Travelling for the Summer – a new book challenge

In my earlier reading days I read very few books set in countries which were not the UK or USA. I am not particularly sure why that was the case but I had a few other restrictions on my choice of stories which I have now discarded, although, of course, I have probably picked up some more ! Anyhow, it’s fair to say that I read books set in all sorts of countries now and even those translated from other languages and my reading life is richer because of their inclusion.

This summer I thought that I would travel by book and for the months of June, July and August that I would read books set in as many different countries as possible, both fiction and non-fiction. This is another good way to tackle that ever expanding to-be-read pile but I thought that it might be fun to do anyway and I may include the odd reread. The idea came to me when I saw how many different countries were represented in the books I chose for my Spring Cleaning Challenge – it seems that I also had plenty of others on my shelves awaiting reading.

I have no particular target in mind although I have already found twelve books to make a start. There is no restriction on genre or on format in which they are read. I don’t mind if they were originally published in English or have been translated. The book has to be set for the majority of the plot in one country which is not the UK or USA and it has to be, or have been, a real country – no fantasy worlds are allowed to creep in. The book can be set in the past, the present or the future. The author can be from the country concerned or just writing about it. My final total will include only one book from each country and I will review them as I go along.

I shall be interested to see how many countries are present and the variety of genres represented in the final list. My time starts now….