Wednesday 29 June 2016

Travel the World Through Books

As mentioned in my post "Die Ländersammlerin" [The collector of Countries] by Nina Sedano, I would like to read a book about or written by someone from all those states. I might even add the two observer states (Palestine and Vatican City), and 11 other states (Abkhazia/Georgia, Cook Islands/associated w. New Zealand, Kosovo/Serbia, Nagorno-Karabakh/Azerbeijan, Niue/associated w. New Zealand, Northern Cyprus/Cyprus, Sahrawi/Morocco, Somaliland/Somalia, South Ossetia/Georgia, Taiwan/China, and Transnistria/Moldova - the second part is always the country that claims the first). We'll see about that.

I have startetd to list one book each under the countries where I have read a book ... still a lot missing. For some of them, I have a suggestion already but I'm open for more. Therefore, I'd be grateful for everyone who suggests a book to me to fill the missing countries. Thank you.


Afghanistan
Hosseini, Khaled "And the Mountains Echoed" - 2013 

Albania  
Kadaré, Ismail "The Fall of the Stone City" (aka Chronicle in Stone) (Albanian: Darka e Gabuar) - 1971
Algeria  
Camus, Albert "The Plague" (French: La Peste) - 1947 Nobel Prize     

Andorra  
Angola  
Antigua and Barbuda  
Argentina   
Osorio, Elsa "My Name is Light" (Spanish: A veinte años, Luz) - 1998
Armenia  
Australia  
Grenville, Kate "The Secret River" - 2005
Austria  
Haushofer, Marlen "The Wall" (German: Die Wand) - 1962
Azerbaijan

Grjasnowa, Olga "All Russians Love Birch Trees" (German: Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt) - 2012
Bahamas  
Bahrain  
Bangladesh  
Ali, Monica "Brick Lane" - 2003
Barbados  
Belarus  
Alexievich, Svetlana "Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster" (Russian: Чернобыльская молитва = Černobylskaja molitva) - 2006 Nobel Prize    
Belgium  
Belize  
Benin  
Bhutan  
Bolivia  
Bosnia and Herzegovina  
Filipović, Zlata "Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo" (Bosnian: Zlatin dnevnik: otroštvo v obleganem Sarajevu) - 1993
Botswana  
McCall Smith, Alexander "The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency" Series
Brazil  
Azevedo, Francisco "Once Upon a Time in Rio" (Portuguese: O Arroz de Palma) - 2008
Brunei Darussalam  
Bulgaria  
Burkina Faso  
Burundi   

Cabo Verde 
Cambodia  
Ung, Loung "First they killed my father. A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" - 2000
Cameroon   

Mbue, Imbolo "Behold the Dreamers" - 2016
Canada  
Lawson, Mary "Crow Lake" - 2002
Central African Republic  
Chad   

Chechnya 
Chile  
Allende, Isabel "The House of the Spirits" (Spanish: La Casa de los Espíritus) - 1982
China  
Mo, Yan "Red Sorghum Clan" (Chinese: 红高粱家族  Hóng gāoliang jiāzú) - 1987 Nobel Prize     

Colombia  
García Márquez, Gabriel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (Spanish: Cien años de soledad) - 1967 Nobel Prize          

Comoros  
Congo (Republic of the)  
Kingsolver, Barbara "The Poisonwood Bible" - 1988
Costa Rica  
Côte d’Ivoire  
Croatia   
Štimec, Spomenka "Croatian War Nocturnal" (Kroata Milita Noktlibro) - 1993
Cuba  
Hemingway, Ernest "The Old Man and the Sea" - 1952 Nobel Prize  
Cyprus  
Hislop, Victoria "The Sunrise" - 2014 
Czechia  
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea  
Johnson, Adam "The Orphan Master's Son" - 2012
Democratic Republic of the Congo  
Conrad, Joseph "Heart of Darkness" - 1902
Denmark  
Høeg, Peter "Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow" (Danish: Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne) - 1992
Djibouti  
Dominica  
Dominican Republic  
Alvarez, Julia "In the Time of the Butterflies" - 1994
Ecuador  
Egypt  
Mahfouz, Naguib "Children of Gebelawi" (aka Children of our Alley;  اولاد حارتنا Awlād ḥāritnā) - 1959 Nobel Prize  
El Salvador  
Equatorial Guinea  
Eritrea  
Estonia   

