Around the World discussion

I'm not actually ready to commit to anything, but a few weeks ago I took a master list of all the countries of the world, as up to date as I could find, to figure out how many I had left still. It was not encouraging! Or maybe it was super encouraging because I'll be working on this forever.

So after two years of intentional world-lit reading, you can see how far I have come and how far I still have to go (the countries remaining are farther down in the doc.) I fear some of tiny islands and the renamed African nations will be a challenge, except just yesterday I found a South Sudan book.

One thing I know for sure is that just as I read a lot of Turkish books this year, next year I'll be reading a lot in Iceland. That will skew the list and time.

Jenny wrote: "I fear some of tiny islands and the renamed African nations will be a challenge, except just yesterday I found a South Sudan book."

Congratulations on finding one for South Sudan.
I agree that those are the most difficult areas to find books for. I am thinking of combining some of the Pacific island nations in one book, as there are a few about the island nations in general.

Val wrote: "I agree that those are the most difficult areas to find books for. I am thinking of combining some of the Pacific island nations in one book, as there are a few about the island nations in general. ..."
That's a good idea. I have a few like that too. I usually just count them for all countries mentioned! Ha.

So far this year I have read:

The Infatuations by Javier Marias for Spain (my review is here. I gave it three stars but I still think it's worth reading.)

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara, which I decided to count for Palau in Micronesia even though it is set on a made-up island. My review reveals how conflicted it makes me feel!

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. I'm not counting it for any one country but since it has a global spin, I am counting it for the challenge overall. Why not! My review was written after I'd discussed it at book club.

Read Love Letters of a Portugese Nun in a night, very brief and possibly annoying. Can love be understood from the outside? My review is here.

As part of the Iran-Iraq-Turkey challenge in the Middle Eastern Lit group, I read Suvashun by Simin Daneshvar, about Iran during World War II. Here is my review.

I had read very few books from the Middle East before this challenge and I have enjoyed exploring it in literature from the region. That looks like another one to add to the list.

Okay! I can't believe this is the third year of this challenge. I have more number crunching to do, but I don't think I've read a book from every country - yet!

This year I read 53 books for this challenge, but one doesn't count because I'd read it before. Only 15 were from countries I hadn't read books from before, but I did hit the Bahamas, Cuba, Guyana, Armenia, Slovenia, Portugal, Palau, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Morocco, Mozambique, and Nigeria for the first time.

Countries still to tackle, updated 12/27/14, with books listed if I already own something from that country:

ASIA

Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brunei
Cambodia
Hong Kong
Kashmir - Chef
Kazakhstan – Night Watch
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Macau
Maldives
Mongolia
Myanmar - From the Land of Green Ghosts
Nepal
Paracel Islands
Philippines
Singapore
Spratly Islands
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Thailand - Sightseeing
Tibet – Seven Years in Tibet
Vietnam

AFRICA
Algeria – The Lovers of Algeria
Angola
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo Demo. Rep. of the – Song from the Forest
Congo Republic of the – Song from the Forest
Cote d’Ivoire
Dijibouti
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Lesotho
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mayotte
Namibia
Reunion
Sao Tome and Principe
Seychelles
Somalia
Sudan – Season of Migration to the North
Swaziland
Tanzania
The Gambia
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Western Sahara
Zambia

CARIBBEAN
Antigua and Barbuda
Barbados
Belize
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua
Panama
Puerto Rico
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

EUROPE
Albania – The Three-Arched Bridge
Andorra
Belarus
Belgium – The Angel Maker
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Hungary - Embers
Jersey
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malta
Man, Isle of
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Norway
San Marino
Serbia – Landscape Painted with Tea
Slovakia
Switzerland
Vatican City

MIDDLE EAST
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Gaza Strip
Georgia
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
Syria
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
West Bank – Wild Thorns
Yemen

NORTH AMERICA

Greenland – This Cold Heaven

PACIFIC

Cook Islands
East Timor
Fiji
Marshall Islands
Micronesia, Federated States
Nauru
New Caldonia
Niue
Northern Mariana Islands
Papua New Guinea – Four Corners
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu

SOUTH AMERICA
Argentina
Bolivia
Colombia
Easter Island – Easter Island
Ecuador
French Guiana
Suriname
Uruguay – The Book of Embraces
Venezuela

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Okay! I can't believe this is the third year of this challenge. I have more number crunching to do, but I don't think I've read a book from every country - yet!

This year I read 53 books for this..."

Nice going Jenny! Which book did you read for Mozambique?

The Tuner of Silences by Mia Couto!

Thanks a ton Jenny - just added to my list. Didn't have any from Mozambique and sounds interesting - merci beaucoup! Edited - I should say obrigada!

Congratulations Jenny.
I have less strict rules and included some books I had read before if I read them again for the challenge.

Mia Couto seems to be the only author from Mozambique translated into English. I read his Sleepwalking Land in 2012 and it was very good.

Val - I saw that one was the only other one translated and added it as well. Looking forward to reading both in 2015.

I had more time today so I thought I'd include what I actually read for the challenge this year. 52 books, but only 15 new countries for me (those have asterisks!). Because of another challenge, I read 8 from Iceland, but really enjoyed that!

Africa, alphabetically by country

First of all, all of Africa
Africa: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader

Ethiopia*
The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne (fantasy novel)

Kenya
Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Dear Exile: The True Story of Two Friends Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean by Hilary Liftin

Morocco*
The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun

Mozambique*
The Tuner of Silences by Mia Couto

Nigeria*
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Every Day is for the Thief by Teju Cole

Asia and the Middle East, including Turkey

India
The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne

Iran/Persia
سووشون Suvashun

Iraq*
Fifteen Iraqi Poets

Lebanon*
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine

Korea, South* (I had read North Korea previously)
Another Man's City by Choi In-ho

Pakistan*
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamad

Turkey
Summer's End by Adalet Ağaoğlu
There Was and There Was Not: A Journey through Hate and Possibility in Turkey, Armenia, and Beyond by Meline Toumani
Topkapi Palace: Milestones in Ottoman History


Americans and Caribbean, from North to South

Iceland
Walking Into the Night by Olaf Olafsson
Icelandic Poems and Stories ed. Richard Beck
Iceland's Bell by Halldor Laxness
Icelanders in the Viking Age: The People of the Sagas by William R. Short
Children in Reindeer Woods by Kristín Ómarsdóttir
The Blue Fox by Sjon
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Bahamas*
Continental Drift by Russell Banks

Fake Caribbean
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson

Cuba*
The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba by Julia Cooke

Guyana*
Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor's Story of Life and Death in the People's Temple by Deborah Layton

Australia/Oceania

Australia
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

Palau*
The People in the Trees


Europe, alphabetically

Armenia*
There Was and There Was Not: A Journey through Hate and Possibility in Turkey, Armenia, and Beyond by Meline Toumani

Austria
The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Anne-Marie O'Connor

Chechynya, Russia
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra, reread

France
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

Germany
The Undertaking by Audrey McGee

Greece
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

Holland/Netherlands
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Ireland
A History of Loneliness by John Boyne
In the Woods by Tana French
A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride

Italy
La Cucina: A Novel of Rapture by Lily Prior

Portugal*
The Letters of a Portuguese Nun

Slovenia*
Ballerina, Ballerina by Marko Sosič

Spain
The Infatuations by Javier Marías
The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese by Michael Paterniti

UK - including Scotland and Wales
Burning Down George Orwell's House by Andrew Ervin
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell