Looking for a way to expand your horizons without actually leaving your flat? We hear ya. International travel isn’t on the cards for a lot of us at the moment, thanks to travel restrictions, quarantines and general 2020 anxiety. But there are still ways to explore our planet without getting on a plane.
This literary world map – a bookshelf made up of the most popular books set in (almost) every country on Earth – is a good place to start. It’s been compiled using Goodreads user ratings and reviews, and makes for a fascinating tour around the globe.
So where to start? 'The Help’ by Katherine Stockett about racial tensions in 1960s Mississippi is the most popular book set in the USA, while ‘Anne of Green Gables’ is the most loved book set in Canada.
Fancy a trip to tropical Costa Rica? Pick up ‘Jurassic Park’. Just bear in mind that the dinos and Isla Nebula are fictional, okay?
‘The Fault in Our Stars’ by John Green is the most popular book set in the Netherlands, Europe and, well, the world actually. The YA novel is about a love story between teenage cancer patients, and is quite the tearjerker.
As for England, it’s all about Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’, while Scotland stars in the first Harry Potter book.
The most popular book set in the Middle East and Central Asia is Afghanistan-set ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khaled Hosseini. Japan’s ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ is the most loved novel set in the East of Asia and Oceania, while the most popular book with an African setting is ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho, which is set in Morocco.
There are more great, atmospheric novels on the world map, from Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ to ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ and ‘Life of Pi’. That’s definitely enough to keep us and our brains busy until we’re ready to pack our suitcases IRL.
This literary data was pulled together by NetCredit.
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