The challenge: To read around the world

 From 2008-2012, I read my way around the world. I've read a book by an author from every sovereign country, plus some disputed states, territories, possessions, and regions. I'm now upgrading some of my initial books for better adherence or more representative works, as well as filling in some of the non-sovereign areas.

My rules:

• The writer had to have lived in the country for at least two years. Both expatriate and immigrant authors were okay, but a book by a native or long-term resident or someone with a country focus was best. In some cases, this wasn't possible (at least in the first go-round)
• The focus of the book did not have to be the country, though a country focus or well-known and thus representative writer was best
• Books I had already read could count toward the total (though ideally I'll replace these over time)
• If no book was available in English, and I could not read/blunder through the language, a literary critique of local writers or an ethnography/qualitative report that included a local voice was a disappointing but acceptable substitute
• There were no genre restrictions

It's been interesting and gratifying to find other people's "read the Olympic Games countries" lists and other world reading challenges. While these have provided some authors, I see that other people have trouble with many of the same countries I do and have read books about them (like Lonely Planet guidebooks) rather than from them. It seems that most people use about as their standard, which is fine but not what I wanted to do. I think I've done a better job than many of finding local or long-term resident authors (with help from Harry, a fellow player who has located both obscure titles and publishers).

While I was engaged in my challenge, South Sudan became a country. I'll add or lump books for new countries (or conquered/absorbed countries) as time goes on.

***

My lists by continent follow. New posts on this blog will appear above this one.

Bolding means I plan to replace this book with something more representative, which I may or may not have in hand here on the Island of Books to be Read. Some territories/possessions/non-autonomous areas for which I haven't yet read anything are listed but blank; some aren't listed.

The lists are subject to change at my whim or as I choose to make additions. For example, I've read plenty of books from Nigeria, but I haven't catalogued all of them here.

If you see any missing countries, please let me know! This was an ugly cut and paste experience with a defunct and malfunctioning LiveJournal page.

If you know of a better book than the one I've identified or read, please let me know. By "better" I mean a book by a native person rather than an ethnographer or Peace Corps volunteer, or a primary source rather than a secondary source.

