25 Books to Read Before You Die World Edition

A rather fascinating list of adult world Literature from Powells in America. I wonder why there are two from Italy and two from Japan. Rather disappointing to not see a title from Australia. Perhaps we're not off the beaten track enough?


Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigeria

Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories - Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Japan

Voices From Chernobyl - Svetlana Alexievich, Belarus

Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon - Jorge Amado, Brazil

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov, Russia

Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino, Italy

Love in a Fallen City - Eileen Chang, China

Life and Times of Michael K - J.M. Coetzee, South Africa

Hopscotch - Julio Cortázar, Argentina

My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante, Italy

Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone - Eduardo Galeano, Uruguay

Too Loud a Solitude - Bohumil Hrabal, Czech Republic

The Bone People - Keri Hulme, New Zealand

The Summer Book - Tove Jansson, Finland (see my review)

Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid, Antigua

Independent People - Halldór Laxness, Iceland

Near to the Wild Heart - Clarice Lispector, Brazil

A Heart So White - Javier Marías, Spain

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry, India

Cities of Salt - Abdelrahman Munif, Saudi Arabia

A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami, Japan

Life: A User's Manual - Georges Perec, France

Blindness - José Saramago, Portugal

The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories - Bruno Schulz, Poland

The Rings of Saturn - W.G Sebald, Germany

3/25

Well, that's better than I would have expected. I remember Blindness quite vividly even though it's been some years since I read it. I didn't really like The Summer Book and am rather surprised to see it in this list. 

I've been meaning to read the Georges Perec for some time, and even bought a copy last year. I have meant to read a few other books on this list and would especially like to try My Brilliant Friend one day to see what all the fuss is about.