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Elise has come up with a great challenge for herself to read at least one fiction and one non-fiction book from every country in the world. I thought we could try putting together a group book shelf along similar lines, one letter of the alphabet at a time. Once each letter is completed, I'll put the shelf up and we can move on to the next letter. Then people can attempt it as a reading challenge in their own time.

So here's the thing: I haven't been able to figure out how to limit the nominations to only one fiction and one non-fiction per country. I don't think we can really run a poll for all 260 countries and disputed territories, so what do people think about maybe taking the nomination with the highest GR rating, or the most readers?

Book Nominations
Fiction - Needs to somehow represent the country. Preferably be written by a local and set in that country. This won't always be possible for every country, so we can always stretch the definition as needed!
Non-Fiction - A good historical/social/cultural representation of the country. Again, this may be stretched if needed.

What to do:
*Chime in with your nominations for any of the "A" countries in he thread below. *I'll attempt to keep the list updated as people add their suggestions, but if it looks like it's getting out of hand, feel free to post your own updated list in the thread in bold.
*Please try to focus your nominations on the gaps in the list, rather than providing multiple nominations for the same country.
*We'll sort out the problem of multiple nominations at the end.

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THE LIST - A
The list of countries is from this link provided by Whitney: Countries of the World
It includes the "195 independent sovereign states in the world (including disputed but defacto independent Taiwan), plus about 60 dependent areas, and five disputed territories, like Kosovo."

1 Afghanistan
NF- A Thousand Splendid Suns
F- The Kite Runner
F- The Bookseller of Kabul

2 Albania
NF- The Albanians: A Modern History
F- The Palace of Dreams
F- The Country Where No One Ever Dies

3 Algeria
NF- A Savage War of Peace: Algeria, 1954-1962
F- The Stranger

4 American Samoa
NF- Alchemies Of Distance
F- Tutuila

5 Andorra
NF- All Andorra
F- The Land of Right Up and Down

6 Angola
NF- Another Day of Life
F- The Book of Chameleons
F- The Return of the Water Spirit
F- Jaime Bunda, Secret Agent: Story of Various Mysteries

7 Anguilla

8 Antarctica
NF- Who Goes There?
F-

9 Antigua and Barbuda
NF- A Small Place
F- Annie John

10 Argentina
NF- Around the Day in Eighty Worlds
F- Labyrinths
F- Ficciones
F- Ghosts

11 Armenia
NF-
F- Retreat Without Song

12 Aruba

13 Ascension Island
NF- Queer Dutchman
F-

14 Australia
NF- Why Warriors Lie Down and Die
F- Oscar And Lucinda
F- Bliss
F- The Thorn Birds
F- Seven Little Australians
F- Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
F- The Slap

15 Austria
NF- The World of Yesterday
F - Rock Crystal

16 Azerbaijan

*Note - Elise is also looking for multiple nominations for her reading challenge, so keep an eye out for her separate threads too as she posts by country.*

I'm going to kick off with a non-fiction nomination for Australia:
Why Warriors Lie Down and Die
I think it'd be great if a good proportion of the non-fiction nominations were written by Indigenous people from that country.

I've added this to the list above. Next nomination? :)

Well there's already the ones we had on the other thread for Afghanistan and Albania:

Afghanistan - The Kite Runner, The Bookseller of Kabul, A Thousand Splendid Suns

Albania - The Palace of Dreams, The Country Where No One Ever Dies

Elise wrote: "Well there's already the ones we had on the other thread for Afghanistan and Albania:..."

Thanks, Elise. Did you want to try and narrow it down a little now, or wait until the end?

Also, Whitney provided a link to this GR Group - Around The World in 80 Books - which is really useful for our purposes: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/5...

Ruby wrote: "Elise wrote: "Well there's already the ones we had on the other thread for Afghanistan and Albania:..."

Thanks, Elise. Did you want to try and narrow it down a little now, or wait until the end?"

Let's make a collection and then decide. (Personally, if I start to get into reading about a certain country, I guarantee I'll end up reading several for that country anyway).

I have a nasty feeling that I'm going to want to travel to every country I read about and I won't be able to afford it. :(

Just found this website:

- won't be using it for Western countries (400,000,000 search results!) but looks like a good resource for the rest.

Okay, but we're only putting one each up on the shelf, so start thinking of some ways to narrow it down! Maybe we can look at where the book is set, where the writer is from, and whatever's left we'll go on the GR average rating.

In the meantime, here's a sweet vintage children's fiction book for Andorra:
The Land of Right Up and Down by Eva-Lis Wuorio

Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan as non-fiction for Afghanistan? (Best I could find that wasn't about people embedded with British/US troops which really isn't what I want to read about any country!) If anyone knows anything better I'd be very appreciative.

