Traveling Around the World with 197 Books

My quest to read women authors from every country starts here.

When I’m not physically traveling, I like to read books that transport me to far off places. I throughly enjoy reading the histories and literature of different countries, as well as the biographies of visionaries from those countries. I consider myself fairly well read, but recently, I’ve felt frustrated by the narrowness of the scope of my reading. I was reorganizing my bookshelves during my New Year deep cleaning and I was disappointed by the lack of women authors represented in my so-called “classics” section. I started thinking about the books I was assigned in literature courses, from high school to grad school, and the great majority were written by men from the British and American traditions. Moreover, national literary cannon tends to be dominated by male authors regardless of the country in question. Basically, most of what I’ve read has been written from the perspective of Western men.

That had to change. And while I acknowledge my own oversights, I’m also highly critical of our education system that prioritizes certain stories over those that represent the voices of women, people of color, and people of different cultures/religions/sexualities. I shared my thoughts on this subject the other day on my Instagram, but I wanted to continue this conversation on my blog because I think it is a conversation worth having. I think we can all benefit from reading/watching/listening to people with different experiences and perspectives than our own. That’s how we learn. That’s how we start to understand each other.

I challenged myself to expand my reading horizons by reading a book from every country written by a woman author. I am quite passionate about history, literature, women’s rights and feminism, education, and travel and this seemed like a wonderful opportunity to share share this with you, my lovely readers, in hopes of sparking a larger conversation and providing some international reading inspiration.

I chose to set my goal as 197 countries based on the 193 countries with UN membership as well as the Holy See and Palestine (which are non-member observer states to the UN) and Taiwan and Kosovo (which are independent states but not universally recognized as countries). Each entry will include a brief synopsis and review as well as a link to the book’s Goodreads page for more information. Please, feel free to ask questions, comment, or send book recommendations my way. I’ll continue to update this list as I read my way around the world!

1/197: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, United States

Thomas’ novel-turned-blockbuster film The Hate U Give is the heart-wrenching story of a teenage girl, Starr, who witnesses the murder of her childhood best friend by a police officer. While she is struggling to cope with the tragic loss of her friend, Starr must also find her own voice in order to speak out against police brutality and racism in the United States. This poignant novel is especially relevant as pervasiveness of these issues continues to be exposed by writers, journalists, and activists across the country. Thomas tackles these difficult and often divisive subjects with both indignation and criticism while remaining remarkably optimistic about the future. Simply put, The Hate U Give is a must read.

2/197: The Vegetarian by Han Kang, South Korea

Kang’s psychological thriller The Vegetarian, is unlike any other story I’ve previously read. The narrative centers on a young woman, Yeong-hye, who decides to become a vegetarian after she has a rather ominous dream. Each of the story’s three parts is told from the perspective of a male in Yeong-hye’s life as they witness her estrangement with her husband and family and slow psychological deterioration. Kang’s novel reveals the rigid and, at times, harmful nature of sex and gender while simultaneously criticizing the stigma and treatment of mental health in South Korean society.

3/197: I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, Pakistan

I Am Malala is the autobiography of Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani activist and the youngest Nobel laureate. Yousafzai recalls her happy childhood in the Swat Valley and rise to prominence as a human rights activist with a particular interest in girls’ education. She describes the Taliban’s gradual encroachment on Pakistani culture and her own displacement as a result of the war between the militant group and the government. Yousafzai was targeted by the local Taliban as a result of her human rights advocacy and in 2012 she was shot while riding the bus home from school. Having narrowly survived the assassination attempt, Yousafzai continues her education crusade all while pursuing her own education in the United Kingdom. Her story is nothing short of inspirational, something for the history books, yet she manages to speak to the reader as if she is talking to a friend.

4/197: Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Nigeria

Nwaubani writes Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree as a series of short vignettes, with most no longer than a couple of pages and several that are composed of only a few lines. The format and topic make Nwaubani’s book an absolute page turner. To say that I couldn’t put it down is an understatement. Told from the perspective of a bright, young Nigerian girl captured by Boko Haram, a radical jihadist militant group, the book captures the hopes, fears, and losses felt by many Nigerians. Nwaubani’s prose is sharp and the powerful narrative is emotionally intense and immensely important.

5/197: The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani, France

The Perfect Nanny is the chilling tale of the murder of a young child committed out of the perversion of love and devotion. It centers around the characters of Myriam, a French-Moroccan lawyer who returns to work after feeling unfulfilled by motherhood, and Louise, the most polite, mild-mannered, and dedicated (re: perfect) nanny in Paris. The two women couldn’t be more different, but Myriam and Louise quickly become dependent on each other, and a story of insurmountable suspicion and jealousy unfolds. The Perfect Nanny is based on a true story as Slimani reimagines the tragic events of a nanny who murdered two children of a Manhattan couple in 2012, and places them within the context of modern French society. As such, throughout the book she provocatively addresses issues of class, race, sex, and gender in France. Slimani’s sharp prose and psychologically damaged characters easily made this one of my new favorite books.

Note: Some books and authors can be difficult to assign a country to represent for the purpose of my project. Because Slimani and her protagonist are both francophone Moroccan women living in France, the book was published in France, and it received Le prix Goncourt, a prestigious award for French literature, I’ve decided to count this as my read for France.

6/197: Zlata’s Diary by Zlata Filipović, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Wartime Sarajevo is the diary of eleven-year-old Zlata Filipović during the Bosnian War and has been compared to The Diary of Anne Frank. The diary begins with entires about birthdays, school lessons, and sweet anecdotes of her friends and family. As war breaks out in Sarajevo, Filipović writes about shortages of food and supplies, hiding during bombing attacks, and the loss of those she loves as they flee the country or fall victim to the war. Despite her young age, Filipović sees the war for what it is: a pointless political endeavor and a waste of human life. She laments the sate of her beloved country and wishes for peace in a moving account of her experience of war.

Let’s be friends!

Twitter // Instagram // Pinterest