Reading Around the World #1 | some favourite books

I decided during the pandemic that I wanted to read a book from every country in the world. For me, the definition of each country will be the country of origin for the author. Just to make it a bit more simple for myself. 

As a side note, I am also trying to separately read books from different perspectives including books from disabled people, black people, and indigenous cultures among many others.

I thought I would look back through my bookshelves to see which countries I have already read from and therefore which countries I have left to find some books to read from. There are obviously loads of countries I have not read from but it was a fun exercise anyway. 

So this is going to be part one of reading around the world and will involve the countries and books that I have already read.

PAKISTAN

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Malala is from Pakistan and was forced to leave when her activism caused the Taliban to target and shoot her. This book documents her story before we all knew who she was and the work she was already doing to girls education in Pakistan beforehand.

NORWAY 

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder translated by Paulette Møller

This is a book all about philosophy. We follow Sophie who ends up in a letter correspondence with a professor of philosophy who teaches her all about the philosopher's of the world and the theories they came up with. 

NORTH KOREA

In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park

This is my favourite ever memoir because it was just so raw and horrifying but also written beautifully. This book documents Park's journey escaping North Korea for the safety of South Korea and gives a brilliant insight into life in North Korea which it is hard to know about.

SOUTH KOREA

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Lee became curious about the experience of Koreans in Japan and decided to learn more and write a family sage beginning in the early twentieth century and ending in the late 1900s. This book follows the characters as they struggle to live as immigrants in Japan facing discrimination because they are Korean and because they live in Japan. We watch as they live through both world wars and the separation of Korea which bypasses the more pressing everyday struggles that they have to deal with. I loved this book.

JAPAN

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori

This is a quirky and quick read and really demonstrates the feeling that a lot of the Japanese books that I have read have. It is about a lady who works at a convenience store and is happy doing so but everyone else in her life thinks that she should have moved on to more by this point. I really enjoyed this book 

AUSTRIA

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke translated by M. D. Herter Norton

This book was mentioned so many times by Emma from the YouTube channel *emmie* that I just had to give it a go. It's a collection of letters that Rilke sent to a poet who admired him. Rilke gives advice and thoughts on everything from writing, to living and embracing life, to how he is struggling to write his own work. The words are just beautiful and I wanted to highlight so many phrases.