Global Reading Challenge: 169/200
A personal reading project, where I endeavour to read a book from each of the 193 United Nations member states plus 7 extra* ones. My main goal is to have fun and to learn, but I do have rules for myself:
The book should be fiction, and preferably a novel. I allow plays and poetry, but non-fiction only as the very last resort
The author should have the nationality of their country. If they have lived a good portion of their life there and genuinely represent the local culture, then it's ok if they've been born somewhere else
I want to read books that represent the local literary tradition. Preferably a "classic", a book that illustrates the local culture, or a book that is famous within the country. I avoid popular and contemporary fiction, and books that play outside of the country.
*Extra states have been determined based on UNESCO membership and personal interest where I want to read more books from. This is not a political statement.
The List
Afghanistan: Atiq Rahimi - Earth and Ashes
Albania:
Algeria: Albert Camus - The Stranger (FR)
Andorra: Teresa Colom - Mlle Keaton et autres creatures (FR)
Angola: José Eduardo Agualusa - The Book of Chameleons
Antigua and Barbuda: Jamaica Kincaid - Annie John
Argentina: JL Borges - Fictions
Armenia: Raffi - The Fool
Australia: Doris Pilkington/Nugi Garimara - Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence
Austria: Elfriede Jelinek - Die Klavierspielerin
Azerbaijan: Kurban Said - Ali und Nino
Bahamas: Telcine Turner - Woman Take Two
Bahrain: Sarah Al Shafei - Yummah
Bangladesh: Begama Rokeya - Sultana's Dream
Barbados
Belarus: Uladzimir Karatkievich - King Stakh's Wild Hunt
Belgium
Belize: Zee Edgell - Beka Lamb
Benin
Bhutan: Karma Ura - The Hero with a Thousand Eyes
Bolivia: Adela Zamudio - Cuentos breves
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ivo Andrić - The Bridge on the Drina
Botswana: Bessie Head - Maru
Brazil: Paulo Coehlo - The Alchimist
Brunei Darussalam: K.H. Lim - Written in Black
Bulgaria: Elias Canetti - Komödie der Eitelkeit (GER)
Burkina Faso: Norbert Zongo - Le parachutage (FR)
Burundi: Samoya Kirura - La femme au regard triste (FR)
Cabo Verde: Germano Almeida - The Last Will & Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo
Cambodia
Cameroon: Francis Bebey - King Albert
Canada: S. Alice Callahan - Wynema: A Child of the Forest
Central African Republic: Étienne Goyémidé - Le dernier Survivant de la caravane
Chad: Told by Starlight in Chad - Joseph Brahmin Seid
Chile: Luis Sepulveda - The Old Man Who Read Love Stories
China
Colombia: Gabriel García Márquez - One hundred years of solitude
Comoros: Ali Zamir - A Girl Called Eel
Congo
Cook Islands*: Kauraka Kauraka- Oral tradition in Manihiki
Costa Rica: Carlos Luis Fallas - Mamita Yunai (Die Grüne Hölle, GER)
Côte D’Ivoire: Véronique Tadjo - Reine Pokou (FR)
Croatia
Cuba: Guillermo Cabrera Infante - Three Trapped Tigers
Cyprus: Kyriakos Charalambides - Selected Poems
Czech Republic: Jan Neruda - Prague Tales
DPRK (North Korea): Bandi - The Accusation
DRC: The Mwindo Epic (edited by Daniel Biebuyck and Kahombo C. Mateene)
Denmark
Djibouti: Abdourahman A. Waberi - Passage of Tears
Dominica: Jean Rhys - Wide Sargasso Sea
Dominican Republic: Juan Bosch - Cuentos inolvidables (SPA)
