books | international a-z | – ~ wander.essence ~

As a connoisseur of books, I traipse through a destination, before embarking on my journey, by way of literary fiction, travel stories, or memoirs. Sometimes, though not often, I read historical accounts. I enjoy the process of immersing myself in a place before I go, getting a feel for the culture, the people, and what defines a place. Reading ignites my imagination about a place and its inhabitants. It also extends my travel time. 🙂

The following list of books, set in countries all over the world, is a work in process. I invite readers to suggest additional books set in these locales in the comments below. I’m most interested in including memoir, literary fiction, historical accounts or essays, not guidebooks. Links to Goodreads and star ratings (1-5) are provided for books I’ve read; if you click on them you may be able to read my review (if I wrote one!). The ones in bold green are books I own but haven’t read. The others are suggestions for future reading.

GENERAL WORLD TRAVEL BOOKS

The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton *****
The Mindful Traveler: A Guide to Journaling and Transformative Travel by Jim Currie *****
The Way of the Traveler: Making Every Trip a Journey of Self-Discovery by Joseph Dispenza *****
The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred by Phil Cousineau ****
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert *****
A Woman’s Path: Women’s Best Spiritual Travel Writing, ed. Lucy McCauley ****
Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach ****
Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman by Alice Steinbach
Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents by Elisabeth Eaves ****
Griffin and Sabine (Griffin & Sabine #1) by Nick Bantock *****
Sabine’s Notebook (Griffin & Sabine #2) by Nick Bantock
The Golden Mean (Griffin & Sabine #3) by Nick Bantock
the way of the wanderer: discover your true self through travel by David Yeadon
Book Lust to Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers by Nancy Pearl
The Yellow Envelope: One Gift, Three Rules, and a Life-Changing Journey Around the World by Kim Dinan
Sun After Dark: Flights into the Foreign by Pico Iyer
Video Night in Kathmandu and Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East by Pico Iyer
To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey From Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret by Jedidiah Jenkins
Nomad’s Hotel: Travels in Time and Space by Cees Nooteboom
Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings by Paul Theroux
Figures in a Landscape by Paul Theroux
The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road by Paul Theroux
One Year Off by David Elliott Cohen
Travel, Sex, & Train Wrecks by Julie Morey (Kindle)
Wild Writing Women: Stories of World Travel
Sacred Places of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Most Peaceful and Powerful Destinations (Journeys of a Lifetime) by National Geographic Society
the singular pilgrim: travels on sacred ground by Rosemary Mahoney
Unsuitable for Ladies: An Anthology of Women Travelers, Ed. Jane Robinson
A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe, Ed. by Faith Conlon, Ingrid Emerick
1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List by Patricia Schultz
The Solo Traveler’s Handbook by Janice Leith Waugh
The Volunteer Traveler’s Handbook by Janice Leith Waugh
The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats by Daniel Stone
National Geographic Student World Atlas (4th Edition)
Merriam-Webster’s Student Atlas

BOOKS SET IN PARTICULAR COUNTRIES

Afghanistan
1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ****
2. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini ****
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (saw the play 1/26/20)
4. The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad ****
5. An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot
6. The Places in Between by Rory Stewart
7. The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya
8. It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life in Love & War by Lynsey Addario (also Iraq, Sudan, Libya)
9. American Spartan: The Promise, the Mission and the Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim Grant by Ann Scott Tyson
10. The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban by Sarah Chayes
11. 99 Nights in Logar by Jamil Jan Kochai
12. A Door in the Earth by Amy Waldman
13. The Wasted Vigil by Nadeem Aslam
Albania
1. Broken April by Ismail Kadare
2. Chronicle in Stone by Ismail Kadare
3. Agamemnon’s Daughter: A Novella and Stories by Ismail Kadare
4. The Accursed Mountains: Journeys in Albania by Robert Carver
Algeria
1. The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris by Leïla Marouane **
2. The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier (Tunisia. Crete. Turkey.)
3. Nedjma by Yacine Kateb
4. The Lovers of Algeria by Anouar Benmalek
5. The Last Life by Claire Messud
6. The Star of Algiers by Aziz Chouaki
7. Women of Algiers in their Apartment by Assia Djebar
8. The Stranger by Albert Camus
9. Century of Locusts by Malika Mokeddem
10. Some Dream for Fools by Faïza Guène, Jennifer L. Johnson (Translator), Jenna Johnson (Translator)
Andorra
1. If You Dare (MacCarrick Brothers #1) by Kresley Cole (historical romance)
Angola
1. A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa ****
2. Blue Dahlia, Black Gold: A Journey Into Angola by Daniel Metcalfe
3. Another Day of Life by Ryszard Kapuściński
Antigua and Barbuda
1. Mr. Potter by Jamaica Kincaid
2. A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
3. Dancing Nude in the Moonlight by Joanne C. Hillhouse
Argentina
1. An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by César Aira
2. The Disappeared by Gloria Whelan
3. Santa Evita by Tomás Eloy Martínez
4. The Tango Singer by Tomás Eloy Martínez
5. In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin
6. Enduring Patagonia by Gregory Crouch
7. Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
8. My Father’s Ghost is Climbing in the Rain by Patricio Pron
9. El Túnel by Ernesto Sábato
10. We Came Here to Forget by Andrea Dunlop
Armenia
1. Orhan’s Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian ****
2. An Armenian Sketchbook by Vasily Grossman
3. Three Apples Fell From Heaven by Micheline Aharonian Marcom
4. The Crossing Place: A Journey Among the Armenians by Philip Marsden
5. Daughter of War by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Australia
1. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough *****
2. A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute *****
3. Tracks by Robyn Davidson
4. The Dry by Jane Harper
5. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
6. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
7. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
8. The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
9. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
10. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
11. Dirt Music by Tim Winton
12. The Secret River (Thornhill Family #1) by Kate Grenville
13. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
14. Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
15. Two Old Men Dying by Tom Keneally
Austria
1. The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth
2. A Time of Gifts (Trilogy #1) by Patrick Leigh Fermor (& Germany, Hungary)
3. The Bells by Richard Harvell
4. Vienna
  1. The Fig Eater by Jody Shields
  2. All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer
  3. The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
  4. Exile Music by Jennifer Steil (also Bolivia)
Azerbaijan
1. Ali and Nino: A Love Story by Kurban Said
2. Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter’s Adventures in an Oil-rich, War-torn, Post-Soviet Republic by Thomas Goltz
3. The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life by Tom Reiss
The Bahamas
1. Kiss Heaven Goodbye by Tasmina Perry
2. The Far Side of the Sun by Kate Furnivall
3. The Night Manager by John le Carré (also Cairo)
4. The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams
5. Pirates! by Celia Rees
Bahrain
1. The Meeting Point by Lucy Caldwell
Bangladesh
1. Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunnus ****
2. Lajja: Shame by Taslima Nasrin
3. The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide by Gary J. Bass
4. A Golden Age (Bangla Desh #1) by Tahmima Anam
Barbados
1. The Polished Hoe by Austin Clarke
2. Sugar in the Blood: A Family’s Story of Slavery and Empire by Andrea Stuart
3. The Dream Keeper’s Daughter by Emily Colin
4. No Man in the House by Cecil Foster
5. The Summer Country by Lauren Willig
Belarus
1. Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future by Svetlana Alexievich
Belgium
1. In the Company of Angels by N.M. Kelby (also France)
2. The Bridge of Years: A Novel by May Sarton
3. The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
4. A Tall Man in a Low Land by Harry Pearson
Belize
1. Time Among the Maya: Travels in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico by Ronald Wright
Benin
Bhutan
1. Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey Into Bhutan by Jamie Zeppa
2. Married to Bhutan by Linda Leaming
3. A Field Guide to Happiness by Linda Leaming
4. A Painter’s Year in the Forests of Bhutan by A.K. Hellum
5. Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth by Lisa Napoli
6. The Heart of the Buddha by Elsie Sze
7. Under the Holy Lake: A Memoir of Eastern Bhutan by Ken Haigh
8. Buttertea at Sunrise: A Year in the Bhutan Himalaya by Britta Das
9. Kingdom of the Golden Dragon by Isabel Allende
10. Dreams of the Peaceful Dragon: A Journey Through Bhutan by Katie Hickman
11. Tales in Colour and Other Stories by Kunzang Choden
12. The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
13. Falling Off the Map by Pico Iyer
Bolivia
1. The Matter of Desire: A Novel by by Edmundo Paz Soldán, Lisa Carter, translator
2. Purity by Jonathan Franzen
3. Let Me Speak (Memoir) by Domitila Barrios de Chungara
4. The Fat Man from La Paz (stories) edited by Rosario Santos
5. Marching Powder (Autobiography) by Rusty Young & Thomas McFadden
6. Whispering in the Giant’s Ear (Memoir) by William Powers
7. Beyond the Snows of the Andes (Memoir) by Beatrice Brusic
8. The Bolivian Times by Tim Elliott
9. Lost in the Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Survival by Yossi Ghinsberg
10. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
11. Ghost Train Through the Andes: On My Grandfather’s Trail in Chile and Bolivia by Michael Jacobs
12. Exile Music by Jennifer Steil (also Vienna, Austria)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
1. Sarajevo
  1. The Book of My Lives by Aleksandar Hemon
Botswana
1. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
2. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
3. Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith
4. The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith
5. The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
6. Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
7. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith
8. The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
9. The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith
10. Botswana Time by Will Randall
11. Mating by Norman Rush
12. Mortals by Norman Rush
13. When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head
14. A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley
15. The Second Death of Good Luck Tinubu by Michael Stanley
16. Cry of the Kalahari by Mark and Delia Owens
Brazil
1. All Is Beauty Now by Sarah Faber
2. In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende (& Guatemala & Chile)
3. We Came Here to Forget by Andrea Dunlop
4. The Air You Breathe by Frances de Pontes Peebles
5. Brazil by John Updike
6. A Death in Brazil by Peter Robb
7. Heliopolis by James Scudamore
8. The Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma by Lima Barreto
9. Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado
10. Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon by Jorge Amado
11. Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado
12. Tent of Miracles by Jorge Amado
13. Ancient Tillage by Raduan Nassar
14. There Were Many Horses by Luiz Ruffato
15. The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
16. Blood of the Wicked (Chief Inspector Mario Silva #1) by Leighton Gage
17. Buried Strangers (Chief Inspector Mario Silva #2) by Leighton Gage
18. In Trouble Again: A Journey Between the Orinoco and the Amazon by Redmond O’Hanlon
19. The Accidental President of Brazil: A Memoir by Fernando Henrique Cardoso
20. Brazilian Adventure by Peter Fleming
21. A Land of Ghosts: The Braided Lives of People and the Forest in Far Western Amazonia by David G. Campbell
22. Amazon Rainforest (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, etc.)
  1. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett *****
Brunei
Bulgaria
1. The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
2. Café Europa: Life After Communisim by Slavenka Drakulić
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cambodia
1. The Disappeared by Kim Echlin *****
2. The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine by Somaly Mam ****
3. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (Daughter of Cambodia #1) by Loung Ung *****
4. When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge by Chanrithy Him
5. Lucky Child: A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind by Loung Ung
6. Three Flames by Alan Lightman
7. In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
8. A Cambodian Odyssey by Haing Ngor, Roger Warner
