Traveling Through Words: Reading a book from every country in the world

By Jasmine Jones

I’m constantly writing up lists of goals and dreams. New semester begins — goal list. Summer break arrives — goal list. Weekend approaches — goal list. There are lists of goals in every folder, binder, notebook and planner I own. 

After I graduated high school, of course, I made a goal list. One of the main goals on that list was to travel, specifically to visit four continents by the time I graduate college. 

Well … I’m graduating from college in a few weeks, and I’ve visited one continent. North America. The continent I live on, and have always lived on. 

During college, I tried to study abroad, then the pandemic happened. I tried to book summer trips, but the pandemic continued to happen. The idea of seeing the world during college went from a remote possibility to an impossibility. That overly-ambitious goal would be left unchecked.

Then, I stumbled across a TED talk on Youtube. The title of the talk was, “My year reading a book from every country in the world,” and the speaker, Ann Morgan, explained her year-long project of reading a book from every country.

Every metaphorical lightbulb short-circuited in my brain. Although I couldn’t travel the world physically, I could travel the world through words. I could experience a small slice of life through literature in countries I used to not know existed. 

So, I got to work. I made an Excel spreadsheet with 196 entries, enough to include all UN-recognized countries plus Taiwan. Then, Google became my best friend. I looked at famous author lists from each country, and chose the books that interested me the most.

Some countries only had one option for a book to read, and a lot of those options were out of print or without English translations or impossible to find — even with the seemingly-infinite knowledge of Google. In Morgan’s TED Talk, she describes how she couldn’t find any English translations of literature from the African island nation São Tomé and Príncipe, but with the help of Portuguese-speaking volunteers she had the short story collection “The House of the Shepherd” by Olinda Beja translated for her to read.

With my version of the project, I included poetry collections and collected folklore stories in my book list, along with novels, memoirs, nonfiction and short story collections. My two sets of criteria for choosing a book included: the author must be from the country, and the content must reflect a truth from each country and culture. Of course, I could never understand an entire country by reading one book, but I could begin to understand the country through the eyes and words of someone who has called it home.

I made a few exceptions for countries with limited bodies of translated, commercially-available literature, but stuck to this principle for 99% of my list. 

As much as I love goals, I didn’t want this project to become another box to check off my to-do list. I’ll finish reading all 196 books when it happens. There’s a lot of countries and a lot of words, but that’s OK. There’s also lots of time. Not everything needs to be accomplished by the time I graduate college. 

The world is huge, and I am only one person. One person with one specific story to call my own. But there are billions of people out there with billions of stories to tell. So far, I’ve read “Letters to a Young Poet” from Austria, “Tender Is the Flesh” from Argentina, “Annie John” from Antigua and Barbuda, “The General in His Labyrinth” from Columbia, “Detective Story” from Hungary, “Reading Lolita in Tehran” from Iran, “Dubliners” from Ireland and “Things Fall Apart” from Nigeria. I am just beginning this lifelong project but have already learned so much. Mostly, I’ve learned how much more I have to learn — about world events, politics, culture, language, race, geography and literally everything. 

It’s easy to get stuck on our own perspective and place in this world. But through literature and stories, we can begin to understand the world outside our own. One word at a time. 

Illustration by Jennifer Goodman

Jasmine’s Book List

196 countries. 196 books.

Afghanistan

“The Kite Runner”

Khaled Hosseini

Albania

“The General of the Dead Army”

Ismail Kadare

Algeria

“Morituri”

Yasmina Khadra

Andorra

“The Teacher of Cheops”

Albert Salvadó

Angola

“The Book of Chameleons”

José Eduardo Agualusa

Antigua and Barbuda

“Annie John”

Jamaica Kincaid

Argentina

“Tender Is the Flesh”

Agustina Bazterrica

Armenia

“My Name is Aram”

William Saroyan

Australia

“Picnic at Hanging Rock”

Joan Lindsay

Austria

“Letters to a Young Poet”

Rainer Maria Rilke

Azerbaijan

“Ali and Nino”

Kurban Said

The Bahamas

“Thine is the Kingdom”

Garth Buckner

Bahrain

“The Randomist”

Ali Al Saeed

Bangladesh

“A Golden Age”

