Challenge: read a book about every country

[Datepalm]

Hmmm...this makes things more challenging, but you're probably right. Do they have to be either regular literary fiction or at least minimally spec-fic like Hundred Years of Solitude, or can one, for example, use Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell for the UK?

I'm being fairly liberal with it - most of my list is genre - because of the obvious understanding that no single book, no matter how quintessentialy english/american/indonesian is ever going to be sufficient on its own to teach you some deep understanding of a foreign country. Or a hundred books, for that matter. But in the same way that, say, reading a hundred books about London - urban fantasies and childrens books and alternative Londons and historical ones and futuristic SF ones and ones in political thrillers and literary ones and chick lit ones and bored-twenty-something-books ones and so on and so on gives you some sweep of the perception of the city and puts it firmly on your mental map, as a big and complicated place thats important to lots of people, so seeing where the books you read are set is kind of a shorthand for checking out the edges of your literary global map.

One-book-one-country is obviously a pretty bad measure in charting your actual understanding of the world, but its an easy and fun way of seeing what places have made it into your perspective. I'm not going to base answers in a geography exam on stuff I read in The Windup Girl or Zoo City (but not on A Fine Balance or an Icelandic Saga either) but it lets me see how complete my perception of the world is, maybe not in terms of, y'know, being aware that China exists, but in terms of having some personal sense of this place is important and interesting. To someone. Important enough to write a book about it. (for one metric anyway. How many books do I read about women? about the poor? about blue collar workers? etc, etc, but geographic spread is both particularly easy and particularly glaring. Theres an argument to be made that theres few stories that are going to appeal to me about orthodontists, its harder to say there are no interesting stories in Finland.)

So in the same way that i've read a lot of books about London, very few of which made any particular effort to be an accurate guide to the city (Well, Rivers of London could probably function as a tourist guide, but it also has ghosts which I don't think are typical.) it seems like it would be nice to have read a lot of books about the world and be able to have a similarly complex view - in terms of emotional resonance and personal curiosity and depth of perspective, not in terms of knowing the GDP of Suriname and the capital city of Sri Lanka - of the world at large. Genre set somewhere identifiable therefore answers that for me, in that it makes me recognize the existence of a place - typically populated with people, possessed a future and a past - instead of it being a blank on the map where it says 'here be someplace you can look up in wikipedia, but probably never will.'

[The Iceman of the North]

(Well, Rivers of London could probably function as a tourist guide, but it also has ghosts which I don't think are typical.)

You've never been to London, have you?

[Haren Kayes]

For Hungary:

Eclipse of the Crescent Moon by Géza Gárdonyi (historical-adventure, set in the 16th century).

School on the Border by Géza Ottlik (20th century)

[Liadin]

One-book-one-country is obviously a pretty bad measure in charting your actual understanding of the world, but its an easy and fun way of seeing what places have made it into your perspective.

Also a fun way to learn at least a little where you wouldn't bother to look it up on Wikipedia. And seeking these books out purposefully is (hopefully) a good way to discover good books one wouldn't have run across otherwise. Last night I finally went through and looked up most of the books mentioned or recommended in this thread, and my to-read list got much longer. So thanks to everyone for the recs!

A question:

The Egyptian by Mika Waltari (Egypt)

I looked this up on Amazon and saw that while it's been quite well-received, the English translation is evidently abridged by some 300 pages. Has anybody here read the book (abridged or not), so you can tell me how serious a problem this is? I haven't read an abridged book since I was, like, 7, and distrust the whole concept.

[automne]

I looked this up on Amazon and saw that while it's been quite well-received, the English translation is evidently abridged by some 300 pages. Has anybody here read the book (abridged or not), so you can tell me how serious a problem this is? I haven't read an abridged book since I was, like, 7, and distrust the whole concept.

Mika Waltari's The Egyptian is a great book, too good to be read abridged.

BTW I didn't even know there were such things are abridged books.

Of course I knew one could find some abridged or "adapted" classics for children but that was it.

I find the concept odd.

[Artas]

Netherlands- The Silver Skates by Mapes Dodge

I must read that sometime. Does it provide an accurate portrayal of the country, or is it just a flight of fancy? All I know about it is that it's the origin of the story of the Dutch boy preventing a flood by plugging a hole in a dyke with his finger, which... er, wouldn't work in real life.

Some more suggestions:

The Assault (De aanslag), a 1982 novel by Harry Mulisch about the Second World War. It deals with the consequences for the lone survivor of a Nazi retaliation on an innocent family after a collaborator named Fake Ploeg is found killed outside their home. The movie won an Oscar, I think.

The Books of Small Souls (De boeken der kleine zielen) by Louis Couperus, about life in The Hague around 1900.

Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company (Max Havelaar, of de koffij-veilingen der Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij) is a culturally and socially significant 1860 novel by Multatuli (the pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker) which was to play a key role in shaping and modifying Dutch colonial policy in the Dutch East Indies in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. In the novel, the protagonist, Max Havelaar, tries to battle against a corrupt government system in Java, which was a Dutch colony at the time.

And the obvious one, Anne Frank's diary.

[kve]

I totally second "the assault" for the Netherlands. Great book.

I can't really think of a suitable suggestion for Belgium though.

[Lummel]

I totally second "the assault" for the Netherlands. Great book.

I can't really think of a suitable suggestion for Belgium though.

Why it's got to be Asterix and the Belgians of course!

