How to Become a More Global and Diverse Reader

How to Become a More Global and Diverse Reader – Virtual Literary World Tour Book List

We live in a very fractured world. We constantly misunderstand each other because we stay in our cocoon and never take the time to get to know those who are different from us. Reading books by authors from different countries and cultures is one way for us to close the communications gap. The books on the Virtual Literary World Tour book list can assist you in becoming a more global and diverse reader. The list is not definitive because it is only my journey, but it's a start, and the best is yet to come as I repeat the Tour. The Virtual Literary Book Tour was an incredible journey, one where there was laughter and crying, joy and sadness, and one of great learning. I have created a book list for you, and included are the books recommended by people who I invited to participate. The country refers to where the authors were born.

Around the World in 120 Days – Books I Have Read

1. Hunger: A Novel, Knut Hamsun, Norway
2. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse, Germany
3. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell, United Kingdom
4. Gilgamesh: A New English Version, Mesopotamia (Iraq)
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl, United Kingdom
6. Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren, Sweden
7. Winnie-the-Pooh (The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh), AA Milne, United Kingdom
8. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot, United States
9. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis, United Kingdom
10. Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of The Mayan Book of The Dawn of Life and The Glories of Gods and Kings, Guatemala
11. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, United Kingdom
12. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway, United States
13. The Trial, Franz Kafka, Austria
14. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, United Kingdom
15. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens, United Kingdom
16. Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, Mordecai Richler, Canada
17. The Shooting Party (Penguin Classics), Anton Chekhov, Russia
18. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Mordecai Richler, Canada
19. Out Stealing Horses: A Novel, Per Petterson, Norway
20. A Wrinkle in Time,  Madeleine L'Engle, United States
21. The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, Lois Lowry (The Worlds of Lois Lowry 3-Copy Boxed Set (The Giver, Messenger, Gathering Blue)), United States
22. Son, Lois Lowry, United States
23. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon, United Kingdom
24. The Outsiders, SE Hinton
25. Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Chögyam Trungpa, Tibet
26. Pinocchio (Puffin Classics), Carlo Collodi ( The original, not the “Disneyfied” version), Italy
27. The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel, Milan Kundera,  Czech Republic, France
28. The Catcher in the Rye, J D Salinger, United States
29. Grimm's Fairy Tales, Brothers Grimm, Germany
30. Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark
31. Robin Hood, Henry Gilbert (The original, not the “Disneyfied” version), United Kingdom
32. The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories, Angela Carter, United Kingdom
33. Love in the Time of Cholera (Oprah's Book Club), Gabriel García Márquez, Colombia
34. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, France
35. Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel, Kurt Vonnegut, United States
36. Lord of the Flies, Centenary Edition, William Golding, United Kingdom
37. Ficciones (English Translation), Jorges Luis Borges, Argentina
38. As I Lay Dying , William Faulkner, United States
39. The Duppy, Anthony C. Winkler, Jamaica
40. Songs of Innocence and Experience,  William Blake, United Kingdom
41. The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Germany
42. The Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues (Dover Thrift Editions), Plato, Greece
43. Medea of Euripides, Euripides, Greece
44. Jason and the Golden Fleece: (The Argonautica), Apollonius, Greece
45. Slowness: A Novel, Milan Kundera,  Czech Republic'
46. Superwomen, Albert Payson Terhune, United States
47. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: From the Quarto of 1604, Christopher Marlowe, United Kingdom
48. The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, Joseph Conrad, Poland, United Kingdom
49. Ru: A Novel, Kim Thúy, Vietnam, Canada
50. Choose Your Own Adventure (The Abominable Snowman/Journey Under the Sea/Space and Beyond/The Lost Jewels of Nabooti/Mystery of the Maya/House of Danger (Choose Your Own Adventure 1-6) (Box Set 1)), R. A. Montgomery, United States
51. The Turn of the Screw, Henry James, United States
52. Aesop's Fables (Oxford World's Classics), Ancient Greece
53. The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank, Holland
54. A Streetcar Named Desire (New Directions Paperbook), Tennessee Williams, United States
55. A Very Fine Line, Julie Johnston, Canada
56. The Coroner's Lunch, Colin Cotterill, United Kingdom, Thailand
57. A Man Lay Dead: Inspector Roderick Alleyn #1 (Inspector Roderick Alleyn), Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand
58. Norwegian Wood Publisher: Vintage, Haruki Murakami, Japan
59. July's People, Nadine Gordimer, South Africa
60. The Dew Breaker, Edwidge Danticat, Haiti
61. On the Road: The Original Scroll (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition), Jack Kerouac, United States
62. A Jest of God (Phoenix Fiction), Margaret Laurence, Canada
63. The Laughing Policeman (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard), Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, Sweden
64. The Bookseller of Kabul, Asne Seirstad, Norway
65. Two Pints, Roddy Doyle, Ireland
66. Under the Glacier, Halldór Laxness, Iceland
67. Silence of the Grave (Reykjavik Murder Mysteries, No. 2), Arnaldur Indriðason, Iceland
68. No Telephone to Heaven, Michelle Cliff, Jamaica
69. Brother Man (Macmillan Caribbean Writers Series), Roger Mais, Jamaica
70. Whale Music, Paul Quarrington, Canada
71. My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin, Australia
72. Buffalo Jump (Jonah Geller), Howard Shrier, Canada, Canada
73. The Water Rat of Wanchai (Import) Ava Lee, Ian Hamilton, Canada
74. Dead Light District, Jill Edmondson, Canada
75. High Chicago (Jonah Geller), Howard Shrier, Canada
76. The Disciple of Las Vegas: An Ava Lee Novel, Ian Hamilton, Canada
77. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson, Sweden

Book Recommendations by Interviewees

1. The Painted Canoe , Anthony Winkler, Jamaica
2. In My Father's Shade, Rachel Manley, Jamaica
3. The Harder They Come, Michael Thelwell, Jamaica
4. From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her Island, Lorna Goodison, Jamaica
5. The Children of Sisyphus (Caribbean Modern Classics), Orlando Patterson, Jamaica
6. The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life, Robin Sharma, Canada
7. The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything, Stephen M.R. Covey, United States
8. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, Tony Hsieh, United States
9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot, United States
10. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, Caroline Alexander, United States
11. Seabiscuit: An American Legend , Laura Hillenbrand, United States
12. The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, Thomas Friedman, United States
13. No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II, Doris Kearns Goodwin, United States
14. Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love, Dava Sobel, United States
15. The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, David Brooks, Toronto
16. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (Vintage), Barack Obama, United States
17. How Women Lead: The 8 Essential Strategies Successful Women Know, Sharon Hadary, United States
18. My American Journey, Colin Powell, United States
19. Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell, United Kingdom
20. The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel, Garth Stein, United States
21. The Bluest Eye (Vintage International), Toni Morrison, United States
22. The Success Principles(TM), Jack Canfield, United States
23. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated), Tim Ferriss, United States
24. The Art of Happiness, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Handbook for Living, the Dalai Lama, Tibet
25. Antonio Carluccio: A Recipe for Life, Antonio Carluccio, Italy
26. On Leadership, Allan Leighton, United Kingdom
27. Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigeria
28. A Suitable Boy: A Novel (Modern Classics), Vikram Seth, India
29. If This is a Man (If This Is a Man and The Truce), Primo Levi, Italy
30. Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela, South Africa
31. The Gone-Away World, Nick Harkaway, United Kingdom
32. Life of Pi, Yann Martel, Spain
33. 1984 (Animal Farm and 1984), George Orwell, India
34. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald, United States
35. The Last Albatross – Ian Irvine (Human Rites trilogy), Ian Irvine, Australia
36. Huckleberry Finn (Huckleberry Finn (Huck Finn And Tom Sawyer)), Mark Twain, United States
37. Your Life as Story, Tristine Rainer, United States
38. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou, United States
39. Green Mango and Lemon Grass: Southeast Asia's Best Recipes from Bangkok to Bali, Wendy Hutton
40. Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire, David Remnick, United States
41. Future Edge, Joel Barker
42. The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change, Al Gore, United States
43. Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton, South Africa
44. Jock of the Bushveld, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, South Africa
45. A Far-Off Place, Laurens van der Post, South Africa
46. A Dry White Season, Andre Brink, South Africa
47. Promised Land, Karel Schoeman, South Africa
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver, United States
49. The Secret, Rhonda Byrne, Australia
50. A Good African Story: How a small company built a global coffee brand, Andrew Rugasira
51. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy, India
52. Biko – Cry Freedom, Donald Woods
53. The Man Without Qualities (The Man Without Qualities Vol. 1: A Sort of Introduction and Pseudo Reality Prevails), (The Man Without Qualities, Vol. 2: Into the Millennium), Robert Musil, Austria
54. The Radetzky March , Joseph Roth, Ukraine
55. The Wall, Marlene Haushofer, Austria
56. Three Paths to the Lake (Portico Paperback Series), Ingeborg Bachmann, Austria
57. Old Masters, Thomas Bernhard, the Netherlands
58. Mary Poppins, PL Travers, Australia
59. Schindler's List, Thomas Keneally, Australia
60. Waltzing Matilda (Banjo Paterson's Waltzing Matilda), Banjo Patterson (bush poet), Australia
61. My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin, Australia
62. All That Swagger, Miles Franklin, Australia
63. Breath: A Novel, Tim Winton and also Cloudstreet: A Novel, Australia
64. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak, Australia
65. Mao's Last Dancer (Movie Tie-In), Li Cunxin, China
66. The Red Tent: A Novel, Anita Diamant, United States
67. River God: A Novel of Ancient Egypt, Wilbur Smith, Northern Rhodesia
68. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy, India
69. Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell, United States
70. The Kitchen God's Wife, Amy Tan, United Staes
71. Fortunate Life, Albert Facey, Australia
72. Any of the works of Henry Lawson (Australia's Bush Poets Henry Lawson part 1) or Banjo Patterson (The Works of ‘Banjo' Paterson (Wordsworth Poetry) (Wordsworth Poetry Library)), Australia
73. The Slap: A Novel, Christos Tsolkias, Australia
74. Tyranny of Distance, Geoffrey Blainey, Australia
75. Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsay, Australia

There are many children's book on the list, several of which I should have read by now but hadn't at the beginning of the Virtual Literary World Tour.  I included them because many of us have forgotten what it was like to be like a child – the freedom we had in trying new things. We didn't have self-imposed barriers,and we asked why a lot.

How many of these books have you read? How many would you like to read? Take the first step to become a more global  and diverse reader by reading some of the books on the Virtual Literary World Tour book list. As you will notice, not all the books are heavy, some will actually make you laugh. Please write your comments in the box below. Book links are affiliate links.

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