In an effort to learn more about this crazy world, I have made a list of books from every country that paints a vivid portrayal of its culture and history.
My challenge to myself is to read every book within 5 years. I may even learn a little along the way!
If anybody has any suggestions for replacements, please comment the country and the book.
Afganistan: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Albania: Broken April by Ismail Kadare
Algeria: The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
Andorra: The Angels Die by Albert Villaró
Angola: The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa
Antigua: A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Argentina: Santa Evita by Tomás Eloy Martínez
Armenia: The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel
Australia: Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
Austria: The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler
Azerbaijan: Ali and Nino by Kurban Said
Bahrain: The Meeting Point by Lucy Caldwell
Bangladesh: A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
Barbados: How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones
Belarus: Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich
Belgium: War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans
Belize: Beka Lamb by Zee Edgell
Benin: The Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
Bhutan: Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan by Jamie Zeppa
Bolivia: The Fat Man from La Paz: Contemporary Fiction from Bolivia edited by Rosario Santos
Bosnia: The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić
Botswana: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Brazil The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
Brunei Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren
Bulgaria East of the West: A Country in Stories by Miroslav Penkov
Burkina Faso The Parachute Drop by Norbert Zongo
Burundi Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder
Cape Verde The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo by Germano Almeida
Cambodia First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung
Cameroon Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono
Canada The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
Central African Republic Daba's Travels from Ouadda to Bangui by Makombo Bamboté
Chad Told by Starlight in Chad by Joseph Brahim Seid
Chile The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
China Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
Colombia One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Comoros A Girl Called Eel by Ali Zamir
Congo [democratic republic] The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Congo [republic] Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou
Costa Rica Cocorí by Joaquín Gutiérrez
Croatia Girl at War by Sara Nović
Cuba Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner
Cyprus Bitter Lemons of Cyprus by Lawrence Durrell
Czech Republic The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Denmark We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen
Djibouti Transit by Abdourahman A. Waberi
Dominica The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey
Dominican Republic In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Ecuador Huasipungo by Jorge Icaza
Egypt Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
El Savador One Day of Life by Manlio Argueta
Equatorial Guinea By Night the Mountain Burns by Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel
Eritrea I Didn’t Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation by Michela Wrong
Estonia The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk
Eswatini (Swaziland) Weeding the Flowerbeds by Sarah Mkhonza
Ethiopia Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Fiji Where We Once Belonged by Sia Figiel
Finland The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
France Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Gabon Mema by Daniel Mengara
Gambia Roots by Alex Haley
Georgia The Knight in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustaveli
Germany All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Ghana Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Greece Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
Grenada The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross
Guatemala The President by Miguel Ángel Asturias
Guinea The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye
Guinea Bassau Unity and Struggle: Speeches and Writings by Amílcar Cabral
Guyana The Ventriloquist’s Tale by Pauline Melville
Haiti The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat
Honduras Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
Hungary Embers by Sándor Márai
Iceland Independent People by Halldór Laxness
India A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Indonesia This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Iran Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Iraq The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon
Ireland Ulysses by James Joyce
Israel To the End of the Land by David Grossman
Italy The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Jamaica A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Japan Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
Jordan Pillars of Salt by Fadia Faqir
Kazakhstan The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov
Kenya A Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Kiribati Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost
Kosovo My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci
Kuwait The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi
Kyrgyzstan Jamilia by Chingiz Aitmatov
Laos The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
Latvia Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena
Lebanon An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
Lesotho Chaka by Thomas Mofolo
Liberia The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper
Libya In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
Liechtenstein The Little Country by Christine Lötscher
Lithuania Vilnius Poker by Ričardas Gavelis
Madagascar Return to the Enchanted Island by Johary Ravaloson
Malawi The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
Malaysia The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
Maldives Dhon Hiyala and Ali Fulhu
Mali The Fortunes of Wangrin by Amadou Hampâté Bâ
Malta The Kappillan of Malta by Nicholas Monsarrat
Marshall Islands Survivors of the Bounty by James Norman Hall and Charles Nordhoff
Mauritania The Desert and the Drum by Mbarek Ould Beyrouk
Mauritius The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah
Mexico Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Micronesia Island of the Invisible Being: A Story of the Micronesian Islands by Madelain Westermann
Moldova The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov
Monaco Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
Mongolia The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag
Montenegro The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
Morocco The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun
Mozambique Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
Myanmar Smile as They Bow by Nu Nu Yi
Namibia The Scattering by Lauri Kubuitsile
Nauru Tales from the South Pacific by James A. Michener
Nepal The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
Netherlands The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
New Zealand The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Nicaragua The Country Under My Skin by Gioconda Belli
Niger The Epic of Askia Mohammed
Nigeria Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
North Korea The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
North Macedonia The Time of the Goats by Luan Starova
Norway Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
Oman Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
Pakistan The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
Palau Micronesian Blues by Brian Healy
Palestine Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
Panama The World in Half by Cristina Henríquez
Papua New Guinea Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones
Paraguay I, the Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos
Peru The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa
Phillipines Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal
Poland The Pianist by Władysław Szpilman
Portugal Baltasar and Blimunda by José Saramago
Qatar The Corsair by Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud
Romania The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller
Russian Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Rwanda We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families by Philip Gourevitch
Saint Kitts And Nevis Unburnable by Marie-Elena John
Saint Lucia Omeros by Derek Walcott
Saint Vincent & The Grenadines The Breadfruit Tree by Philip Nanton
Samoa Leaves of the Banyan Tree by Albert Wendt
San Marino A Small Place in Italy by Eric Newby
São Tomé and Príncipe The Taker of Dreams by Rogerio Manjate
Saudi Arabia The Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
Senegal So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
Serbia Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavić
Seychelles Tropical Islands: My Memoirs by Antoine Abel
Sierra Leone The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
Singapore Aunty Lee’s Delights by Ovidia Yu
Slovakia Samko Tále’s Cemetery Book by Daniela Kapitáňová
Slovenia Northern Lights by Drago Jančar
Soloman Islands Devil-Devil by G.W. Kent
Somalia Maps by Nuruddin Farah
South Africa Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
South Korea Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin
South Sudan What Is the What by Dave Eggers
Spain The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Sri Lanka Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
Sudan Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
Suriname The Cost of Sugar by Cynthia McLeod
Sweden The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg
Switzerland Homo Faber by Max Frisch
Syria The Shell by Mustafa Khalifa
Tajikistan Hurramabad by Andrei Volos
Tanzania Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Thailand Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad
Timor The Devil’s Garden by Nigel Barley
Togo The King of Kahel by Tierno Monénembo
Tonga Maui and His Descendants by Queen Sālote Tupou III
Trindad & Tobago A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
Tunisia The Pillar of Salt by Albert Memmi
Turkey My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Turkmenistan The Tale of Aypi by Ak Welsapar
Tuvalu Morning Comes Softly by Douglas C. Rogers
Uganda Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Ukraine Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov
United Arab Emirates The Sand Fish: A Novel from Dubai by Maha Gargash
United Kingdom Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
United States Beloved by Toni Morrison
Uruguay The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis
Uzbekistan The Devils’ Dance by Hamid Ismailov
Vanuatu Songs of the Empty Place by Carl Waldman and Alan W. Osborn
Vatican City The Vatican Diaries by John Thavis
Venezuela Doña Bárbara by Rómulo Gallegos
Vietnam The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh
Yemen The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Sophia Al-Maria
Zambia The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
Zimbabwe The Book of Not by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Zanzibar The Last Time I Saw Mother by Arlaina Tibensky
by mightymouse832