Books Around the World: 2025

I made real progress on my goal to read books about or set in every country, thanks in part to the Book Girls who have an Around the World reading challenge for which they list books they like (which are mostly available at my public library system). I didn't discover them until more than halfway through the year, and then mostly just grabbed books that sounded good and were in my local library branch. This year I will do things in order and choose at least one book from each month's category. In future years I will still check out their recommendations but won't try to get something from each category because I don't like two of the categories (transportation, islands, Arctic/Antarctica).

I read books from four countries I hadn't yet done this for, bringing me up to at least one book from 125 countries out of 243 on my list (plus the wikipedia article on 2 more very small countries). I also added two more 'countries' to my list (Kurdistan, Vikings), as one does.

This was my first year to read books set in: Panama, Côte d'Ivoire (aka Ivory Coast), Vikings (Norway, etc.), and Kurdistan (Iran, etc.).

I also made serious progress on: Hong Kong (China), Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, Wales (UK), and Waorani (Ecuador).

And here is the full list, by "country":

Antarctica
* Y historical fiction – Endurance in Antarctica (Survival Tales #2) (voyage to Antarctica, from the perspective of the dogs; the dogs are weirdly too human for me to enjoy the book)

Australia
* fiction – On the Beach (preapocalyptic novel; characters mostly have British stiff upper lip)
* fiction – Here One Moment (gal predicts age of death and cause of death for everyone on her plane flight; then we see how various people respond; spoiler: once I read ahead to learn that fate could be resisted, I was able to enjoy the book)
* fiction – Nine Perfect Strangers (In a ten-day stay at a health retreat, nine folks go outside their comfort zone; then things go horribly wrong, followed by a bunch of fake happy endings—guilty pleasure)
* YA nonfiction – Australia (Enchantment of the World)

Cuba
* YA fiction – My Brigadista Year (teenager joins Castro's rural literacy corp)

Ecuador, Waorani
* nonfiction - Five Wives (missionaries try to convert reclusive Waorani and are killed; this is about the women left behind)

El Salvador
* murder mystery – She Devil in the Mirror (chatty gal wonders about her friend's murder, in 2nd person)

India
* fiction - The Case of the Missing Servant (Vish Puri #1) (arrogant PI investigates a prospective spouse and a murder; his mother investigates an attempted murder)
* fiction – The Widows of Malabar Hill (Perveen Mystry #1) (rare female lawyer in 1920s India works with Muslim widows)

Iraq, Kurdistan
* fiction – Take What You Can Carry (photographer joins Kurdish boyfriend on a visit to family in 1979 Iraq; violence happens)

Italy, Renaissance
* fantasy - The Spirit Ring (mage's daughter and future apprentice must save him from enslavement)

Myanmar (previously Burma)
* fiction - The Chequer Board (dying man seeks what happened to colleagues from a hospital stay during WWII, anti-racism themes)

Nepal
* article - " 'It's terrifying': The Everest climbs putting Sherpas in danger"
* article - " 'For us, snow leopards are deities': The farmers protecting Nepal's snow leopards" (They can use lights and noise to repel snow leopards temporarily, add roofs to their pens, and make back some of the lost money hosting tourists.)

Nigeria
* article - "Nigeria: The Happiest Place on Earth" (actually, the most hopeful, apparently because they’re sure things can’t get any worse)
* article - "Ritual killer murders ex-girlfriend, sells body parts for N90,000" (These two articles were in response to a fiction book I did not finish—turns out these parts of the book were true.)
* fiction - No Longer at Ease (first man in village to go to college can’t reconcile his old and new life)
* fiction - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (boy escapes soldiers into fantastical jungle)
* fiction - The Palm-Wine Drinkard (man goes on quest to find his dead wine tapper)

Norway
* murder mystery – Indian Bride (man's new bride from India never arrives)
* gothic mystery – The Nesting (suicidal nanny cares for children of suicidal mother in the land of Nordic folktales)

Pakistan
* YA fiction - The Partitian Project (gal meets grandmother, makes documentary on India/Pakistan Partition)
* fiction – Under the Tamarind Tree (the need for family honor and secrets is just as destructive as the Partition; ugh)

Panama
* historical fiction – The Great Divide (the lives of Panama Canal workers, doctors, immigrants, protesters, a fisherman, a researcher, and a reporter intersect.)

Portugal
* fiction – The Winding Stair (romance and espionage in the Napoleonic Wars)
* fiction – Empty Wardrobes (widow and daughter survive in fascist, patriarchal Portugal)
* Y nonfiction – Portugal (Enchantment of the World)

Romania
* YA fiction - I Must Betray You (life in Communist Romania where anyone might be a spy)
* Y nonfiction – Romania (Cultures of the World)

Russia
* nonfiction – Into Siberia (man investigates Russian exile system to show how much better it is than western penal systems, finds he's not a fan after all)
* fiction – Polestan (idealistic horsewoman becomes hardened KGB operative)

UK, England, Victorian
* cozy mystery - The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries (housekeeper nudges her inspector boss into solving a murder; gaslighting for good is a bit creepy for me)

UK, Wales
* fiction - The Snowdonia Killings (detective moves from the big city to the country; now the job is heartbreaking in different ways)

Vatican City
* article - "Vatican solar farm will make it the world’s first carbon-neutral state"

Vikings (Denmark, Iceland, US)
* historical fiction filmscript – Vinland the Good (re-telling of the discovery of America)

multiple countries
* fiction – A Town Like Alice (strong woman survives WWII and the Australian Outback) (England, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia)