Reading The World ...

This contains all the valid recommendations I’ve had of authors and titles. During my year of reading the world, I chose one book for each nation (chosen titles are hyperlinks to posts on each selection), although I have read quite a few more since.

I continue to update the list, so if you have a recommendation (or you know about an English version of one of the books marked ‘translation sought’), leave a comment at the bottom. I also feature one new title a month as my Book of the Month. Links to these reviews are highlighted in orange.

Afghanistan Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner; A Thousand Splendid Suns / Anna Badkhen Waiting for the Taliban / Emmanuel Guibert The Photographer/  (as told to) Batya Swift Yasgur Behind the Burqa / Atiq Rahimi A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear; The Patience Stone

Albania Ismail Kadare The Palace of Dreams; Broken April / Fatos Kongoli The Loser

Algeria Leïla Marouane The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris / Anouar Benmalek Abduction / Assia Djebar So Vast the Prison / Boualem Sansal An Unfinished Business; The German Mujahid / Al-Tahir Wattar The Earthquake / Anouar Benmalek The Lovers of Algeria / Yasmina Khadra The Attack

Andorra Albert Salvadó The Teacher of Cheops

Angola José Eduardo Agualusa My Father’s Wives; Creole / Pepetela The Return of the Water Spirit / Ondjaki Good Morning Comrades; The Whistler / Jose Eduardo Agualusa The Book of Chameleons / Manuel Rui Monteiro Quem me dera ser Onda (translation sought)

Antigua and Barbuda Jamaica Kincaid Lucy; Annie John / Marie-Elena John Unburnable / Althea Prince Loving this Man; Ladies of the Night / Gisele Isaac Considering Venus

Argentina Martin Kohan Seconds Out / César Aira How I Became a Nun; An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter / Ernesto Sábato The Tunnel / Alicia Steimberg Musicians and Watchmakers / Jorges Luis Borges / Tomás Eloy Martínez Purgatory (trans. Frank Wynne) / Matias Nespolo 7 Ways to Kill a Cat (trans. Frank Wynne) / Carlos Gamerro The Islands / Iosi HavilioOpendoor / Luisa Valenzuela / Ricardo Piglia / Guillermo Martínez / Manuel Puig / Adolfo Bioy Casares The Invention of Morel / Julio Cortázar Hopscotch

Armenia Armand Inezian Bringing Ararat / Grigoris Balakian Armenian Golgotha

Australia Tim Winton Cloudstreet / Helen Garner The Children’s Bach / Markus Zusak The Book Thief / Nam Le The Boat / Andrew McGahan The White Earth / Elizabeth Jolley / Alex Miller Lovesong / Jill Ker Conway The Road from Coorain

Austria Elias Canetti The Torch in my Ear / Anna Kim Frozen Time / Thomas Bernhard Extinction / Stefan Zweig / Julya Rabinovich Splithead

Azerbaijan Gioulzar Akhmedova Magnolia / Maksud Ibragimbekov / Anar Razayev / ? Ali and Nino

The Bahamas Ian Strachan God’s Angry Babies / Garth Buckner Thine is the Kingdom

Bahrain Ali Al Saeed Quixotiq / Sarah A Al Sahfei Yummah

Bangladesh Taslima Nasrin Shame / Tahmima Anam The Good Muslim / Humayun Ahmed To the Woods Dark and Deep / Ekhlasuddin Ahmed When the Evening Darkens / Shawkat Osman The Laughter of a Slave / Anwar Pasha Rifles Bread Women

Barbados Karen Lord Redemption in Indigo / Agymah Kamau Flickering Shadows; Pictures of a Dying Man / Glenville Lovell Fire in the Canes; Song of Night; Too Beautiful to Die

Belarus Artur Klinov The Sun City of Dreams / Uladzimir Karatkievich King Stakh’s Wild Hunt / Vasil Bykau Sotnikau or The Ordeal / Viktar Martsinovich Paranoia / Svetlana Alexievich Voices from Chernobyl / Uladzimir Karatkevich The Spikes Under Your Sickle / Ivan MelezhPeople of the Swamp

Belgium Hergé The Adventures of Tintin / Peter Terrin The Guard / Stefan BrijsThe Angel Maker / Francois Emmanuel Invitation to a Voyage / Dimitri Verhulst The Misfortunates / Louis Paul Boon My Little War / Paul Verhaeghen Omega Minor / Amélie Nothomb

Belize Zoila Ellis On Heroes, Lizards and Passion

Benin Gisèle Hountondji / Jean Pliya / Florent Couao-Zotti / Adelaide Fassinou / Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr Stories We Tell Each Other

Bhutan Kunzang Choden The Circle of Karma / Karma Ura The Hero with a Thousand Eyes / T Sangay Wangchuk Seeing with the Third Eye / Dorji PenjoreBomena / Pema Euden Coming Home / Sonam Kinga

Bolivia José Edmundo Paz-Soldán / Víctor Montoya / Renato Prada Oropeza / Giovanna Rivero Sweet Blood / Juan de Recacoechea American Visa

Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlata Filipovic Zlata’s Diary / Saša Stanišić How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone / Aleksandar Hemon The Lazarus Project / Ivo Andric The Bridge on the Drina / Meša Selimović Death and theDervish; Fortress

Botswana Angus, Maisie and Travers McNeice The Lion Children / Bessie Head A Question of Power / Unity Dow

Brazil João Ubaldo Ribeiro House of the Fortunate Buddhas; An Invincible Memory / Clarice Lispector / Rubem Fonseca / Paulo Freire / Clarice Lispector Agua Viva / Jorge Amado Jubiabá; The Double Death of Quincas Water-Bray / João Guimarães Rosa / Paulo Coehlo / Machado de Assis Dom Casmurro / Chico Buarque Budapest / Lygia Fagundes Telles The Marble Dance

Brunei Eva Maria Kershaw Dusun Folktales: A Collection of Eighty-eight Folktales in the Dusun Language of Brunei with English Translations / Christopher Sun (aka Sun Tze Yun) Four Kings / Amir Falique The Forlorn Adventure

Bulgaria Elias Canetti The Tongue Set Free / Kalin Terziyski Is there Anybody to Love You? / Georgi Gospodinov Natural Novel / Kapka Kassabova Street Without a Name / Anton Donchev Time of Parting / Milen Ruskov Thrown into Nature / Emiliyan Stanev The Peach Thief / Dimitar Dimov Doomed Souls

Burkina Faso Sarah Bouyain / Frédéric Pacéré Titinga / Nobert Zongo The Parachute Drop

Burundi Marie-Therese Toyi Weep Not, Refugee

Cambodia U Sam Oeur Crossing Three Wildernesses / Alice Pung Unpolished Gem / Vaddey Ratner In the Shadow of the Banyan / Loung Ung / Haing S Ngor / Bree Lafreniere and Daran Kravanh Music Through Dark

Cameroon Mongo Beti La Pauvre Christ de Bomba (The Poor Christ of Bomba); Mission to Kala / Beatrice Fri Bime Mystique: a collection of lake myths

Canada Robertson Davies / Nicole Brossard Mauve Desert / Alice Munro / Lauren B Davis Our Daily Bread / Darcie Friesen Hossack Mennonites Don’t Dance / Anne Michaels Fugitive Pieces / Thomas King Green Grass, Running Water / Elizabeth Hay Late Nights on Air / Michael Ondaatje In the Skin of a Lion / Frances Itani Deafening / Joseph Boyden The Three Day Road / Carol Shields / Donna Morrissey / Timothy Findley Not Wanted on the Voyage / Michael Crummey Galore / Anita Rau Baudami Tamarind Mem; The Hero’s Walk

Cape Verde Germano Almeida The Last Will & Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo

Central African Republic Pierre Makombo Bamboté Dada’s Travels from Ouadda to Bangui / ed. Polly Strong African Tales: Folklore of the Central African Republic / Etienne Goyémidé

Chad Joseph Brahim Seid Told by Starlight in Chad

Chile Roberto Bolano The Savage Detectives / Alejandro Zambra The Private Lives of Trees; Bonsai / Isabel Allende The House of the Spirits (trans. Magda Bodin) / Diamela Eltit / Alberto Fuguet / María Luisa Bombal / Luis Sepúlveda / Antonio Skármeta

China Zhu Wen I Love Dollars / Jian Rong Wolf Totem / Ma Jian Stick Out YourTongue; Red Dust/ Cao Xuequin Dream of the Red Chamber / Wu Cheng’enJourney to the West / Zhang Yueran / Chan Koonchung The Fat Years (trans. Michael Duke) / Yan Lianke Dream of Ding Village / Mo Yan The Garlic Ballads; Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh / Zhu Wen / Zhang Yueran / Han Dong Banished! / Yan Ge / Xialou Guo Village of Stone / Mian Mian Candy / Wang Shuo Playing for Thrills / Chen Xiwo I Love My Mum / Xu Zechen / Xue Xinran The Good Women of China; China Witness; Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother / Hok-Pang Tang & David Coomler A Time of Ghosts / Huo Da Jade King / Wang Xiaobo

Colombia Evelio Rosero The Armies / Pilar Quintana Tickles in the Tongue / Juan Gabriel Vasquez The Informers / Eduardo Garcia Aguilar Boulevard of Heroes / Fernando Vallejo Our Lady of the Assassins / Hector Abad Faciolince / Laura Restrepo Delirium / Fernando Vallejo / Gabriel García Márquez / James Cañón Tales from the Town of Windows / Leila Cobo

Comoros Mohammed Toihiri The Kafir of Karthala

Congo, Democratic Republic of Amba Bongo /  Frederick Yamusangie Full Circle

Congo, Republic of Emmanuel Dongala Johnny Mad Dog; Little Boys Come from the Stars / Sony Lab’ou Tansi The Antipeople

Costa Rica Anacristina Rossi / Carmen Naranjo / Oscar Nunez OlivasCadence of the Moon / Anacristina Rossi The Madwoman of Gandoca / ed Barbara Ras Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Literary Companion

Côte d’Ivoire Bernard Dadié Climbié / Ahmadou Kourouma Allah is not Obliged

Croatia Miroslav Krleža On the Edge of Reason / Dubravka Ugrĕsic The Ministry of Pain; In the Jaws of Life / Slavenka Drakulic A Guided Tour through the Museum of Communism / Marija Jurić Zagorka Daughter of the Lotrščak; A Stone on the Road; The Witch of Gric / Antun Gustav Matoš / Robert PerišičOur Man in Iraq

Cuba Mayra Montero Dancing to Almendra / Ena Lucia Portela One Hundred Bottles / Alejo Carpentier / Reinaldo Arenas / Antonio José Ponte / Leonardo Padura / Reinaldo Arenas / Leonardo Padura Fuentes / Virgilio Piñera / José Lezama Lima / Severo Sarduy /  Guillermo Cabrera Infante / Lydia CabreraAfro-Cuban Tales

Cyprus Anna Marangou/Andreas Coutas (trans. Xenia Andreou) Famagusta: the Story of the City / Eve Makis / Christy Lefteri A Watermelon, a Fish and a Bible / Panos Ioannides Gregory and other stories / Elmos Konis Magnette / Nora Nadjarian Ledra Street

Czech Republic Bohumil Hrabal Too Loud a Solitude / Hana Demetz The House on Prague Street / Tomáš Zmeškal Love Letter in Cuneiform Script / Josef Škvorecký The Engineer of Human Souls (trans. Paul Wilson) / Jáchym Topol The Devil’s Workshop

Denmark Jakob Ejersbo Exile: Book One of the African Trilogy / Morten Ramsland Dog Head / Christian Jungersen The Exception / Louise Bugge Laermann Constanze Mozart / Peter Høeg Smilla’s Sense of Snow

Djibouti Abdourahman Waberi In the United States of Africa; Passage of Tears

Dominica Phyllis Shand Allfrey The Orchid House / Elma Napier Black and White Sands / Jean Rhys / Pupils of Atkinson School The Snake King of the Kalinago / Alick Lazare Pharcel / Various Home Again / Christborne Shillingford Most Wanted: street stories from the Caribbean

