I just find out that after almost two years without posting I am still in the blogroll of an Argentinian blog, Hotel Céline. It's the blog of a radio show aired by an Argentinian radio. To be honest, I am not sure why they linked me in the first place, but is nice to know they kept the address.

I made also another discovery through LibraryThing, a social networking site in which you can share the books you read. If you like reading is a very nice place to be. Adding books is incredibly easy (I added Italian, French and English novels in less than 10 seconds), and you can share opinions, reviews, suggestions with other people (I found particularly attractive the idea of showing people who has libraries similar to yours). There are also reading groups and forums.

I added many books already, but I am still far from the total number I read. I only put there books that I read from start to finish, and only fiction.


My favourite group, at the moment, is Reading Globally, made up of literary traveller like me. One of the member is now in a world-reading journey, trying to tour the world in 200 or so books. His reading-around-the-world challenge means that he will be reading a novel from every country in the world. There is also another member who is doing something similar, and I decided to try it myself.

But how many countries are in the world today?

UN official membership list is of 182 countries. There are probably more (Taiwan, for instance, is not on the list). The first thing in this challenge would be to name a novelist for each one of them. Not an easy task. If anyone has suggestion, I will be grateful.

Here is the complete list with the names I found until now. I will update it weekly:

Afghanistan: Atiq Rahimi, Syngue Sabour
Albania: Ismail Kadarè, Broken April
Algeria: Kateb Yacine, Nedjma
Andorra: Ramón Villeró Castellá, La sonrisa de la tierra
Angola: José Luandino Vieira , The real life of Domingos Xavier
Antigua and Barbuda: Marie-Elena John, Unburnable
Argentina:
Armenia: Sevda Sevan, Quelque part dans les Balkans
Australia:
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin: Florent Couao-Zotti, Notre pain de chaque nuit
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana: Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon: Ferdinand Oyono, Chemin d'Europe
Canada
Cape Verde: Germano Almeida , The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo
Central African Republic
Chad: Koulsy Lamko, The Liberty was Conquest
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo (Brazzaville): Alain Mabanckou, Les Petits-Fils nègres de Vercingétorix
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire: Ahmadou Kourouma, Allah n'est pas obligé
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Sony Labou-Tansi, La vie et demie
Denmark
Djibouti: Abdourahman Waberi, Aux Etats Unis d'Afrique
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt: Naguib Mahfouz, Children of Gebelawi
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia: Moges Kebede, Damotra
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon: Angèle Rawiri, Elonga
Gambia: Lenrie Peters, The Second Round
Georgia
Germany
Ghana: Ayi Kwei Armah, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea: Camara Laye, L'Enfant noir
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana: René Maran, Batouala
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Wizard of the Crow
Kiribati
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho: Thomas Mofolo, Chaka
Liberia
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madagascar: Michèle Rakotoson, Dadabé
Malawi: Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, Smouldering Charcoal
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali: Yambo Ouologuem, Le Devoir de violence
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania: Moussa Ould Ebnou, L’amour impossible
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco: Driss Chraibi
Mozambique: Mia Couto, Under the frangipani
Myanmar
Namibia: Joseph Diescho, Born of the Sun
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger: Oum Ramatou, Le Regard
Nigeria: Chris Abani, GraceLand
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Republic of Korea
Republic of Moldova
Romania
Russian Federation
Rwanda: Benjamin Sehene, Le Feu sous la soutane
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal: Mariama Bâ, So Long a Letter
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone.. Syl Cheney-Coker, The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia: Nuruddin Farah, Maps
South Africa: J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan: Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syrian Arab Republic
Tanzania: Abdulrazak Gurnah, Desertion
Tajikistan
Thailand
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Timor-Leste
Togo: Kossi Efoui, La Fabrique de cérémonies
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia: Hédi Bouraoui, La Femme d'entre les lignes
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda: Timothy Wangusa, Upon this mountain
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
United Republic of Tanzania
United States of America
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zambia: Binwell Sinyangwe, A Cowrie of Hope
Zimbabwe: Yvonne Vera, Butterfly Burning