Around the World discussion

My list of 52 books for the challenge is primarily novels , but a few cookbooks, some non-fiction , and a few bios are here as well.

Afghanistan/Pakistan The Wandering Falcon byJamil Ahmad

Argentina Ficciones byJorge Luis Borges or The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares

Australia The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway

Austria The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss by Edmund de Waal

Barbados Pig Tails 'n Breadfruit : Rituals of Slave Food: A Barbadian Memoir by Austin Clarke

Belgium The Man Who Watched Trains Go By by Georges Simenon

BhutanRadio Shangri-La: What I Learned in the Happiest Kingdom on Earth by Lisa Napoli

Bosnia Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipović

Brazil Rebellion in the Backlands by Euclides da Cunha

Canada Runaway by Alice Munro

China Gold Boy, Emerald Girl by Yiyun Li or China in Ten Words by Yu Hua or To Live by Yu Hua

Columbia One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Congo-Kinshasa- DRC Ruined by Lynn Nottage

Czech Republic The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Dominican Republic The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

Egypt The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz

England Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith or

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

Finland Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson or The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

France Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Greece The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart or The Bacchae and Other Plays: Ion, The Women of Troy, Helen, The Bacchae by Euripides

GuyanaThe Palace of the Peacock by Wilson Harris

Haiti Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

Iceland Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason

India A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry or

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Indonesia This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Iraq Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War by Annia Ciezadlo

Ireland The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry or The Magic Summer by Noel Streatfeild

Israel The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

Italy The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

Japan The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Lebanon As Though She Were Sleeping by Elias Khoury

Liberia Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee

Mexico The Food and Life of Oaxaca: Traditional Recipes from Mexico's Heart by Zarela Martinez

Mongolia My Little Round House by Bolormaa Baasansuren or Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World or The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford

Nigeria Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Norway Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Papua New Guinea/ Fiji Trumpet Shall Sound by Peter Worsley

Portugal Poems of Fernando Pessoa

Russia Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie or The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov

Samoa Stevenson Under the Palm Trees by Alberto Manguel

Saudi Arabia Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel

Scotland The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett

Somalia Knots by Nuruddin Farah

Spain Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Sri Lanka Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje

Sweden Friends, You Drank Some Darkness, Three Swedish Poets: Harry Martinson, Gunnar Ekelöf & Tomas Tranströmer

Switzerland Memories,Dreams,Reflections by C. G. Jung

Trinidad and Tobago A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul

Turkey My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk

USA The Portable Dorothy Parker

Vietnam Spring Essence by Ho Xuan Huong trans. by John Balaban

Zimbabwe Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

North Korea Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

Ooh, The Game of Kings. That one is so good... but you must be prepared to read it with an encyclopedia at hand.

Welcome, Karen! I hope you enjoy The Unbearable Lightness of Being as much as I did. Have you been in Prague?

Chrissie wrote: "Welcome, Karen! I hope you enjoy The Unbearable Lightness of Being as much as I did. Have you been in Prague?"

Unfortunately not! This list is a great exercise in armchair travel for me.

Judy wrote: "Nice variety, Karen! I hope you will join us for the group reads for Harafish, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and A Fine Balance.

Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War is one t..."

I love food/memoirs - I think that this and my selections from Mexico and Barbados:

The Food and Life of Oaxaca: Traditional Recipes from Mexico's Heart and Pig Tails 'n Breadfruit : Rituals of Slave Food: A Barbadian Memoir

...are the ones I want to read first.

Genia wrote: "Ooh, The Game of Kings. That one is so good... but you must be prepared to read it with an encyclopedia at hand."

I love Dorothy Dunnett.

Niccolo Rising is one of my favorite books ever , with two of the best-written love scenes ever.

Judy wrote: "Nice variety, Karen! I hope you will join us for the group reads for Harafish, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and A Fine Balance.

I do hope to participate in those group reads and the one for Half of a Yellow Sun , as well.

Karen, armchair travel is so comfortable :0) ! I feel terribly guilty haveing never read Niccolo Rising, in that I now live in Belgium. I might have to add that to my list for Belgium. I have heard wonderful things about this series over and over again.

The food and life of oaxaca - I know one of their major contributions (woohoo) but don't want to spoil it. Sounds like a good read!

I've added your books to the master list, so if you make any additions, just leave a comment here please!

I just put a hold on Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea at the library, so I suppose I could add North Korea as well.

Cool, it is on the list!