Dominican Republic Juan Bosch / Arambilet Neguri’s Secret / Junot Diaz The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao / Pedro Mir When they Loved the Communal Land / Julia Alvarez 

East Timor Luis Cardoso The Crossing

Ecuador Jorge Icaza Huasipungo 

Egypt Ahdaf Soueif The Map of Love; Cairo: My City, Our Revolution / Sonallah Ibrahim Stealth / Mohamed Mansi Qandil Moon Over Samarqand / Waguih Ghali Beer in the Snooker Club / Naguib Mahfouz Midaq Alley; The Thief and the Dogs; Miramar; The Final Hour/ Alaa Al Aswany The Yacoubian Building / Radwa Ashour / Nawal El Saadawi / May Telmissany Dunyazad / Salwa Bakr / ed. Marilyn Booth My Grandmother’s Cactus / Gamal al-Ghitani Zayni Barakat / Yusef Zeidan Azazil / Radwa Ashour Granada; Spectres / Ibrahim Abdel Meguid No One Sleeps in Alexandria / Bahar Tahir / Muhammad Bisati

El Salvador Horacio Castellanos Moya Senselessness

Equatorial Guinea Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel By Night the Mountain Burns /Donato Ndongo Shadows of your Black Memory / Maria Nsue AngueEkomo (translation sought)

Eritrea Senait Mehari Heart of Fire / Sulaiman Addonia The Consequences of Love

Estonia Jaan Kross Professor Martens’ Departure; Treading Air / Viivi Luik The Beauty of History

Ethiopia Maaza Mengiste Beneath the Lion’s Gaze / Dinaw Mengestu Children of the Revolution / Abraham Verghese Cutting for Stone

Fiji Peter Thomson Kava in the Blood / Epeli Hau’ofa Kisses in the Nederends;Tales of the Tikongs / Mikaele M.K. Yasa Of Baluka and Nibong Palm

Finland Arto Paasilinna The Year of the Hare / Mika Waltari The Egyptian / Johanna Sinisalo Troll: A Love Story / Sofi Oksanen Purge / Emmi Itäranta Memory of Water

France Alain-Fournier The Wanderer / Marie NDiaye Rosie Carpe / Marie Darrieussecq My Phantom Husband / Colette Chéri / Faiza Guene Dreams from the Endz / Raymond Queneau Exercises in Style (trans. Barbara Wright) / Georges Perec Life:a User’s Manual (trans. David Bellos) / Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio Wandering Star / Jean Echenoz Lightning / Delphine de Vigan Underground Time / Faïza Guène Just Like Tomorrow / Alexis Jenni The French Art of War / Laurence Cossé A Novel Bookstore / Hélène Grémillon The Confidant / Jérôme Ferrari Where I Left My Soul / Marguerite Yourcenar / Michel Houellebecq / André Schwarz-Bart A Woman Named Solitude (trans. Ralph Manheim)

Gabon Daniel Mengara Mema

The Gambia Dayo Forster Reading the Ceiling / Dembo Fanta Bojang & Sukai Mbye Bojang Folk Tales and Fables from The Gambia 

Georgia Sana Krasikov One More Year / ed Elizabeth HeighwayContemporary Georgian Fiction / Cabua Amirejibi Data Tutashkhia / Mikheil Javakhishvili Kvachi / Otar Chiladze A Man Was Going Down the Road

Germany Jenny Erpenbeck Visitation; The End of Days / Günter Grass The Tin Drum / Christa Wolf / Heinrich Böll The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum / Emine Sevgi Özdamar Bridge of the Golden Horn / Walter BenjaminIlluminations (trans. Harry Zohn) / Clemens Meyer All the Lights / Christa WolfMedea / Franz Fühmann / Inka Parei The Shadow-Boxing Girl / Hans Fallada Alone in Berlin / Jurek Becker Jacob the Liar / Herman HesseSiddhartha / Thomas Mann

Ghana Ayi Kwei Armah The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born / Isaac Neequaye / Ama Ata Aidoo / Jo de Graft Hanson Amanfi’s Gold / Gheysika Adombire Agambila Journey / Various Anansi Stories

Greece Kostas Hatziantoniou The Black Book of Bile; Agrigento / Margarita Karapanou Kassandra and the Wolf / Panos Karnezis / Nikos Kazantzakis Freedom or Death; The Last Temptation

Grenada Tobias Buckell / Merle Collins The Ladies are Upstairs

Guatemala Miguel Angel Asturias The President / Rodrigo Rey Rosa / Rigoberta Menchú I, Rigoberta Menchú / Augusto Monterroso

Guinea Camara Laye The Radiance of the King; The Guardian of the Word

Guinea-Bissau Amilcar Cabral Unity and Struggle

Guyana Oonya Kempadoo Buxton Spice

Haiti Marvin Victor / Lyonel Trouillot Children of Heroes / Dany Laferriere How to Make Love to a Negro without Getting Tired; I am a Japanese Writer / Louis-Philppe Dalembert / Edwidge Danticat The Farming of the Bones / Franketienne / Gary Klang / Josaphat-Robert Large

Honduras Guillermo Yuscaran Points of Light / Ramón Amaya Amador

Hungary Sándor Márai Embers / Dezső Kosztolányi Skylark / Zsigmond Móricz Be Faithful Unto Death / Antal Szerb Journey by Moonlight / Peter Esterharzy Not Art / Tibor Fischer Under the Frog / Antal Szerb The Pendragon Legend / László Krasznahorkai War and War (trans. George Szirtes) / Ferenc Karinthy Metropole /  Imre Kertész Fatelessness / Albert Wass / Rejtő Jenő / Péter Nádas A Book of Memories; Parallel Stories / Iván Mándy On the Balcony / Ferenc Molnár The Paul Street Boys

Iceland Arnaldur Indridason Jar City / Halldór Laxness The Atom Station / Ófeigur Sigurðsson / Gyrðir Eliasson Stone Tree / Auður A Ólafsdóttir The Greenhouse

