Diane’s Global Reads

This is my year of spontaneous reading, and I’m noticing how much I’m enjoying my translated fiction, or any reading set in places other than the U.S. Here is the list I’ll be working with (thank you, Lisa):

Member states:
1 Afghanistan
2 Albania
3 Algeria
4 Andorra
5 Angola
6 Antigua and Barbuda
7 Argentina
8 Armenia
9 Australia
10 Austria
11 Azerbaijan
12 Bahamas
13 Bahrain
14 Bangladesh
15 Barbados
16 Belarus
17 Belgium
18 Belize
19 Benin
20 Bhutan
21 Bolivia
22 Bosnia and Herzegovina
23 Botswana
24 Brazil
25 Brunei
26 Bulgaria
27 Burkina Faso
28 Burundi
29 Cambodia
30 Cameroon
31 Canada
32 Cape Verde
33 Central African Republic
34 Chad
35 Chile
36 China
37 Colombia
38 Comoros
39 Congo, Democratic Republic of the
40 Congo, Republic of the
41 Costa Rica
42 Croatia
43 Cuba
44 Cyprus
45 Czech Republic
46 Denmark
47 Djibouti
48 Dominica
49 Dominican Republic
50 East Timor
51 Ecuador
52 Egypt
53 El Salvador
54 Equatorial Guinea
55 Eritrea
56 Estonia
57 Eswatini
58 Ethiopia
59 Fiji
60 Finland
61 France
62 Gabon
63 Gambia
64 Georgia
65 Germany
66 Ghana
67 Greece
68 Grenada
69 Guatemala
70 Guinea
71 Guinea-Bissau
72 Guyana
73 Haiti
74 Honduras
75 Hungary
76 Iceland
77 India
78 Indonesia
79 Iran
80 Iraq
81 Ireland
82 Israel
83 Italy
84 Ivory Coast
85 Jamaica
86 Japan
87 Jordan
88 Kazakhstan
89 Kenya
90 Kiribati
91 Korea, North (Democratic People's Republic of)
92 Korea, South (Republic of Korea)
93 Kuwait
94 Kyrgyzstan
95 Laos
96 Latvia
97 Lebanon
98 Lesotho
99 Liberia
100 Libya
101 Liechtenstein
102 Lithuania
103 Luxembourg
104 Madagascar
105 Malawi
106 Malaysia
107 Maldives
108 Mali
109 Malta
110 Marshall Islands
111 Mauritania
112 Mauritius
113 Mexico
114 Micronesia
115 Moldova
116 Monaco
117 Mongolia
118 Montenegro
119 Morocco
120 Mozambique
121 Myanmar
122 Namibia
123 Nauru
124 Nepal
125 Netherlands
126 New Zealand
127 Nicaragua
128 Niger
129 Nigeria
130 North Macedonia
131 Norway
132 Oman
133 Pakistan
134 Palau
135 Panama
136 Papua New Guinea
137 Paraguay
138 Peru
139 Philippines
140 Poland
141 Portugal
142 Qatar
143 Romania
144 Russia
145 Rwanda
146 Saint Kitts and Nevis
147 Saint Lucia
148 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
149 Samoa
150 San Marino
151 Sao Tome and Principe
152 Saudi Arabia
153 Senegal
154 Serbia
155 Seychelles
156 Sierra Leone
157 Singapore
158 Slovakia
159 Slovenia
160 Solomon Islands
161 Somalia
162 South Africa
163 South Sudan
164 Spain
165 Sri Lanka
166 Sudan
167 Suriname
168 Sweden
169 Switzerland
170 Syria
171 Tajikistan
172 Tanzania
173 Thailand
174 Togo
175 Tonga
176 Trinidad and Tobago
177 Tunisia
178 Turkey
179 Turkmenistan
180 Tuvalu
181 Uganda
182 Ukraine
183 United Arab Emirates
184 United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
185 United States
186 Uruguay
187 Uzbekistan
188 Vanuatu
189 Venezuela
190 Vietnam
191 Yemen
192 Zambia
193 Zimbabwe

Antarctica, Tibet, Greenland (Others as I think of them)

I’ve rewritten this post to include all books read in 2024 that fit this topic, and I’ll be adding to it regularly, I hope.

AUSTRALIA:
1) Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

AUSTRIA:
1) The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth

BRAZIL:
1)Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior

CHILE:
1)When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut (author is Chilean, setting is not)

FRANCE:
1) Overhead in a Balloon by Mavis Gallant; short stories

GERMANY:
1)The Postcard by Anne Berest

GHANA:
1)His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie

GREECE:
1) The Iliad by Homer trans. by Emily Wilson
2) The Odyssey by Homer trans. by Emily Wilson

GREENLAND:
1)Seven Graves, One Winter by Christoffer Petersen

LIBYA:
1) My Friends by Hisham Matar

MALAYSIA:
1)The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
2) The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

POLAND:
1) The Manor by Isaac Bashevis Singer
2) The Estate by Isaac Bashevis Singer

RWANDA
1) Sister Deborah by Scholastique Mukasonga

THE NETHERLANDS:
1)What I’d Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma

SRI LANKA:
1)Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje

SUDAN:
1) Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

TRINIDAD:
1) Passiontide (arc) by Monique Roffey

TURKEY:
1)My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk

UKRAINE:
1)The Silver Bone by Andrei Kourkov

UNITED KINGDOM:
1)The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (England)
2)Any Human Heart by William Boyd (England)
3)In this House of Brede by Rumer Godden (England)
4)Clear by Clarys Davies (Scotland)
5) Enlightenment by Sarah Perry (England)
6) Held by Anne Michaels (England, other parts of Europe)

Favorites from this list: Crooked Plow, The Garden of Evening Mists, The Iliad—all 5* reads for me!

Welcome to the Global Challenge, Diane! I'm sorry you lost your post. That is so frustrating. As I mentioned elsewhere, I loved Anil's Ghost. I have Kourkov's Death and the Penguin on my read next bookcase.

>3 labfs39: I’ll be eager to see what you think of that. I really enjoyed The Silver Bone, I enjoy Kourkov’s imaginative twists.

Welcome to the Global Challenge! Such a shame you lost all your work on that post... You've got some heavyweights coming up!

I’ve rewritten #2 to include all global reading so far this year (2024). Although I’ve read a lot of books in translation in years past, I’m going to begin this challenge in 2024.

Welcome to the group from me too!

#2 has been edited to include The Odyssey. In looking over the list I’m somewhat surprised to find that of my 22 book total for 2024 so far, 16 fit this category. And more are coming as I hopefully read additional books from the 2024 International Booker Longlist. I’m very glad to be keeping track of these books.

I’ve added an arc copy of Passiontide by Monique Roffey, set in Trinidad. Loved this book and mean to buy when it’s published; it’s a keeper and deserves a place on the shelves!

I’ve added My Friends by Hisham Matar, Overhead in a Balloon by Mavis Gallant, Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih, and Clear by Clarys Davies. I enjoyed all four, but My Friends is by far the favorite.

>10 dianelouise100: I‘ve had Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar on my shelf for ages - I really should get to it!

>11 MissBrangwen: I’m very impressed with Matar; if you read Anatomy of a Disappearance, I’ll be eager to see what you think. I reviewed My Friends here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/357075#8577712

Added Seasons of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
Reviewed here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/357075#8587062

Adding Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood for an Australia read. My review is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/357075#8603338

Adding Sister Deborah by Scholastique Mukasonga for a read for Rwanda. My review is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/367816#8744708