9. The King’s Last Song by Geoff Ryman
10. Temple of a Thousand Faces by John Shors
11. When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution by Elizabeth Becker
12. The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
13. The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay
14. River of Time by John Swain
15. Dogs at the Perimeter by Madeleine Thien
16. Holiday in Cambodia (stories) by Laura Jean McKay
17. Hunters in the Dark by Lawrence Osborne
18. To the End of Hell: One Woman’s Struggle to Survive Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge by Denise Affonço, Margaret Burn (Translator), Katie Hogben (Translator)
19. Song for an Approaching Storm by Peter Fröberg Idling (Goodreads Author), Peter Graves (Translator)
20. Notes from My Travels: Visits with Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan and Ecuador by Angelina Jolie, Caspian Tredwell-Owen
21. Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare by Philip Short
22. The Lost Executioner: A Journey to the Heart of the Killing Fields by Nic Dunlop
23. The Gate by François Bizot
24. A Cambodian Prison Portrait by Vann Nath
25. The Sea Wall by Marguerite Duras
26. A Dragon Apparent by Norman Lewis
27. Phnom Penh by Milton Osborne
28. Survival in the Killing Fields by Haing Ngor
29. When Clouds Fell From the Sky by Robert Carmichael
30. A Woman of Angkor by John Burgess
31. To Cambodia with Love by Twefic El-Sawy – Essay collection, 2010
Cameroon
Canada
1. A Student of Weather by Elizabeth Hay ****
2. British Columbia
  1. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki ****
  2. Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot
3. Newfoundland
  1. Latitudes of Melt by Joan Clark
  2. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
  3. The Innocents by Michael Crummey
4. Ontario
  1. China Dog: And Other Tales from a Chinese Laundry by Judy Fong Bates ****
  2. A Good House by Bonnie Burnard
5. Ottowa
  1. Garbo Laughs by Elizabeth Hay
6. Quebec
  1. The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman
7. Toronto
  1. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
  2. Lost Geography by Charlotte Bacon
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
1. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
2. Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende
3. Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
4. My Invented Country by Isabel Allende
5. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
6. Cape Horn and Other Stories from the End of the World by Francisco Coloane
7. The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso
8. Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read
9. Travels in a Thin Country by Sarah Wheeler
10. In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende (& Guatemala & Brazil)
China
1. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang *****
2. Waiting by Ha Jin *****
3. The Crazed by Ha Jin ***
4. A Map of Betrayal by Ha Jin
5. Red Azalea by Anchee Min ****
6. The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan ****
7. The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan ****
8. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Saijie ****
9. China Dog: And Other Tales from a Chinese Laundry by Judy Fong Bates ****
10. Cries in the Drizzle by Yu Hua ****
11. A Cup of Light by Nicole Mones ****
12. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See *****
13. Peony in Love by Lisa See ****
14. China Dolls by Lisa See **
15. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
16. River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (China Trilogy #1) by Peter Hessler (Kindle) ****
17. Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream by John Derbyshire
18. Monkey Hunting by Cristina García
19. My Last Empress by Da Chen (Kindle)
20. Colors of the Mountain by Da Chen (Kindle)
21. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Kindle)
22. Frontiers of Heaven: A Journey to the End of China by Stanley Stewart
23. Elsey Come Home by Susan Conley
24. Little Gods by Ling Jen
25. China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power by Rob Gifford
26. Coming Home Crazy: An Alphabet of China Essays by Bill Holm
27. Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China by Ian Johnson
28. Six Records of a Floating Life by Shěn Fù
29. God’s Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan by Jonathan D. Spence
30. A Single Pebble by John Hersey
31. Red Dust: A Path Through China by Ma Jian
32. Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian, Mabel Lee (Translator)
33. Beijing
  1. The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed by Michael Meyer
34. Hong Kong
  1. The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee *****
  2. The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee
35. Shanghai
  1. The Binding Chair or, a Visit from the Foot Emancipation Society by Kathryn Harrison ****
  2. Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng
  3. When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro (also London)
  4. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
Colombia
1. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez *****
2. Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
Comoros
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
1. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver *****
Costa Rica
Cote d’Ivoire
Croatia
1. The Sound of Blue by Holly Payne ***
2. The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
3. On the Edge of Reason by Miroslav Krleža
4. April Fool’s Day by Josip Novakovich
5. Infidelities: Stories of War and Lust by Josip Novakovich
6. The Balkan Express: Fragments from the Other Side of War by Slavenka Drakulić
7. Cafe Europa: Life After Communism by Slavenka Drakulić
8. The Museum of Unconditional Surrender by Dubravka Ugrešlić
9. Fording the Stream of Consciousness by Dubravka Ugrešlić
10. Zagreb, Exit South by Edo Popović
11. A Traveler’s History of Croatia by Benjamin Curtis
12. Escape from Despair by Katarina Tepesh
13. Girl at War by Sara Nović
14. The First Rule of Swimming by Courtney Angela Brkic
15. The Stone Fields by Courtney Angela Brkic
16. Stillness: And Other Stories by Courtney Angela Brkic
17. Running Away to Home: Our Family’s Journey to Croatia by Jennifer Wilson
18. Every Day, Every Hour by Natasa Dragnic
19. Balkan Ghosts by Robert Kaplan
Cuba
1. In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd by Ana Menéndez ****
2. La Americana (memoir) by Melanie Bowder Simón
3. Cuba & the Night by Pico Iyer
4. Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
5. Monkey Hunting by Cristina García
6. Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García
7. The Agüero Sisters by Cristina García
8. The Sugar Island by Ivonne Lamazares
9. Revolution Sunday by Wendy Guerra
Cyprus
Czech Republic
1. The Russian Debutante’s Handbook by Gary Shteyngart
2. The Engineer of Human Souls by Josef Skvorecky
3. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
4. The Last Bohemians by Kit Kimberly
5. Between the Woods and the Water (Trilogy #2) by Patrick Leigh Fermor
6. Mendelssohn is on the Roof by Jiří Weil
7. Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
8. Prague
  1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera ****
  2. All That Man Is by David Szalay
  3. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
  4. Prague Winter by Madeleine Albright
  5. Prague Winter by Nikolaus Martin
Denmark
1. The Dinosaur Feather by S.J. Gazan
2. The Arc of the Swallow by Sissel-Jo Gazan
3. The Boy In the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl, Agnete Friis (Kindle)
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
2. In the Name of Salomé by Julia Alvarez
3. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
4. Let it Rain Coffee by Angie Cruz
5. Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina by Raquel Cepeda (& New York, California)
Ecuador
1. the queen of water: a novel based on a true story by Laura Resau and María Virginia Farinango (YA) ****
2. America Was Hard to Find by Kathleen Alcott
3. The Panama Hat Trail by Tom Miller
4. Pieces of My Life by Rachel Dann
5. Villa Pacifica by Kapka Kassabova
6. The Amnesia Clinic by James Scudamore
7. City on the Ledge by Philip Kraske
8. The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (+ Columbia + Venezuela)
9. Fool’s Gold by P.J. Skinner
10. Huasipungo: The Villagers by Jorge Icaza
11. Galápagos Islands
  1. Enchanted Islands by Allison Amand
  2. The Evolution of Jane by Cathleen Schine
  3. To the Edge of the World by Harry Thompson
  4. Mr. Darwin’s Shooter by Roger McDonald
  5. The Origin of Murder by Jerold Last
  6. Plundering Paradise: The Hand of Man on the Galápagos Islands by Michael D’Orso
  7. Galápagos Regained by James K. Morrow
  8. The Voyage of the Beagle: Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World by Charles Darwin (intro. by Steve Jones)
  9. Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent: The Importance of Everything and Other Lessons from Darwin’s Lost Notebooks by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
  10. The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner
  11. The Origin: A Biographical Novel of Charles Darwin by Irving Stone
Egypt
1. The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
2. Café on the Nile by Bartle Bull
3. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
4. Gazelle by Rikki Ducornet
5. The City Always Wins by Omar Robert Hamilton
6. The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer
7. Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman’s Skiff by Rosemary Mahoney
8. The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif
9. A Pure Heart by Rajia Hassib
10. The Teacher of Cheops by Albert Salvadó
11. The Night Manager by John le Carré (also The Bahamas)
12. Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
13. Lifting the Veil: Two Centuries of Travelers, Traders and Tourists in Egypt by Anthony Sattin
14. The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell
15. The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran
16. The October Horse: A Novel of Caesar and Cleopatra (Masters of Rome #6) by Colleen McCullough
17. The Yacoubian Building by Alla al Aswany
18. The Cheapest Nights by Yusuf Idris
19. The Collar and the Bracelet by Yahya Taher Abdullah
20. The Trench by Abdul Rahman Munif
21. Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie
22. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
23. A Pure Heart by Rajia Hassib
24. The Memoirs of Cleopatra: A Novel by Margaret George
25. Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak by Tarek Osman
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
1. By Night the Mountain Burns by Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel
2. Shadows of Your Black Memory by Donato Ndongo
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
1. Chameleon Days: An American Boyhood in Ethiopia by Tim Bascom ****
2. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (Kindle)
3. There is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene (Kindle)
4. In Praise of Savagery by Warwick Cairns (Kindle)
5. The Shadow King By Maaza Mengiste
6. The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuściński
7. Addis Ababa
  1. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste *****
Fiji
Finland
France
1. Losing Julia by Jonathan Hull ****
2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr *****
3. The Olive Farm: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Olive Oil in the South of France by Carol Drinkwater ***
4. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle ****
5. A Walk Across France by Miles Morland ****
6. Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert *****
7. On Pilgrimage by Jennifer Lash (also Spain) *****
8. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier by Thad Carhart ****
9. Running in Place: Scenes from the South of France by Nicholas Delbanco
10. In the Company of Angels by N.M. Kelby (also Belgium)
11. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
12. The Looking Glass by Michèle Roberts (Normandy)
13. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
14. Akin by Emma Donoghue
15. The Treasure of Montsegur by Sophy Burnham
16. Massacre at Montségur: A History of the Albigensian Crusade by Zoé Oldenbourg
17. Wine and War: The French, the Nazis and the Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure by Don and Petie Kladstrup
18. Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris by Sarah Turnbull
19. Paris out of hand {a wayward guide} by Karen Elizabeth Gordon
20. Parisian Chic: A Style Guide by Ines de la Fressange
21. Paris Chic & Trendy by Adrienne Ribes-Tiphaine (all in French)
22. The Room on Rue Amélie by Kristin Harmel
23. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
24. The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer
25. Pancakes in Paris: Living the American Dream in France by Craig Carlson
26. The Last Time I Saw Paris by Lynn Sheen
27. A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
28. The Dressmaker’s Gift by Fiona Valpy
29. Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon
30. A Paris All Your Own, edited by Eleanor Brown
31. Antilles islands in Caribbean
  1. Guadeloupe
    1. Victoire: My Mother’s Mother by Maryse Condé
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
1. The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa ****
2. Stones from the River (Burgdorf Cycle #1) by Ursula Hegi ****
3. The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Kindle)
5. The Good German by Joseph Kanon
6. Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon
7. A Time of Gifts (Trilogy #1) by Patrick Leigh Fermor (& Austria, Hungary)
8. The Tattooist of Auschwitz (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #1) by Heather Morris
9. Cilka’s Journey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #2) by Heather Morris
10. The Things We Cherished by Pam Jenoff (Poland. Italy.)
11. Your Perfect Year by Charlotte Lucas (Pseudonym), Wiebke Lorenz, Alison Layland (Translator)
12. Travelers by Helon Habila
13. Lilac Girls: A Novel by Martha Hall Kelly (also Poland, Paris, NY)
Ghana
1. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Greece
1. Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières *****
2. Eleni by Nicholas Gage *****
3. Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens by Sofka Zinovieff ****
4. When the Cypress Whispers by Yvette Manessis Corporon ***
5. The Summer of My Greek Taverna: A Memoir by Tom Stone *****
6. It’s All Greek to Me!: A Tale of a Mad Dog and an Englishman, Ruins, Retsina — and Real Greeks by John Mole ****
7. Little Infamies: Stories by Panos Karnezis ****
8. Odyssey with the Goddess: A Spiritual Quest in Crete by Carol P. Christ ****
9. Café Tempest by Barbara Bonfigli (Kindle) **
10. The Corfu Trilogy by Gerald Durrell
11. A House in Corfu by Emma Tennant (Kindle)
12. Xenos by David A. Ross (Kindle)
13. Dinner with Persephone: Travels in Greece by Patricia Storace (Kindle)
14. North of Ithaka by Eleni N. Gage (Kindle)
15. Outline by Rachel Cusk
16. The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier (Crete. Tunisia. Algeria. Turkey.)
17. The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri (& Turkey. Greece.)
18. The Olive Grove: Travels in Greece by Katherine Kizilos
19. Corfu by Robert Dessaix
Grenada
Guatemala
1. Hummingbird House by Patricia Henley ****
2. In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende (& Chile & Brazil)
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
1. Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
2. The Roving Tree by Elsie Augustave
3. The World is Moving Around Me: A Memoir of the Haiti Earthquake by Danny Laferrière
Honduras
1. The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux
Hungary
1. The Swimmer by Zsuzsa Bánk
2. Budapest
  1. Prague by Arthur Phillips
  2. The Afterlife of Stars by Joseph Kertes
  3. A Time of Gifts (Trilogy #1) by Patrick Leigh Fermor (& Germany, Austria)
Iceland
1. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent *****
2. Into Oblivion by Arnaldur Indridason
3. A Fist or a Heart by Kristín Eiríksdóttir, Larissa Kyzer (Translator)
4. The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea
5. The Darkness by Ragnar Jónasson
India
1. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy *****
2. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
3. Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni *****
4. Oleander Girl by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
5. The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri *****
6. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
7. The Romantics by Pankaj Mishra ****
8. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster *****
9. The Color of Our Sky: A Novel by Amita Trasi ***
10. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga **
11. Gandhi’s Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi by Stanley Wolpert ****
12. behind the beautiful forevers by Katherine Boo
13. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
14. Flash House by Aimee Liu
15. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
16. The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob (& Seattle & New Mexico)
17. Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
18. The Caretaker by A.X. Ahmad
19. Sharmila’s Book by Bharti Kirchner
20. Shiva Dancing by Bharti Kirchner
21. The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott
22. The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay
23. A State of Freedom by Neel Mukherjee
24. Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao
25. As Sweet as Honey by Indira Ganesan
26. Everything was Goodbye by Gurjinder Basran
27. The Abundance by Amit Majmudar (also Midwest USA)
28. The Storyteller’s Secret by Sejal Badani
29. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
30. Swami and Friends by R. K. Narayan
31. Varanasi
  1. Sister India by Peggy Payne ***
Indonesia
1. The Year of Living Dangerously by Christopher J. Koch
Iran
1. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi ****
2. Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody
3. The Kidney Sellers: A Journey of Discovery in Iran by Sigrid Fry-Revere
4. Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran by Jason Elliot
5. The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America by Kenneth M. Pollack
6. A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea by Dina Nayeri
7. Refuge by Dina Nayeri
8. The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri
9. Shah of Shahs by Ryszard Kapuściński
10. To Keep the Sun Alive by Rabeah Ghaffari
Iraq
1. Love in a Torn Land: Joanna of Kurdistan: The True Story of a Freedom Fighter’s Escape from Iraqi Vengeance by Jean Sasson ****
2. Mayada: Daughter of Iraq by Jean Sasson
3. a sky so close by Betool Khedairi
4. Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq by Farnaz Fassihi
5. The Baghdad Clock by Shahad al Rawi
Ireland
1. In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1) by Tana French ****
2. The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad #2) by Tana French *****
3. The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad #5) by Tana French *****
4. The Trespasser by Tana French
5. The Witch Elm by Tana French
6. the all of it by Jeannette Haien ***
7. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt #1) by Frank McCourt ****
8. Tara Road by Maeve Binchy *****
9. Evening Class by Maeve Binchy ****
10. Dubliners by James Joyce
11. Ulysses by James Joyce
12. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
13. Border Crossings by Carole Bellacera
14. Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman by Nuala O’Faolain
15. As It Is in Heaven by Niall Williams (also Italy)
16. This Is Happiness by Niall Williams
17. Normal People by Sally Rooney
18. A Line Made by Walking by Sara Baume
19. When All Is Said by Anne Griffin
20. Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace by John O’Donohue
21. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
22. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
Israel
1. the light we lost by Jill Stanopolo
2. To the End of the Land by David Grossman * (my husband’s rating after he gave up on the book)