Tahmima Anam

Barbados

“More”

Austin Clarke

Belarus

“Voices from Chernobyl” 

Svetlana Alexievich

Belgium

“The Flax Field”

Stijn Streuvels 

Belize

“Beka Lamb”

Zee Edgell

Benin

“Autobiography of the Lower East Side”

Rashidah Ismaili

Bhutan

The Circle of Karma 

Kunzang Choden

Bolivia

“Turing’s Delirium”

Edmundo Paz Soldán

Bosnia and Herzegovina

“The Bridge on the Drina”

Ivo Andrić

Botswana

“Maru”

Bessie Head

Brazil

“The Alchemist”

Paulo Coelho

Brunei

“Four Kings”

Sun Tze Yun

Bulgaria

“The Physics of Sorrow”

Georgi Gospodinov

Burkina Faso

“The Parachute Drop”

Norbert Zongo

Burundi

“Weep Not, Refugee” 

Marie Thérèse-Toyi

Cabo Verde

“The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo”

Germano Almeida 

Cambodia

“First They Killed My Father”

Loung Ung

Cameroon

“The Old Man and the Medal” 

Ferdinand Oyono

Canada

“All My Puny Sorrows” 

Miriam Toews

Central African Republic

“Daba’s Travels from Ouadda to Bangui”

Makombo Bamboté

Chad

“Told by Starlight in Chad”

Joseph Brahim Seid

Chile

“Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair”

Pablo Neruda

China

“The Day the Sun Died”

Yan Lianke 

Colombia

“The General in His Labyrinth” 

Gabriel García Márquez

Comoros

“The Kafir of Karthala”

Mohammed Toihiri

Congo, Republic of the

“Johnny Mad Dog”

Emmanuel Dongala

Costa Rica

“Cadence of the Moon”

Oscar Núñez Oliva

Côte d’Ivoire

“In the Company of Men”

Véronique Tadjo

Croatia

“Café Europa”

Slavenka Drakulić

Cuba

“Before Night Falls”

Reinaldo Arenas

Cyprus

“Ledra Street” 

Nora Nadjarian

Czech Republic

“Too Loud a Solitude”

Bohumil Hrabal

Denmark

“Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow”

Peter Høeg

Djibouti

“Land Without Shadows” 

Abdourahman Waberi

Dominica

“It Falls into Place”

Phyllis Shand Allfrey 

Dominican Republic

“The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”

Junot Díaz

East Timor (Timor-Leste)

“The Crossing”

Luís Cardoso

Ecuador

“Wolves’ Dream”

Abdón Ubidia 

Egypt

“Woman at Point Zero”

Nawal El Saadawi

El Salvador

“Small Hours of the Night: Collected Poems”

Roque Dalton

Equatorial Guinea

“Shadows of Your Black Memory”

Donato Ndongo

Eritrea

“The Consequences of Love”

Sulaiman Addonia

Estonia

“Treading Air”

Jaan Kross

Eswatini

“Weeding the Flower Beds”

Sarah Mkhonza

Ethiopia

“Beneath the Lion’s Gaze”

Maanza Mengiste

Fiji

“We Are the Ocean”

Epeli Hau’ofa

Finland

“The Year of the Hare”

Arto Paasilinna

France

“In Search of Lost Time”

Marcel Proust

Gabon

“Mema” 

Daniel M. Mengara

Gambia, The Republic of

“Folk Tales and Fables from the Gambia”

Dembo Fanta Bojang and Sukai Mbye Bojang

Georgia

“A Man Was Going Down the Road”

Otar Chiladze

Germany

“Perfume”

Patrick Süskind

Ghana

“Changes: A Love Story”

Ama Ata Aidoo

Greece

“Kassandra and the Wolf”

Margarita Karapanou

Grenada

“The Ladies are Upstairs” 

Merle Collins

Guatemala

“The President” 

Miguel Ángel Asturias

Guinea

“The Dark Child”

Camara Laye

Guinea-Bissau

“The Ultimate Tragedy” 

Abdulai Silá

Guyana

“University of Hunger”

Martin Carter 

Haiti

“Dance on the Volcano”

Marie Vieux-Chauvet

Honduras

“Points of Light”

Guillermo Yuscaran

Hungary

“Detective Story”

