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Around the World in 80 Novels: A global journey inspired by writers from every continent
Whether you're a regular globe-trotter or an armchair traveler, these 80 works conjure up the spirit of place for locations on every continent.
Sometimes the setting of a novel is as important as the story—where would Dickens be without London, or Edith Wharton without New York? Who can read Tales of the City and not want to visit San Francisco, or enjoy Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and not wonder whether perhaps Botswana should be on your bucket list? Covering every corner of the world, from North and South America to Europe, the Far East, Australia, Africa, and more, there are classics by famous authors, alongside works by new writers. Sometimes a native of the country is best able to convey its true nature, but then an outside observer can recreate the attraction of the unknown. Whether you have already decided on a destination and want to get a feel for the place, or you are just looking for ideas for your next getaway, Around the World in 80 Novels is full of inspirational reads that will fire your imagination and have you reaching for your suitcase.
Sometimes the setting of a novel is as important as the story—where would Dickens be without London, or Edith Wharton without New York? Who can read Tales of the City and not want to visit San Francisco, or enjoy Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and not wonder whether perhaps Botswana should be on your bucket list? Covering every corner of the world, from North and South America to Europe, the Far East, Australia, Africa, and more, there are classics by famous authors, alongside works by new writers. Sometimes a native of the country is best able to convey its true nature, but then an outside observer can recreate the attraction of the unknown. Whether you have already decided on a destination and want to get a feel for the place, or you are just looking for ideas for your next getaway, Around the World in 80 Novels is full of inspirational reads that will fire your imagination and have you reaching for your suitcase.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published June 11, 2019
16 people are currently reading
222 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 20, 2020
I mentioned to my local librarian that I’m reading my way round the world so she added this to my latest book delivery, in the hope it would give me ideas. The book is split into continents with some book recommendations from several countries, a bit of background information and an occasional photograph of the place the books are set in.
I was disappointed with how western centric this is. Reading my way round the world I would hope to mainly find authors from different countries with a range of different books rather than a lot of British and American writers (though not all to be fair) who have set novels in different places. There was an extremely skewed number of books from different areas too. For example the U.K. and Ireland had their own section with 11 books listed and then the Middle East and Africa were listed as one with only 10 books to cover both massive regions.
A nice idea but could have been compiled slightly better and more interestingly.
I was disappointed with how western centric this is. Reading my way round the world I would hope to mainly find authors from different countries with a range of different books rather than a lot of British and American writers (though not all to be fair) who have set novels in different places. There was an extremely skewed number of books from different areas too. For example the U.K. and Ireland had their own section with 11 books listed and then the Middle East and Africa were listed as one with only 10 books to cover both massive regions.
A nice idea but could have been compiled slightly better and more interestingly.
July 9, 2025
This isn't bad, but I would have preferred the books set in each country to have been written by native authors...
April 5, 2020
Cool concept but a mystery why there was no map.
January 16, 2021
Henry Russell needs to get out a little bit more. The choice of novels featured are quite subjective also.
July 22, 2022
More like how to spoil 80 books!
This book is a bit of a bait-and-switch. I thought it was going to provide write-ups of very specific locations. For example, if I were writing this, I'd feature say the statues at Hoover Dam featured in Percy & the Olympians, or the House on the Rock from American Gods.
But nope, this book just says "China" for The Good Earth (and proceeds to give away the entire plot of the book, like a Cliffs Notes in a nutshell, without any mention of the setting; see below for a bigger rant on this).
To boot, there are spoilers all over the place. The first few entries were more about the historical and physical settings of the featured books, such as the moors of Yorkshire for Wuthering Heights, but then there are sections that quite literally tell the entire story without any spoiler warnings. Some sections are full of spoilers and then offer opinionated commentary, such as The Reader. I found myself skimming over sections featuring books I hadn't already read or was otherwise unfamiliar with to avoid spoilers.
I can give this mess two stars simply because it gave me a long list of books to eventually read.
This book is a bit of a bait-and-switch. I thought it was going to provide write-ups of very specific locations. For example, if I were writing this, I'd feature say the statues at Hoover Dam featured in Percy & the Olympians, or the House on the Rock from American Gods.
But nope, this book just says "China" for The Good Earth (and proceeds to give away the entire plot of the book, like a Cliffs Notes in a nutshell, without any mention of the setting; see below for a bigger rant on this).
