I love the idea of being able to travel the world and experience different places and cultures and peek into the lives of people who turn out to be so different and yet the same as us in many surprising ways, and books are amazing because they allow us to teleport inexpensively to these beautiful places and experience all these things from the comfort of our homes.
This particular list is based on the “Around the world in 80 books” reading challenge, which I found quite interesting except that I aim to read about as many places as possible, and I have not set any deadline or book limit for this project. I can therefore enjoy a slow leisurely reading pace, like strolling through the streets of an old city, hiking along a meandering river, or exploring the remains of ancient buildings.
The main requirement for selecting books for this list is the setting of the book -the country presented in the book regardless of the origin of the author or the original publication language. I have not included any manga/manhwa or light novels which are usually set in Japan, China and Korea, just to make it more challenging. I have also excluded books set in England and the USA since the majority of books I’ve read in my life have been set in these countries.
The countries here are presented in alphabetical order. I’m going to update this list as I finish more books.
Antartica
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Australia
The Bat by Jo Nesbo
Introducing the Honourable Phryne Fisher (Phryne Fisher Mysteries 1-3) by Kerry Greenwood
Canada
Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #1) by Louise Penny
France
Chalk Circle Man (Commissaire Adamsberg #1) by Fred Vargas
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Haiti
Hadriana in All My Dreams René Depestre with Kaiama L. Glover (Translator)
Iceland
Tainted Blood (Reykjavik Murder #1) by Arnaldur Indridason
Silence of the Grave (Reykjavik Murder #2) by Arnaldur Indridason
Nigeria
Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okrafor
Things Fall Apart by Chiua Achebe
Norway
Don’t Look Back: An Inspector Sejer Mystery by Karin Fossum
The Drowned Boy by Karin Fossum
Phillipines
The Sacrifice by Rin Chupeco
Russia
The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol
Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Day Watch (Night Watch #2) by Sergei Lukyanenko
Scotland
Murder Takes the High Road by Josh Lanyon
A Wee Murder in My Shop by Fran Stewart
South Korea
Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun with Janet Hong (Translator)
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum with Shanna Tan (Translator)
Walking Practice by Dolki Min
Sweden
Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson
Silver Dragon's Book Hoard 