INDEPENDENT READING LIST: WORLD

Please note: This list was compiled by members of the English department. That does not mean that all of the books are suitable for all readers. We have tried to provide as varied a list as possible to appeal to the widest range of readers. Please use good judgment when selecting a book. You MUST have parental permission for each book you select.

COUNTRY AUTHOR TITLE TOPIC Antigua Kincaid, Jamaica Lucy, Annie John females coming of age Argentina Borges, Jorge Luis Labyrinths short stories/magical realism Argentina Cortazar, Julio Hopscotch adventures of an Argentinean writer Argentina Valenzuela, Luisa The Censors stories with symbolism and fantasy Australia Conway, Jill Ker The Road from Coorain girl growing up in Australia Bosnia Filipovic, Zlata Zlata's Diary girl's life in war-torn Sarajevo Botswana Head, Bessie Maru; When Rain Clouds Gather ex-con helps a primitive village China P'u Yi, Aisin-Gioro From Emperor to Citizen autobiography China Chen, Da Colors of the Mountain rural boy succeeds through education Colombia Marquez, Gabriel Garcia One Hundred Years of Solitude 100 years in the life of a village/magical realism Denmark Dinesen, Isaak Out of Africa stories of living in Africa Dominican Republic Alvarez, Julia In the Time of the Butterflies four sisters support revolution Dominican Republic Alvarez, Julia How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents four sisters adjust to life in US Egypt Mahfouz, Naguib Palace of Desire; Palace Walk; Sugar Street middle class Egyptian family between world wars England/Kenya Markham, Beryl West with the Night stories about English girl growing up in East Africa England/Zimbabwe Lessing, Doris The Grass Is Singing; African Stories; African Laughter story of unhappy rural wife France DuMaurier, Daphne Rebecca; Jamaica Inn; Frenchman's Creek young girl solves mystery France Verne, Jules Around the World in 80 Days (other) contest to circle the earth in the 1800's France Colette The Vagabond (others) actress who faces problems France Camus, Albert (Nobel 1957) The Stranger; The Plague depressed man kills stranger France Saint-Exupery, Antoine de The Little Prince downed pilot encounters a little prince France de Maupassant short stories thought-provoking short stories France Balzac, Honore de Lost Illusions (others) poet tries to make a name for himself France Rostand, Edmond Cyrano de Bergerac man uses a substitute to declare his love France Moliere The School for Wives; The Misanthrope; Tartuffe silly misunderstandings create havoc France Dumas, Alexander Count of Monte Cristo; The Three Musketeers adventures of revenge France Voltaire Candide Candide's travels looking for his love France Flaubert, Gustav Madame Bovary first of the great "fallen women" novels France Ionesco, Eugene The Bald Soprano; The Lesson; etc. four one-act plays of bleak absurdity France Hugo, Victor Hunchback of Notre Dame; Les Miserables love and revolution in Paris France Remarque, Erich All Quiet on the Western Front German soldier's experiences in WWI France Harris, Joanne Chocolat woman and daughter open candy shop France Harris, Joanne Five Quarters of the Orange crabby old woman tells stories of her childhood Germany Boll, Heinrich The Clown (others) guilt and fear in Nazi and post-Nazi era Germany Hesse, Herman Siddhartha; Demian (others) young boy's coming of age Germany Kafka, Franz The Metamorphosis (others) young man becomes insect overnight Germany Mann, Thomas Magic Mountain (others) young man deals with illness Guatemala Goldman, Francisco The Long Night of White Chickens finding a missing woman in Guatemala Haiti Danticat, Edwidge Breath, Eyes, Memory Haitian girl moves to New York City Holland Ten Boom, Corrie The Hiding Place hiding Jews in WWII Holland Gies, Miep Anne Frank Remembered story from one of the Franks' protectors Holland Chevalier, Tracy Girl with a Pearl Earring girl is apprenticed to Vermeer in the 1660's India Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer Heat and Dust young woman travels to India to unravel mystery India Siddhwa, Bapsi Cracking India influence of the partition of India on a young girl