In 2012, author and editor Ann Morgan set out to complete a year-long goal of reading one book from every country in the world.
In early 2012, London was gearing up to host the summer Olympics. With the world arriving on her doorstep, English author and editor Ann Morgan realized that she didn’t know many of the countries on a literary level. In order to remedy that, she challenged herself to a year-long adventure — reading one book from every country in the world.
Reading the World
Ann Morgan says she once considered herself an experienced reader and a “cosmopolitan” and “cultured” person. Then she reconsidered. If that were the case, why was most of her reading content coming out of the UK and North America? In her TedTalk, Morgan says, “I knew there had to be lots of amazing stories out there by writers working in languages other than English.”
In an interview with Cultural Reads, Morgan says the inspiration for the project came while she was working on another reading project, “A Year of Reading Women.” A friend recommended a male Australian author — he wouldn’t fit the bill for the female-centric project, but what about a new, world-view project? A Year of Reading the World was born.
Conquering Literature
Morgan began compiling a list of books from other countries in order to complete her year-long goal of reading one book from every UN-recognized country in the world. While speaking with The Guardian, Morgan recalls the struggles she faced while choosing her list.
Choosing one book from each country meant forgoing hundreds of others. She came across translation issues and the limited availability of publications from newer or more rural countries. There were political issues she hadn’t considered, like censorship and government-controlled publishing. In the end, Morgan was able to gather 196 books that covered the entire world.
To complete the list in time, Ann kept herself on a tight reading schedule, reading two hours a day and completing around four books a week. In the end, she was able to check all 196 books off her list within the year.
What Came Next
The work didn’t stop there. Ann continued to explore the world for books and shares her story regularly and openly.
Since the end of her project, Ann has published several books recounting her experience, hosted her own TedTalk, and now serves as a “Literary Explorer in Residence” at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Her blog for the project, “A Year of Reading the World,” is still popular thirteen years later and now has another purpose: a home for her monthly book club. Here, she shares new books from around the world, taken from her own research or suggestions by fellow international readers.
Ann’s Favorites
On her blog, Morgan details her reading journey, provides the complete list of books she read and shares some of her favorite books from the project:
- Albania – Ismail Kadare Broken April
- Canada – Nicole Brossard Mauve Desert
- Czech Republic – Bohumil Hrabal Too Loud a Solitude
- Mongolia – Galsan Tschinag The Blue Sky
- Myanmar – Nu Nu Yi Smile as they Bow
- Pakistan – Jamil Ahmad The Wandering Falcon
- Serbia – Srdjan Valjarevic Lake Como (limited availability)
- Sierra Leone – Ismael Beah A Long Way Gone
- Tajikistan – Andrei Volos Hurramabad
- Togo – Tete-Michel Kpomassie An African in Greenland
The Takeaway
Morgan says, “[This project] opened my eyes to many of the stories that I had sort of taken for granted growing up, the ways of looking at the world.” She hopes her experience can help other readers understand what ‘reading the world’ really means.” It helps you to have a more nuanced, richer grasp of the reality that you live, but also how that fits in with other people’s realities.
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Carley Bishop
Carley is an editorial lifestyle writer and aspiring novelist. She is based in North Carolina where she resides with her husband and their puppy, Daisy, and is a proud graduate of University of South Carolina. Carley is a lifelong bookworm who enjoys reading everything from the classics to modern romances. When she's not reading or writing, she enjoys traveling, getting outside and trying new recipes at home.