Imre Kertész

Iceland

“The Fish Can Sing”

Halldór Laxness

India

“Kaalam”

M. T. Vasudevan Nair

Indonesia

“Stories from Blora”

Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Iran

“Reading Lolita in Tehran” 

Azar Nafisi

Iraq

“The Madmen of Freedom Square” 

Hassan Blasim 

Ireland

“Dubliners” 

James Joyce

Israel

“A Tale of Love and Darkness”

Amos Oz

Italy

“Divine Comedy”

Dante Alighieri

Jamaica

“Augustown” 

Kei Miller

Japan

“Snow Country” 

Yasunari Kawabata

Jordan

“The Cry of the Dove” 

Fadia Faqir 

Kazakhstan

“Abai: Book of Songs”

Abai Kunanbayev

Kenya

“One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir”

Binyavanga Wainaina

Kiribati

“Waa in Storms” 

Teweiariki Teaero

Korea, North

“The Girl with Seven Names”

Hyeonseo Lee

Korea, South

“The Vegetarian” 

Han Kang 

Kosovo

“Call Me By My Name: Poetry from Kosova”

Flora Brovina

Kuwait

“The Chronicles of Dathra: A Dowdy Girl from Kuwait”

Danderma

Kyrgyzstan

“Jamilia” 

Chinghiz Aitmatov

Laos

“Mother’s Beloved”

Outhine Bounyavong

Latvia

“Soviet Milk”

Nora Ikstena

Lebanon

“Voices of the Lost”

Hoda Barakat

Lesotho

“Basali! Stories By and About Women in Lesotho”

Various authors

Liberia

“The Lazarus Effect”

H.J. Golakai

Libya

“Escape to Hell and Other Stories” 

Mu’ammar Al-Qadhdhāfī 

Liechtenstein

“Seven Years in Tibet”

Heinrich Harrer

Lithuania

“Memoirs of a Life Short Cut”

Ričardas Gavelis 

Luxembourg

“In Reality: Selected Poems”

Jean Portante

Madagascar

“Almost Dreams”

Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo

Malawi

“The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”

William Kamkwamba

Malaysia

“The Garden of Evening Mists”

Tan Twan Eng

Maldives

“Dhon Hiyala and Ali Fulhu”

Abdullah Sadiq

Mali

“Caught in the Storm”

Seydou Badian Kouyaté

Malta

“The Play of Waves”

Immanuel Mifsud

Marshall Islands

“Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter”

Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner

Mauritania

“The Desert and the Drum”

Mbarek Ould Beyrouk

Mauritius

“Eve Out of Her Ruins”

Ananda Devi

Mexico

“The Body Where I Was Born”

Guadalupe Nettel

Micronesia, Federated States of

“Indigenous Literatures from Micronesia”

Various authors

Moldova

“The Good Life Elsewhere”

Vladimir Lorchenkov

Monaco

“Two Plays”

Armand Gatti

Mongolia

“The Blue Sky”

Galsan Tschinag

Montenegro

“Head Full of Joy”

Ognjen Spahić

Morocco

“The Sand Child”

Tahar Ben Jelloun 

Mozambique

“Sleepwalking Land”

Mia Couto

Myanmar (Burma)

“A Man Like Him: Portrait of a Burmese Journalist”

Journal Kyaw Ma Ma Lay

Namibia

“The Purple Violet of Oshaantu”

Neshani Andreas

Nauru

“Stories from Nauru”

Ben Bam Solomon 

Nepal

“Mad Country”

Samrat Upadhyay

Netherlands

“The Twin”

Gerbrand Bakker

New Zealand

“Plumb”

Maurice Gee

Nicaragua

“Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand”

Gioconda Belli

Niger

“The Epic of Askia Mohammed” 

Nouhou Malio

Nigeria

“Things Fall Apart” 

Chinua Achebe

North Macedonia

“A Replacement Life”

Lidija Dimkovska

Norway

“Hunger”

Knut Hamsun

Oman

“Earth Weeps, Saturn Laughs”

Abdulaziz Al Farsi

Pakistan

“Songs of Blood and Sword”

Fatima Bhutto

Palestine 

“Out of Place”

Edward W. Said

Palau

“Spirits’ Tides”