To boot, there are spoilers all over the place. The first few entries were more about the historical and physical settings of the featured books, such as the moors of Yorkshire for Wuthering Heights, but then there are sections that quite literally tell the entire story without any spoiler warnings. Some sections are full of spoilers and then offer opinionated commentary, such as The Reader. I found myself skimming over sections featuring books I hadn't already read or was otherwise unfamiliar with to avoid spoilers.
I can give this mess two stars simply because it gave me a long list of books to eventually read.
July 31, 2019
Travel the world via top fiction #literarywanderlust
Sometimes the setting of a novel is as important as the story - where would Dickens be without London, or Edith Wharton without New York? Who can read Jamaica Inn and not want to visit Bodmin Moor, or enjoy Alexander McCall Smith's The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency without wondering whether perhaps Botswana should be on your bucket list?
Here’s a book after TripFiction’s own heart! Someone who has been inspired to bring together and curate 80+ novels that will offer readers a glimpse into another world and the opportunity for some real literary wanderlust!
The author talks about the criteria for selection, which must have been a real issue. So hard! Where do you start (one might say with the TripFiction website, lol)? Researching the panoply of books out there with a strong setting and then whittling them down to a mere 80 must indeed have been a Herculean task without doubt! Just HOW do you go about selecting top reads that evoke locale? Huge tomes on occasion were dismissed, says the author, and others were a natural choice for inclusion: you could, for example, never compile a list without including Chocolat by Joanne Harris, where the French village is a product of the author’s imagination but plenty of readers think they have actually visited it! Location feels THAT real!
The titles have been chosen by Henry Russell and he has selected eclectic novels both past and present that will whisk you around the world for the price of a book.
The chosen novels are indeed by no means all contemporary. He selects Dickens as one of the go-to authors (and quite rightly so) for conjuring up London (Bleak House); and includes How Green Was my Valley by Richard Llewellyn for gritty life in Wales. He has no qualms about the inclusion of older texts because as he notes the past is very much in the present, you just have to visit the WW1 graves in France and Flanders to get a real sense of history – whether via the stark reminders in the countryside or through fiction that can transport a reader back in time in a very different way (just consider Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, which of course finds its place in the book).
Included are many of the great writers who transport their readers to a vivid setting via a great narrative – Hemingway, Zafón, Ferrante, Lampedusa and I was so glad to see The Towers of Trebizond (Turkey) by Rose McAuley featured, as it was one of the first books that promoted my interest in books that take a reader to new and exciting places. Donna Leon and indeed Venice itself, (which doesn’t have a dedicated book of its own in the main section) gets included at the end under “Further Reading” as does iconic Graham Greene (Brighton Rock). Neither Andrea Camilleri (Sicily) nor Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, often dubbed THE novel of Australia, have been selected. Omitted too are the books of Mary Renault, The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles and the books by Dan Brown (whose novels has spawned tours of the locations featured in his books) – these authors might well have been top choices to appear on a list such as this, but you cannot possibly feature everyone and every pertinent title. No list will ever be complete or indeed suit every taste and reading preference! A book of this ilk can never meet universal approval.
Henry Russell and his team describe in the introduction that for various reasons they have decided NOT to include Don Quixote, The Sorrows of Young Werther, War and Peace and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn event though these are deemed as great novels with a strong sense of place. They then do, however, make an appearance in the “Further Reading” section.
Russell had to decide which countries to feature and this echoes the difficulties Ann Morgan also faced in her book Reading The World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer – she set herself the task of reading one book from every country, and eventually settled on 196 countries + Kurdistan (check out her book as to how she got to her final list of countries, it’s fascinating!).
And many of the go-to books of the travel book genre, that are really strong on locale are of course featured, like populist stalwarts The Beach (Ko Phi Phi) by Alex Garland and Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (Bombay/India). However, Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Rome / India / Bali) is not included; and Memoirs Of A Geisha by Arthur Golden (Kyoto) is often up there with the other three but similarly hasn’t been chosen for inclusion.
Sometimes the setting of a novel is as important as the story - where would Dickens be without London, or Edith Wharton without New York? Who can read Jamaica Inn and not want to visit Bodmin Moor, or enjoy Alexander McCall Smith's The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency without wondering whether perhaps Botswana should be on your bucket list?
Here’s a book after TripFiction’s own heart! Someone who has been inspired to bring together and curate 80+ novels that will offer readers a glimpse into another world and the opportunity for some real literary wanderlust!
The author talks about the criteria for selection, which must have been a real issue. So hard! Where do you start (one might say with the TripFiction website, lol)? Researching the panoply of books out there with a strong setting and then whittling them down to a mere 80 must indeed have been a Herculean task without doubt! Just HOW do you go about selecting top reads that evoke locale? Huge tomes on occasion were dismissed, says the author, and others were a natural choice for inclusion: you could, for example, never compile a list without including Chocolat by Joanne Harris, where the French village is a product of the author’s imagination but plenty of readers think they have actually visited it! Location feels THAT real!
