Greetings visitor!

This webpage will chart my journey on a Round the World trip through literature... which commenced May 22nd 2009.
 

I am going to travel the globe through literature (fiction and narrative non-fiction), having started in London.

Click below for books chosen to date:

A chart of current and proposed destinations

A list of all future destinations on my trip

Below is a link to a blog I am using to log my progress.

http://readingtheworld-webspinner.blogspot.com/

I intend to develop this web-space in a much more inclusive way over the next few months (years?) to incorporate more about the countries I am visiting - and the literary history of the books I read, and their cultural context - as well as my own thoughts on them.

I am only thinking a few countries ahead (there are over 200 on my list!), so any reading suggestions welcome... (at: john.brookes@email.com  or via my blog above)

Just so you know, my constraints are:

1) Book must be fiction or narrative non-fiction (i.e. not a Lonely Planet-type Travel Guide) written by a native-born author** and set in the country of origin;

2) Book must not have been written, or be set, any earlier than 1990 (1989 at an absolute push!!);

3) Books must be translated into English (or French at a push) - sorry, was never that good at languages...

4) Travel from one country / continent to another must be realistic (i.e. from one neighbouring country to another - such as France to Spain - or between landmasses which have an actual air/shipping route - e.g. Australia to Antarctica to Argentina:- a planned part of my trip much later on);

5) Books must be reasonably representative of the country - with a certain degree of cultural / social representation etc - even if this is as a background to a wider plot...  what I am after is a sense of the country in question in recent times...

(** where necessary I will go with a suitable non-native author)

Well, there you go, just to give you an example:- my first port of call was in my native England. My first choice was "Salaam Brick Lane" - a narrative non-fiction by a public-school-educated Londoner who returned from 10 years abroad to live in the modern East End, and so incorporating an interesting breadth of class, as well as cultural, diversity in contemporary England.
 

Any further comments / suggestions more than welcome at: john.brookes@email.com or via my blog at:

http://readingtheworld-webspinner.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting!