I feel that – even though I read mostly fantasy and science fiction – my horizons could use broadening. And because when I read fiction, it is usually set in Western Europe or North America, I should try and discover new places. If I can’t afford to travel to far-away places, I might at least read about them, right?
This personal challenge has been going on in my life for a while already. There isn’t really a goal, just the ongoing quest of learning a bit more about the world and delving into more diverse territories. Alternate histories, fantasy books set in a country very similar to a real place, as well as historical and contemporary novels all count. If there is no link to a review , I haven’t read the book yet but plan to. You know… sometime.
Anybody is welcome to join in!
My literary travels around the world
AFRICA:
- Congo: Nisi Shawl – Everfair
- Egypt: N.K. Jemisin – The Killing Moon
- Egypt: S. A. Chakraborty – The City of Brass
- Egypt: P. Djèlí Clark – A Master of Djinn
- Ethiopia: Tananarive Due – My Soul to Keep
- Ghana: Nnedi Okorafor – The Book of Phoenix
- Morocco: Laini Taylor – Days of Blood and Starlight
- Nigeria: Nnedi Okorafor – Lagoon
- Nigeria: Nnedi Okorafor – Akata Witch
- Nigeria: Tomi Adeyemi – Children of Blood and Bone
- Nigeria: Tochi Onyebuchi – War Girls
- Nigeria: Tade Thompson – Rosewater
- Senegal: Karen Lord – Redemption in Indigo
- South Africa: Lauren Beukes – Zoo City
- Sudan: Nnedi Okorafor – Who Fears Death
ARCTIC:
- Arctic: Jean-Cristophe Valtat – Aurorarama
- Arctic Circle: Sam J. Miller – Blackfish City
- Arctic and Greenland: Edith Pattou – East
ASIA:
- Arabia: Saladin Ahmed – Throne of the Crescent Moon
- Central Asia: Elizabeth Bear – Range of Ghosts
- China: Cixin Liu – The Three-Body Problem
- China: R. F. Kuang – The Poppy War
- China: Richard Parks – The Heavenly Fox
- China: Barry Hughart – Bridge of Birds
- Hong Kong: Benjanun Sriduangkaew – Scale Bright
- East Asia: Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett – Shadow Magic
- East Asia: Fonda Lee – Jade City
- India: Laini Taylor – Spicy Little Curses Such as These
- India: Tasha Suri – The Jasmine Throne
- India: Heather Tomlinson – Toads and Diamonds
- Iran: Porochista Khakpour – The Last Illusion
- Iraq: Ahmed Saadawi – Frankenstein in Baghdad
- Japan: Hiromi Goto – Half World
- Japan: Kij Johnson – The Fox Woman
- Japan: Sarah Lotz – The Three
- Malaysia: Natasha Ngan – Girls of Paper and Fire
- Middle East: G. Willow Wilson – Alif the Unseen
- Persia: Catherynne M. Valente – In the Night Garden
- Persia: Catherynne M. Valente – In the Cities of Coin and Spice
- Persia: Laini Taylor – Hatchling
- Russia: Leigh Bardugo – Shadow and Bone
- Russia: Leigh Bardugo – Siege and Storm
- Russia: Leigh Bardugo – Ruin and Rising
- Russia: Leigh Bardugo – The Language of Thorns
- Russia: Leigh Bardugo – King of Scars
- Russia: Catherynne M. Valente – Deathless
- Russia: Leena Likitalo – The Five Daughters of the Moon
- Russia: Leo Tolstoy – Anna Karenina
- Russia: Katherine Arden – The Bear and the Nightingale
- Russia: Katherine Arden – The Winter of the Witch
- Moscow: Katherine Arden – The Girl in the Tower
- Moscow: Ekaterina Sedia – The Secret History of Moscow
- Singapore: Liz Williams – Snake Agent
- Thailand: Benjanun Sriduangkaew – Winterglass
AUSTRALIA and OCEANIA:
- Australia: Kathleen Jennings – Flyaway
- Brisbane: Angela Slatter – Vigil
- New Zealand: Tina Makereti – Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa
- Pacific Ocean: Yann Martel – Life of Pi
- “Pelagic” Ocean: Terry Pratchett – Nation
EUROPE:
- Czechia: Laini Taylor – Daughter of Smoke and Bone