Kross, Jaan "Professor Martens' Departure" (Professor Martensi ärasõit) - 1984
Ethiopia  
Hirsi Ali, Ayaan "Infidel: My Life" (Dutch: Mijn Vrijheid) - 2006
Fiji  
Finland  
Jacobsen, Roy "The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles" (Finnish: Hoggerne) - 2005
France  
Hugo, Victor "Les Misérables" (French: Les Misérables) - 1862
Gabon  
Gambia  
Georgia  
Germany  
Mann, Thomas "Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family" (German: Buddenbrooks) - 1901 Nobel Prize  
Ghana  
Greece  
Karystiani, Ionna (Ιωάννα Καρυστιάνη) "The Jasmine Isle" (Greek: Μικρά Αγγλία = Mikra Anglia) - 1997
Grenada  
Guatemala  
Guinea  
Guinea-Bissau 
Guyana  
Haiti  
Danticat, Edwidge "Breath, Eyes, Memory" - 1994
Honduras
Hungary  
Kertész, Imre "Fateless" or "Fatelessness" (Hungarian: Sorstalanság) - 1975 Nobel Prize  
Iceland  
Sturluson, Snorri "Egil's Saga" (Icelandic: Egils saga Skallagrímssonar) - 1240
India  
Seth, Vikram "A Suitable Boy" - 1993
Indonesia   

Hirata, Andrea "The Rainbow Troops" (Lasykar Pelangi) - 2005
Iran  
Abdolah, Kader (Hossein Sadjadi Ghaemmaghami Farahani) "The House of the Mosque" (Dutch: Het huis van de moskee) - 2005
Iraq  
Rowlatt, Bee & Witwit, May "Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad. The True Story of an Unlikely Friendship" - 2010
Ireland  
Joyce, James "Ulysses" - 1922
Israel - Palestine  Oz, Amos "A Tale of Love and Darkness" (Hebrew: סיפור על אהבה וחוHשך, Sipur) - 2002
Italy  
Levi, Primo "If Not Now, When?" (Italian: Se non ora, quando?) - 1982
Jamaica  
Rhys, Jean "Wide Sargasso Sea" - 1966
Japan  
Murakami, Haruki "Norwegian Wood" (Japanese: Noruwei no mori, ノルウェイの森) - 1987
Jordan  
Noor Al-Hussein, Queen of Jordan "A Leap of Faith: Memoir of an Unexpected Life" - 2003
Kazakhstan  
Kenya  
Dinesen, Isak/Blixen, Karen "Out of Africa" - 1937
Kiribati  
Kosovo   

Kuwait   
Kyrgyzstan  
Aitmatov, Chinghiz "Jamila" (Russian: Джамиля - Jamilia) - 1958
Lao People’s Democratic Republic   
Latvia  
Lebanon  
Gibran, Khalil "The Prophet" - 1923 
Lesotho   
Liberia  
Libya  
Liechtenstein
Lithuania 
Odell, Catherine M. "Faustina. Apostle of Divine Mercy" - 1998
Luxembourg 
Macedonia, The former Yugoslav Republic of  
Madagascar  
Malawi  
Malaysia  
Maldives  
Mali  
Malta  
Marshall Islands  
Mauritania  
Mauritius   
Mexico  
Runcie, James "The Discovery of Chocolate" - 2001
Micronesia (Federated States of)  
Monaco  
Mongolia  
Montenegro  
Morocco  
Benali, Abdelkader "Wedding by the Sea" (Dutch: Bruiloft aan zee) - 1996

Falcones, Ildefonso "The Hand of Fatima" (Spanish: La mano de Fátima) - 2009
Mozambique  
Myanmar  
Ghosh, Amitav "The Glass Palace" - 2000

Craig, Charmaine "Miss Burma" - 2017
Namibia  
Mankell, Henning "Daniel" (Swedish: Vindens son) - 200
Nauru  
Nepal  
Netherlands  
Mulisch, Harry "The Discovery of Heaven" (Dutch: De Ontdekking van de hemel) - 1992
New Zealand  
Scott, Mary "Breakfast at Six" - 1953
Nicaragua  
Niger  
Nigeria  
Achebe, Chinua "Things Fall Apart" - 1958

Adichie, Chimamanda Nogzi "Half of a Yellow Sun" - 2006
Le Clézio, Jean-Marie Gustave "The African" (French: L'Africain) - 2004 Nobel Prize  
Norway  
Hamsun, Knut "Pan" (Norwegian: Pan) - 1894 Nobel Prize  
Oman   
Pakistan  
Yousafzai, Malala; Lamb, Christina "I am Malala. The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban" - 2013 Nobel Prize  
Palau  
Panama  
Papua New Guinea  
Paraguay 
Peru 
Vargas Llosa, Mario "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter" (Spanish: La tía Julia y el escribidor) - 1977 Nobel Prize   
Philippines  
Poland 
Powers, Charles T. "In the Memory of the Forest" - 1997

Tokarczuk, Olga "Primeval and other Times" (Polish: Prawiek i inne czasy) - 1996 Nobel Prize   
Portugal  
Saramago, José "Cain" (Portuguese: Caim) - 2009 Nobel Prize    
Qatar  
Republic of Korea  
Johnson, Adam "The Orphan Master's Son" - 2012
Republic of Moldova  
Romania  
Müller, Herta "The King Bows and Kills" (German: Der König verneigt sich und tötet) - 2003 Nobel Prize    
Russian Federation - USSR     