India Suketu Mehta Maximum City / Rohinton Mistry Family Matters; A Fine Balance / Premchand / Rahul Bhattacharya The Sly Company of People who Care / Amitav Ghosh River of Smoke / Tabish Khair The Thing about Thugs / Aman Sathi A Free Man / Sunetra Gupta / Omair Ahmad Jimmy the Terrorist / UR Ananthamurthy Bharathipura / Chandrakanta A Street in Srinagar / Siddharth Chowdhury Day Scholar / Kishwar Desai Witness the Night / Namita Devidayal Aftertaste / Manu Joseph Serious Men / Kavery Nambisan: The Story that Must Not Be Told / Kalpish Ratna The Quarantine Papers / Uppamanyu Chattergee Way to go / Chandrahas Choudhury Arzee the Dwarf / Manju Kapur The Immigrant / Neel Mukherjee The Immigrant / Mani Sankar Mukherji The Middleman / I. Allan Sealy The Trotter Nama / Shashi Warrier / Aniruddha Bahal /  Vikram Chandra /  M T Vasudevan Nair Mist; The Legacy; The Demon Seed; Second Turn; Kaalam / Asha Poorna Devi / Ruskin Bond / Gurcharan Das India Unbound / Mark Tully / Shashi Tharoor The Great Indian Novel / Mahasweta Devi  Imaginary Maps; Bitter Soil; Hajar Churashir Maa / RK Narayan Malgudi Days / Jhaverchand Meghani / Kushwant Singh Train to Pakistan; The Portrait of a Lady / ed Rakesh Khanna The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction / Shivaji Sawant Mrityunjay / OV Vijayan / Govardhanram TripathiSaraswatichandra / Satyajit Ray Feluda series / Sunil Gangopadhyay Those Days / Rabindranath Tagore / Sashi Deshpande / Kiran Nagarkar Cuckold; Seven Sixes are Forty-Three / Charu Nivedita Zero Degree / Tarun Tejpal Alchemy of Desire / Manoshi Bhattacharya Chittagong Summer of 1930 / Sankar Chowringhee / Shanta Gokhale Crowfall / Maitreyi Devi Na Hanyate / Aruna Chakrabarti Srikanta / Ruskin Bond / Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai Chemmeen / Mulk Raj Anand Untouchable / Vikram Seth A Suitable Boy

Indonesia Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya (Romo Mangun) Burung-Burung Manyar; Rara Mendut; Durga/Umayi / Ayu Utami / Mochtar Lubis / Pramoedya Ananta Toer This Earth of Mankind / Dewi Lestari Supernova / Agustinus Wibowo Blanket of Dust (translation sought) / Andrea Hirata The Rainbow Troops

Iran Akbar Golrang Parpin Flowers /Nasrin Alavi We are Iran / Shahrnush Parsipur Touba and the Meaning of Night / Mahmoud Dowlatabadi The Colonel(trans. Tom Patterdale) / Adnan-Ahmed

Iraq Samuel Shimon An Iraqi in Paris / Ali Bader The Tobacco Keeper / Hassan Blasim The Madman of Freedom Square / Rodaan Al Galidi Thirsty River / Samira Al-Mana / Wafaa Abed Al Razzaq / A Alwan The Sheikh’s Detective / Fuad al-Takarli The Long Way Back

Ireland James Joyce Ulysses / Maria Edgeworth Castle Rackrent / William Trevor / Sebastian Barry The Secret Scripture / Flann O’Brien The Third Policeman; At Swim-Two-Birds

Israel David Grossman Falling Out of Time; To the End of the Land; Be My Knife/ Amos Oz A Tale of Love and Darkness (trans. Nicholas de Lange) / Savyon Liebrecht / AB Yehoshua / Ronit Matalon / Alex Epstein / Aharon AppelfeldBlooms of Darkness  / Sara Shilo The Falafel King is Dead / Etgar Keret / Yehoshua Kenaz

Italy Roberto Saviano Zero Zero Zero; Gomorrah /  Leonardo Sciascia The Day of the Owl (trans. Archibald Colquhoun) / Fabio Geda In the Sea there are Crocodiles (trans. Howard Curtis) / Elena Ferrante The Lost Daughter; The Days of Abandonment; My Brilliant Friend / Antonio Tabucchi Pereira Maintains / Diego Marani New Finnish Grammar / Alessandro Baricco Ocean Sea; Mr Gwyn / Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa The Leopard / Alessandro Manzoni / Luigi Pirandello / Primo Levi / Italo Svevo / Dino Buzzati The Tartar Steppe

Jamaica Kei Miller / Lindsay Barrett / Margaret Cezair-Thompson The Pirate’s Daughter / Colin Channer / Brian Meeks Paint the Town Red / Patricia Powell / Victor Stafford Reid / Vanessa Spence / Marlon James The Book of Night Women; John Crow’s Devil

Japan Haruki Murakami Kafka on the Shore; 1Q84 / Natsume Sōseki TheMiner; I am a Cat/ Michitsuna no Haha (Michitsuna’s mother) The Kagero Diary (trans. Sonja Arntzen) / Yukio Mishima Death in Midsummer (trans. Seidensticker, Keene, Morris, Sargent) / Hiromi Kawakami Manazuru / Shiba Ryotaro / Yoko Ogawa / Yoriko Shono / Yumiko Kurahashi / Yoko Tawada / Yasunari Kawabata Snow Country

Jordan Ibrahim Nasrallah Time of White Horses / Abdulrahman Munif Cities of Salt

Kazakhstan Rollan Seisenbayev The Day the World Collapsed / Mukhamet Shayakhmetov The Silent Steppe: The Story of a Kazakh Nomad Under Stalin / Nursultan Nazarbayev My Life, My Times and the Future / Ilyas Esenberlin Nomads / Mukhtar Auezov Abai (translation sought)

Kenya Binyavanga Wainaina One Day I Will Write About This Place / Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o A Grain of Wheat; Wizard of the Crow / Philo Ikonya Kenya, Will You Marry Me? / NK Read Children of Saba

