The World Reader Challenge
The Challenge
Read a book from every country in the world.
In 2021 when I was setting up my reading goals for the year, I noticed the books I read came almost exclusively from American authors. I hadn’t even read many books from my own country of Canada. So, I made an effort to seek out translated books from authors in other countries to see how that might enrich my reading experience. To my absolute delight I had one of the best reading years of my life.
So, I wanted to keep the reading diversity going and set up this challenge to read a book from every country. If you’ve made it here, I invite you to join me. There is no time limit, just a journey to become a world reader. Below is a list of recognized countries. I have written names of books beside the countries as I discover the ones I’d like to read. I have bolded the ones I have completed. In the map above, I have highlighted the countries I have completed and if you hover over you will see the name of the book I read from that country. I’m open to suggestions for books if you’d like to leave them in a comment below. Happy reading!
The Country List
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Andorra
- Angola
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina – Collected Fictions by Jorje Luis Borges
- Armenia
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Belize
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Brazil – The Passion According to G.H. by Clarice Lispector
- Brunei
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Canada – Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Chile – 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
- China
- Colombia – 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
- Comoros
- Congo
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Cyprus
- Czechia – The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- DR Congo
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- Finland
- France – The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Germany – Next World Novella by Matthias Politycki
- Ghana
- Greece
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Holy See
- Honduras
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland -The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- Israel – Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
- Italy – Inferno by Dante Alighieri
- Jamaica
- Japan – No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mali
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mexico
- Micronesia
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
- North Korea
- North Macedonia
- Norway – The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal – The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
- Qatar
- Romania – Night by Elie Wiesel
- Russia – Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Rwanda
- Saint Kitts & Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Samoa
- San Marino
- Sao Tome & Principe
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Korea
- South Sudan
- Spain – A Heart So White by Javier Marías
- Sri Lanka
- St. Vincent & Grenadines
- State of Palestine
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Tonga
- Trinidad & Tobago
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom – To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
- United States – Moby Dick by Herman Melville
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela
- Vietnam – Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe