In the middle of the night I had this great idea: Read a book (in
English or translation) by a writer from every country. If that's not
possible, at least read a biography of someone from that country, or a
history of it. There isn't consensus on how many countries there are, so
I'll start with this list while
bearing in mind that I may want to read authors from territories,
colonies, and the like, such as Puerto Rico and Palestine. I was able to
generate the names of 140 countries in the middle of the night (some,
such as Wales, revealed in morning's cold, hard light not to be fully
independent). I did bolt up one or twice to hiss "Lesotho!" and
"Namibia!" to the cats, who could not have cared less.
I begin with The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Dominican Republic).
Your
suggestions are welcome, especially for Namibian poets or a novelist of
Palau. I'm also a little weak on the oeuvre of Sao Tome and Principe.
I'm also thinking about countries whose writing I've already sampled.
What would you think if I were to list books I've already read? For
example, can I cross Italy off the list since I've read Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler? I'm thinking that this would let me concentrate on less well-known and newer countries.
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