: Chaka/Traveller To The East - Thomas Mofolo Liberia: She Would Be King - Wayetu Moore Libya: The Bleeding of the Stone - Ibrahim al-Koni; In the Country of Men - Hisham Matar Madagascar: Beyond the Rice Fields - Naivo Malawi: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba (NF) Mali: The Fortunes of Wangrin - Amadou Hampate Ba Mauritania: The Desert and the Drum - Mbarek Ould Beyrouk Mauritius: The Last Brother - Nathacha Appanah Morocco:: The Sand Child - Tahar Ben Jelloun, The Year of the Elephant - Leila Abouzeid: Mozambique: Woman of the Ashes - Mia Couto Namibia: The Purple Violets of Oshaantu - Neshani Andreas; Born of the Sun/Troubled Waters - Joseph Diescho Niger: The Epic of Askia Mohammed - Thomas Hale/Nouhou Malio Nigeria: Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe Rwanda: Small Country - Gael Faye Sao Tome and Principe: Equator - Miguel Sousa Tavares Senegal: So Long A Letter - Mariama Ba, God's Bits of Wood - Ousmane Sembene Seychelles: Voices (shorts) / Kolony - Glynn Burridge Sierra Leone: The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar - Syl Cheney-Choker Somalia: Crossbones / From A Cracked Rib - Nuruddin Farah South Africa: The Promise - Damon Galgut South Sudan: There Is A Country - Nyuol Luoth Tong (ed-shorts); Eddo's Souls - Stella Gaitano (due out 2022 - Dedalus) Sudan: Season of Migration to the North - Tayeb Salih Tanzania: Abdulrazak Gurnah Togo: An African in Greenland - Tete-Michel Kpomassie (NF) Tunisia: The Pillar of Salt - Albert Memmi Uganda: Kintu - Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi Zambia: The Old Drift - Namwali Serpell Zimbabwe: The House of Hunger - Dambudzo Marechera; We Need New Names - NoViolet Bulawayo, Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga Edited May 1 by willoyd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
willoyd Report post Posted January 11 (edited) Asia (0/48) Afghanistan: The Patience Stone / Earth and Ashes - Atiq Rahimi; The Wasted Vigil - Nadeem Aslam Armenia: Three Apples Fell From The Sky - Narine Abgaryan Azerbaijan: Ali and Nino - Kurban Said, Days in the Caucasus - Banine Bahrain: Yummah - Sarah A. Al Shafei Bangladesh: A Golden Age - Tahmima Anam; The Book of Dhaka - shorts Bhutan: The Circle of Karma - Choden Kunzang Brunei: Written in Black - KH Lim Cambodia: In the Shadow of the Banyan - Vaddey Ratner China: The Garlic Ballads / Red Sorghum - Mo Yan Georgia: Flight From The USSR (Jeans Generation) - Dato Turashvili; The Book of Tblisi (shorts) India: A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry; The God of Small Things - Rohinton Mistry Indonesia: The Earth of Mankind - Pramoedya Ananta Toer Iran: Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi (NF), Touba and the Meaning of Night - Shahrnush Parsipur, Savushun - Simin Daneshvar Iraq: Prophecy of Pharaoh - Maysalun Hadi Israel: Judas - Amos Oz, More Than I Love My Life/To The End Of The Land - David Grossman Japan: Snow Country - Yasunari Kawabata; Kobo Abe, Shusaka Endo Jordan: Times of White Horses/others - Ibrahim Nasrallah Kazakhstan: The Silent Steppe/Surviving the Silent Steppe Mukhamet Shayakhmetov Korea, North: The Accusation - Bandi Korea, South: The Vegetarian/Human Acts Han Kang Kuwait: Mama Hissa's Mice - Said Alsanousi Kyrgyzstan: Jamilia / The White Ship - Chinghiz Aitmatov Laos: Mother's Belove: Stories from Laos - Outhine Bounyavong Lebanon: The Prophet - Khali Gibran, The Tiller of Waters - Hoda Barakat Malaysia: the Garden of Evening Mists/The Gift of Rain - Tan Twang Eng Maldives: Dhon Hiyala and Ali Fulhu - Abdullah Sadiz Mongolia: The Blue Sky - Galsan Tschinag Myanmar: Smile As They Bow - Nu Nu Yi Nepal: The Tutor of History/others - Manjushree Thapa; Samrat Upadhyay; Karnali Blues - Buddhisagar Oman: Celestial Bodies - Jokha Alharthi Pakistan: Basti - Intizar Husain, The Wandering Falcon - Jamil Ahmad Palestine: Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands - Sonia Nimr; Minor Detail - Adania Shibli Philippines: Illustrado - Miguel Syjuco; Noli Me Tangere - Jose Rizal Qatar: The Corsair by Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud Saudi Arabia: The Ruins Of Us - Keija Parssinen; The Dove's Necklace - Raja Alem; Girls of Riyadh - Rajaa Alsanea Singapore: Fistful of Colours / The River's Song - Suchen Christine Lim Sri Lanka Syria: The Frightened Ones - Dima Wannous Tajikistan: Hurramabad - Andrei Volos Taiwan Thailand Timor-Leste: Eyewitness - Seno Ajidarma (1994) Turkey: Snow - Orhan Pamuk Turkmenistan: The Tale of Aypi - AK Welsapar, Unknown Sands - John Knopf (memoir) UAE Uzbekistan: Heirs to the Great Sinner San'On - Erkin A'zam (2010) Vietnam: The Sorrow of War - Bao Ninh (1990) Yemen Edited May 1 by willoyd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