Ecuador: Jorge Icaza - Huasipungo
Egypt: Naguib Mahfouz - Palace Walk
El Salvador: Horacio Castellanos Moyà - Le bal des vipères (FR)
Equatorial Guinea: Trifonia Melibea Obono - La Bâtarde (FR)
Eritrea: Helen Berhane - Song of the Nightingale
Estonia: Jaan Kross - The Czar's Madman
Eswatini: Malla Nunn - A Beautiful Place to Die
Ethiopia
Fiji: Rajni Mala Khelawan - Kalyana
Finland: F.E. Sillanpää - Meek Heritage
France: Pierre Louys - Aphrodite: Ancient Manners
Gabon: Daniel M Mengara - Mema
Gambia
Georgia: Mikheil Javakhishvili - Kvachi
Germany: Thomas Mann - Buddenbrooks
Ghana: Ayi Kwei Armah - The beautiful ones are not yet born
Greece: Nikos Kazantzakis - Zorba the Greek
Greenland*: Knud Rasmussen - Eskimo Folktales
Grenada: Merle Collins - The Colour of Forgetting
Guatemala: Miguel Angel Asturias - Strong Wind
Guinea: Camara Laye - The Radiance of the King
Guinea Bissau: Abdulai Sila - The ultimate tragedy
Guyana
Haiti: Jacques Roumain - Gouverneurs de La Rosée
Honduras: Froylan Turcios - El Vampiro (SPA)
Hungary: Arthur Koestler - Darkness at Noon
Iceland: Halldór Laxness - Independent People
India: Rabindranath Tangore - The Home and the World
Indonesia: Eka Kurniawan - Man Tiger
Iran: Sadegh Hedayat - The Blind Owl
Iraq: Andrew George - The epic of Gilgamesh
Ireland: James Joyce - Dubliners
Israel: SY Agnon - In the heart of the seas
Italy: Italo Calvino - If on a Winter's Night a Traveller
Jamaica: Andrew Salkey - Hurricane
Japan
Jordan: Amjad Nasser - L'ascension de l'amant (FR)
Kazakhstan: Der sterbende See by Abdishamil Nurpeissow (GER)
Kenya: Ngugi wa Thiong'o - Petals of blood
Kiribati: Teresia Teaiwa & Vilsoni Hereniko - Last Virgin in paradise
Kosovo*: Flora Brovina - Call me by my name
Kuwait: Ismail Fahd - The Old Woman and the River
Kyrgyzstan: Chingiz Aitmatov - Jamila
Laos: Outhine Bounyavong - Mother's Beloved
Latvia
Lebanon: Amin Maalouf - Le rocher de Tanios
Lesotho
Liberia: Bai T. Moore - Murder in the Cassava Patch
Libya: Ibrahim Al-Koni - The bleeding of the stone
Liechtenstein
Lithuania: Vingas Kreve - The Herdsman and the Linden Tree
Luxembourg: Norbert Jacques - Dr Mabuse der Spieler (GER)
Madagascar: Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo - Traduit de La nuit (FR)
Malawi: William Kamkwamba - The Boy who harnessed the Wind
Malaysia
Maldives: Abdullah Sadiq - Dhon Hiyala and Ali Fulhu
Mali: Yambo Ouologuem - Bound to violence
Malta: Oliver Friggieri - Koranta and other short stories
Marshall Islands: Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner - Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter
Mauritania: Moussa Ould Ebnou - L'Amour Impossible (FR)
Mauritius: Ananda Devi - Eve out of her ruins
Mexico: Mario Bellatín - Beauty Salon
Micronesia: Emelihter Klieng - My Urohs
Monaco: Louis Notari - La légende de Sainte Dévote (FR)
Mongolia: Galsan Tschinag - Die Karawane (GER)
Montenegro: Petar II Petrovic Njegos - The Mountain Wreath
Morocco: Abdellatif Laâbi - Le bâpteme chacaliste (FR)
Mozambique: Mia Couto - Under the Frangipani
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru: Nancy Viviani - Nauru, phosphate and political progress
Nepal: Prajwal Parajuly - Land where I flee
Netherlands
New Zealand: Witi Ihimaera - The Whale Rider