Kiribati Teweiariki Teaero Waa in Storms

Kuwait Saif Marzooq al-Shamlan Pearling in the Arabian Gulf / Jehan S Rajab Invasion Kuwait / Haya al-Mughni Women in Kuwait / Danderma The Chronicles of Dathra, a Dowdy Girl from Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan Chinghiz Aitmatov Jamilia; The Place of the Skull; Farewell Gul’sary; The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years; Short Novels; White Steamship; Tales of the Mountains and Steppes; Cranes Fly Early;Time to Speak; Mother Earth and Other Stories

Laos Outhine Bounyavong Mother’s Beloved

Latvia David Bezmozgis The Free World / Agate Nesaule A Woman in Amber / Inga Zolude A Solace for Adam’s Tree / Sandra Kalniete With Dance Shoes in Siberian Snows / Janis Klidzejs The Child of Man (translation sought)

Lebanon Joumana Haddad I Killed Scheherazade  / Elias Khoury Yalo; Gate of the Sun / Hanan al-Shaykh One Thousand and One Nights; The Locust and the Bird / Jabbour Douhaiy June Rain / Alexandra Chreiteh Always Coca-Cola / Iman Humaydan Wild Mulberries / Amin Maalouf Samarkand; Leo the African / Rashid al-Daif Dear Mr Kawabata / Amin al Rihani / Gibran Khalil Gibran

Lesotho Thomas Mofolo Chaka / AS Mopeli-Paulus Blanket Boy’s Moon; The World and the Cattle / Morabo Morojele How We Buried Puso / Various Basali! Stories by and about women in Lesotho

Liberia Helene Cooper The House at Sugar Beach / Ellen Johnson Sirleaf This Child Will Be Great / Mardia Stone Konkai: Living Between Two Worlds

Libya Hisham Matar In the Country of Men; Anatomy of a Disappearance / Ibrahim Al-Khoni Anubis: A Desert Novel; Gold Dust; The Animists; The Bleeding of the Stone; The Puppet; The Seven Veils of Seth / Ahmed Fagi Homeless Rats; 30 Short Stories

Liechtenstein Iren Nigg / Stefan Sprenger / Heinrich Harrer Seven Years in Tibet / CC Bergius The Noble Forger

Lithuania Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė / Various No Men, No Cry / Ricardas Gavelis Vilnius Poker / Jonas Mekas / Juozas Baltusis / Andrius Tapinas Hour of the Wolf / Balys Sruoga Forest of the Gods / Antanas Škėma The White Shroud / Laimonas Briedis Vilnius: City of Strangers

Luxembourg Jean Back Amateur / Robi Gottlieb-Cahen Minute Stories

Macedonia Rumena Bužarovska Scribbles; Wisdom Tooth / Goce SmilevskiSigmund Freud’s Sister; Conversation with Spinoza / Elizabeta Bakovska On the way to Damascus

Madagascar ed. Jacques Bourgeacq and Liliane Ramarosoa Voices from Madagascar

Malawi Samson Kambalu The Jive Talker / Aubrey Kachingwe No Easy Task

Malaysia Shih-Li Kow Ripples and Other Stories / A Samad Said / Adibah Amin This End of The Rainbow / Dina Zaman King of the Sea

Maldives Abdullah Sadiq Dhon Hiyala and Ali Fulhu

Mali Amadou Hampâté Bâ The Strange Destiny of Wangrin / Yambo Ouloguem Bound to Violence

Malta Immanuel Mifsud Happy Weekend / Pierre Mejlak / Simon Bartolo / Oliver Friggieri / Herbert Ganado My Century / Trevor Zahra / Kilin (Mikiel Spiteri)

Marshall Islands Ed Daniel Kelin Marshall Islands Legends and Stories / Marshallese school students (the Unbound Bookmaker Project) The Important Book about Majuro / Jack Niedenthal For the Good of Mankind / Bob Barclay In Melal: A Novel of the Pacific / Dirk R Spennemann Bwebwenatoon etto: a collection of Marshallese legends and traditions

Mauritania Mohamed Bouya Bamba Angels of Mauritania and the Curse of the Language

Mauritius Anand Mulloo Watch Them Go Down / Barlen Pyamootoo Benares 

Mexico Juan Pablo Villalobos Down the Rabbit Hole / Octavio Paz The Labyrinth of Solitude (trans. Lysander Kemp) / Laura Esquivel Like Water for Chocolate (trans. Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen) / Martín Solares The Black Minutes / Carlos Fuentes / Jorge Volpi / Rosario Castellanos / Carmen Boullosa / Mario Bellatín / Elena Garro / Juan Rulfo / Elena Poniatowska / Sergio Pitol / Juan Rulfo Pedro Paramo

Micronesia, Federated States of Luelen Bernart The Book of Luelen

Moldova Ion Drutse Moldavian Autumn; The Story of an Ant / Vladimir Lorchenkov The Good Life Elsewhere

Monaco ed. Richard and Danae Projetti Grace Kelly: Princesse du Cinema

Mongolia Galsan Tschinag The Blue Sky

Montenegro Petar II Petrović-Njegoš The Mountain Wreath / Andrej Nikolaidis / Xenia Popovich A Lullaby for No Man’s Wolf 

Morocco Diss Chraïbi Heirs to the Past; Le Passé Simple (The Simple Past) / Tahar Ben Jelloun The Sacred Night; The Sand Child; This Blinding Absence of Light (trans. Linda Coverdale); A Palace in the Old Village (trans. Linda Coverdale) / Bensalem Himmich The Polymath / Mohammed Achaari The Arch and the Butterfly / Fatima Mernissi / Muhammad Shukri For Bread Alone / Muhammad Barrada The Game of Forgetting 

Mozambique Mia Couto The Sleepwalking Land; Under the Frangipani / Paulina Chiziane Niketche / Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa Ualalapi / Luis Bernardo Honwana We Killed Mangy Dog

Myanmar Cho Tu Zaw / Ma Thida / Nu Nu Yi Inwa Smile as they Bow

Namibia Joseph Diescho Troubled Waters / Neshani Andreas The Purple Violet of Oshaantu

Nauru Timothy Detudamo Legends, Traditions and Tales of Nauru / Ben Bam Solomon et al Stories from Nauru