India Desai, Anita Fasting, Feasting brother and sister in India, US India Lahiri, Jhumpa Interpreter of Maladies short stories in U.S. and India Itan/Iraq Khayyam, Omar The Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam famous spiritual poem Ireland Binchy, Maeve Circle of Friends two girls growing up in Ireland Ireland McCourt, Frank Angela's Ashes large family grows up poor in Ireland Israel Megged, Aharon The Story of Selvino's Children documentary on rehabilitation of 800 Jewish children Italy Machiavelli, Niccolo The Prince prince tells how he ran his country Italy Boccacio, Giovanni The Decameron 100 stories told by people trying to escape the plague Italy Calvino, Italo Invisible Cities (others) fragmentary urban images Italy Dante (Alighieri) The Divine Comedy; The Inferno descent through the levels of Hell Italy Eco, Umberto The Name of the Rose mysterious deaths at monastery Italy Sobel, Dava Galileo's Daughter based on girl's correspondence Japan Ishigoro, Kazuo The Remains of the Day British butler and maid suffer repressed feelings Japan Yoshimoto, Banana Kitchen; Lizard young woman adjusts to changes in her life Kenya Ngugi, Wa Thiongo Weep Not Child; Petals of Blood political conflicts and corruption in Kenya Mexico Rulfo, Juan The Burning Plain; Pedro Paramo human misery in Jalisco Mexico Esquivel, Laura Like Water for Chocolate Mexican daughter's struggle for love Mexico Anaya, Rodolfo Bless Me, Ultima child tries to discover where his future lies Mexico Cisneros, Sandra The House on Mango Street; Woman Hollering Creek immigrant girls adjust to U.S. city life Mexico Fuentos, Carlos The Old Gringo imagined fate of Ambrose Bierce Mexico Benitez, Sandra A Place Where the Sea Remembers ordinary people in Mexican village New Zealand Hulme, Keri The Bone People child abuse in New Zealand Nigeria Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart; Arrow of God Nigerian tribal life before and after colonialism Norway Ibsen, Henrik plays divorce, doctor tells the truth, etc. Norway Heyerdahl, Thor Kon-Tiki crossing the Pacific on a raft (NF) Poland Lem, Stanislaw (sci fi) The Cyberiad; The Star Diaries; A Perfect Vacuum constructor robots solve problems Poland Wiesel, Elie Night; Dawn; The Fifth Son Jewish survivor of Holocaust Poland Capek, Karl (sci fi) RUR (play) play about robots Poland Singer, Isaac bashevis The Slave (others) Jewish man stranded in 18th-century Poland Poland Milosz, Czeslaw (Nobel 1980) The Captive Mind Polish intellectuals become servants of Stalinist state Puerto Rico Ferre, Rosario The House on the Lagoon Puerto Rican woman decides to become novelist Rhodesia Fuller, Alexandra Don't Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight white English girl remembers childhood in Rhodesia Russia Dostoyevsky, Fyodor The Brothers Karamazov; Crime and Punishment 3 sons and love-hate relationship; murder and guilt Russia Pushkin, Alexander Boris Godunov; Eugene Onegin EO: novel in verse Russia Turgenev, Ivan Fathers and Sons masterpiece about the generation gap Russia Tolstoy, Leo Anna Karenina; War and Piece woman's struggles with love and family Russia Chekhov, Anton Uncle Vanya; The Cherry Orchard (plays) "just life" happens to Uncle Vanya; both plays Russia Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Cancer Ward; The Gulag Archipelago cancer treatment in Russia Russia Pasternak, Boris Doctor Zhivago doctor finds true love during Russian Revolution South Africa Gordimer, Nadine Burger's Daughter; My Son's Story; July's People political realities of South Africa South Africa Mathabane, Mark Kaffir Boy coming of age in apartheid South Africa South Africa Paton, Alan Cry, the Beloved Country South African pastor's heartbreak Spain Cervantes, Miguel de Don Quixote knight and his squire travel the world Vietnam Hayslip, Le Ly When Heaven and Earth Changed Places Vietnam war from woman's point of view Vietnam Huong, Duong Thu Paradise of the Blind 3 women struggle to survive in northern village Yugoslavia Andric, Ivo (Nobel 1961) The Bridge of the Drina life in Bosnian town before WWI Zimbabwe Dangarembga, Tsitsi Nervous Conditions remembering problems of childhood