3. From a Sealed Room by Rachel Kadish (?)
Italy
1. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert *****
2. The House at the Edge of Night by Catherine Banner *****
3. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway *****
4. The Miracles of Santo Fico by D.L. Smith ****
5. The Fall of a Sparrow by Robert Hellenga *****
6. The Sixteen Pleasures by Robert Hellenga
7. The Italian Lover by Robert Hellenga
8. The Confessions of Frances Godwin by Robert Hellenga
9. An Italian Affair by Laura Fraser ****
10. Born Twice by Giuseppe Ponliggia ***
11. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
12. Cucina: A Novel of Rapture by Lily Prior
13. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
14. The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
15. The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames
16. My Brilliant Friend (The Neopolitan Novels, #1) by Elena Ferrante
17. The Story of a New Name (The Neopolitan Novels, #2) by Elena Ferrante
18. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (The Neopolitan Novels, #3) by Elena Ferrante
19. The Story of the Lost Child (The Neopolitan Novels, #4) by Elena Ferrante
20. The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
21. The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
22. A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
23. The Homecoming Party by Carmine Abate
24. From the Land of the Moon by Milena Agus
25. The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani
26. The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman
27. Christ Stopped at Eboli: The Story of a Year by Carlo Levi
28. The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
29. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
30. The Enchanted April Elizabeth von Arnim
31. A Room with a View by E.M Forster
32. Vila Triste by Lucretia Grindle
33. The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria by Marlena de Blasi
34. Lost Hearts in Italy by Andrea Lee
35. Extra Virgin (Italy Series, #1) by Annie Hawes
36. The Villa in Italy (A Vintage Mystery) by Elizabeth Edmonson
37. Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Love in Italy by Michael Tucker
38. Return to Glow: A Pilgrimage of Transformation in Italy by Chandi Wyant
39. A Kiss from Maddalena by Christopher Castellani
40. All This Talk of Love: A Novel by Christopher Castellani
41. Been Here a Thousand Years by Mariolina Venezia, Marina Harss (Translator)
42. A Chill in the Air by Iris Origo
43. Italy Out of Hand: A Capricious Tour by Barbara Hodgson
44. A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio, translated by Ann Goldstein
45. A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar
46. Florence
  1. Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in the City of Masterpieces by Robert Clark
  2. Oil and Marble: a Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo by Stephanie Storey
47. Rome
  1. Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr
48. Sicily
  1. Siracusa by Delia Ephron ****
  2. Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions (Tante Poldi #1) by Mario Giordano ****
  3. That Summer in Sicily by Marlena de Blasi
  4. The Shape of Water (Inspector Montalbano, #1) by Andrea Camilleri
  5. A House in Sicily by Daphne Phelps
49. Tuscany
  1. The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen ****
  2. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes ****
  3. Bella Tuscany by Frances Mayes
  4. Every Day in Tuscany by Frances Mayes
  5. See You in the Piazza by Frances Mayes
  6. Vanilla Beans & Brodo: Real Life in the Hills of Tuscany by Isabella Dusi
  7. A Thousand Days in Tuscany: A Bittersweet Adventure (Italian Memoirs) by Marlena de Blasi
  8. Home to Italy by Peter Pezzelli
  9. That Month in Tuscany by Inglath Cooper
  10. The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman
50. Venice
  1. As It Is in Heaven by Niall Williams (also Ireland)
  2. The City of Fallen Angels by John Berendt
  3. A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena de Blasi
  4. Venice by Jan Morris
  5. Venice: Pure City by Peter Ackroyd
Jamaica
1. Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
2. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
3. Gloria by Kerry Young
Japan
1. Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata ***
2. The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd ****
3. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki ****
4. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden ****
5. The Floating World by Cynthia Gralla
6. The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
7. Silence by Shūsaku Endō
8. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (Kindle)
9. Kokoro by Natsume Soseki (Kindle)
10. Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata (Kindle)
11. The Lake by Banana Yosimoto (Kindle)
12. A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton (Kindle)
13. An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
14. Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan
15. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
16. Hiroshima
  1. Hiroshima by John Hersey *****
  2. The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
17. Kyoto
  1. The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto by Pico Iyer *****
18. Tokyo
  1. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto ****
  2. Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto ****
Jordan
1. West of the Jordan by Laila Halaby (Kindle)
2. Live from Jordan: Letters Home from My Journey Through the Middle East by Benjamin Orbach (Kindle)
3. The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon
4. Seven Pillars of Wisdom by Thomas Edward Lawrence
5. Married to a Bedouin by Marguerite van Geldermalsen
6. Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie
7. Cities of Salt by Abdul Rahman Munif
8. Story of a City: A Childhood in Amman by Abdul Rahman Munif
9. Forbidden Love by Norma Khouri
10. The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber
11. The Cry of the Dove by Fadia Faqir
12. Willow Trees Don’t Weep by Fadia Faqir
13. Staircase of a Thousand Steps by Masha Hamilton
14. Shepherd of Solitude: Selected Poems 1979-2004 by Amjad Nasser
15. Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia by Michael Korda
16. Desert Skies, Rebel Souls by M P Tonnesen (also Egypt & Israel)
Kazakhstan
1. The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov, Andrew Bromfield (translator)
Kenya
1. Circling the Sun by Paula McLain *****
2. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen *****
3. I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallmann ****
4. The Smoke Jumper by Nicholas Evans
5. Rules of the Wild by Francesca Marciano
6. The Fall of Saints by Wanjiku wa Ngugi
7. Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh
8. Safari Style, Ed. Angelika Taschen
Kiribati
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
1. Jasmine & Fire: A Bittersweet Year in Beirut by Salma Abdelnour
2. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
1. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
2. The Return by Hisham Matar
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
1. The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
2. Evening is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan
Maldives
Mali
1. Walking with Abel: Journeys with the Nomads of the African Savannah by Anna Badkhen
Malta
1. The Jukebox Queen of Malta by Nicholas M. Rinaldi
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
1. The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah
Mexico
1. All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy #1) by Cormac McCarthy ****
2. The Crossing (The Border Trilogy #2) by Cormac McCarthy
3. Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
4. In the Casa Azul: A Novel of Revolution and Betrayal by Meaghan Delahunt
5. Feathered Serpent by Colin Falconer
6. The Years with Laura Díaz by Carlos Fuentes
7. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (also North Carolina and D.C.)
8. Mexicasa: The Enchanting Inns and Haciendas of Mexico, Photos by Melba Levick, Text by Gina Hyams
9. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
10. Costalegre by Courtney Maum
11. Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
12. Stones for Ibarra by Harriet Doerr
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
1. The Time in Between by Maria Duenas (also known as The Seamstress) *****
2. The Tattooed Map by Barbara Hodgson ****
3. Tangerine by Christine Mangan ****
4. The Forgiven by Lawrence Osborne *****
5. Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir, Michèle Fitoussi ****
6. Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footsteps of Islam’s Greatest Traveler by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
7. The Saffron Trail by Rosanna Ley
8. The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun
9. A Palace in the Old Village by Tahar Ben Jelloun
10. This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun
11. Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatema Mernissi
12. Beyond the Veil by Fatima Mernissi
13. Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami
14. Secret Son: A Novel by Laila Lalami
15. The Blue Hour by Douglas Kennedy
16. The Saffron Gate by Linda Holeman
17. The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles
18. The Spider’s House by Paul Bowles
19. Naked Lunch by William Burroughs
20. For Bread Alone by Mohamed Choukri
21. In Morocco by Edith Wharton (1920)
22. Fez
  1. A House in Fez: Building a Life in the Ancient Heart of Morocco by Suzanna Clarke
23. Marrakesh
  1. The Voices of Marrakesh: A Record of a Visit by Elias Canetti
  2. A Year in Marrakesh by Peter Mayne
24. Casablanca
  1. The Caliph’s House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah
  2. In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams by Tahir Shah ****
25. Tangier
  1. Leaving Tangier by Tahar Ben Jelloun ***
  2. The Tangier Diaries by John Hopkins
  3. Tangier: A Literary Guide for Travelers by Josh Shoemake (2013)
  4. Tangier by Steven Holgate
26. DESIGN
