Around the World in 80 Books discussion

Journey started towards the end of 2013 as a personal challenge, I am recording here my travels so far.

AFRICA

Botswana: Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather: And Maru
Burundi: Esther Kamatari, Princesse Des Rugo, Mon Histoire
Cape Verde: Germano Almeida, L'isola fantastica
Egypt: Albert Salvadó, The Teacher of Cheops
Rwanda: Véronique Tadjo, L'Ombre d'Imana : voyages jusqu'au bout du Rwanda
Somalia: Garane Garane, Il latte è buono
South Africa: Sindiwe Magona, To My Children's Children
South Sudan: Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng and Benjamin Ajak, They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan
Uganda: Moses Isegawa, Abyssinian Chronicles
Zimbabwe: Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions

ASIA

Afghanistan: Khaled Hosseini, Il cacciatore di aquiloni
Armenia: Agapi Mkrtchian, Meine andere Hälfte
Azerbaijan: Kurban Said, Ali und Nino
Bhutan: Kunzang Choden, Il viaggio di Tsomo
China: Dai Sijie, Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise
Japan: Inoue Yasushi, Amore
Korea, South: Kyung-sook Shin, Prenditi cura di lei
Singapore: Various, Singapore. Sedici racconti dall'Asia estrema
Uzbekistan: Hamid Ismailov, The Railway

CARIBBEAN

Cuba: Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Maschere (Havana Red)
Haiti: Edwidge Danticat, Breath, Eyes, Memory

EUROPE

Albania: Anilda Ibrahimi, L'amore e gli stracci del tempo
Austria: William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure
Belarus: Svetlana Aleksievic, Preghiera per Černobyl'
Belgium: Amélie Nothomb, Acido solforico
Czech Republic: Franz Kafka, Racconti
France: Anatole France, Il delitto di Sylvestre Bonnard
Germany: Heinrich Böll, Und sagte kein einziges Wort
Greece: Sofocle, Antigone; Edipo re; Edipo a Colono
Hungary: Zsuzsanna Gahse, Nichts Ist Wie, Oder, Rosa Kehrt Nicht Zurück: Roman
Iceland: Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir,Butterflies in November
Ireland: Maria Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent
Italy: Giorgio Scerbanenco, Il Centodelitti
Malta: Immanuel Mifsud, In the Name of the Father
Norway: Knut Faldbakken, Confine di ghiaccio
Russia: Evgenij Zamjatin, Noi
Serbia: Geraldine Brooks, People Of The Book
Slovakia: Jarmila Ockayova, Appuntamento nel bosco
Slovenia: Brina Svit, Morte di una primadonna slovena
Spain: Carlos Ruiz Zafón, L'ombra del vento
Sweden: Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg, La banda degli insoliti ottantenni
Ukraine: Shalom Alechem, La storia di Tewje il lattivendolo
United Kingdom: V.S. Naipaul, Half a Life

LATIN AMERICA

Argentina: Claudia Piñeiro, Tua (I narratori)
Belize: Various, Snapshots Of Belize, An Anthology Of Short Fiction (Belizean Writers Series)
Chile: Marcela Serrano, Arrivederci piccole donne
Colombia: Gabriel García Márquez, L'amore ai tempi del colera
Nicaragua: Gioconda Belli, Il paese sotto la pelle

MIDDLE EAST

Iran: Hamid Ziarati, Il meccanico delle rose
Israel: Abraham B. Yehoshua, A Woman in Jerusalem: A Passion in Three Parts
Palestine: Susan Abulhawa, Ogni mattina a Jenin
Saudi Arabia: Rajaa Alsanea, Ragazze di Riad
Turkey: Gilbert Sinoué, Erevan


NORTH AMERICA

Canada: Emily St. John Mandel, Stazione undici
United States: Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly

OCEANIA/AUSTRALIA

Marshall Islands: Jack Niedenthal, For the Good of Mankind: A History of the People of Bikini and their Islands
Micronesia: Emelihter Kihleng, My Urohs
New Zealand: Janet Frame, Faces in the Water
Tuvalu: Philip Ells, Where The Hell Is Tuvalu?: How I became the law man of the world's fourth-smallest country
Vanuatu: Grace Mera Molisa, Pierre noire

60/196

That's an impressive list of books, Marina! Welcome to the challenge! I look forward to seeing where you go next.

Thanks Diane! I was doing this challenge of my own, but it was at first one book by an author from each country of the world. Now I'm glad to expand this into reading one book set in each country of the world! I'll keep them both going.
By the way, I just love this group, I'm so happy to have discovered it! Many thanks to dely who brought it to my attention :-)

#51 - Azerbaijan Ali und Nino by Kurban Said (English: Ali and Nino: A Love Story)

Finished: 06 January 2015

Rating: ★★★

The book is interesting in that it's the story of the encounter of two cultures: Asia or Islam and Europe or Christianity. Unlike what one could imagine, they don't clash, but they intertwine and show themselves as complementary rather than opposite. Because love is what binds Ali, the Azeri, Muslim young man, and Nino, the Georgian, Christian young woman.

They get to know each other in school and immediately fall in love. They want to marry but things are not as easy as they might have been for two people of the same culture and religion. I cannot say much more than this otherwise it would be a spoiler.

Anyway, although the book is interesting and the writing very good and lyrical, it has some flaws, i.e. the unlikelihood of some events in the context of the novel. Moreover, I have been quite bothered by the misogyny and the Islam-pervaded thought of the author (who himself was a Jew converted to Islam). I'm an atheist, so I shouldn't bother, but it irritated me. However, the book is quite good.

#52 - Iran Il meccanico delle rose by Hamid Ziarati

Finished: 11 February

Rating: ★★★★

This book was really, really beautiful, although it made me cry. Unfortunately, it is not yet translated into English. It's the story of a family, or better, of a man and the people who, for some reason or other, were important for him. In this way the author also tells the story of the main character's life, as well as the story of Iran, at the same time.
The interesting thing is that the author was born in Iran but, having come to Italy at age 15, writes in Italian.
Highly recommended book for those who read in Italian.

#53 - Slovakia Appuntamento nel bosco by Jarmila Očkayová

Finished: 3 June

Rating: ★★★★

#54 - Malta In the Name of the Father by Immanuel Mifsud

Finished: 7 June

Rating: ★★

#55 - Cuba Maschere by Leonardo Padura Fuentes (English: Havana Red)

Finished: 15 June

Rating: ★★★

#56 - Austria Measure for Measure The Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

Finished: 6 August

Rating: ★★★★

#57 - Ireland Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth

Finished: 28 August

Rating: ★★

#58 - Somalia Il latte è buono by Garane Garane

Finshed: 28 October

Rating: ★★★

#59 - South Africa To My Children's Children by Sindiwe Magona

Finished: 3 December

Rating: ★★★

#60 - Canada Stazione undici by Emily St. John Mandel (English: Station Eleven)

Finished: 6 January 2016

Rating: ★★★

A nice book, although no masterpiece. The idea draws heavily from The Stand, although in this case the virus was not man-made but a lethal mutation of the flu. However, in this case the post-apocalyptic setting is not so important, what is important is the stress on love, life in general, friendship, art, etc. So this was supposed to be very interesting, and it is in a way. Unfortunately this is not original at all and I didn't like the writing, either, although I believe this is a problem with the Italian translation. I would still recommend it in case you have some time to spare, though.