willoyd Report post Posted January 11 (edited) North America (1/23) Antigua and Barbuda: Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid Bahamas Barbados: In the Castle of My Skin - George Lamming Belize Canada: Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood; Runaway by Alice Munro Costa Rica Cuba: Oscar Hijuelos? Dominica: Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys Dominican Republic: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz El Salvador Grenada Guatemala: The President - Miguel Angel Asturias Haiti: The Dew Breaker - Edwidge Danticat Honduras Jamaica: Augustown - Kai Miller Mexico: Down the Rabbit Hole / Quesadillas - Juan Pablo Villalobos; The Death of Artemio Cruz - Carlos Fuentes, Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel Nicaragua Panama St Kitts and Nevis St Lucia St Vincent and Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago: A House for Mr Biswas - VS Naipaul; The White Woman on the Green Bicycle - Monique Roffey United States: Beloved - Toni Morrison Edited May 1 by willoyd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
willoyd Report post Posted January 11 (edited) South America (0/12) Argentina: The Tango Singer - Tomas Eloy Martinez Bolivia Brazil: The Violent Land - Jorge Amado Chile: The House of Spirits - Isabel Allende Colombia: One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru: Red April - Santiago Roncagliolo; book by Maria Vargas Llosa Suriname Uruguay: Who Among Us / The Truce - Mario Benedetti Venezuala Oceania and Antarctica (0/15) Antarctica: Antarctic Navigation -Elizabeth Arthur Australia: Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey; Cloudstreet - Tim Winton; Voss - Patrick White Fiji Kiribati Marshall Is Micronesia Nauru New Zealand: Owls Do Cry - Janet Frame; Potiki - Patricia Grace (Maori) Palau Papua NG Samoa Solomon Is Tonga: Tales of the Tikongs - Epeli Hau'ofa Tuvalu Vanuatu Edited April 28 by willoyd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
willoyd Report post Posted January 11 (edited) Spare Edited January 11 by willoyd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
willoyd Report post Posted January 31 (edited) First of the 200 completed, kicking off with South Africa, and a great start too: Damon Galgut's Booker Prize-winning The Promise, a relatively rare occasion when I agree completely with the judges - this was a brilliant read. It's chatty, unrelentingly driven, not pretty (characters get killed off in a variety of natural and man-made ways), and really gets its claws into you - I couldn't read it in particularly large chunks (most was around 80 pages), but I couldn't wait to get back to it either. 5 out of 6 stars. Edited January 31 by willoyd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
willoyd Report post Posted March 11 (edited) Second up was In the United States of Africa by Abdouhrahman Waberi, from Djibouti. This was a slim volume (123 pages) with an interesting premise - Africa being the first world continent, and Europe and North America being the third world. The main protagonist, Maya, is a European born white girl adopted by a black couple, who travels to France to look for her birth mother. It's a challenging read, requiring considerable concentration, but is written with a strongly poetic rhythm and style; there's some real bubbles of humour in amongst otherwise fairly stark material.. The last quarter, in France, is the easiest section of the book to read, leading to a sense of acceleration towards the finish. I do think, though, that the author could have perhaps made more of what was a fascinating premise. Even so, it proved an very interesting read (4 stars), and one that positively demands I return to it in the near future. Edited March 31 by willoyd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
willoyd Report post Posted March 31 Book #3: Beloved by Toni Morrison for the United States. Review to follow. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