  1. new Moroccan Style: The Art of Sensual Living by Susan Sully
  2. Moroccan Style by Alexandra Bonfante-Warren
  3. Moorish Style by Miles Danby
  4. Moroccan Interiors by Lisa Lovatt-Smith
Mozambique
Myanmar (Burma)
1. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker ****
2. The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason
3. Smile as They Bow by Nu Nu Yi
4. Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
1. The Guru of Love by Samrat Upadhyay *****
2. Arresting God in Kathmandu by Samrat Upadhyay *****
3. The Royal Ghosts: stories by Samrat Upadhyay
4. City of Ghosts by Johanna Stoberock
5. The Memory of Leaves by Manan Karki (Kindle)
Netherlands
1. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier *****
2. Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
New Zealand
1. Rain by Kirsty Gunn
2. All This by Chance by Vincent O’Sullivan
3. Let the River Stand by Vincent O’Sullivan
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
1. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3. The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré
4. An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma
5. Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family and the Lost Schoolgirls of Boko Haram by Isha Sesay
6. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
North Korea
1. The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story by Hyeonseo Lee
Norway
1. Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
2. North of Dawn by Nuruddin Farah
Oman
1. My Year in Oman: An American Experience in Arabia During the War on Terror by Matthew D. Heines ***
2. The English Girl by Katherine Webb
3. Celestial Bodies by Jokhha Alharthi
Pakistan
1. Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid
2. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
3. broken verses by Kamila Shamsie
4. Kartography by Kamila Shamsie
5. Trespassing by Uzma Aslan Khan
6. The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad
Palau
Palestine
1. The Blue Between Sky and Water by Susan Abulhawa ****
2. The Family Orchard by Nomi Eve
Panama
Papua New Guinea
1. Euphoria by Lily King
Paraguay
Peru
1. When Mountains Walked by Kate Wheeler *****
2. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder *****
Philippines
1. A Good Provider is One Who Leaves: One Family and Migration in the 21st Century by Jason DeParle (non-fiction)
Poland
1. The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
2. Lilac Girls: A Novel by Martha Hall Kelly (also Germany, Paris, NY)
3. Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
Portugal
1. The Painter of Birds by Lidia Jorge ****
2. 300 Days of Sun by Deborah Lawrenson ****
3. Pereira Declares: A Testimony by Antonio Tabucchi ****
4. Alentejo Blue by Monica Ali (Kindle)
5. Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier (Kindle)
6. Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal’s History and Culture by José Saramago
7. All the Names by José Saramago (Kindle)
8. Blindness by José Saramago
9. The Implacable Order of Things by José Luís Peixoto
10. A God Strolling in the Cool of the Evening by Mário de Carvalho
Qatar
Romania
Russia
1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy *****
2. The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
3. The Translator by John Crowley
4. In the Casa Azul: A Novel of Revolution and Betrayal by Meaghan Delahunt
5. Dreams of My Russian Summers by Andreï Makine
6. dancer by Colum McCann
7. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
8. The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre
9. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
10. Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
11. The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
12. Cilka’s Journey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #2) by Heather Morris
13. The Weight of a Piano by Chris Cander (also California)
14. Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey Into the Heart of Russia by David Greene
15. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
16. Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly
17. The Underground by Hamid Ismailov, Carol Ermakova (translator)
Rwanda
1. A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali by Gil Courtemanche
2. A Thousand Hills to Heaven: Love, Hope, and a Restaurant in Rwanda by Josh Ruxin
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
1. The Poetry of Derek Walcott, 1948-2013 by Derek Walcott
2. Omeros by Derek Walcott
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
1. The Girl in the Moon Circle by Sia Figiel ***
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
1. Finding Nouf (Nayir Sharqi & Katya Hijazi #1) by Zoë Ferraris *****
2. City of Veils (Nayir Sharqi & Katya Hijazi #2) by Zoë Ferraris ****
3. Kingdom of Strangers by Zoë Ferraris
4. Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
5. Three Thousand Miles for a Wish by Safiya Hussain
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
1. King Rat by James Clavell
2. Saint Jack by Paul Theroux
3. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
4. Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan
5. China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan
6. Aunty Lee’s Delights by Ovidia Yu
7. Following the Wrong God Home by Catherine Lim
8. The Bondmaid by Catherine Lim
9. The Song of Silver Frond by Catherine Lim
10. Miss Seetoh in the World by Catherine Lim
11. People of the Pear Tree by Rex Shelley
12. Island in the Centre by Rex Shelley
13. A River of Roses by Rex Shelley
14. Sarong Party Girls: A Novel by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
15. Foreign Bodies by Hwee Hwee Ton
16. Soy Sauce for Beginners by Kirstin Chen
17. Ministry of Moral Panic by Amanda Lee Koe
18. The River’s Song by Suchen Christine Lim
19. Fistful of Colours by Suchen Christine Lim
20. Notes from an Even Smaller Island by Neil Humphreys
21. Diary of an Expat in Singapore by Jennifer Gargiulo
22. You’ll Die in Singapore by Charles McCormac
23. Spider Boys by Ming Cher
24. ‘Others’ Is Not a Race by Melissa de Silva
25. The Last Lesson of Mrs. De Souza by Cyril Wong
26. Tanamera by Noel Barber
27. Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell
Slovakia
1. The House of the Deaf Man by Peter Krištúfek
2. Zoli by Colum McCann
3. Banana Peels on the Tracks: Coming of Age in Post-Communist Slovakia by Jason Lockwood
4. Siren of the Waters (Commander Jana Matinova #1) by Michael Genelin
5. The Magician’s Accomplice (Commander Jana Matinova #3) by Michael Genelin
6. Katarina by Kathryn Winter
7. The Year of the Frog: A Novel by Martin M. Šimečka
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
1. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton *****
2. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
3. The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh
4. The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso
5. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
South Korea
1. One Thousand Chestnut Trees: A Novel of Korea by Mira Stout *****
2. How to be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway ***
3. The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee ****
4. The Book of Dead Birds by Gayle Brandeis
5. White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht
6. The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
7. If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim
South Sudan
Spain
1. Duende: A Journey into the Heart of Flamenco by Jason Webster ****
2. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway *****
3. Travelers’ Tales Spain: True Stories, Ed. Lucy McCauley ****
4. The Vineyard by María Dueñas ***
5. Voices of the Old Sea by Norman Lewis (Kindle)
6. Winter in Madrid by C. J. Sansom (Kindle)
7. It’s Not About the Tapas: A Spanish Adventure on Two Wheels by Polly Evans (Kindle)
8. Waiting for Robert Capa by Susana Fortes (Kindle)
9. Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving (Kindle)
10. The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
11. Homeland by Fernando Aramburu, translated by Alfred Macadam
12. Iberia by James Michener
13. Camino de Santiago
  1. Guidebooks:
    1. A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camino de Santiago: St. Jean * Roncesvalles * Santiago by John Brierley ****
    2. Camino de Santiago: The ancient Way of St. James pilgrimage route from the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela by Sergi Ramis
  2. Personal accounts:
    1. In Movement There is Peace (Anxiety Treatment Alternatives) by Elaine Orabona Foster (Kindle) ****
    2. The Road to Santiago by Kathryn Harrison *****
    3. Sunrises to Santiago: Searching for Purpose on the Camino de Santiago by Gabriel Schirm ****
    4. Steps Out of Time: One Woman’s Journey on the Camino by Katherine B. Soper (Kindle) ****
    5. On Pilgrimage by Jennifer Lash (mostly in France, but ends in Santiago de Compostela) *****
    6. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho ***
    7. The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit by Shirley MacLaine ***
    8. I’m Off Then: Losing and Finding Myself on the Camino de Santiago by Hape Kerkeling ****
    9. The Way, My Way by Bill Bennett (Kindle)
    10. Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim’s Route Into Spain by Jack Hitt (Kindle)
    11. The Way is Made by Walking: A Pilgrimage Along the Camino de Santiago by Arthur Paul Boers
    12. Walk in a Relaxed Manner: Life Lessons from the Camino by Joyce Rupp
  3. Packing advice:
    1. To Walk Far, Carry Less by Jean-Christie Ashmore ****
    2. Pilgrim Tips & Packing List Camino de Santiago by S. Yates
  4. History & Culture
    1. The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook by David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson
14. Andalucía
  1. Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucía (Driving Over Lemons Trilogy #1) by Chris Stewart *****
  2. A Parrot in the Pepper Tree by Christ Stewart (Kindle)
15. Barcelona
  1. The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #1) by Carlos Ruiz Zafó ****
16. Madrid