Wow. Now here's an interesting non-fiction book for Ascension Island.
Queer Dutchman
It's not entirely clear how much of this is true, but it's supposedly based on the diary of a sailor put ashore for alleged homosexuality in the 1725s. It has been circulating in various forms since 1728. Its full title is: The Queer Dutchman: True Account Of A Sailor Castaway On A Desert Island For Unnatural Acts And Left To God's Mercy.

Not entirely sure whether this constitutes "non-fiction", based on the Amazon review here:

It's not exactly a good history of the place either, so happy to remove it if people feel it's not a good pick.

Ruby wrote: "Wow. Now here's an interesting non-fiction book for Ascension Island.
Queer Dutchman
It's not entirely clear how much of this is true, but it's supposedly based on the diary of a sailor put ashore..."

Well I always knew that Defoe was supposed to have based Robinson Crusoe on more than just Selkirk's account, looks like this may have been another. Looks interesting.

I think I'll create an Afghanistan discussion thread, if that is OK, and unless someone can recommend something better before the weekend, I'm going to start with A Thousand Splendid Suns which I'm 99.9% my mum has (hence the weekend, I should be able to pinch her copy, since I'll be seeing her then). So anyone up for starting that one along with me?

As far as the shelf goes, I think one fiction and one non-fiction book for each country is great (though I'll be pleasantly surprised if we can manage one of each for everywhere - at least not in English and to my shame I can't read anything else with enough fluency to get through an entire book), but I don't see why we shouldn't have several nominations (say up to 6?) on this list, so that if people want to join in they don't have to just read the top GR scored or the most widely read one.

I'm being a pillock! The Bookseller of Kabul is a non-fiction book about Afghanistan and I knew that and still have spent ages looking for non-fiction books about Afghanistan. DOH! Ruby, please could you change it on the list.

I suggest a non-fiction title for Algeria:

A Savage War of Peace: Algeria, 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne.

I'll drop by again to make more recommendations!

By the way, wonderful idea! I love this project.

That sounds really good Nasrul, I was going to look for something about the recent revolutions in North Africa for the non-fiction, but this sounds really interesting.

So do we have anyone on Chaos Readers who are from any of these first 16 countries who can give us definitive advice and recommendations?

(Ruby's from Australia, so that's at least 1, I know - Ruby, what about Australian fiction? To my shame, while I've read a lot of Nevil Shute, who was British, but set a lot of his books in Australia, and lived there for the last 10 years of his life, no-one else comes immediately to mind *blushes*).

Edit: Finally thought of another Colleen McCullogh but I'm still blushing as that's only two fiction authors connected to Australia I can come up with.

Austria
Rock Crystal by Adalbert Stifter

Elise wrote: "So do we have anyone on Chaos Readers who are from any of these first 16 countries who can give us definitive advice and recommendations?

(Ruby's from Australia, so that's at least 1, I know - R..."

Ha! I think I have read only one book by Australian author Ethel Turner *is ashamed*

Anna wrote: "Austria
Rock Crystal by Adalbert Stifter"

Happy to give it a whirl.

Anna wrote: "Elise wrote: "So do we have anyone on Chaos Readers who are from any of these first 16 countries who can give us definitive advice and recommendations?

(Ruby's from Australia, so that's at least..."

Don't be ashamed, you've just increased the number of Australian writers I can name to 2!

I know it's too many but I now have 7 (!!) non-fiction books for Afghanistan:

The Bookseller of Kabul
An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan
The Places in Between
Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan
Afghanistan: A Modern History
A Brief History of Afghanistan
Afghanistan, Where God Only Comes to Weep

I don't want them all on the list, I just don't know which to choose - anyone else want to help me out here?

And I should probably have mentioned before now that as I'm not overflowing in wealth some of the choices I make will have to be limited by cost.

Elise wrote: "I know it's too many but I now have 6 (!) non-fiction books for Afghanistan:

The Bookseller of Kabul
An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan
The Places in Between
Kabul in Winter: Life Without..."

If I were you, I'd reduce the list to 'The Places in Between' and 'The Bookseller of Kabul'. If you have to pick just one, I'd pick 'The Places in Between'.

I reduced it to this two titles based on the number of raters. And I'd pick Rory Stewart because of the higher ratings. My methods are dubious but that's how I work around which books to read if using GR as a guide!

Antigua: A Small Place

Argentina: so very many great choices. I nominate Around the Day in Eighty Worlds. There are books that are far more about Argentina per se, but this one fits in with the spirit of this reading so well!

Algerian fiction, if no one has less 'imperialistic' suggestions, The Stranger. Set in Algeria, and Camus was born and raised there, if that helps.