- Denmark: John Gardner – Grendel
- England: Susanna Clarke – Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
- London: China Miéville – Un Lun Dun
- Finland: T. Kingfisher – The Raven and the Reindeer
- France: Jacqueline Carey – Kushiel’s Dart
- France: Kate Forsyth – Bitter Greens
- Greece: Rosamund Hodge – Cruel Beauty
- Greece: Madeline Miller – The Song of Achilles
- Greece: Madeline Miller – Circe
- Hungary: Theodora Goss – In the Forest of Forgetting
- Hungary: Ava Reid – The Wolf and the Woodsman
- Ireland: Juliet Marillier – Daughter of the Forest
- Ireland: Maggie Stiefvater – The Scorpio Races
- Ireland: Peadar O’Guilín – The Call
- Italy: Guy Gavriel Kay – Tigana
- Italy: Tansy Rayner Roberts – Love and Romanpunk
- Italy: Midori Snyder – The Innamorati
- Italy: Kate Forsyth – Bitter Greens
- Roman Empire: Sabaa Tahir – An Ember in the Ashes
- Montenegro: Lana Popović – Wicked Like a Wildfire
- Netherlands: Gregory Maguire – Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
- Netherlands: Leigh Bardugo – Six of Crows
- Norway: Edith Pattou – East
- Poland: Naomi Novik – Uprooted
- Portugal: J. Kathleen Cheney – The Golden City
- Romania: Merrie Haskell – The Princess Curse
- Scotland: Diana Gabaldon – Outlander
- Spain: Guy Gavriel Kay – The Lions of Al-Rassan
- Spain: G. Willow Wilson – The Bird King
- Turkey: A.S. Byatt – The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye
NORTH AMERICA:
- Canada: Emily St. John Mandel – Station Eleven
- Caribbean: Nalo Hopkinson – Midnight Robber
- Caribbean: Kacen Callender – Queen of the Conquered
- North America: Erin Bow – Sorrow’s Knot
- USA:
- New York: Helene Wecker – The Golem and the Jinni
- San Francisco: Seanan McGuire – Rosemary and Rue
- Hawaii: Heidi Heilig – The Girl From Everywhere
SOUTH AMERICA:
- Bolivia: Isabel Ibañez – Woven in Moonlight
- Brazil: Alaya Dawn Johnson – The Summer Prince
- Mexico: Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Gods of Jade and Shadow
- Mexico: Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Mexican Gothic
- Mexico: Guadalupe Garcia McCall – Summer of the Mariposas
- Mexico: Aliette de Bodard – Servant of the Underworld
A good page to help you find the next location for your reading trip around the world is Trip Fiction, a search engine that lets you pick a continent, region, country, or even city and gives you books set in that place. Doing a few searches, I found out that my TBR pile actually offers a lot more places than I had expected. Give it a try.
P.S.: I include cities when a story is set only in that city, or parts of countries or even larger, unspecific areas, depending on the book’s setting. Of course, me being a fantasy reader, many of the countries featured here are alternate versions of our real-world counterparts. Let’s not be too finicky about it, this is meant to be fun, after all.
SFF Book Reviews 
wonderful plan! I too am trying to broaden my horizons, either reading books that take place in (what to my midwestern US eyes) is an unusual place, and seeking out authors from non-English speaking countries.
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Then we’re in the same boat. Although I’m Austrian, most of what I read is set in exactly those parts of the planet you talk about. The US, maybe England, very rarely anything out of Europe or North America.
But I’m getting there and so far I’m enjoying my trips immensely (hey, if you can’t travel in real life, at least books show you new aspects of the world). Maybe I’ll meet you along the way in the desert or on an island in the Pacific. 🙂
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