Reading the World

I came across a fascinating article recently, about a woman who decided to spend a year reading one book from each country in the world. It’s such a wonderful idea. I love to travel, and informed my husband early on in our marriage that, even with our two young children in tow, I would like us to commit to visiting one new country each year. Why on earth I hadn’t thought of doing something similar with literature is beyond me!

Ann Morgan’s challenge was to read a book from every one of the 195 UN-recognised states (as well as former UN member Taiwan) in one year. By her calculations this meant reading one book every 1.85 days – a tall order indeed, especially as much of her non-reading time was spent trying to track down books (in English) from some of the smaller states. She succeeded though, in attaining her goal, and has since written a book about it, due out in February 2015.

Morgan’s list of books can be found here. The list includes not just the books she actually read, but some of those recommended by international readers of her blog. Out of curiosity, I printed the list and combed through it to determine how many countries I had covered in my own reading experience.

Before I divulge my own results, I need to confess that I have two significant counts in my favour.

First, I went to an international school where the upper level IB English class in our final year was called “World Literature”. We read well and widely, and I didn’t realise just how unusual this was until I went on to study English at a Canadian university and found myself subject to a curriculum made up almost entirely of books from the British end of the Western Canon (and, later, American and Canadian literary giants).

Second, I subsequently undertook postgraduate study in the field of English, and my specialty was postcolonial literature – the closest I could get to world literature without leaving the English department. As a result, my bookshelves became filled with Indian, African and Carribbean texts. I enthusiastically collected the excellent Heinemann African and Carribbean Writers series.

Even so, on examining Morgan’s list and adding to it writers with whom I am personally familiar, my current count is 43. I have read books from 43 countries. Interestingly, using this list of countries as the definitive standard, I have traveled to 42 of them – but the two lists do not line up. My reading travels include far more African and Carribbean nations than I have actually visited, whereas Asia is better represented in my physical travels.

I find the notion of “bookpacking” around the world intriguing, and Morgan has inspired me. Looking at the books I have read this year, only six countries are represented. It’s likely this will grow to seven by the end of the year, if I get to the first book of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s epic My Struggle as planned. But now, as well as traveling to a new country each year, I am determined that I will also read from at least one new country each year. A new way of expanding my horizons – thanks, Ann Morgan!