Susan Kloulechad

Panama

“The Golden Horse”

Juan David Morgan

Papua New Guinea

“The Crocodile” 

Vincent Eri

Paraguay

“I, The Supreme”

Augusto Roa Bastos

Peru

“Death in the Andes”

Mario Vargas Llosa

Philippines

“Sins”

F. Sionil José

Poland

“Nothing Twice”

Wisława Szymborska

Portugal

“Blindness”

José Saramago

Qatar

“The Corsair” 

Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud

Romania

“Musics and Tricks” 

Ovidiu Verdes

Russia

“Crime and Punishment” 

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Rwanda

“Teta: A Story of a Young Girl”

Barassa

Saint Kitts and Nevis

“Only God Can Make a Tree”

Bertram Roach

Saint Lucia

“White Egrets”

Derek Walcott

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

“The Moon is Following Me”

Cecil Browne

Samoa

“Telesa: The Covenant Keeper”

Lani Wendt Young

San Marino

“A Short History of the Republic of San Marino”

Giuseppe Rossi

Sao Tome and Principe

“Native Dance: An African Story”

Gervásio Kaiser

Saudi Arabia

“The Dove’s Necklace”

Raja’a Alem

Senegal

“So Long a Letter”

Mariama Bâ

Serbia

“Hourglass”

Danilo Kiš

Seychelles

“Voices: Short stories from the Seychelles Islands”

Glynn Burridge

Sierra Leone

“A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier”

Ishmael Beah

Singapore

“Tilting Our Plates To Catch The Light”

Cyril Wong

Slovakia

“Rivers of Babylon”

Peter Pišťanek 

Slovenia

“Integrals” 

Srečko Kosovel 

Solomon Islands

“The Alternative”

John Saunana

Somalia

“From a Crooked Rib”

Nuruddin Farah

South Africa

“July’s People”

Nadine Gordimer

Spain

“The Shadow of the Wind”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Sri Lanka

“Swimming in the Monsoon Sea”

Shyam Selvadurai

Sudan

“Season of Migration to the North”

Tayeb Salih

Sudan, South

“Carrying Knowledge up a Palm Tree”

Taban Lo Liyong

Suriname

“The Cost of Sugar”

Cynthia McLeod

Sweden

“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared” 

Jonas Jonasson

Switzerland

“The Pollen Room”

Zoë Jenny

Syria

“Damascus Nights”

Rafik Schami

Taiwan

“Taipei People”

Pai Hsien-yung

Tajikistan

“Hurramabad”

Andrei Volos

Tanzania

“Desertion”

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Thailand

“Moving Parts” 

Prabda Yoon

Togo

“An African in Greenland”

Tété-Michel Kpomassie

Tonga

“A Providence of War”

Joshua Taumoefolau

Trinidad and Tobago

“Measures of Expatriation”

Vahni Capildeo

Tunisia

“Talismano”

Abdelwahab Meddeb

Turkey

“Istanbul: Memories and the City”

Orhan Pamuk

Turkmenistan

“The Tale of Aypi”

Ak Welsapar

Tuvalu

“Tuvalu: A History”

Simati Faaniu

Uganda

“Snakepit”

Moses Isegawa

Ukraine

“Your Ad Could Go Here: Stories”

Oksana Zabuzhko

United Arab Emirates

“The Wink of the Mona Lisa and Other Stories from the Gulf”

Mohammad Al-Murr

United Kingdom

“Pride and Prejudice”

Jane Austen

United States

“East of Eden”

John Steinbeck 

Uruguay

“Springtime in a Broken Mirror”

Mario Benedetti

Uzbekistan

“A Poet and Bin-Laden”

Hamid Ismailov

Vanuatu

“Laef Blong Mi: From Village to Nation”

Sethy John Regenvanu

Vatican City

“When in Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City”

Robert J. Hutchinson

Venezuela

“The Sickness”

Alberto Barrera Tyszka

Vietnam

“Paradise of the Blind”

Duong Thu Huong 

Yemen

“The Hostage”

Zayd Mutee’ Dammaj

Zambia

“The Old Drift”

Namwali Serpell

Zimbabwe

“This Mournable Body”

Tsitsi Dangarembga