The titles have been chosen by Henry Russell and he has selected eclectic novels both past and present that will whisk you around the world for the price of a book.
The chosen novels are indeed by no means all contemporary. He selects Dickens as one of the go-to authors (and quite rightly so) for conjuring up London (Bleak House); and includes How Green Was my Valley by Richard Llewellyn for gritty life in Wales. He has no qualms about the inclusion of older texts because as he notes the past is very much in the present, you just have to visit the WW1 graves in France and Flanders to get a real sense of history – whether via the stark reminders in the countryside or through fiction that can transport a reader back in time in a very different way (just consider Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, which of course finds its place in the book).
Included are many of the great writers who transport their readers to a vivid setting via a great narrative – Hemingway, Zafón, Ferrante, Lampedusa and I was so glad to see The Towers of Trebizond (Turkey) by Rose McAuley featured, as it was one of the first books that promoted my interest in books that take a reader to new and exciting places. Donna Leon and indeed Venice itself, (which doesn’t have a dedicated book of its own in the main section) gets included at the end under “Further Reading” as does iconic Graham Greene (Brighton Rock). Neither Andrea Camilleri (Sicily) nor Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, often dubbed THE novel of Australia, have been selected. Omitted too are the books of Mary Renault, The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles and the books by Dan Brown (whose novels has spawned tours of the locations featured in his books) – these authors might well have been top choices to appear on a list such as this, but you cannot possibly feature everyone and every pertinent title. No list will ever be complete or indeed suit every taste and reading preference! A book of this ilk can never meet universal approval.
Henry Russell and his team describe in the introduction that for various reasons they have decided NOT to include Don Quixote, The Sorrows of Young Werther, War and Peace and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn event though these are deemed as great novels with a strong sense of place. They then do, however, make an appearance in the “Further Reading” section.
Russell had to decide which countries to feature and this echoes the difficulties Ann Morgan also faced in her book Reading The World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer – she set herself the task of reading one book from every country, and eventually settled on 196 countries + Kurdistan (check out her book as to how she got to her final list of countries, it’s fascinating!).
And many of the go-to books of the travel book genre, that are really strong on locale are of course featured, like populist stalwarts The Beach (Ko Phi Phi) by Alex Garland and Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (Bombay/India). However, Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Rome / India / Bali) is not included; and Memoirs Of A Geisha by Arthur Golden (Kyoto) is often up there with the other three but similarly hasn’t been chosen for inclusion.
July 30, 2021
Fun. My friend Wil would call this a bathroom read.
November 30, 2019
A pretty good selection, unfortunately very poorly written.
January 5, 2021
This one did not impress as I'd hoped it would. For starters, the author was highly Anglo/Western-centric in his selection. Granted, he's reading in English but there were translations included and I would have thought more of the books from foreign countries would be by those foreign authors in the language(s) native to that country. There were too many selections in which the author was a visitor (albeit perhaps a long-term one) to the country in question and not enough written by the inhabitants. Interestingly enough, this wasn't really the case for the US where one could expect the landscape to look wildly different to an immigrant or foreign visitor, especially in today's climate.
Getting that out of the way, the premise was different than what I'd expected as the author really does choose to focus on novels in which the setting itself plays a role which was interesting. I enjoyed that perspective but wish it had been a bit better written and that the author had indicated when he'd be "spoiling" the book as I would guess others, like me, would be looking for new reads through this book and wouldn't want the whole story played out before we read it. Worth flipping through for the book list, especially the extras at the back that didn't make the cut but not really a full read-er.
Getting that out of the way, the premise was different than what I'd expected as the author really does choose to focus on novels in which the setting itself plays a role which was interesting. I enjoyed that perspective but wish it had been a bit better written and that the author had indicated when he'd be "spoiling" the book as I would guess others, like me, would be looking for new reads through this book and wouldn't want the whole story played out before we read it. Worth flipping through for the book list, especially the extras at the back that didn't make the cut but not really a full read-er.
August 11, 2019
Grabbed this book right away when I saw it at my local book store. I rarely purchase new releases, but this was just too perfect to pass. And reading it was a joy. I was familiar with several of the highlighted novels, two of them are by favorite authors Joanne Harris and Edith Wharton. While some novels seemed more interesting to me than others the idea that we can travel around the world through the literature we read was a valuable reminder. While some of the brief profiles of novels were better than others, all of them inspired a wonder lust to extends to the books that I'm choosing to read.