Nepal Samrat Upadhyay Buddha’s Orphans / Ajit Baral The Lazy Conman and Other Stories / Parijat Blue Mimosa / Jagadish Ghimire Antarman ko yatra

Netherlands Harry Mulisch The Discovery of Heaven / Cees Noteboom LostParadise; All Souls’ Day; Rituals / Tessa de Loo / Gerbrand Bakker The Twin / Kader Abdolah The House of the Mosque / Abdelkader Benali / Jan van Mersbergen Tomorrow Pamplona / Arthur Japin The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi / Tommy Wieringa Little Caesar / Bernlef Out of Mind / Jan Wolkers Turkish Delight / WF Hermans The Darkroom of Damocles / Arnon Grunberg Tirza; Skin and Hair / Nescio Amsterdam Stories / Gerard Reve De avonden (translation sought)

New Zealand Charlotte Grimshaw Singularity / Maurice Shadbolt Season of the Jew / Keri Hulme The Bone People / Lloyd Jones Mr Pip / Alan Duff Once Were Warriors / Witi Ihimaera Tangi / Janet Frame / Patricia Grace Potiki / Eleanor Catton The Luminaries

Nicaragua Gioconda Belli Infinity in the Palm of her Hand 

Niger recounted by Nouhou Malio The Epic of Askia Mohammed

Nigeria Wole Soyinka The Interpreters; Season of Anomy / Toyin Falola A Mouth Sweeter than Salt / Lola Shoneyin The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Americanah; Half of a Yellow Sun / Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart

North Korea Ri In Mo My Life and Faith / Kye Wol Hyang

Norway Karl Ove Knausgaard My Struggle / Per Petterson To Siberia; Out Stealing Horses (trans. Ann Born) / Knut Hamsun Hunger / Lars Saabye Christensen The Half Brother / Jan Wiese The Naked Madonna / Linn Ullmann Before You Sleep / Agnar Mykle Lasso Round the Moon / Gerd Brantenberg Egalia’s Daughters / Sigrid Undset Kristin Lavransdatter (trans. Tiina Nunnally)

Oman Ibrahim Farghali Smiles of Saints / Khadija bint Alawi Al-Dhahab My Grandmother’s Stories / Unni Wikan Behind the Veil in Arabia: Women in Oman / Abdulaziz Al Farsi Earth Weeps, Saturn Laughs

Pakistan Mohsin Hamid Moth Smoke; The Reluctant Fundamentalist / Sara Suleri Meatless Days / Bapsi Sidhwa Ice Candy Man; An American Brat; The Pakistani Bride/ Bina Shah A Season for Martyrs; Slum Child / Jamil Ahmad The Wandering Falcon / Daniyal Mueenuddin In Other Rooms, Other Wonders / HM Naqvi Home Boy / Uzma Aslam Khan / Musharraf Ali Farooqi The Story of aWidow; Between Clay and Dust / Ali Sethi The Wish Maker / Kamila Shamsie Kartography; Broken Verses; Burnt Shadows / Mohammed Hanif

Palau Susan Kloulechad Spirits’ Tides

Palestine Ibtisam Barakat Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood / Sahar Khalifeh Wild Thorns / Susan Abulhawa Mornings in Jenin / Mahmoud ShukairMordechai’s Moustache and his Wife’s Cats, and Other Stories

Panama Juan David Morgan The Golden Horse / Carlos Russell

Papua New Guinea Russell Soaba Maiba / Regis Stella Gutsini Posa; Mata Sara / Russell Soaba Maiba / Bernard Narokobi Two Seasons / Vincent Eri The Crocodile / Nash Sorariba / Michael Somare Sana /

Paraguay  Augusto Roa Bastos The Prosecutor 

Peru Mario Vargas Llosa Death in the Andes; Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter(trans. Ursule Molinaro, Hedwig Rappolt); The Storyteller (trans. Helen Lane) / Jaime Bayly / José María Arguedas / Santiago Roncagliolo

Philippines Charlson Ong / Joel Toledo / Miguel Syjuco Illustrado / F Sionil José / Jessica Hagedorn Dogeaters / Bino Realuyo The Umbrella Country / Ninotchka Rosca State of War  / Azucena Grajo Uranza Bamboo in the Wind / Marivi Soliven The Mango Bride

Poland Stanislaw Lem / Olga Tokarczuk Primeval and Other Times; House of Day, House of Night / Pawel Huelle Cold Sea Tales; Castorp; The Last Supper;Mercedes Benz/ Zygmunt Miloszewski Entanglement; A Grain of Truth/ Witold Gombrowicz Pornografia / Wiesław Myśliwski Stone upon Stone / Magdalena Tulli In Red / Dorota Maslowska Snow White and Russian Red / Marek Krajewski The Eberhard Mock books / Grazyna Plebanek Illegal Liaisons / Antoni Libera Madame / Andrzej Stasiuk On the Road to Babadag; Dukla;Fado; Nine; White Raven / Stefan Chwin Death in Danzig / Michal WitkowskiLovetown / Jacek Hugo-Bader White Fever / Wojciech Jagielski The Night Wanderers / Kazimierz Moczarski Conversations with an Executioner /Wojciech Tochman Like Eating a Stone

Portugal Eca de Queiroz The Mandarin and Other Stories / José SaramagoBlindness; The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis; The Gospel According to Jesus Christ / Fernando Pessoa / Pero Vaz de Caminha Carta de Pêro Vaz de Caminha / Agustina Bessa-Luís

Qatar Mohammed Ali Victory over Abu Derya: The Quest for Pearls in the Arabian Gulf / Abdul Aziz Al Mahmoud The Corsair

Romania Herta Müller The Passport / Filip and Matei Florian The Baiut Alley Lads / Mircea Cartarescu / Mircea Eliade

Russia Alina Bronsky The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine / Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (trans. Ralph Parker) / Vladimir Sorokin Day of the Oprichnik / Mikhail Lermontov A Hero of Our Time/ Mikhail Bulgakov The Master and Margarita (trans. Michael Glenny) / Roman Senchin MINUS / Alan Cherchesov Requiem for the Living /Off the Beaten Tracks: Stories by Russian Hitchhikers / Oleg Zaionchkovski Happiness is Possible / PD Ouspensky Strange Life of Ivan Osokin / Alan Cherchesov Requiem for the Living / Leo Tolstoy Anna Karenina

