In the new year, I'm going to try and read more from authors around the world, hoping to cover 52 countries in 52 weeks. Now that might be a lofty goal, call it the one and only challenge I'm going to cover for the calendar year, but I think it's achievable. And since there are some African, Australian and Caribbean writers on the 1001 Books list, I might be able to knock a few off of both challenges as I go along.
So, if anyone has any suggestions for my 52 countries in 52 weeks, please let me know...right now my list is comprised of the following: Henning Mankell (Sweden), Nadine Gordimer (South Africa), Peter Carey (Australia)...and that's it.
And, of course, any excuse to give myself a challenge that I'll never finish, well hey!
EDITED TO ADD THE MASTER LIST:
1. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini,
2. The Successor, Ismail Kadare, Albania
3. The Swallows of Kabul, Yasmina Khadra, Algeria
4. Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid,
5. Theft: A Love Story, Peter Carey,
6. Nowhere Man, Aleksandar Hemon,
7. The Devil and Miss Prym, Paulo Coelho,
8. Consumption, Kevin Patterson,
9. The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende, Chile
10. Soul Mountain, Gao Xingjian, China
11. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabrial Garcia Marquez,
12. Havana Best Friends, Jose Latour,
13. The Trial, Franz Kafka, Czech Republic
14. Out of Africa, Isak Dineson,
15. Good Morning, Midnight, Jean Rhys,
16. The Lambs of London, David Mitchell,
17. Platform, Michel Houellebecq,
18. April in Paris, Michael Wallner,
19. Our Sister Killjoy, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ghana
20. Disappearance, David Dabydeen, Guyana
21. The Melancholy of Resistance, Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Hungary
22. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy,
23. The Master, Colm Toibin,
24. Lion's Honey: The Myth of Samson, David Grossman,
25. Don't Move, Margaret Mazzantini,
26. Hallucinating Foucault, Patricia Duncker,
27. The Unconsoled, Kazuo Ishiguro, Japan
28. Petals of Blood, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Kenya
29. A True Story Based on Lies, Jennifer Clement,
30. Half A Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
31. Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson,
32. Blindness, Jose Saramago, Portugal
33. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Master and Man, Leo Tolstoy,
34. The Accidental, Ali Smith,
35. Slow Man, J.M. Coetzee,
36. Depths, Henning Mankell,
37. All Soul's Day, Cees Nooteboom, The Netherlands
38. In a Free State, V.S. Naipul, Trinidad
39. My Name is Red, Orhan Pamuk, Turkey
40. The Emperor's Children, Clair Messud,
41. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, Alexander McCall Smith,
ADDED
42. Halldór Laxness, Independent People, Iceland
43. The Moldovian Pimp, Edgardo Cozarinsky, Argentina
A couple of truly fab forums are talking about the challenge and they've given me some more countries, so thanks!
44. Mariama Ba, So Long a Letter,
45. Javier Cercas, Soldiers of Salamis, Spain
46. Tahmima Anam, A Golden Age,
47. Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz,
48. Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero,
49. Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip,
50. Nurudin Farah, Links, Somalia
8 comments:
I'm currently reading Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria) and it's wonderful. (And if I've spelled her name correctly, I will be very pleased with myself. )
Are you aware of this blog - Around the world in 100 books.
Right now I'd be happy to read *anything*. Stupid crazy work schedule.
I am too lazy to get up and take a peek at my "library" as to suggestions for you but since I'm at the computer anyway, I googled "fiction best sellers Denmark" and came up with this site.
www.peterowen.com/pages/fiction.htm
Pretty good. Books from Russia, Japan, Italy, South Korea...
I may even check out some of these myself.
Good luck. Your intentions are admirable.
I had never seen that 100 countries in 100 books blog, no, thanks for forwarding. Man, that's even more agressive than me! So much for my amazingly "original" idea. HA!
Great idea. Hats off on this ambitious project. I'd recommend any Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Columbia) and Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (France). Those are the first ideas that popped into my head.
How will you pick your Russian?
Banana Yoshimoto is a great Japanese writer -- I've read and enjoyed her book "kitchen" (plus, it's only 152 pages!)
Never mind Russia -- how on earth are you going to choose an Indian writer? (If you haven't read any Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, may I recommend her?) You could do an Indian writer a week for a year and not even scratch the surface...
A suggestion for Morocco is Leila Abouzeid's Year of the Elephant -- I haven't read it yet myself but it's been well-reviewed. And it's short! -- Deborah
Please nevermind about Paulo Coelho (Brasil).
Do look for: Jorge Amado, Machado de Assis or Guimarães Rosa.
You can thank me later.
cheers
Flávia
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