Antarctica! !

(Kidding about the last one.)

I've been meaning to read The Stranger for a long time (though I've always known it as "The Outsider" - L'etranger can translate as "stranger", "foreigner" or "outsider" so I guess that's OK) so it's definitely a good idea. I'm told it's WAY better in the French too - pity my school-girl French is only about good enough to buy a half-kilo of cherries at a market :(

As for Around the Day in Eighty Worlds it's definitely not the sort of thing I'd normally go for, which I guess makes it the sort of thing I should go for. The whole idea behind this is to widen my literary horizons!

Aw! Can't we have "The Thing" for Antarctica? Seriously that is going to be difficult to find fiction for, I suspect.

For Argentina I'd absolutely and completely put Jorge Luis Borges in the list. It isn't like any short story you have ever read.

Labyrinths
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...

Ficciones - the one I'm actually reading right now.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42...

Oh, and one more for the Afghan non-fiction nominations, so I've edited the previous list.

Anne wrote: "For Argentina I'd absolutely and completely put Jorge Luis Borges in the list. It isn't like any short story you have ever read.

Labyrinths
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...

Fic..."

Are his all short stories? I'm never that fond of them. Though they do have some hellishly good reviews, I do admit.

Edit: I kind of take that back. I've tried various short story writers over the years and never found one I really liked (some were OK). But I do keep going back because, in theory, I like the idea of short stories. Being able to finish a whole tale within one short commute by bus, for instance, does really appeal to me.

Nasrul wrote: "Elise wrote: "I know it's too many but I now have 6 (!) non-fiction books for Afghanistan:

The Bookseller of Kabul
An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan
The Places in Between
Kabul in Winter..."

Your methods may be dubious, but they're fairly like mine, if I have no better way to choose.

I really wanted an Afghan author for the non-fiction, but I can't find one - well one or two but the books are out of print or similar and the cost is sky high. Some of these authors are from neighbouring countries, so maybe I'll allow myself to be swayed by that.

Elise wrote: "Anna wrote: "Austria
Rock Crystal by Adalbert Stifter"

Happy to give it a whirl.

And I should probably have mentioned before now that as I'm not overflowing in wealth some of the choices I make will have to be limited by cost."

Rock Crystal is available on Gutenberg and librivox. I read it ages ago and yet still remember the beautiful use of language and how the author described snow.

Anna wrote: "Rock Crystal is available on Gutenberg and librivox. I read it ages ago and yet still remember the beautiful use of language and how the author described snow. ..."

This looks great, I just put it on hold at my library (The Guttenberg version has a different translator). The first GR review that comes up on this is a poster-child for 'how not to review a book'.

Whitney wrote: "Anna wrote: "Rock Crystal is available on Gutenberg and librivox. I read it ages ago and yet still remember the beautiful use of language and how the author described snow. ..."

This looks great, ..."

Bless him, he probably thinks he's being witty! ;)

I agree it looks like a really good read. I'm getting really excited about the books I'm going to be reading in the next few months!

I've set up a discussion board for the first country, Afghanistan, here:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...

Everyone welcome to participate.

Is it permissible for members to nominate books that they have written? I have 5 titles with the word 'Australia' or 'Australian' in them.

Margaret wrote: "Is it permissible for members to nominate books that they have written? I have 5 titles with the word 'Australia' or 'Australian' in them."

I'm looking for something that would be representative of fiction from/about that country, so I suppose it depends on whether you really think they meet that criteria.

Having had a bit longer to think, I've realised that I do have a bit more knowledge about Australian writers than I thought (since The Book Thief and Oscar And Lucinda were already on my TBR list). Anyone able to comment on Oscar And Lucinda as a fiction choice to represent Australia? Or, for that matter, another of Peter Carey's - True History of the Kelly Gang, for instance?

Margaret wrote: "An Australian women writer named Jenny Schwartz reviewed 'A Taste of Life and Love in Australia' barely two months ago, and commented on its distinctly Australian flavour. It's a collection of vign..."

Problematic for me, I'm afraid, as they aren't readily available in the UK at present.

Also, I do intend to leave extended comments about each book I read (and review), which leaves me reluctant to read any author-recommended book on the grounds of not wanting to give offence if I dislike it.

Elise wrote: "I think I'll create an Afghanistan discussion thread, if that is OK, and unless someone can recommend something better before the weekend, I'm going to start with A Thousand Splendid Suns which I'm..."

Sorry Elise - I do want to keep it to one each of fiction and non-fiction per country for the sake of consistency. Obviously, people can read more if they wish to, and can probably draw those from the discussion if they're keen. You should totally start a new thread for your own challenge - that'll limit any confusion.

I'll fix the non-fiction book too.