Rwanda Philip Gourevitch We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with our Families / Jean Hatzfeld Into the Quick of Life / Barassa Teta / John Rusimbi By the Time She Returned / Gilbert Gatore The Past Ahead

Saint Kitts and Nevis Caryl Phillips / Bertram Roach Only God Can Make a Tree

Saint Lucia Derek Walcott Omeros / Garth St Omer A Room on the Hill; Shades of Grey; Nor Any Country; J-, Black Bam and the Masqueraders / Dr Earl Long Consolation; Voices from a Drum / McDonald Dixon Season of Mist / Michael Aubertin Neg Maron

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines H Nigel Thomas Spirits in the Dark; Behind the Face of Winter; Return to Arcadia / George Thomas Ruler in Hairoona / Cecil Browne The Moon is Following Me / Richard Byron-Cox Were Mama’s Tears in Vain? / Marcia King-Gamble / Trish St Hill /  Nickie Williams /

Samoa Misa Telefoni Retzlaff Love and Money / Lani Wendt Young Telesa: The Covenant Keeper / Albert Wendt The Adventures of Vela; Sons for the Return Home; Pouliuli / Sia Figiel Where We Once Belonged; The Girl in the Moon Circle; They Who do not Grieve

San Marino Giuseppe Rossi The Republic of San Marino

Sao Tome and Principe Olinda Beja The Shepherd’s House 

Saudi Arabia Rajaa Al-Sanea Girls of Riyadh / Raja Alem My Thousand and One Nights: A Novel of Mecca / Abdul Rahman Munif Endings; Cities of Salt; The Trench; Variations on Night and Day / ed. Abubaker Bagader Voices of Change / Ghazi Abdul Rahman Al Gosaibi

Senegal Mariama Bâ So Long a Letter / Ken Bugul Riwan ou Le Chemin de Sable (Riwan or The Path of Sand)

Serbia Milos Crnjanski A Novel About London; Migrations / Danilo Kiš / David Albahari Bait / Milorad Pavic Dictionary of the Khazars / Srdjan Valjarevic Lake Como / Zoran Živković

Seychelles Glynn Burridge Voices / William Travis Beyond the Reefs; Shark for Sale

Sierra Leone Aminatta Forna The Memory of Love / Ishmael Beah A Long Way Gone

Singapore Su-Chen Christine Lim Fistful of Colours 

Slovakia Pavol Rankov / Peter Pišťanek Rivers of Babylon / Daniela Kapitánová Samko Tale’s Cemetery Book

Slovenia Slavoj Žižek / Nataša Kramberger Heaven in a Blackberry Bush, a Novel in Stories / Andrej Blatnik You do Understand / Andrej Skubic Fužine Blues / Miha Mazzini The German Lottery / Vladimir Bartol Alamut / Luka Novak The Golden Shower or What Men Want

Solomon Islands John Saunana The Alternative / ed. Alice Aruhe’eta Pollard and Marilyn J. Waring Being the First: Storis Blong Oloketa Mere lo Solomon Aelan / Celo Kulagoe

Somalia Nuruddin Farah Secrets; Sweet and Sour Milk

South Africa Gavin Evans Dancing Shoes is Dead / Ingrid Winterbach The Book of Happenstance / Damon Galgut The Quarry / Kgebetli Moele The Book of the Dead / Diane Awerbuck Cabin Fever / Siphiwo Mahala African Delights / Henrietta Rose-Innes Nineveh / Ivan Vladislavic The Loss Library / Nelson Mandela The Long Walk to Freedom / Alan Paton Cry, the Beloved Country / Bryce Courtenay The Power of One / Dalene Matthee Fiela’s Child; Circles in the Forest

South Korea Hwang Sok-yong The Guest; The Old Garden / Lee Hye-KyungA House on the Road / Shin Kyung-Sook Please Look After Mom

South Sudan Julia Duany ‘To Forgive is Divine Not Human’ 

Spain Miguel Delibes Five Hours with Mario / Javier Cercas Soldiers of Salamis; The Anatomy of a Moment (trans. Anne McClean) / Alberto MendezThe Blind Sunflowers / Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote (trans. Edith Grossman) / Carlos Ruiz Zafón The Shadow of the Wind /  Enrique Vila-Matas Dublinesque / Juan Goytisolo Exiled from Almost Everywhere / Antonio Muñoz Molina Sefarad / Javier Marías The Infatuations

Sri Lanka Romesh Gunesekera Reef / Carl Muller The Jam Fruit Tree / Shehan Karunatilaka Chinaman / Ru Freeman A Disobedient Girl / Siri Gunasinghe The Shadow / Kathleen Jayawardena Circles of Fire / S Ponnuthurai Ritual / Sunethra Rajakarunanayake Metta / Keerthi Welisarage The Doomed / Martin Wickramasinghe

Sudan Amir Tag Elsir The Grub Hunter / Tarek Eltayeb The Palm House / Tayeb Salih Season of Migration to the North / Leila Aboulela Minaret

Suriname Cynthia Mcleod The Cost of Sugar; The Free Negress

Swaziland  Sarah Mkhonza Weeding the Flowerbeds

Sweden Henning Mankell Chronicler of the Winds / Per Olov Enquist The March of the Musicians (trans. Joan Tate); The Story of Blanche and Marie / Jens Lapidus Easy Money / Karin Altenberg Island of Wings / Jonas Hassen Khemiri Montecore / Hjalmar Soderberg Doctor Glas / Lotta Lotass / Amelie Posse / John Ajvide Lindqvist Let the Right One In / Jonas Jonasson The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

Switzerland Friedrich Dürrenmatt The Pledge / Hansjörg Schertenlieb A Happy Man / Gottfried Keller A Village Romeo and Juliet / Annemarie Schwarzenbach / Friedrich Glauser In Matto’s Realm / Peter Bichsel Children’s Stories / Aglaja Veteranyi Why the Child is Cooking in the Polenta / Hugo Loetscher Noah / Gerhard Meier Isle of the Dead 