  1. The Seamstress by María Dueñas (also called The Time In Between) – also takes place in Morocco *****
Sri Lanka
1. The Flower Boy by Karen Roberts
2. Cinnamon Gardens by Shyam Selvadurai
3. The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jefferies
4. Love Marriage by V.V. Ganeshananthan
Sudan
1. Emma’s War: An Aid Worker, A Warlord, Radical Islam, and the Politics of Oil – A True Story of Love and Death in Sudan by Deborah Scoggins
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
1. A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman ****
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) by Stieg Larsson *****
3. The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium #2) by Stieg Larsson
Switzerland
Syria
1. The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian ***
2. The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri (& Turkey. Greece.)
3. The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf by Mohja Kahf
4. Dark at the Crossing by Elliot Ackerman (& Turkey)
Taiwan
1. The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
2. Heaven Lake by John Dalton
3. Two Trees Make a Forest: A Story of Memory, Migration, and Taiwan by Jessica J. Lee
Tajikistan
Tanzania
1. A Girl Called Problem by Katie Quirk
2. Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway
3. The Magic of Saida by M. G. Vassanji
4. Zanzibar
  1. The Zanzibar Chest by Aidan Hartley
  2. Death in Zanzibar by M.M. Kaye
  3. Desertion by Abdulrazak Gurnah
  4. Admiring Silence by Abdulrazak Gurnah
  5. By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah
  6. Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah
  7. Memory of Departure by Abdulrazak Gurnah
  8. The Last Gift by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Thailand
1. The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand’s Bhumibol Adulyadej by Paul M. Handley ****
2. Siam by Lily Tuck
3. Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski
4. Thailand’s Political History: From the Fall of Ayutthaya to Recent Times by B.J. Terwiel
5. Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad
6. Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap
7. Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon
8. The Beach by Alex Garland
9. Jasmine Nights by S.P. Somtow
10. Catching the Sun by Tony Parsons
11. The Atlas of Us by Tracy Buchanan
12. The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley
13. A Woman of Bangkok by Jack Reynolds
14. Thai Girl by Andrew Hicks
15. Bangkok Babylon by Jerry Hopkins
16. Bangkok Days by Lawrence Osborne
17. Cross Currents by John Shors
18. Selected Short Stories of Thailand by William Peskett
19. The Bridge Over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle
20. Private Dancer by Stephen Leather
21. Bangkok 8 by John Burdett
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
1. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey *****
2. Archipelago by Monique Roffey *****
3. Golden Child by Claire Adam
4. A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
5. Miguel Street by V.S. Naipaul
6. The Mystic Masseur by V.S. Naipaul
7. The Loss of El Dorado: A Colonial History by V.S. Naipaul (non-fiction)
8. Fireflies by Shiva Naipaul
9. Salt by Earl Lovelace
10. The Wine of Astonishment by Earl Lovelace
11. The Dragon Can’t Dance by Earl Lovelace
12. Is Just a Movie by Earl Lovelace
13. Lime Tree Can’t Bear Orange by Amanda Smyth
14. Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo
15. Valmiki’s Daughter by Shani Mootoo
16. Out on Main Street: And Other Stories by Shani Mootoo
17. Bruised Hibiscus by Elizabeth Nunez
18. Anna In-Between by Elizabeth Nunez
19. Black Rock by Amanda Smyth
20. Light Falling on Bamboo by Lawrence Scott
21. Ways of Sunlight by Sam Selvon
22. A Brighter Sun by Sam Selvon
Tunisia
1. The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier (Algeria. Turkey. Crete.)
Turkey
1. The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk ****
2. Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk
3. Snow by Orhan Pamuk
4. Gardens of Water by Alan Drew
5. The Virgin’s Knot by Holly Payne
6. Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey, Ed. Anastasia M. Ashman and Jennifer Eaton
7. The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri (& Syria. Greece.)
8. The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier (Tunisia. Algeria. Crete.)
9. The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
10. Dark at the Crossing by Elliot Ackerman (& Syria)
11. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
1. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
1. Water from Heaven: An American woman’s life as an Arab wife by Anne Schreiber Thomas ****
United Kingdom (UK)
1. England
  1. Missing, Presumed (D.S. Manon #1) by Susie Steiner ****
  2. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger ****
  3. Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson ****
  4. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë *****
  5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen *****
  6. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen ****
  7. Persuasion by Jane Austen
  8. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins *****
  9. behind the scenes at the museum by Kate Atkinson
  10. The Family Tree by Carole Cadwalladr
  11. Little Bee by Chris Cleave
  12. The Navigation Log by Martin Corrick
  13. offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
  14. a sky so close by Betool Khedairi (& Iraq)
  15. Atonement by Ian McEwan
  16. Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher
  17. Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald (& Europe)
  18. The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
  19. Not That Sort of Girl by Mary Wesley
  20. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
  21. War Brides by Helen Bryan (Kindle)
  22. Next of Kin by Joanna Trollope
  23. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
  24. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
  25. The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
  26. A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier
  27. West Country Trilogy by Tim Pears
  28. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
  29. The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
  30. The Salt Path: A Memoir by Raynor Winn (walking the South West Coast Path)
  31. The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton
  32. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe
  33. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
  34. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
  35. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
  36. Regeneration by Pat Barker
  37. London
    1. Brick Lane by Monica Ali ***
    2. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger ****
    3. White Teeth by Zadie Smith ***
    4. Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively (Egypt too?)
    5. If Only I Could Tell You by Hannah Beckerman
    6. The Photograph by Penelope Lively
    7. Saturday by Ian McEwan
    8. Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field by Melissa Nathan
    9. life isn’t all ha ha hee hee by Meera Syal
    10. When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro (also Shanghai)
    11. Queenie by Candice-Karty Williams
    12. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
    13. Only in London by Hanan al-Shaykh
    14. The Light Over London by Julia Kelly
    15. The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
    16. Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley
2. Scotland
  1. Featherstone by Kirsty Gunn
  2. Eva Moves the Furniture by Margot Livesey
  3. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
  4. Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela
3. Wales
  1. The Walking Tour by Kathryn Davis ***
  2. The Welsh Borderlands: Reflections Afoot by Anne Holmes Filson
United States of America (USA)
1. See books | u.s.a. |
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
1. A Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road by Christopher Aslan Alexander
2. The Railway by Hamid Ismailov, Robert Chandler
Vanuatu
Vatican City (Holy See)
Venezuela
Vietnam
1. American Romantic by Ward Just (Indochina) ****
2. A Dangerous Friend by Ward Just (Indochina)
3. The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars by Andrew X. Pham ****
4. Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam by Andrew X. Pham ****
5. Daughters of the River Huong by Uyen Nicole Duong ****
6. Paradise of the Blind by Dương Thu Hương ****
7. The Lover by Marguerite Duras (Indochina)
8. The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
9. Once Upon a Distant War by William Prochnau
10. The Things They Carried (stories) by Tim O’Brien
11. If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home by Tim O’Brien
12. Going After Cacciato by Tim O’Brien
13. What It’s Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes
14. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
15. The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood by Kien Nguyen
16. The Man From Saigon by Marti Leimbach
17. The Quiet American by Graham Greene
18. Chickenhawk by Robert Mason
19. Live from the Battlefield, autobiography of one of the greatest war correspondents, Peter Arnett
20. Nam by Mark Baker
21. In Pharoh’s Army by Tobias Wolff
22. Dispatches by Michael Herr (possibly Mari’s favourite)
23. All the Wrong Places by James Fenton
24. A Wavering Grace by Gavin Young
25. Derailed in Uncle Ho’s Victory Garden by Tim Page
26. A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan (history)
27. Winning Hearts and Minds, war poems by Vietnam Vets
Yemen
1. The Ambassador’s Wife by Jennifer Steil (actually it’s an unknown Middle Eastern country that sounds like Yemen) *****
2. The Woman Who Fell From the Sky by Jennifer Steil (non-fiction)
3. The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers
Zambia
Zimbabwe
1. Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
2. The Book of Not (Nervous Conditions #2) by Tsitsi Dangarembga
3. This Mournable Body (Nervous Conditons #3) by Tsitsi Dangarembga

