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Around the World in 80 Books Reading Challenge

Take a trip around the globe by reading 80 books, each set in another country! Please include 3 reviews – as short or long as you like – adding something interesting you learned about another county. 

Not sure where to start? See a list of suggestions for books set all around the world below…

Adult Fiction & Nonfiction

  • Afghanistan – The Kite Runner & A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  • Algeria – The Stranger by Albert Camus
  • Angola – Long Lost by Harlan Coben
  • Australia – Big Little Lies & The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty, The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina – Line of Sight by Mike Maden
  • Botswana – The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Series by Alexander McCall Smith
  • Brazil – State of Wonder by Ann Pratchett
  • Cambodia – Impact by Douglas Preston
  • Canada – The River by Peter Heller
  • Chile – The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
  • China – The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
  • Costa Rica – Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
  • Cuba – Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz
  • Cyprus – Exodus by Leon Uris
  • Czech Republic – The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo – The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
  • Dominican Republic – The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
  • Ecuador – Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut JR.
  • Egypt – Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
  • Ethiopia – Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
  • Finland – Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
  • France – The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure, The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
  • The Gambia & America – Roots by Alex Haley
  • Germany – The Boys in the Boat by Daniel Brown
  • Ghana & America – Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi & All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou
  • Greece – Circe & The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
  • Guinea-Bissau – The Cobra by Frederick Forsyth
  • Guatemala – Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs
  • Haiti – Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende
  • Iceland – Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy
  • India – The Henna Artist & The Secret Keeper of Jaipur by Alka Joshi, Life of Pi by Yann Martel
  • Indonesia – In Too Deep by Jude Watson
  • Ireland – Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
  • Israel – The Source by James A. Michener
  • Jamaica – White Teeth by Sadie Smith
  • Japan – Facing The Mountain: A True story of Japanese American heroes in World War II by Daniel James Brown & Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
  • Jordan – Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie
  • Kenya – Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz
  • Kosovo – My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovsci
  • Laos – The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill
  • Lichtenstein – H.R.H by Danielle Steel
  • Malaysia – A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
  • Mauritius – The Mauritius Command by Patrick O’Brian
  • Mexico – The Pearl by John Steinbeck
  • Monaco – Loser Takes All by Graham Green
  • Mongolia – Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
  • Mozambique – The Drifters by James A. Michener
  • Nepal – Sold by Patricia McCormick
  • Nigeria – Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • North Korea – The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
  • New Zealand – Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
  • Oman – The Icarus Agenda by Robert Ludlum
  • Norway – Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
  • Pakistan – I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
  • Palestine & America – A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum
  • Peru – The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
  • Portugal – Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone
  • Poland – The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
  • Poland & America – Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
  • Romania – Dracula by Bram Stoker
  • Russia – Red Sparrow by Joseph Matthews, The Romanovs: 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  • Rwanda – Small Country by Gaël Faye
  • Sierra Leone The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
  • Singapore – Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
  • South Africa – Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela & The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
  • South Korea – Kim Jiyoung: Born 1982” by Cho Nam-Ju
  • Spain – Pan’s Labyrinth Guillermo del Toro & The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  • Sri Lanka – The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke
  • Sudan – What is the What by Dave Eggers
  • Sweden – A Man Called Ove and Anxious People by Fredrik Backman, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Steig Larsson (Millennium Series)
  • Sweden – Anxious People (anything by Fredrick Backman)
  • Switzerland – Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
  • Thailand – The Beach by Alex Garland
  • Trinidad and Tobago – Golden Child by Claire Adam
  • Turkey – My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
  • Ukraine – Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
  • United Kingdom
    • England: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, The Girl in His Shadow by Audrey Blake, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
    • Northern Ireland: Milkman by Anna Burns
  • Vatican City – The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone

Youth & Children’s

  • Australia Then by Morris Gleitzman
  • China – Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Anne of Green Gables
  • Canada – Annie of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
  • Croatia – The House of Hades by Mark Riordan
  • Denmark – Fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen
  • Egypt – The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
  • France – Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans & Press Here by Hervé Tullet
  • Germany – The Book Thief by Markus Zusak & Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
  • Ireland – Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer & Kingdom of the Wicked by Derek Land
  • Italy – The Mark of Athena by Mark Riordan
  • Kenya & Tanzania – Papa Do You Love Me ((The Maasai tribe are an indigenous ethnic group in Africa of semi-nomadic people settled in Kenya and northern Tanzania)
  • Kenya: Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o
  • Latvia & America Holes by Louis Sachar
  • Lithuania & Russia – Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
  • Mexico – A Family Mystery by Sarah Hernandez
  • Netherlands – A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni & The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
  • Netherlands & America – The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
  • New Zealand – Slinky Malinki by Lynley Dodd
  • Nigeria – Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor
  • Norway – Astrid the Unstoppable by Maria Parr
  • Poland – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne & Run Boy, Run by Uri Orlev
  • Switzerland – Heidi by Johanna Spyri
  • Taiwan – Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champions by Henry Lien
  • Uganda – The Queen of Katwe by Tim Crothers
  • United Kingdom
    • Scotland: Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
    • Wales: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Series by Ransom Riggs
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