AFRICA

Algeria: Yasmina Khadra: In the Name of God
Angola: Ondjaki: Good Morning Comrades!
Benin: Olympe Bhêly-Quenum: Snares without End
Botswana: Peter Allison: Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide
Burkina Faso: Malidoma Patrice Somé: Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman
Burundi: Gilbert Tuhabonye and Gary Brozek: This Voice in My Heart: A Genocide Survivor's Story of Escape, Faith, and Forgiveness
Cameroon: Calixthe Beyala: The Sun Hath Looked upon Me
Cape Verde: Germano Almeida: The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo
Central African Republic: Makombo Bamboté: Daba's Travels from Ouadda to Bangui
Chad: Joseph Brahim Seid: Told by Starlight in Chad
Comoros: Rémi Carayol, Soeuf Elbadawi, Kamal'Eddine Saindou: Une suite à Moroni Blues
Congo, Democratic Republic of (Kinshasa): Larry Devlin: Chief of Station, Congo: Fighting the Cold War in a Hot Zone
Congo, Republic of (Congo-Brazzaville): Alain Mabanckou: African Psycho
Djibouti: Abdourahman Waberi: In the United States of Africa
Egypt: Sana Hasan: Enemy in the Promised Land: An Egyptian Woman's Journey into Israel
Equatorial Guinea: Donato Ndongo: Shadows of Your Black Memory
Eritrea: Senait Mehari: Heart of Fire: From Child Soldier to Soul Singer
Ethiopia: Dinaw Mengestu: The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
Gabon: Daniel Mengara: Mema
Gambia: Phyllis Wheatley: Poems on Various Subjects: Religious and Moral
Ghana: Ama Ata Aidoo: Our Sister Killjoy, or Reflections from a Black-eyed Squint
Guinea: Camara Laye: The Dark Child: The Autobiography of an African Boy
Guinea-Bissau: Amílcar Cabral: Revolution in Guinea: Selected Texts
Ivory Coast: Kouassi P. Soman: Abongui My People Cote D'Ivoire My Country America My Home: The Ethno-History of a Small African Kingdom
Kenya: Wangari Maathair: The Challenge for Africa
Lesotho: Mpho M'Atsepo Nthunya & K. Limakatso Kendall: Singing away the Hunger: The Autobiography of an African Woman
Liberia: Helene Cooper: The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood
Libya: Hisham Matar: In the Country of Men
Madagascar: Fanj Andriamialisoa, Ian Sinclair, & Olivier Langrand: A Photographic Guide to the Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands: Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Reunion and the Comoros
Malawi: Paul Tiyambe Zeleza: Smouldering Charcoal
-- William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
Mali: Kris Holloway: Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali
Mauritania: Samuel Cotton: Silent Terror: A Journey into Contemporary African Slavery
Mauritius: Nathacha Appanah: Blue Bay Palace
Morocco: Malika Oufkir: Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail
-- Tahir Shah: The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca
Mozambique: Lina Magaia: Dumba Nengue: Run for Your Life: Peasant Tales of Tragedy in Mozambique
Namibia: Neshani Andreas: Purple Violet of Oshaantu
Niger: Paul Stoller: In Sorcery's Shadow: A Memoir of Apprenticeship among the Songhay of Niger
Nigeria: Amos Tutuola: The Palm-Wine Drinkard
Rwanda: Paul Rusesabagina with Tom Zoellner: An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography
São Tomé and Príncipe:  Albertino da Boa Morte Francisco and Nujoma Quaresma Agostinho: Exorcising Devils from the Throne: Sao Tome and Principe in the Chaos of Democratization (substitute for Donald Burness: Ossobó: Essays on the Literature of São Tomé and Príncipe)
Senegal: Ken Bugul: The Abandoned Baobab: The Autobiography of a Senegalese Woman
Seychelles: Jennifer Toussaint-Cali and A. Nathalie Essomba: Meet Vannah of the Seychelles
Sierra Leone: Ishmael Beah: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Somalia: Fadumo Korn with Sabine Eichhorst: Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival South Africa: Alan Paton: Cry, The Beloved Country
South Sudan: Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, Benjamin Ajak, Judy A. Bernstein: They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan
Sudan: Tayeb Salih: Season of Migration to the North
Swaziland: Sarah Mkhonza: Weeding the Flowerbeds
Tanzania: Tepilit Ole Saitoti: The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior
Togo: Tété-Michel Kpomassie: An African in Greenland
Tunisia: Aïcha Ben Abed: Tunisian Mosaics: Treasures from Roman Africa
Uganda: Doreen Baingana: Tropical Fish: Tales from Entebbe
Western Sahara (non-self-governing territory): Thomas Hollowell: Allah's Garden: A True Story of a Forgotten War in the Sahara Desert
Zambia: Josh Swiller: The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa
--(in hand: Malama Katulwende: Bitterness)
Zanzibar (semi-autonomous region of Tanzania): Emily Ruete [Sayyida Salme]: Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar
Zimbabwe: NoViolet Bulawayo: We Need New Names

ASIA

Afghanistan: Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner
Bahrain: R. Zain: My Arab Spring
Bangladesh: Tahmima Anam: The Good Muslim
Bhutan: Queen of Bhutan Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck: Treasures of the Thunder Dragon: A Portrait of Bhutan
Brunei: Arif K. Abukhudairi: Thoughts of the Times: Introduction to Arabic Literature
-- John Price: Notes from the Jungle - Teaching Abroad in an International School
Burma/Myanmar: Nu Nu Yi: Smile as They Bow
Cambodia: Loung Ung: First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
China: Anchee Min: Red Azalea
-- Xiaolu Guo: UFO in Her Eyes
Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of ROC): Martin Booth Golden Boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
India: Arundhati Roy: The God of Small Things
-- Madhur Jaffrey: Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India
Indonesia: Pramoedya Ananta Toer: The Fugitive
Iran: Marjane Satrapi: The Complete Persepolis
Iraq: Hiner Saleem: My Father's Rifle: A Childhood in Kurdistan
Israel: Amos Oz: Elsewhere, Perhaps
Japan: Yukio Mishima: The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
Jordan: Marguerite Van Geldermalsen: Married to a Bedouin
Kazakhstan: Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt: The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest
Kuwait: Huda M. Al-Medlej: Escaping the Invasion
Kyrgyzstan: Chingiz Aitmatov: Jamilia
Laos: Outhine Bounyavong: Mother's Beloved: Stories from Laos
Lebanon: Alexandre Najjar: The School of War
Malaysia: Tash Aw: The Harmony Silk Factory
Maldives: Liz Banks: Maldives Musings
Mongolia: Ts. Bold (Ed.): Some Short Stories from Mongolia
Nepal: Samrat Upadhyay: Arresting God in Kathmandu
North Korea: Richard E. Kim: Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood
Oman: Rory Patrick Allen: Oman under Arabian Skies: An Arabian Odyssey
Pakistan: by Mohammed Hanif: A Case of Exploding Mangoes
Palestine: Raja Shehadeh: Strangers in the House: Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine
Philippines: Cecilia Manguerra Brainard: When the Rainbow Goddess Wept
Qatar: Habibur Rahman: The Emergence of Qatar
-- Belle Sukraw: Teaching Mustafa and Other Young Terrorists
Russian Federation: Vladimir Nabokov: Pale Fire
Saudi Arabia: Rajaa Alsanea: Girls of Riyadh Singapore: Gerrie Lim: Invisible Trade: High Class Sex for Sale in Singapore
South Korea: Cullen Thomas: Brother One Cell: An American Coming of Age in South Korea's Prisons
Sri Lanka: Michael Ondaatje: Running in the Family
Syria: Mohja Kahf: The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf
Taiwan (ROC, disputed): Fred Lobb: Taiwan Folktales: Proverbs, Folk Sayings, and Folktales from Taiwan
--Fan Huang: Zero and Other Fictions
Tajikistan: Robert Frimtzis: From Tajikistan to the Moon: A Story of Tragedy, Survival and Triumph of the Human Spirit
Thailand: Warren Fellows with Jack Marx: The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison
Tibet (occupied): The Dalai Lama: How to See Yourself as You Really Are
Timor-Leste: Luis Cardoso: The Crossing: A Story of East Timor
Turkey: Orhan Pamuk: The White Castle
Turkmenistan: Gregory M. Levin: Pomegranate Roads: A Soviet Botanist's Exile from Eden
United Arab Emirates: Denys Johnson Davies (Ed.): In a Fertile Desert: Modern Writing from the United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan: Bibish: The Dancer from Khiva
Vietnam: Monique Truong: The Book of Salt
Yemen: Zayd Muteeʻ Dammaj: The Hostage

EUROPE

Albania: Ismail Kadare: The Palace of Dreams
Andorra: Eric Ripert and Christine Muhlke: On the Line
Armenia: Vartan Derounian & Alidz Jebejian-Agbabian: Dzalabidig: Images of Survival
Austria: Rainer Maria Rilke: Sonnets to Orpheus
Azerbaijan: Kurban Said: Ali and Nino: A Love Story
Belarus: Bella Chagall: A Unique Double Portrait of Russia
Belgium: Herge: Tintin in America
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Emir Suljagić: Postcards from the Grave
Bulgaria: Blaga Dimitrova: Because the Sea Is Black
Croatia: Dubravka Ugrešić: The Ministry of Pain
Cyprus: Stavros Panteli: Place of Refuge: A History of the Jews in Cyprus
Czech Republic: Milan Kundera: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Denmark: Peter Høeg: Smilla's Sense of Snow
Estonia: Jaan Kaplinski: The Wandering Border
Finland: Johanna Sinisalo: Troll: A Love Story
France: Jean-Paul Sartre: Nausea
Georgia: Kutaisi Third School Students: This Is Our Georgia
Germany: Herman Hesse: Magister Ludi
Great Britain (UK): Stephen Hawking: A Brief History of Time
Greece: Olga Broumas: Beginning with O
Greenland (member country of the Kingdom of Denmark): Gretel Ehrlich: This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland
Hungary: Elie Weisel: Night
Iceland: Unknown: The Elder Edda
Ireland (Northern, UK): Seamus Heaney: Death of a Naturalist
Ireland: James Joyce: Ulysses
Italy: Italo Calvino: Cosmicomics
Latvia: Exile from Latvia: My WWII Childhood--From Survival to Opportunity
Liechtenstein: Prince Hans-Adam, The Reigning Prince of Liechtenstein: The State in the Third Millenium
Lithuania: Solly Ganor: Light One Candle: A Survivor's Tale from Lithuania to Jerusalem
Luxembourg: Edward Steichen: The Family of Man
Macedonia: Slavko Janevski: The Bandit Wind
Malta: Professor Sir Themistocles Zammit: Prehistoric Malta: Tarxien Temples and Saflieni Hypogeum
Moldova: Grigore Vieru: Bread and Dew
Monaco: Princess Grace with Gwen Robyins: My Book of Flowers
Montenegro: Bajram Angelo Koljenovic & James Nathan Post: Blood of Montenegro
Netherlands: Diny van Bruggen: Flowers on the Cactus: AIDS and Orphan Care in Cambodia
Norway: Henrik Ibsen: Hedda Gabler
Poland: Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
Portugal: José Saramago: Blindness
Romania: Dan Pagis: Points of Departure
San Marino: Giuseppe Rossi: The Republic of San Marino: The Oldest and Smallest Republic of the World
Sardinia (semi-autonomous region of Italy): Sergio Atzeni: Bakunin's Son
Scotland (UK): Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet
Serbia: Milorad Pavić: Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel
Slovenia: Slavoj Zizek: Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle
Slovakia: Peter Pišťanek: Rivers of Babylon (Rivers of Babylon, #1)
Spain: Federico García Lorca: The Selected Poems of Federico García Lorca
Sweden: Astrid Lindgren: The Tomten and the Fox
Switzerland: Jean Piaget and Barbel Inhelder: The Psychology of the Child
Ukraine: Sholom Aleichem: The Tevye Stories and Other Stories
Vatican City: Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI): Milestones: Memoirs – 1927-1977
Wales (UK): Roald Dahl: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
-- Jo Walton: Among Others

NORTH AMERICA

Anguilla (non-self-governing territory): Melinda Blanchard and Robert Blanchard: A Trip to the Beach: Living on Island Time in the Caribbean
Antigua and Barbuda: Jamaica Kincaid: A Small Place
Bahamas: Gertrude "Cleo" Lythgoe: The Bahama Queen: The Autobiography of Gertrude "Cleo" Lythgoe: Prohibition's Daring Beauty: Including With the Whiskey Smugglers by H. De Winton Wigley
Barbados: Frank Collymore: The Man Who Loved Attending Funerals
Belize: Rosita Arvigo with Nadine Epstein and Marilyn Yaquinto: Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer
Bermuda (non-self-governing territory): Mary Prince, Sara Salih (Editor), et al.: The History of Mary Prince
British Virgin Islands (non-self-governing territory):
Canada: Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale
Costa Rica: Richard Garrigues: The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide
Cuba: Cristina García: Dreaming in Cuban
Dominica: Jean Rhys: The Wide Sargasso Sea
Dominican Republic: Junot Díaz: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
El Salvador: [note: I decided to use Alegría for Nicaragua instead, and will read something by Horacio Castellanos Moya]
Grenada: Richardo Keens-Douglas: The Nutmeg Princess
Guadeloupe (overseas department of France): Gisèle Pineau: The Drifting of Spirits
Guatemala: Popol Vuh: Allen J. Christenson & Anonymous: The Sacred Book of the Maya: The Great Classic of Central American Spirituality, Translated from the Original Maya Text
Haiti: Edwidge Danticat: Breath, Eyes, Memory
Honduras: Elvia Alvarado & Medea Benjamin (Tr., Ed.): Don't Be Afraid, Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart
Jamaica: Michelle Cliff: Claiming an Identity They Taught Me to Despise
Mexico: Laura Esquivel: Like Water for Chocolate
Nicaragua: Claribel Alegría and Carolyn Forche (Tr.): Flowers from the Volcano
Panama: Nancy Mankins: Hostage: The Incredible True Story of the Kidnapping of Three American Missionaries
Puerto Rico (US territory): Esmeralda Santiago: When I Was Puerto Rican
St. Croix (USVI): Florence Lewisohn: Divers Information on the Romantic History of St. Croix: From the Time of Columbus until Today
Saint Kitts and Nevis: Miriam H. Huggins: Miriam Gone Home: The Life of Sister Huggins
Saint Lucia: Derek Walcott: The Prodigal: A Poem
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Vivian Child: City of Arches: Memories of an Island Capital, Kingstown, St. Vincent & the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago: Samuel Selvon: A Brighter Sun
Turks and Caicos Islands (non-self-governing territory): Charles Palmer: Living in the Turks & Caicos Islands: From Conchs...to the Florida Lottery
United States: Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness

SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina: Jorge Luis Borges: Ficciones
Bolivia: Ronald Haladyna (Ed.): Andean Journeys: A Bilingual Anthology of Contemporary Bolivian Poetry
Brazil: Paulo Coelho: The Alchemist
Chile: Gabriela Mistral: Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral
Colombia: Gabriel García Márquez: Cronica de una muerte anunciada
*Easter Island/Rapa Nui:
Ecuador: Octavio Latorre: The Curse of the Giant Tortoise: Tragedies, Crimes and Mysteries in the Galapagos Islands
Falkland Islands (non-self-governing territory):
French Guiana (non-self-governing territory): Henri Charrière: Papillon
Guyana: Edward Ricardo Braithwaite: To Sir, with Love
Paraguay: Maureen Burn: Outcast but Not Forsaken: True Stories from a Paraguayan Leper Colony
Peru: Mario Vargas Llosa: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter
Suriname: Andrew Westoll: Surinam: Stumbling through the Dark Heart of South America's Forgotten Jungle [The Riverbones: Stumbling After Eden in the Jungles of Suriname]
Uruguay: Cristina Peri Rossi: The Ship of Fools
Venezuela: Frank Kane and John Tilsley: In the Shadow of Papillon: Seven Years of Hell in Venezuela's Prison System

*Since Easter Island is pretty far from everything, I'm listing it in South America (it's a Chilean possession).  

OCEANIA

Australia: Doris Pilkington-Nugi Garimara: Rabbit-Proof Fence: The True Story of One of the Greatest Escapes of All Time
Cook Islands (self-governing parliamentary democracy in free association with New Zealand): Kauraka Kauraka: Dreams of a Rainbow (Moemoea a te Anuanua)
Fiji: Epeli Hau'ofa: Tales of the Tikongs
French Polynesia (non-self-governing territory):
Guam (non-self-governing territory): Paula Ann Lajan Quinene: A Taste of Guam
Kiribati: Tebuai Uaai & Buatia Kauea (Illustrator): Cutting Toddy in Kiribati
Marshall Islands: Irene J. Taafaki, Maria Kabua Fowler, Randolph R. Thaman: Traditional Medicine of the Marshall Islands: The Women, the Treatments, the Plants
Micronesia: Gene Ashby (Ed.): Some Things of Value: Micronesian Customs as Seen by Micronesians, Revised Edition
Nauru: Alois Kayser, KSC: Nauru One Hundred Years Ago: Games & Sports
New Caledonia (non-self-governing territory): Jean-Claude Staudt (Ed.), Hilary Roots (translator), island children (illustrators): Legends of New Caledonia: A Collection of Legends from the Isle of Pines
New Zealand: Keri Hulme: The Bone People
Palau: Republic of Palau Ministry of Education: Education Master Plan 2006-2016, Republic of Palau
Papua New Guinea: Christina Dodwell: In Papua New Guinea
Samoa: Lani Wendt Young: Afakasi Woman
Solomon Islands: Alvert Wendt (Ed.): Some Modern Poetry from Solomon Islands
Tonga: Semisi Nau: The Story of My Life: A Tongan Missionary at Ontong Java
Tuvalu: Gerd Koch (ethnographer): Songs of Tuvalu
Vanuatu: Grace Mera Molisa: Black Stone
-- Alexander Frater: Tales from the Torrid Zone: Travels in the Deep Tropics