Read the World
I started a Taste the World challenge on my food blog and I love it. It made me try recipes I haven’t heard about. So, I’ve decided to do a Read the World challenge too. I will read at least a book from every part of the world. I will link to the books I am reading, but I will include only a few from the countries I usually read from, such as UK or US.
To link a book to a country its author needs to be born there. I think this is the easiest way to approach the challenge. I do not have a time-frame and I will update this post monthly. I grouped some countries together to make it easier. The books will be both fiction and non-fiction.
I marked the countries already read. It was quite interesting to see that I read from so many countries without even trying. I’ve included only books read in the last 3 years. So far my list includes authors from 19 countries.
Read the World.
List of the countries and books read so far:
Brazil: Caroline Criado-Pérez
Canada: Jordan Peterson
Chile + Paraguay: Isabel Allende
China: Jung Chang
Germany: Romy Hausmann
Greece: Aristotle
Guinea + Sierra Leone + Liberia: Michaela DePrince
Hungary: Andrew S. Grove
Israel: Daniel Kahneman; Yuval Noah Harari
Kenya + Uganda: Richard Dawkins
Netherlands: Bart van Es
New Zealand: Heather Morris
Pakistan: Malala Yousafzai
Romania: Emil Cioran
Russia: Vladimir Nabokov
Spain: Antonio Iturbe; Julian Casanova
Switzerland: Sacha Batthyany
United Kingdom: Margaret Cavendish; Mrs Beeton; Charles Darwin
United States of America: Harry G. Frankfurt
Phew! Some challenge! I did an “eighty books” around the world challenge which took me several years to complete, but I had great fun and it made me move well beyond my usual hunting grounds. Have fun, and don’t forget to take mosquito repellent! 😉
Thank you very much. 80 books around the world sounds like a fun challenge too. I am looking forward to reading books I wouldn’t have known about without this challenge. 🙂
This is terrific! I’m trying to do the same thing, although I’m keeping track on a google map instead of on my blog. I bookmarked you page so I can visit and find ideas for some of the countries where I find it hard to find books!
Keeping the track on google maps is such a great idea. I will have a look at your challenge for inspiration too.
This looks like great fun and I’ll enjoy seeing your progress over time. It covers a lot of territory (literally!), so it should keep you busy for quite some time. I did a global reading challenge ten years ago and it really made me step out of my comfort zone at the time. https://ksrgmck.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/2011-global-reading-challenge/
Kelly recently posted…Dogs with Jobs
I want to do this challenge for the same reasons, to try new authors, with a different background. I had no idea you did something similar, that’s fab! I looked at the Dogs with Jobs, I imagined it would be real dogs, so I was surprised to see the puzzle. It’s funny and cute and with all the blue, quite difficult too. xx
What a brilliant challenge. A huge undertaking of course but wonderful fun. I’m doing a United States one, reading from each state. I’ve been at it for about 10 years now and am about halfway through the states. Some of them I’ve read more than one book for, just to get a real flavour of the state. Good luck, Anca!
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The US challenge sounds fantastic! Maybe I will do that or an UK-one, by county, or US. That’s a fantastic idea. Good luck with your challenge.
Hi Anca,
What a great way to approach the challenge, by the country in which the author was born, as most other people tend to do it by the location setting of the storyline. I shall be interested to follow just how easy it is to do it your way. I do have authors for a couple of countries you haven’t visited yet, although whether they would be your preferred genres of books I’m not sure, just shout out if you would like some suggestions!
Good Luck 🙂
I thought that picking up by country I get a feel of the author’s experience. Many of these books were written in English, in US or UK, but their personal experience impacted them. What’s funny is that even for Romania I read in English, a book translated from French. I haven’t read in Romanian for many years, since I moved to UK.
I would love to get recommendations, of course. My plan is to read both fiction and non-fiction, so any would be great.