Syria Fadi Azzam Sarmada / Zakaria Tamer Breaking Knees / Ghadda Samman / Rafik Schami Damascus Nights / Hassan Bahri / Hanna Mina Sun on a Cloudy Day / Khaled Khalifa In Praise of Hatred

Taiwan Su Wei-chen / Pai Hsien-yung Crystal Boys

Tajikistan Andrei Volos Hurramabad / Sadriddin Aini The Sands of Oxus: Boyhood Reminiscences of Sadriddin Aini

Tanzania Muhammed Said Abdulla / Abdulrazak Gurnah Desertion / Edwin Semzaba / Ismael Mbise Blood on Our Land / Agoro Anduru / Adam Shafi / Bethsaida Orphan Girls’ Secondary School Their Voices, Their Stories / Sophia Mustafa Broken Reed / Tengio Urrio The Girl from Uganda / S Ndunguru The Lion of Yola / Ronny Mintjens More Than a Game

Thailand Chart Korbjitti The Judgement; No Way Out; Time; Mad Dogs & Co / Kukrit Pramoj / Kampoon Boontawee A Child of the Northeast

Togo Jeanette D Ahonsou / Pyabelo Chaold Kouly / Tété-Michel KpomassieAn African in Greenland

Tonga Joshua Taumoefolau A Providence of War / Epeli Hau’ofa Tales of the Tikongs

Trinidad and Tobago VS Naipaul A House for Mr Biswas; In a Free State / Monique Roffey The White Woman on the Green Bicycle / Robert Antoni / Keith Jardim Near Open Water / Earl Lovelace Is Just a Movie / Vahni CapildeoOne Scattered Skeleton / Errol John Moon on a Rainbow Shawl

Tunisia Habib Selmi The Scents of Marie-Claire / Abdelwahab MeddebTalismano / Hassouna Mosbahi A Tunisian Tale / Ali Douagi / Mahmoud Messadi

Turkey Orhan Pamuk Snow / Latife Tekin Dear Shameless Death / Elif ShafakThe Forty Rules of Love / Erendiz Atasu The Other Side of the Mountain / Murathan Mungan / Orhan Kemal / Halide Edip Adıvar / Reşat Nuri Güntekin / Refik Halit Karay / Sabahattin Ali / Yaşar Kemal / Kemal Tahir / Fakir Baykurt / Sait Faik Abasıyanık / Güneli Gün On the Road to Baghdad / Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar The Time Regulation Institute

Turkmenistan John Kropf Unknown Sands / Ak Welsapar The Tale of Aypi;Cobra

Tuvalu Various Tuvalu: A history

Uganda Okot p’Bitek Song of Lawino / Moses Isegawa Abyssinian Chronicles;Snakepit / Doreen Baingan Tropical Fish: Stories Out Of Entebbe / Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi Kintu / Timothy Wangusa Upon This Mountain / Julius Ocwinyo Fate of the Banished; The Unfulilled Dream; Footprints of the Outsider / Goretti Kyomuhendo The First Daughter; Waiting; Secrets No More/ Glaydah Namukasa Voice of Dream

Ukraine Andrey Kurkov Death and the Penguin / Theodore Odrach Wave of Terror  / Nikolai  Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka

United Arab Emirates Qais Sedki Gold Ring / Maha Gargash The Sand Fish / Ameera Al Hakawati Desperate in Dubai / Mohammad Al Murr The Wink of the Mona Lisa; Dubai Tales

United Kingdom Angus MacLellan Stories from South Uist / Christina Hall To the Edge of the Sea / Deborah Levy Swimming Home / Siân Melangell DafyddY Trydydd Peth / Vanessa Gebbie / Caryl Lewis Martha, Jack and Shanco / Virginia Woolf / Kazuo Ishiguro The Remains of the Day / JK Rowling

United States of America Neil Gaiman American Gods / Sean Murphy The Time of New Weather / Norton Juster The Phantom Tollbooth / Michael Shaara The Killer Angels / Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible / Cormac Mccarthy All the Pretty Horses / Eliot Weinberger / Jhumpa Lahiri / Amy Tan / Sandra Cisneros / Tomas Pynchon/ Hunter S Thompson Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas / Harriette Arnow The Dollmaker

Uruguay Juan Carlos Onetti The Shipyard; The Pit and Tonight / Felisberto Hernández Lands of Memory / Rafael Courtoisie / Cristina Peri Rossi /Eduardo Galeano / Mario Benedetti / Horacio Quiroga The Decapitated Chicken

Uzbekistan Sabit Madaliev / Hamid Ismailov The Railway / Bibish The Dancer from Khiva: One Muslim Woman’s Quest for Freedom

Vanuatu Sethy Regenvau Laef Blong Mi: From Village to Nation

Vatican City Luigi Marinello & The Millenari Shroud of Secrecy of Gone with the Wind in the Vatican 

Venezuela Francisco Suniaga / Alberto Barrera Tyszka The Sickness / Ana Teresa Torres / Romulo Gallegos / Federico Vegas Falke

Vietnam Phan Hon Nhien The Joker; Cold Eyes; Left Wing / Bao Ninh The Sorrow of War (trans. Frank Palmos, Phan Thanh Hao) / Nguyen Nhat Anh / Nguyen Ngoc Thuan Open the Window, Eyes Closed

Yemen Wajdi al-Ahdal A Land without Jasmine / Zayd Mutee’ Dammaj The Hostage 

Zambia Gaile Parkin Baking Cakes in Kigali / Field Ruwe / Binwell SinyangweA Cowrie of Hope

Zimbabwe Petinah Gappah An Elegy for Easterly / Tsitsi DangarembgaNervous Conditions / Brian Chikwava Harare North / Tendai Huchu The Hairdresser of Harare / Shimmer Chinodya Chioniso and Other Stories / Stephen Lungu Out of the Black Shadows / Christopher Mlalazi They are Coming; Running with Mother

http://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/thelist/