Patricia Engel’s Infinite Country is an amazing story. It’s packed with so much plotting and detail that it seems like a long book–in a good way! It’s only 191 pages, moves fast, and leaves you feeling like you have been reading about the characters forever. The story involves parallel journeys taken by one family: parents… [Read More]
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Category: Rest of the World
Trinidad: Even in Paradise
The Caribbean is home to a mix of independent and colonial islands. Inhabitants and emigrants have a rich literature; it seems like everyone who has come into contact with one of these places has written an excellent novel. Add Even in Paradise by Elizabeth Nunez to the list. This is a retelling of King Lear…. [Read More]
Paraguay: The News from Paraguay
It often seems to me that Americans don’t think much about South America, even though we have a lot of shared colonial history. Europe is a shorter flight, but going to South America from Chicago involves a lot less jet lag. Paraguay is down there, nestled among Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia. It’s a former Spanish… [Read More]
Vietnam: The Sympathizer and The Committed
Viet Thanh Nguyen wrote two fantastic books about the Vietnam War and its aftermath. The Sympathizer and The Committed. They’ve been made into an HBO series, too. The first book follows an unnamed character from his childhood in Vietnam as the son of a Vietnamese woman and a French priest. He gets a job working… [Read More]
Barbados: The Star Side of Bird Hill
I started this books around the world project during the pandemic, when travel was off limits. I didn’t quite realize just how many countries there were and how hard it would be to find good books from or about some of these places. It’s super easy to find books about England and Ireland written in… [Read More]
