Planning a trip can be a tricky business right now. The good news? Whether you’re between trips or unable to afford a vacation right now, you can still travel the world through books.
Hop from continent to continent with these novels that will allow you to explore other cultures, immerse yourself in the history or atmosphere of another place, and fall into landscapes you’ve never gotten to explore—all from the comfort of your own little reading nook or from the busy scramble of your morning commute. I won’t pretend this list is definitive—there are so many countries in this world to explore!—but if you’re ready to go on an adventure, these books will set you on a thrilling world tour.
Africa
Senegal:
So Long a Letter
By Mariama Bâ,
Translated from French by Modupé Bodé-Thomas
Waveland Press
When Ramatoulaye’s husband dies, she’s plunged into a period of ritualized, difficult mourning. She has to split the resources with her co-wife, who her husband more or less abandoned her for, and is left in a difficult place. She begins to vent in a series of letters to her friend Aissatou, who made it out and is working in the United States, about her desire for herself, and for the women of Senegal, to be able to access much, much more.
Angola:
Transparent City
By Ondjaki
Translated from Portuguese by Stephen Henighan
Biblioasis
The occupants of one crumbling apartment block in the city of Luanda populate this chaotic, flowing, magical realist novel that’s both dark comedy and literary epic. The protagonist, Odonato, misses the city as it was pre-war, and he slowly turns transparent as the narrative dips in and out of other dramas, from Mailman’s single-minded determination to make the corrupt government provide him a moped to a local entrepreneur’s many schemes.
Bonuses:
- Egypt: The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz tr. Elisabeth Jaquette
- Mauritius: Eve out of Her Ruins by Ananda Devi tr. Jeffrey Zuckerman
- Equatorial Guinea: La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono tr. Lawrence Schimel
Asia
Palestine:
Salt Houses
By Hala Alyan
Harper Perennial
This story of loss and displacement tells the story of a Palestinian family, beginning in 1967 and extending to the present, spanning Syria, Kuwait, the US, and more. We begin with Salma lying about what she sees in the tea dregs about her daughter’s future—later, the sorrow she saw there unfurls as her daughter’s children struggle to find their place in the world when they can’t access their roots, pulled between heritage and modernity.
India:
Cobalt Blue
By Sachin Kundalkar,
Translated from Marathi by Jerry Pinto
New Press
A brother and sister in Pune, India, fall for the same man: an art student renting a room from their family. Both siblings are longing for freedom from gender norms and expectations—Tanay is gay and struggles with homophobia and his repressed emotions, while Anuja strives to break free of what her parents and their society expect from women of her age.
Bonuses:
- Japan: Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami tr. Sam Bett and David Boyd
- China: The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian tr. Bruce Humes
- Taiwan: Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin tr. Bonnie Huie
Australia & Oceania
Australia:
The Yield
By Tara June Winch
Harpervia
August Bondiwindi hasn’t been home in a decade. But when her grandfather dies, she comes home, not ready to face everything she left behind ten years ago. When she discovers that Prosperous House is going to be repossessed by a mining company, she sets off on a determined quest to save their land. It’s a vivid book about indigenous Australians and their language, exploitation, and struggle.
Bonuses:
- Indonesia: Paper Boats by Dee Lestari, tr. Tiffany Tsao
- New Zealand: Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
Europe
Germany:
What You Can See From Here
By Mariana Leky
Translated from German by Tess Lewis
Picador USA
Every time someone in their small town is going to die, Loo’s grandmother dreams of an okapi. People scramble to figure out who it will be, letting loose secrets or losing themselves in anxiety. This is a cozy novel featuring a web of characters from around town, equal parts funny and heartbreaking, a novel that manages to broach death and grief in a deeply warm-hearted way.
Slovenia:
The Fig Tree
By Goran Vojnovič
Translated from Slovene by Olivia Hellewell
Istros Books
Jadran’s grandfather has just died, and he finds himself digging into his memories, telling us the stories of the generations that got him here—from his Bosnian father, who disappeared when he was young, to his grandparents settling into their home in Momjan, to his mother Vesna and her story of perseverence. Through this generational family story, we also get a story about nationality and borders across Slovenia, Bosnia, and Croatia.
Bonuses:
- Sweden: The Family Clause by Jonas Hassen Khemiri, tr. Alice Menzies
- Greece: The Scapegoat by Sophia Nikoladiou tr. Karen Emmerich
- Spain: The Time in Between by María Dueñas tr. Daniel Hahn
North America & Caribbean
Mexico:
The Gringo Champion
By Aura Xilonen
Translated from Spanish by Andrea Rosenberg
Europa Editions
Liborio is just working at a bookstore when he decides to intercede and save a woman he’s been falling in love with (from afar) from a man who’s harassing her. Naturally, this unleashes a tragicomic flurry of events, a series of big successes and brutal losses, that carry Liborio into adventure after unending adventure. Liborio is striving to find a place for himself, and he hopes to find it by the end of this funny and heartbreaking read.
Bonuses:
- Canada: Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
- Haiti: Dance on the Volcano by Marie Vieux-Chauvet tr. Kaiama L. Glover
- Cuba: Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
South America
Argentina:
The Adventures of China Iron
By Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
Translated from Spanish by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre
Charco Press
When her husband is drafted into the army, China Iron is thrilled. She finally has her freedom—and she uses it to leave her family behind and go on a wild, liberatory journey across the Pampas with a Scottish woman named Liz. The book is both a queer coming-of-age story and vivid historical fiction about the violence of imperialism slowly infiltrating Argentina.
Brazil:
Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon
By Jorge Amado
Translated from Portuguese by James L. Taylor and William L. Grossman
Vintage
The town of Ilhéus is hitting record growth in cacao crops in 1925. But while the old cacao planters want to enforce a patriarchal, conservative status quo, newcomer Mundinho is hoping to usher in an era of social progress and gender equality. What follows is a funny, dramatic, vivid, sometimes-violent fight between the forces of the old and the new, at the center of which a few young women and their romances unspool.
Bonuses:
- Colombia: Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas-Contreras
- Chile: Seeing Red by Lina Meruane tr. Megan McDowell
- Peru: The Storyteller by Mario Vargas Llosa tr. Helen Lane
Nice post 🌹🌹