Around the World in the Company of Women

A few weeks ago, before the pandemic arrived and life had its predictable and even comfortable rhythms, I began a project I’d been thinking about for more than two years—reading a work of fiction written by a woman from every country. That’s 197 books (plus Palestine). I’m not sure I can name even half of the nations now existing, but I recently learned that Massachusetts has welcomed new citizens from almost everyone. As isolated as we may feel right now, during the pandemic, this statistic reminds me of how linked we are to the rest of the world.

My list is limited to fiction, which means novels, short stories, and drama. I doubt I’ll be reading much in the last category but I’m leaving it open just in case something extraordinary comes along.

Once I began to think about the number of books I was going to read, I realized I had to set some parameters. The work has to be written by a woman of the country. This means the author should be someone living primarily in her native or adopted country; I’m not interested in a book about life in Algeria written by someone who has lived most of her life in the United States or Europe. The novel is fertile territory for cross-pollination, but living in a country brings a different perspective that can be gained in no other way. Discovering life lived on the inside through fiction was one of my goals.

                              

Again, the book could be written in any language including English, but since I can only read my native tongue with any fluency, the fiction would have to be available in English. This meant I could be reading a lot of works in translation, and appreciating the quality of a translation was probably going to be one of the side benefits of this.

The books could date from any era, though I suspected most would have been written and published in the last fifty years or so. In the last few decades, even before eBooks, POD books, and self-publishing came to play a near-dominant role, traditional publishing broadened the titles on the shelf to include more work by women, and definitely more work by non-white women. I looked forward to lots of choices, discovering new writers, but I also knew some of the best titles might be difficult to obtain.

Filling in the blanks for some countries seems easy until I realize I have to choose. I have a favorite writer from New Zealand, Ngaio Marsh, who wrote mysteries, and I face a long list of choices for Ireland and England. Some of these slots I’ve left blank while I work my way through other parts of the globe. Right now I’m working on the Middle East.

So far I’ve avoided the big question. Why? Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe any reason to read beyond my familiar landscape is a good idea, but you must wonder if there is a good reason to do this beyond curiosity. Curiosity, interest in another culture, is always rewarded in my view, and by itself is a good enough reason.

Take a look at the list below, and if you have any suggestions please let me know. When I sit down with a new book by a woman living in a country I’ve never visited and living in a culture I can only imagine, I feel an excitement, an anticipation that is often lacking when I pick up other books. Perhaps you will too.

x Unread	Country		Author		Title
	Afghanistan
	Albania
	Algeria		Ahlem Mosteghanemi		Chaos of the Senses
	Andorra
	Angola
	Antiguq and Barbuda
	Argentina
	Armenia
	Australia
	Austria
	Azerbaijan
	The Bahamas
	Bahrain
	Bangladesh
	Barbados
	Belarus
	Belgium
	Belize
	Benin
	Bhutan
	Bolivia
	Bosnia & Herzegovina		Asja Bakic		Mars
	Botswana
	Brazil
	Brunei
	Bulgaria
	Burkina Faso
	Burundi
	Cabo Verde
	Cambodia
	Cameroon
	Canada
	The Cayman Islands
	Central African Republic
	Chad
	Chile
	China
	Colombia
	Comoros
	Congo, Dem. Rep. of
	Congo, Rep. of
	Costa Rica
	Cote d'Ivoire
	Croatia
	Cuba
	Cyprus
	Czech Republic
	Denmark
	Djibouti
	Dominica
	Dominican Republic		Julia Alvarez		In the Time of the Butterflies
	Ecuador
x	Egypt		Yasmine El Rashidi		Chronicle of a Last Summer: A Novel of Egypt
	El Salvador
	England
	Equitorial Guinea
	Eritrea
	Estonia
	Eswatini
	Ethiopia
	Germany
	Fiji
	Finland
	France
	Gabon
	Gambia
	Georgia
	Germany
	Ghana
	Greece
	Grenada
	Guatemala
	Guinea
	Guinea-Bissau
	Guyana
	Haiti
	Holy See
	Honduras
	Hungary
	Iceland
	India		Nayantara Sahgal		Mistaken Identity
	Indonesia
	Iran		Rabeah Ghaffari		To Keep the Sun Alive
	Iraq
	Ireland		Elizabeth Bowen		The Last September
	Israel
	Italy
	Jamaica
	Japan		Riku Onda		The Aosawa Murders
	Jordan
	Kazakhstan
	Kenya
	Serbia
	Kiribati
	Korea (north)
	Korea (south)
	Kosovo
	Kuwait		Bothayna Al-Essa		All That I Want to Forget
	Krygyzstan
	Laos
	Latvia
	Lebanon
	Lesotho
	Liberia
	Libya
	Liechtenstein
	Lithuania
	Luxembourg
	Mdagascar
	Malawi
	Malaysia
	Maldives
	Mali
	Malta
	Marshall Islands
	Mauritania
	Mauritius
	Mexico
	Micronesia
	Moldova
	Monaco
	Mongolia
	Montenegro
	Morocco
	Mozambique
	Namibia
	Nauru
	Nepal
	Netherlands
	New Zealand		Ngaio Marsh		Death and the Dancing Footman
	Nicaragua
	Niger
	Nigeria
	Norway
	Oman
	Pakistan
	Palau
x	Palestine		Sahar Khalifeh		Wild Thorns
	Panama
	Papua New Guinea
	Paraguay
	Peru
	Philippines
	Poland
	Portugal
	Qatar
	Republic of Korea
	Romania
	Russia
	Rwanda
	Saint Kitts and Nevis
	Saint Lucia
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
	Samoa
	SanMarino
	SaoTome and Principe
	Saudi Arabia		Rajaa Alsanea		Girls of Riyadh
	Scotland
	Senegal
	Serbia
	Seychelles
	Sierra Leone
	Singapore
	Slovakia
	Solomon Islands
	Somalia
	South Africa
	South Sudan
	Spain
	Sri Lanka
	Sudan
	Suriname
	Sweden
	Switzerland
	Syria
	Tajikistan
	Tanzania
	Thailand
	Timor-Leste
	Togo
	Tonga
	Trinidad and Tobago
	Tunisia
x	Turkey		Elif Shafak		The Bastard of Istanbul
	Turkmenistan
	Tuvalu
	Uganda
	Ukraine
	United States
	Uruguay
	Uzbekistan
	Vanuatu
	Venezuela
	Vietnam
	Wales
	Yemen
	Zambia
	Zimbabwe