Reading the World: How I Read a Book from Every Country

'A brilliant, unlikely book' Spectator

How can we celebrate, challenge and change our remarkable world?

In 2012, the world arrived in London for the Olympics...and Ann Morgan went out to meet it. She read her way around all the globe's 196 independent countries (plus one extra), sampling one book from every nation. It wasn't easy. Many languages have next to nothing translated into English; there are tiny, tucked-away places where very little is written down; some governments don't like to let works of art escape their borders.

Using Morgan's own quest as a starting point, Reading the World explores the vital questions of our time and how reading across borders might just help us answer them.

'Revelatory... While Morgan's research has a daunting range...there is a simple message: reading is a social activity, and we ought to share books across boundaries' Financial Times


A wonderful book ― Red

An enjoyable book that brings a world of literature into our homes ― Daily Telegraph

A great way into literature in translation ― Red Online

A truly inspiring read ― Lady

If you, like me, are a fan of fiction in translation then I would suggest this is a must-read, or at the very least a really-should-read ― Me And My Big Mouth (Blog)