Rhonda Reads 'Round the World

My Rules for Me (For Now):

1. The country (or some cultural/ethnic aspect of the country) must appear substantially in the book, meaning no quick pass throughs or uses that seem like the author just wanted to name an exotic locale
2. Older names and geographical configurations of the current country are fine. (Sometimes hard decisions must be made.)
3. For Anglophone countries and countries that produce a lot of English translations, I am going to try to read five different authors.
4. For the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, I am going to add subdivisions (England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland, for certain. I might do the smaller islands too, or do them as a group)
5. I will also probably do United States subdivisions as well, but I have not thought about them as much.

Probably more coming....

Update 1: I am adding a North Atlantic Islands category under UK and Northern Ireland although the islands don't have to belong to the UK. Islands under consideration: Aran Islands, Orkneys, Shetland, Faroes, Hebrides, Isle of Man, Canary Islands, and Azores.

Update 2: I added the Fifty States Fiction (or Nonfiction) Challenge for the U.S. Category

Planning and Options:
I will not add touchstones until the book is moved to "read."

Bangladesh
The Shadow Lines--Amitav Ghosh
Benin
The Viceroy of Ouidah--Bruce Chatwin
Botswana
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency--Alexander McCall Smith
Congo Area (Both because hard to distinguish in historical novels)
Kinning--Nisi Shawl
Egypt
Midaq Alley--Naguib Mahfouz
Iceland
All the Horses in Iceland--Sarah Tolmie
India
Six Suspects--Vikas Swarup
Indonesia
Max Havelaar
Iraq
Murder in Mesopotamia and They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie
Jordan
Appointment with Death--Agatha Christie
Malaysia
The Night Tiger--Yangsze Choo
The Ghost Bride--Yangsze Choo
Black Water Sister--Zen Choo
Mali
The Black Pages--Nnedi Okorafor
Mexico
The Pearl--John Steinbeck
Mexican Gothic--Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Like Water For Chocolate--Laura Esquivel--I might have read this.
Morocco
Destination Unknown--Agatha Christie
The Sheltering Sky--Paul Bowles
Mozambique
Half a Life--V. S. Naipaul
Myanmar
The Glass Palace--Amitav Ghosh
Nigeria
Purple Hibiscus--Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Pakistan
Spain
The Seville Communion--Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Shame--Salman Rushdie
Sundarban Islands
The Hungry Tide--Amitav Ghosh
Sri Lanka
The Fountains of Paradise--Arthur C. Clarke
Cinnamon Gardens--Shyam Selvaduri
Syria
Come, Tell Me How you Live--Agatha Christie
Taiwan
The Man with Compound Eyes--Ming-Yi Wu
Thailand
The Wind-Up Girl--Paolo Bacigalupi
The Bridge over the River Kwai--Pierre Boulle
Tunisia
The Ardent Swarm--Yamen Manai
The Tremor of Forgery--Patricia Highsmith
Vietnam
The Quiet American--Graham Green
Zambia
The Old Drift--Namwali Serpell
Zimbabwe
The Grass is Singing--Doris Lessing

Saved for later musings

A

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
1. The Stranger by Albert Camus
2. The Eight by Katherine Neville
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
1. Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
2. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Austria
1. Airs Above Ground by Mary Stewart
Azerbaijan
1. The Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon

B

Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
1. The Holy Sinner by Thomas Mann in Flanders, can also count for the Channel Islands
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
1. Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravaka Ugrešić (can also count for Czech Republic or Croatia)
Burkina Faso
Burundi

C

Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
1. Atlas by Dung Kai-Cheung
2. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
3. China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh
4. The Lacquer Screen by Robert van Gulik
Colombia
1. Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Comoros
Congo, Democratic Republic of the and Congo, Republic of the (hard to distinguish when novels are historical)
1. Everfair by Nisi Shawl
2. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
1. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Cyprus
Czech Republic
1. R. U. R. by Karel Čapek
2. He, She, and It by Marge Piercy

D, E, F

Denmark
1. Hrolf Kraki's Saga by Poul Anderson
2. The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Alder-Olsen
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
1. A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
2. In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
1. Wolves and Angels by Seppo Jokinen
2. The Otherling and Other Stories by Anne Leinonen
3. The Explorer and Other Stories by Jyrki Vainonen
France
1. Death at the Château Bremont by M. L. Longworth
2. Death in Brittany by Jean-Luc Bannalec
3. Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker
4. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
5. Perfume by Patrick Süskind

G, H

Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
1. The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch
2. The Reader by Bernard Schlink
3. Tales of Hoffman by E. T. A. Hoffman
4. Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
5. The Black Swan by Thomas Mann
Ghana
1.Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
Ancient Greece
1. Lysistrata by Aristophanes
2. Medea by Euripides
3. Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus
4. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
5. Odyssey by Homer
Modern Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary

I, J

Iceland
1. Njal's Saga-I told myself I could only use one saga. It was hard to pick. Laxdæla Saga came
second.
2. Jar City by Arnaldur Indri∂ason
India
1. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
2. Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai
3. Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
4. White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Indonesia
Iran
1. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Iraq
1. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
2. Gilgamesh
Ireland
1. The Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle
2. The Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor
3. Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
4. The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien
5. Lion of Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn
Israel
Italy
1. The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
2. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
3. Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
Ivory Coast
Jamaica
Japan
1. The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwa
2. The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takashashi
3. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
4. As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams by Lady Sarashina
Jordan

