Exciting News!

So, it’s taken a decade, but I’ve finally finished reading a novel from every country in the world! I’m not sure if anyone has managed to do that before.

When I started what I thought of as my Crazy Project back in 2011, with the multi-volume Chinese classic Journey to the West, I wasn’t even sure if it would be possible to do it, especially after (mid-stream) I decided to limit myself to novels. (This is why I decided to read in population order, China to Vatican City). Was there actually a novel in existence from every country? In the end, a few countries proved very difficult – most of the small Pacific Island countries, Laos, and North Korea, for example. In the end, only one proved impossible to find a published novel from (though I’d read a non-fiction book from there) – Palau. Fortunately, as for the amazing Ann Morgan, local writer Susan Kloulechad came to the rescue with an as-yet unpublished manuscript. Enormous thanks Susan!

It became much more difficult to source books from overseas after Australia slapped a GST on them and many websites, including Amazon (apart from their Australian site), simply refused to ship here any more. Fortunately, the year before I’d gone on a buying spree and had covered most of the bases.

Even though I’ve finished reading down the nations list, I’d like to apologise that I’m several months behind with my posts, but they’re still coming. And I’m still reading! I still have lots of territories and other places to cover – Ladakh, Macau, and Western Sahara are coming up soon.

Have a wonderful new year everyone with lots of exciting reading adventures! Thank you so much for reading and supporting me!

Bradley