Elise wrote: "So do we have anyone on Chaos Readers who are from any of these first 16 countries who can give us definitive advice and recommendations?

(Ruby's from Australia, so that's at least 1, I know - R..."

I'd be happy to nominate something for Australia - Just didn't want to hog the thread at the start! I'd probably go with: Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. It's a play that many of us had to read at school, or The Slap - more modern, but I haven't read it yet (just seen the tv series).

Elise wrote: "Margaret wrote: "An Australian women writer named Jenny Schwartz reviewed 'A Taste of Life and Love in Australia' barely two months ago, and commented on its distinctly Australian flavour. It's a c..."

I understand and agree with your position.:)

Having read many years ago, 'The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll', I can vouch for its Australian flavour and strength of writing and plot.

Ruby wrote: "Elise wrote: "I know it's too many but I now have 7 (!!) non-fiction books for Afghanistan:

The Bookseller of Kabul
An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan
The Places in Between
Kabul in Winte..."

Yes, sorry, I wasn't suggesting that we add all 7 to the list above, they are just the 7 that are currently on my new Afghanistan thread (here http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...). I just don't know enough about any of them to nominate a single one for here (btw it's The Bookseller of Kabul not A Thousand Splendid Suns that is the non-fiction book of the 3 already on the list).

While The Bookseller of Kabul is by far the most commonly read of my list of 7 non-fiction books, it's also the one that has garnered the lowest score on GR. I'm leaning towards using Afghanistan, Where God Only Comes to Weep as my non-fiction (well the first one I may read more) though that isn't a firm decision and I'm still open to advice.

Margaret wrote: "Is it permissible for members to nominate books that they have written? I have 5 titles with the word 'Australia' or 'Australian' in them."

No. Please see the thread titled, *THE RULES - YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU POST* http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

I've also just had to delete your other post. Between the rules and our message discussion, I hope this is now clear.

Elise wrote: "Having had a bit longer to think, I've realised that I do have a bit more knowledge about Australian writers than I thought (since The Book Thief and Oscar And Lucinda were already on my TBR list)...."

The only Peter Carey book I've read is Bliss - also a classic Aussie novel. I thought about The Book Thief, but since I haven't read it myself, I thought I'd leave it up to others to nominate if they wanted to. Shall I put all of those on the list?

Also - since we've gone over the limit on Argentinian novels already, and I just finished and can highly recommend it, I nominate Ghosts by César Aira. It gives a nice sense of the people too.

Here's a book of short fictional stories set in American Samoa, written by a local: Tutuila. It's also on Amazon US for 99c right now.

The Book Thief is fantastic book but is set in Germany and its only connection with Australia is that one of the characters moves to Australia. That and author is Australian.

Ruby wrote: "Elise wrote: "Having had a bit longer to think, I've realised that I do have a bit more knowledge about Australian writers than I thought (since The Book Thief and Oscar And Lucinda were already on..."

Don't put The Book Thief on the list, as Anna said it's set in Germany (we can save it for later) though it is one I really want to read soon, so I might sneak it in under my "unofficial" heading when I get to Australia. Other than that I'm keen that they all go on the lists now and we can whittle them down later.

A Town Like Alice is my favourite book of all time, ever, hands down! I so want to nominate it for Australia, but I won't. For one, I must have read it 10 or 11 times, for second, we have loads of great ones already and third it's not really an Australian book by the standards we've set out *sigh*.

Armenia
Retreat Without Song by Shahan Shahnur



Antigua
Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid



I haven't read these books but they are on 1001 books to read before die list.

Albanian non-fiction is almost impossible to find (unless it's about Kosovo which is a separate country now) these are the best I can do:

The Albanians: A Modern History
The Albanian Question: Reshaping the Balkans
Land of Eagles: Riding through Europe's Forgotten Country

Best I can come up with. All I can find are these or biographies of King Zog. I lean towards the first in the list, but reviews aren't great.

The more I try to find translated works actually by authors from the countries on the list, the more I realise that I have always underestimated just how little interest English-speaking people show in the history, culture and society of other countries (and I was already convinced that we were pretty bloody insular in this respect!) Surely I wouldn't be having such a damned hard time finding the sort of books I am looking for if we weren't?

Rant over!

Elise wrote: "The more I try to find translated works actually by authors from the countries on the list, the more I realise that I have always underestimated just how little interest English-speaking people sho..."

Part of the problem is the added expense of translations. I often wonder what amazing literary enclaves exist that few people here know about because no one has taken a chance on the translations. A recent example being all the great Scandinavian crime fiction which we only found out about about because they rode in on the coat tails the insanely popular Steig Larsson books.

And books that are inherently more 'serious' already have a more limited audience. It is sad.