*******************

BOOKS SET IN UNNAMED COUNTRIES OR REGIONS AROUND THE WORLD

AFRICA
- The Hotel Alleluia by Lucinda Roy
- Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town by Paul Theroux
- The Tree Where Man was Born by Peter Matthiessen
- The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuściński
NORTH AFRICA
- The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier
EUROPE
- Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson
MIDDLE EAST
- Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark by Jane Fletcher Geniesse *****
- All Strangers are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World by Zora O’Neill
- Misadventure in the Middle East: Travels as a Tramp, Artist and Spy by Henry Hemming
- Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World by Zahra Hankir (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Christiane Amanpour (Foreword)
SOUTH AMERICA
- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett *****
- The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey by Ernesto Che Guevara
- Traveling with Che Guevara: The Making of a Revolutionary by Alberto Granado
- Viva South America! A Journey Through a Surging Continent by Olive Balch
SOUTH PACIFIC
- The Last Good Paradise by Tatjana Soli
CENTRAL ASIA (FORMER SOVIET REPUBLIC)
- Imperium by Ryszard Kapuściński
ALL OVER THE WORLD
- The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (Kindle)
- Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuściński

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS SET AROUND THE WORLD

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri ****
Emerald City by Jennifer Egan ****

EXTRATERRESTRIAL TALES:

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Children of God (The Sparrow #2) by Mary Doria Russell

Here’s a resource for finding fiction set in different locales:

tripfiction.com

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anticipation & preparation: el camino de santiago – ~ wander.essence ~ August 24, 2018 at 2:15 am

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