Saturday, November 16, 2013

International Books

Thursday in my post I mentioned a cool story I heard on NPR about a British Journalist who in 1 year (amazing) read a book from every country on the planet.  It inspired me to read some more international literature, and got me thinking about some international literature I have already read.
Here's what I can think of that I have read from around this world.
(Not in any order and probably not all I've read- just what my brain can recall. Nor am I saying these books are really good or bad...)

Japan:
 Banana Yoshimoto 
Kitchen
                                                                   
                                                                 

India:
A Fine Balance



Sweden:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (all 3 of this trilogy)
Stieg Larsson
(Millennium Trilogy)

Iran:

both volumes of this graphic novel
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi

Ireland:
read several things from here
Maeve Binchy
(several of her books)
James Joyce
Dubliners
The Portrait of the Artist of a Young Man

Mexico:

Like Water for Chocolate
Laura Esquivel

Columbia:
Love in the Time of Cholera
Gabriel Garcia Marquez


Chili:

Isabel Allende
The House of the Spirits

China:

Waiting
Ha Jin


Italy:
The Name of the Rose
Emberto Ecco



Spain:
The Shadow of the Wind

Carlos Ruis Zafon
(I'd like to reread this book since its been awhile)

Russia:
Tolstoy
Anna Karenina


Bosnia and Herzegovnia:

Zlata's Diary
Zlata Filipovic

France:
Several Maigret mysteries

by Georges Simenon

Czech:

Milan Kundera
The Unbearable Lightness of Being

southern Africa (not sure if its Botswana or Uganda)

Don't Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight
Alexandra Fuller

Kenya:
The Flames Trees of Thika
Elspeth Huxley


Boy this is a pretty sad list popping into my head.!!!!!
Man, with all the books I've read you'd think I could do better.  I have not included any British books since I have read tons of them, too many to even listed a sample. (Kind of the blog author too!) I'm sure I'll think of some more at some point. Especially Australian, New Zealand (isn't Anne Perry the Mystery writer from New Zealand? Read a bunch of her books.)

Oh yeah, an oldie but a good read (I've never read it before this week) by an American author that I read this week.

Short sweet and another way to recenter your life.
Very clever.

If you have any good international reading suggestions,
please pass them my way!

Addendum- totally random-
but what a hockey game last night-
Maine beat Boston University 7-0.
Amazing.
What a way to start a weekend.
Go Blue!

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