March 6, 2020
I’ve been trying recently to read more international authors rather than tying myself to American authors as I’ve done in the past. I’m a firm believer that reading is an essential method for growing empathy and understanding others, but if I’m only reading books by people in my own sphere of life, than I’m not trying to expand my understanding at all. So when this book appeared at my library, I had to pick it up. It’s not quite what I thought it would be. Read the full review here here
February 12, 2023
This book has a proclivity to talking about how the novels are considered to be flawed by critics and readers. It seems especially weird when the author feels the need to battle the criticisms levied against undeniable novels like To Kill a Mockingbird. But I guess that's a part of life where it is always easier to critique than it is to create (I see the irony as I write this).
Additionally, it's hard not get whiplash because there are no transitions attempted between different novels/countries.
Additionally, it's hard not get whiplash because there are no transitions attempted between different novels/countries.
February 3, 2021
I enjoyed this book, was an unexpected gift that initially didn't excite me. But glad I got it now.
One of those reasons is it introduces you to literature from around the world. Find, we tend to stick to British or American writers, yet the talent pool we miss out on is vast.
So this book has got me adding a few books from around the world I more than likely wouldn't of come across or tried.
One of those reasons is it introduces you to literature from around the world. Find, we tend to stick to British or American writers, yet the talent pool we miss out on is vast.
So this book has got me adding a few books from around the world I more than likely wouldn't of come across or tried.
March 14, 2021
There is no list that will please everyone, so, let's not nitpick. What works for me in this volume is that I have a brief introduction to many authors that I'm not familiar with. But this brief introduction will help me to discover many more such authors as I research the ones listed in this volume.
September 24, 2021
For my 1300th post on GR, it seemed only fitting that I should do something that combines my love of travel and books! And it is especially poignant to me that the last novel featured is "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende--a book, an author, and a country (Chile) that are very meaningful to me.
April 9, 2022
This is a fun idea with good photography but, alas, I discovered eighty novels is just not sufficient. Far too many places are left unexplored. It was also interesting how many contemporary crime novels the author chose to include, which doesn’t seem the best way to learn about and appreciate a culture.
May 30, 2022
I’ve been reading this in bits, usually when I need time between the end of one novel and the start of the next. Great source of new novels to add to my tbr list and new places to add to my ‘where to?’ list.
July 19, 2023
I bought this as a summer treat. Since I cannot travel yet, despite the lull in cases, as Covid isn't really over yet.
I was rewarded! The books discussed were both familiar as well as new to me. Each entry is 1-2 pages long, has a sidebar or 2 and a photo.
Recommended, this book was fun!
I was rewarded! The books discussed were both familiar as well as new to me. Each entry is 1-2 pages long, has a sidebar or 2 and a photo.
Recommended, this book was fun!
September 25, 2019
Not a bad little book with some interesting and familiar titles. Wasn't totally wowed with the selection but the summaries of the novels were good as well as the snippets of travel and history info.
May 26, 2020
Not very comprehensive but nevertheless an interesting read. A good choice for a gift book.
September 13, 2023
Inspiring book. Although I’m missing novels by native writers of the countries itself.
June 2, 2024
I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting with this book. I picked it up for from a thrift shop for a couple of dollars and thought I'd give it a go.
From its interesting title I thought I'd be encouraged to perhaps read works from around the world that I hadn't heard of before, but in reality it discouraged me.
I guess if you're fortunate enough and wealthy enough to be a global wanderer, the book might come in handy to add some new literary destinations to your 'must visit' list.
For me, alas, its charm was lost.
I shall donate it back from whence it came and hope someone else appreciates it better.
From its interesting title I thought I'd be encouraged to perhaps read works from around the world that I hadn't heard of before, but in reality it discouraged me.
I guess if you're fortunate enough and wealthy enough to be a global wanderer, the book might come in handy to add some new literary destinations to your 'must visit' list.
For me, alas, its charm was lost.
I shall donate it back from whence it came and hope someone else appreciates it better.
June 18, 2022
A book about books, one of my favorite kind of books. This was had a few good suggestions. I think I'd like to read A Town Like Alice and The Tenderness of Wolves, set in Australia and Canada, respectively. The writing was not very good. Why so much commentary on some authors and their work, and nothing but plot summary for Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God? Anyway, a quick and easy read before tackling a "real" book. LOL.
April 30, 2020
Full review here: https://wp.me/p36jwx-1JN
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews