I made a list of highly rated books from every country.
I’m embarking on a journey to better understand this vast and fascinating world through literature.
….
r/suggestmeabook
mightymouse832
Note – click on link for more suggestions by reddit users:
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Afghanistan: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Albania: Broken April by Ismail Kadare
Algeria: The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
Andorra: The Angels Die by Albert Villaró
Angola: The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa
Antigua: A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Argentina: Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar / Don Segundo Sombra by Ricardo Güiraldes
Armenia: The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel
Australia: Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
Austria: The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler
Azerbaijan: Ali and Nino by Kurban Said
Bahrain: The Meeting Point by Lucy Caldwell
Bangladesh: A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
Barbados: How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones
Belarus: Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich
Belgium: War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans
Belize: Beka Lamb by Zee Edgell
Benin: Snares Without End by Olympe Bhêly-Quenum
Bhutan: Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan by Jamie Zeppa
Bolivia: The Fat Man from La Paz: Contemporary Fiction from Bolivia edited by Rosario Santos
Bosnia: The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić
Botswana: Juggling Truths by Bessie Head
Brazil: The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
Brunei: Written in Black by K.H. Lim
Bulgaria: East of the West: A Country in Stories by Miroslav Penkov
Burkina Faso: The Belly of the Atlantic by Fatou Diome
Burundi: Small Country by Gaël Faye
Cape Verde: The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo by Germano Almeida
Cambodia: In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
Cameroon: Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono
Canada: Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
Central African Republic: Daba’s Travels from Ouadda to Bangui by Makombo Bamboté
Chad: Told by Starlight in Chad by Joseph Brahim Seid
Chile: By Night In Chile by Roberto Bolaño
China: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang / Red Sorghum by Mo Yan
Colombia: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Comoros: A Girl Called Eel by Ali Zamir
Congo (Democratic Republic): Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila
Congo (Republic): Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou
Costa Rica: Cocorí by Joaquín Gutiérrez
Croatia: The Ministry of Pain by Dubravka Ugrešić
Cuba: Tres tristes tigres by Guillermo Cabrera Infante
Cyprus: The Story of Christodoulos by Costas Montis
Czech Republic: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Denmark: We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen
Djibouti: Transit by Abdourahman A. Waberi
Dominica: The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey
Dominican Republic: In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Ecuador: Huasipungo by Jorge Icaza
Egypt: Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
El Salvador: One Day of Life by Manlio Argueta
Equatorial Guinea: By Night the Mountain Burns by Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel
Eritrea: I Didn’t Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation by Michela Wrong
Estonia: The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk
Eswatini (Swaziland): Weeding the Flowerbeds by Sarah Mkhonza
Ethiopia: Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste
Fiji: Where We Once Belonged by Sia Figiel
Finland: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
France: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Gabon: Mema by Daniel Mengara
Gambia: The Sun Will Soon Shine by Sally Sadie Singhateh / Roots by Alex Haley
Georgia: The Knight in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustaveli
Germany: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Ghana: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah
Greece: Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
Grenada: The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross
Guatemala: The President by Miguel Ángel Asturias
Guinea: The King of Kahel by Tierno Monénembo / The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye
Guinea-Bissau: Unity and Struggle → The Ultimate Tragedy by Abdulai Sila / Unity and Struggle: Speeches and Writings by Amílcar Cabral
Guyana: The Ventriloquist’s Tale by Pauline Melville
Haiti: The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat
Honduras: Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
Hungary: Embers by Sándor Márai
Iceland: Independent People by Halldór Laxness
India: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Indonesia: This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Iran: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Iraq: Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi / The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon
Ireland: Ulysses by James Joyce
Israel: To the End of the Land by David Grossman
Italy: The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Jamaica: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Japan: Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
Jordan: Pillars of Salt by Fadia Faqir
Kazakhstan: The Path of Abai – Mukhtar Auezov / The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov
Kenya: A Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Kiribati: Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost
Kosovo: My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci
Kuwait: The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi
Kyrgyzstan: The Day Lasts More Than 100 Years by Chingiz Aimatov
Laos: The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill
Latvia: Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena
Lebanon: An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
Lesotho: Chaka by Thomas Mofolo
Liberia: The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper
Libya: In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
Liechtenstein: The Little Country by Christine Lötscher
Lithuania: Vilnius Poker by Ričardas Gavelis
Luxembourg: Lexicon of Life by Jean Portante
Madagascar: Return to the Enchanted Island by Johary Ravaloson
Malawi: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
Malaysia: The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
Maldives: Dhon Hiyala and Ali Fulhu
Mali: The Fortunes of Wangrin by Amadou Hampâté Bâ
Malta: The Kappillan of Malta by Nicholas Monsarrat
Marshall Islands: Survivors of the Bounty by James Norman Hall and Charles Nordhoff
Mauritania: The Desert and the Drum by Mbarek Ould Beyrouk
Mauritius: The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah
Mexico: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Micronesia: Island of the Invisible Being: A Story of the Micronesian Islands by Madelain Westermann
Moldova: The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov
Monaco: Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
Mongolia: The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag
Montenegro: The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
Morocco: The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun
Mozambique: Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
Myanmar: Smile as They Bow by Nu Nu Yi
Namibia: The Scattering by Lauri Kubuitsile
Nauru: Tales from the South Pacific by James A. Michener
Nepal: The Wayward Daughter by Shradha Ghale / The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
Netherlands: Out of Mind by J. Bernlef
New Zealand: The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Nicaragua: The Country Under My Skin by Gioconda Belli
Niger: The Epic of Askia Mohammed
Nigeria: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
North Korea: The Accusation by Bandi / The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
North Macedonia: The Time of the Goats by Luan Starova
Norway: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
Oman: Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
Pakistan: The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
Palau: Micronesian Blues by Brian Healy
Palestine: Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
Panama: The World in Half by Cristina Henríquez
Papua New Guinea: Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones
Paraguay: I, the Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos
Peru: The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa / Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa
Philippines: Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal
Poland: The Pianist by Władysław Szpilman / The Doll by Bolesław Prus
Portugal: Baltasar and Blimunda by José Saramago
Qatar: The Corsair by Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud
Romania: The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller
Russia: The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky / Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy / Master and Margarita by Bulgakov
Rwanda: We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families by Philip Gourevitch
Saint Kitts and Nevis: Unburnable by Marie-Elena John
Saint Lucia: Omeros by Derek Walcott
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: The Breadfruit Tree by Philip Nanton
Samoa: Leaves of the Banyan Tree by Albert Wendt
San Marino: A Small Place in Italy by Eric Newby
São Tomé and Príncipe: The Taker of Dreams by Rogerio Manjate
Saudi Arabia: The Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
Senegal: So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
Serbia: Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavić
Seychelles: Tropical Islands: My Memoirs by Antoine Abel
Sierra Leone: The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
Singapore: Aunty Lee’s Delights by Ovidia Yu
Slovakia: Samko Tále’s Cemetery Book by Daniela Kapitáňová
Slovenia: Northern Lights by Drago Jančar
Solomon Islands: Devil-Devil by G.W. Kent
Somalia: Maps by Nuruddin Farah
South Africa: Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
South Korea: Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin
Trinidad & Tobago: A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
Tunisia: The Pillar of Salt by Albert Memmi
Turkey: My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Turkmenistan: The Tale of Aypi by Ak Welsapar
Tuvalu: Morning Comes Softly by Douglas C. Rogers
Uganda: Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Ukraine: Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov
United Arab Emirates: That Other Me by Maha Gargash / The Sand Fish: A Novel from Dubai by Maha Gargash
United Kingdom:
England: Middlemarch by George Eliot / On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan / Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Scotland: Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon / Lanark by Alasdair Gray
Wales: How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn / The Life of Rebecca Jones by Angharad Price
Northern Ireland: Milkman by Anna Burns / Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
United States: Beloved by Toni Morrison
Uruguay: The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis
Uzbekistan: The Devils’ Dance by Hamid Ismailov
Vanuatu: Songs of the Empty Place by Carl Waldman and Alan W. Osborn
Vatican City: The Vatican Diaries by John Thavis
Venezuela: Doña Bárbara by Rómulo Gallegos
Vietnam: The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh
Yemen: The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Sophia Al-Maria
Zambia: The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
Zimbabwe: The Book of Not by Tsitsi Dangarembga