Dostoevsky, Fyodor "Crime and Punishment" (Russian: Преступление и наказание = Prestupleniye i nakazaniye) - 1866
Rwanda  
Ilibagiza, Immaculée with Erwin, Steve "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust" - 2006
Saint Kitts and Nevis  
Saint Lucia  
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  
Samoa  
San Marino  
Sao Tome and Principe   
Saudi Arabia    
Alsanea, Rajaa "Girls of Riyadh" (Arabic: بنات الرياض‎ Banāt al-Riyāḍ) - 2005

Trojanow, Ilija "The Collector of Worlds" (German: Der Weltensammler) - 2006
Senegal

Bâ, Mariama "So Long a Letter" (French: Une si longue lettre) - 1979
Serbia 
Andrić, Ivo "The Bridge on the Drina" (Serbo-Croat: На Дрини Ћуприја or Na Drini Ćuprija) - 1945 Nobel Prize   

Seychelles  
Sierra Leone  
Singapore   
Slovakia    
Slovenia   
Solomon Islands  
Somalia  
Hirsi Ali, Ayaan "Infidel: My Life" (Dutch: Mijn Vrijheid) - 2006
South Africa  
Paton, Alan "Cry, The Beloved Country" - 1948

South Korea 
Han Kang "The Vegetarian" (채식주의자/Ch'angbi)- 2007
South Sudan  
Spain - Catalonia    
Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Shadow of the Wind" (Spanish: La Sombra del Viento) - 2001
Sri Lanka  
Roberts, Karen "The Flower Boy" - 2001
Sudan   
Suriname  
 
McLeod, Cynthia "The Cost of Sugar" (Dutch: Hoe duur was de suiker?) - 1987
Swaziland  
Sweden  
Fredriksson, Marianne "Hanna’s Daughters" (Swedish: Anna, Hanna og Johanna) - 1994

Lagerlöf, Selma Nobel Prize
Switzerland  
Spyri, Johanna "Heidi" (German: 'Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre' and 'Heidi kann brauchen, was es gelernt hat') - 1880-1881
Syria  
Schami, Rafik "The Calligrapher’s Secret" (German: Das Geheimnis des Kalligraphen) - 2008
Tajikistan  
Tanzania, United Republic of 
Thailand  
Timor Leste  
Togo  
Tonga  
Trinidad and Tobago  
Naipaul, V.S. "A House for Mr. Biswas" - 1961 Nobel Prize  
Tunisia  
Turkey  
Pamuk, Orhan "My Name is Red" (Turkish: Benim Adim Kirmizi) - 1998 Nobel Prize  
Turkmenistan  
Tuvalu  
Uganda  
Ukraine 
  
Alexievich, Svetlana "Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster" (Russian: Чернобыльская молитва = Černobylskaja molitva) - 2006 Nobel Prize  
United Arab Emirates  
United Kingdom - England - Scotland - Wales - Northern Ireland    
Austen, Jane "Persuasion" - 1817
United States   
Oates, Joyce Carol "We Were the Mulvaneys" - 1996
Uruguay  
Uzbekistan  
Vanuatu  
Venezuela  
Vietnam  
Sawyer, Anh Vu "Song of Saigon: One Woman’s Journey to Freedom" - 2003
Yemen  
Zambia  
Lamb, Christina "The Africa House: The True Story of an English Gentleman and His African Dream" - 1999
Zimbabwe  
Tsitsi Dangarembga " Nervous Conditions" - 1988

When I started this list, I thought I would try to limit myself to novels. But then I found that often I have read only non-fiction books from a certain country. So, this is like the rest of my blog, a mixture of fiction, non-fiction, biographies.

If you are looking for more books from certain countries, you can always check on the right hand side of my blog under "Labels".

"As ever, when we say country, we're looking for a sovereign state recognised by the United Nations." Richard Osman in Pointless.

As to all those missing countries, I found a lovely list with quite a few suggestions here on Goodreads. However, I will be very grateful for any other suggestions from my friends and readers.
 
See also my other post:
which leads you to my other current travel challenges.
 

4 comments:

  1. You are so well-read! I don't believe I've read a fraction of these books.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You've read others instead, I am sure of it. Books are a great relief when you're housebound. It makes you get to know the world from your living room.

      Happy Reading,
      Marianne

      Delete
  2. Good for you! May I suggest a book by a British writer, Ann Morgan, who read a book from every recognized country in the world in one year: The World Between Two Covers (US title) or Reading the World (British title.) She also has a blog with a list of the books she read: https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That sounds brilliant, Judy, just the kind of book and blog I need for my exploration. Why they have to have two different titles, again, I have no idea but I will definitely look for one of them.

      Thank you so much,
      Marianne

      Delete