K, L

Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Korea, North (Democratic People's Republic of)
Korea, South (Republic of Korea)
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
1. The Gabriel Hounds by Mary Stewart (also Syria, if I need to swap)
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg

M

Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
1. Sunjata translated by Bamba Suso
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
1. Mission to Asia translated by Christopher Dawson
Montenegro
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar

N

Namibia
1. The Binti Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
1. Colour Scheme by Ngaio Marsh
Nicaragua
Niger
1. The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor
Nigeria
1. The Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
2. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
North Macedonia
Norway

O, P, Q, R

Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
1. Ilustrado by Miquel Syjuco
Poland
1. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
2. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Portugal
1. Philippa of Lancaster by Isabel Stilwell
Qatar
Romania
1. Dracula by Bram Stoker (Transylvania)
Russia
The Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
Rwanda

S
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
1. Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord
Serbia
1. Stamboul Train by Graham Greene
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
1. The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie
2. Nineveh by Henrietta Rose-Innes
3. Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
South Sudan
Spain
1. A Barcelona Heiress by Sergio Vila-Sanjuán
Sri Lanka
1. Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
Sudan
1. She Who Knows by Nnedi Okorafor
Suriname
1. Oroonoko by Aphra Behn
Sweden
Switzerland
1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Syria

T, U

Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
1. The Alexiad by Anna Comnena
2. My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
3. The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
4. The Iliad by Homer
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
1. The White Mosque by Sofia Samatar

United Kingdom and Northern Ireland

England
Northern Ireland
1. Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson
2. The International by Glenn Patterson
3. The Táin by Anonymous
4. Isle of Destiny by Kenneth C. Flint
Scotland
1. A Litter of Bones by J. D. Kirk
2. The Fanatic by James Robertson
3. The Witches of Pollock by Anne Downie
4. Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
5. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Wales
1. The Journey through Wales and The Description of Wales by Gerald of Wales
2. The Engine House by Rhys Dylan
3. The Owl Service by Alan Garner
4. The Mabinogion
5. The Mabinogion Tetralogy by Evangeline Walton
Other Islands of the North Atlantic
1. The Aran Islands by John Millington Synge (Aran Islands, Ireland)
2. The Phynodderree and other Legends of the Isle of Man by Edward Callow (Isle of Man)

United States

Fifty States Fiction (or Non-Fiction) Challenge

V, Y, Z and UN General Assembly observer states

Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

UN General Assembly observer states
Palestine
Vatican City

Other states and Non-UN recognized possibilities

Abkhazia
Artsakh
Cook Islands
Donetsk
Kosovo
Luhansk
Niue
Northern Cyprus
Sahrawi
Somaliland
South Ossetia
Taiwan
Transnistria

Antarctica
1. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Greenland
1. The Ice-Shirt by William T. Vollmann
2. The Vinland Sagas (Eirik the Red's Saga and The Saga of the Greenlanders)
Tibet

Welcome to the Global Challenge, Rhonda. I have found it to be inspiring to see what everyone is reading and to track what I read from around the world. Like you, I did subdivisions for the UK (and Canada). For my US books, I use a sister group, The Fifty States Fiction (or Nonfiction) Challenge.

>20 labfs39: Thanks, labfs39. I will go take a look at your subdivisions and your other challenge for some ideas.
Right now, I am combing the bookshelves and the iPad, finding books to add (and to move up the TBR pile), so I think it will take me a bit to just get the old reading catalogued.
I look forward to reading everyone's posts and getting ideas from their lists.
Cheers!

🇪🇸 Spain
Barcelona

🇩🇪 Germany
Schongau

A belated welcome to the group!

>24 MissBrangwen: Thank you. I am looking forward to the reading possibilities!

🇵🇹 Portugal

>26 rhondak101book: Oh, how wonderful that you visited Livraria Bertrand! The anachronism of this book (or the translation) do sound annoying.

>27 MissBrangwen: It was a really great place. It had a lot of small connected rooms with uneven floors. Just my type of bookstore.

>27 MissBrangwen: I concur. Reading the review in >26 rhondak101book: is enough to raise my blood pressure :-D

BTW, I love the little flags and coats of arms above your reviews.

>29 Dilara86: I think my blood pressure stayed constant, but I would often just close the book in amazement and have a "time out." :-)

I am enjoying finding ways to add the "flag flair" when I can. Thanks.

🇮🇲 Isle of Man

>31 rhondak101book: Great review! This sounds excellent and I'm adding it to the wish list. The topic of your seminar sounds fascinating.

The seminar was amazing. One of the highlights was seeing some of the medieval Manx crosses, used as grave markers. They showed examples of all sorts of cross-cultural interaction. They are elaborately carved, and many of them have a mixture of Norse mythology, Celtic mythology, and Christianity on display. The names are also interesting showing both Celtic and Norse inhabitants

🇯🇵 Japan

>34 rhondak101book: Perhaps Lady Sarashina should become Library Thing’s mascot!

Sounds perfect! Maybe Dan could add a representation of her to our group header.