Nicaragua: Rubén Dario - Azul… (SPA/ENG)
Niger: Abdoulaye Mamani - Sarraounia: Le drame de la reine magicienne (FR)
Nigeria: Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart
Niue*: John Puhiatau Pule - The Bond of Time: An Epic Love Poem
North Macedonia
Norway: Henrik Ibsen - A Doll's House
Oman
Pakistan: Jamil Ahmad - The Wandering Falcon
Palau: Hermana Ramarui - The Palauan Perspective: a poetry book
Panama: Ricardo Miró - Las Noches de Babel (SPA)
Palestine*: Ibrahim Nasrallah - Prairies of Fever
Papua New Guinea: Vincent Eri - The Crocodile
Paraguay: Augusto Roa Bastos - I the Supreme
Peru: Mario Vargas Llosa - In Praise of the Stepmother
Philippines: José Rizal - Noli Me Tangere
Poland: Isaac Singer - The Magician of Lublin
Portugal
Qatar: Abdulaziz Al Mahmoud - The Corsair
Republic of Korea: Yi Chung-Jon - Seopyeonje
Republic of Moldova
Romania: Ioan Slavici - The lucky mill
Russian Federation: Leo Tolstoi - The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis: Caryl Philips - Cambridge
Saint Lucia: Derek Walcott - Omeros
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa: Albert Wendt - Leaves of the Banyan Tree
San Marino: J. Theodore Bent - A freak of Freedom: or, the Republic of San Marino
São Tomé e Príncipe: Conceição Lima - No Gods Live Here
Saudi Arabia: Abdel Rahman Munif - Endings
Senegal: Ibrahima Sall - Le conte du sable fin
Serbia
Seychelles: Antoine Abel - Coco Sec (FR)
Sierra Leone
Singapore: Cyril Wong - Tilting our Plates to catch the Light
Slovakia: Milan Rúfus - Strenges Brot
Slovenia: France Prešeren - Poems
Solomon Islands: John Saunana - Cruising Through the Reverie
Somalia: Hadraawi - The Poet and the Man
South Africa: JM Coetzee - Disgrace
South Sudan: Nyuol Lueth Tong - There is a country
Spain: Miguel de Unamuno - Abel Sanchez and Other Stories
Sri Lanka
Sudan: Tayeb Salih - Saison de la Migration Vers Le nord
Suriname: Cynthia McLeod - The Cost Of Sugar
Sweden: August Strindberg - The Red Room
Switzerland: Gottfried Keller - Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe
Syrian Arab Republic: Ibn al-Nafis - Theologus Autodidactus
Taiwan*: Qiu Miaojin - Notes of a Crocodile
Tajikistan: Shavkat Niyazi - At the Foot of Blue Mountains: Stories by Tajik Authors
Thailand
Timor-Leste: Xanana Gusmão - Mar Meu
Togo: Sami Tchak - La fête des masques (FR)
Tonga: Epeli Hau'ofa - Tales of the Tikongs
Trinidad and Tobago: VS Naipaul - A House for Mr Biswas
Tunisia: Albert Memmi - The Pillar of Salt
Turkey
Turkmenistan: Magtymguly - Poems from Turkmenistan
Tuvalu: Neil Lifuka - Logs in the current of the sea
Uganda: Okot p'Bitek - Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol
Ukraine: Andrey Kurkov - Death and the Penguin
United Arab Emirates: Mohammad Al-Murr - Dubai Tales and Other Stories from the Gulf
UK: Virginia Woolf - Mrs Dalloway
United Republic of Tanzania
USA: John Steinbeck - Grapes of Wrath
Uruguay: Horacio Quiroga - The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories
Uzbekistan: Abdullah Qoqiriy - Bygone Days
Vanuatu: Grace Molisa - Black Stone
Vatican City*: Andrew Graham-Dixon - Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel
Venezuela: Romulo Gallagos - Doña Barbara
Viet Nam
Yemen: Abdul-wali - They die strangers
Zambia
Zimbabwe



