[The Iceman of the North]

Nah, any Tintin volume would be better.

[Liadin]

Mika Waltari's The Egyptian is a great book, too good to be read abridged.

BTW I didn't even know there were such things are abridged books.

Of course I knew one could find some abridged or "adapted" classics for children but that was it.

I find the concept odd.

What language did you read it in?

[automne]

What language did you read it in?

French. Two paperbacks.

[Kmmontandon]

Germany: A biography of Bismark, don't remember the author; The Ten Thousand by Harold Coyle.

Italy: A Soldier Of The Great War, Mark Helperin.

UK: Lots of John le Carre,* spanning fifty or sixty years; plus a ton of history books - War of the Roses by Alison Weir being the best example; Churchill by Jenkins, an extremely detailed biography of Winston Churchill; The Eagle Has Landed by Fredrick Forsythe.

Russia: The Arkady Renko series by Martin Cruz Smith, though a Russian in another forum said Smith's view of Soviet/Russian life is a bit skewed.

France: To Lose A Battle by Alistair Horne; about the Battle of France in June 1940. Even people who don't like military history should read this, to come to a better understanding of what happened then just "Haha! France surrenders all the time!"

Vietnam: Hell In A Very Small Place by Bernard Fall, for the same reason.

France & England: A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman. Probably should qualify for cultural reasons.

I'm forgetting a ton, I'm not at home to look over at my bookshelves. Mostly non-fiction anyways, I could list those all day.

* - Who also has written a ton of books set in other countries, of course - I can't even remember how many. They usually center around an Englishman living or working in those countries - Panama, Zaire,

the Caucasus, etc.

[Dr Spoon]

IIRC, The Handmaid's Tale is specifically set in America, although I may be wrong there.

The Comedians by Graham Greene (Haiti)

Life During Wartime by Lucius Shephard (Guatemala)

Quartered Safe Out Here by George MacDonald Fraser (Burma)

Closely Observed Trains by Bohumil Hrabal (Czechoslovakia)

Er, I think Biggles Defies the Swastika is set in Demark. Not a classic, though.

[Liadin]

Vietnam: Hell In A Very Small Place by Bernard Fall, for the same reason.

So I just finished reading The Things They Carried, thinking maybe I could use that for Vietnam. But now that I'm finished I don't think it would be fair. There isn't a single important Vietnamese character in the entire book, or even one with a speaking part that I recall.

It's a good book about war though.

[Icylin]

For Vietnam I recommend "Novel Without a Name" by Duong Thu Huong. Interesting with a POV from the "other side" in the Vietnam war.

[Reposado]

USA Democracy in America by DeToqueville is a good example, also a million others

UK Neverwhere by Gaiman, as well as assorted versions of the Arthurian legend, etc

Russia War and Peace, most of Tolstoy’s catalog, Gogol, Pushkin, etc, these are the three easy ones

Georgia Hero of Our Time by Lermontov mostly seems to take place around here, Tolstoy has several works that take place in the Caucasus, I will count them here

Italy The Decameron

France Song of Roland, most of Dumas, etc, but I’m trying to pick the most representative where available

Ireland The Tain, see what I mean

Iceland Laexdala Saga, Njals Saga, etc

Spain Armada by Mattingly is mostly in Spain, if not Lions of Al Rassan is sort of Spain

Greece Oresteia, assorted tragedies

China Under Heaven by Kay

Ethiopia Flashman on the March

Afghanistan Flashman

Germany Royal Flash

Ukraine Flashman at the Charge

India Flashman in the Great Game

Brazil War at the End of the World Llosa

Colombia 100 Years of Solitude Marquez

Uganda Upon this Mountain Wangusa

Nigeria Arrow of God Achebe

DRC Heart of Darkness Conrad

Zimbabwe Harvest of Thorns Chinodya

Botswana An African Miracle Samatar

South Africa Terrific Majesty Hamilton

Turkey Sarantine Mosaic? Would like to count that rather than a bio of Ataturk by Mango

Algeria Confessions St Augustine

Saudi Arabia Muhammad Lings

Japan Shadow Shoguns Schlesinger, this is about 20th century politics and is not as exciting as it sounds

Iran Khomeini Moin

Costa Rica Jurassic Park Crichton

Did this by looking through books I still had, some conspicuous absences like Canada and Mexico, but I can’t remember a specific book I've read. Anyways, I’m at 31 for now. Kinda fun going back through to compile, though I wish I had done it before I did some shelf cleaning and donating a few months ago.

[Inkdaub]

How about The Shipping News for Canada?

[Contrarius]

I can't believe that nobody has mentioned any of the books from the Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency series, by Alexander McCall Smith. They are gentle and sweet, and they overflow with a love for Botswana. :)

[Zap]

I recommend Under the Yoke by Ivan Vazov for Bulgaria. A great book portraying life in 19th century Bulgaria when the country was still under Ottoman rule.

[The Blue Bard]

Congo: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Britain: Many, but I think Portrait of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde is definitive

Algeria: The Plague by Albert Camus

India: Life of Pi by Yann Martell (Good Dornish name)

Italy: The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius

Iceland: Njals Saga

Norway: King Harald's Saga

France: Paris Spleen by Charles Baudelaire

USA: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Jordan, Israel/Palestine, Syria and Saudi Arabia: Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence

Russia: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Burma: Burmese Days by George Orwell