Making progress on my Read the World Challenge, where you read a book by an author from each country in the world. I’m going alphabetical by country, limiting myself to the 193 member states of the UN, and including a mix of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Next four books finished:

Bahrain – The Pearl Thief by Noor Al Noaimi
A short story about a poor young man in Bahrain who risks everything to become a pearl diver to provide for his family, offering a glimpse into the history and culture of pearl diving in the region. Rating: 4/5

Bangladesh – A Golden Age by Anam Tahmima
Tells the story of the Bangladesh War of Liberation through the eyes of one family. The novel was awarded the prize for Best First Book in the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2008. It was also shortlisted for the 2007 Guardian First Book Award. Rating: 4/5

Barbados – The Secrets of Catspraddle Village by Callie Browning
A grisly murder without a suspect. A bizarre love triangle. A philosopher moonlighting as a garbage man who gets a gun put to his head every Tuesday morning. These are the secret lives of the residents of Catspraddle Village, a fictional district in the Caribbean island of Barbados. Rating: 4/5

Belarus – Red Crosses by Sasha Filipenko
A novel about an unlikely friendship between a young man, Sasha, and his elderly, Alzheimer’s-afflicted neighbor, Tatiana, who recounts her life story, which spans the horrors of 20th-century Russian history from Stalin’s purges to the present day, serving as a powerful meditation on memory, history, and human connection. Rating: 4/5

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