Happy World Book Day, folks! To celebrate, we’ve gone and stuck our heads in many, many books to compile a list of 45 titles that’ll take you right around the globe and through all 7 continents – from a chip shop in Poland to a mega bike ride in Tehran, and from a tale of two sisters in Sydney to a familiar little black dress in New York City.
Happy reading.
Europe
If Holly Golightly went to Paris: The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy
A slow summer on the Italian Riviera, love, and peaches: Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman
The other side to Eat, Pray, Love: Un Amico Italiano: Eat, Pray, Love in Rome by Luca Spaghetti
A Brit moves to Poland to work in a fish and chip shop, ’nuff said: A Chip Shop in Poznan by Ben Aitken
The Italian national character explained by its railways (no, really!): Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo by Tim Parks
Funny tales of a dysfunctional family in 1930s Greece: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
More family tales, this time in remote but enchanting Spain: Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia by Christ Stewart
An in-depth look at a country where prisons are closing due to lack of demand: Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands by Ben Coates
Asia
For those heading to Bangkok for the first time: Another Bangkok: Reflections on a City by Alex Kerr
Heart-warming fiction set in a quaint area of Seoul, South Korea: Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum
First in a series about the super-rich in Singapore that’ll have you snorting: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Get a taste of India through its trains in this bestseller: Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh
If you’re headed to China and short on time: The Shortest History of China by Linda Jaivin
One woman, one bike, one hell of a journey: The Slow Road to Tehran by Rebecca Lowe
A Brit’s experience of living in Japan for ten years: Abroad in Japan by Chris Broad
Australia
Australia as seen through the eyes of a Torres Straight Island family: Butterfly Song by Terri Janke
The story of the interconnecting lives of 3 different women, made famous by the Emmy Award-winning TV series: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
One woman, one pair of walking boots, and a very high step count: Tracks: A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson
A great summer read following two sisters in Sydney: Seeing Other People by Diana Reid
North America
Before true crime, there was Truman Capote in the American Heartland: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Huge parties, a green light, and 1920s New York: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
You’ve seen the film, now read the book: Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
Mid-Atlantic wilderness and North Carolina’s coastal plains: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Birdwatching in Toronto (more interesting than it sounds!): Birds Art Life by Kyo Maclear
Following the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who disappeared in the Alaskan wilderness: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
South America
Split timeline between 1998 and the 1970s in New York and Buenos Aires: On a Night of a Thousand Stars by Andrea Yaryura Clark
First in a series, following a family history in the Golden Age of Rio, Brazil, in the 1920s: The Seven Sisters by Lucina Riley
Recreation of Hiram Bingham’s 1911 journey to Machu Picchu, Peru: Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams
Rio de Janeiro as seen from a native and prize-winning journalist: Dancing with the Devil in the City of God by Juliana Barbassa
A 3-month expedition through Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana: Wild Coast by John Gimlette
Tale of late-requited love set in a fictional version of Cartagena, Colombia: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Africa
A young girl’s strive for education in Nigeria: The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
Coming of age story in Burundi during the Rwandan genocide: Small Country by Gael Faye
Like A Year Under the Tuscan Sun, but set in Casablanca: The Caliph’s House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah
Autobiography covering his early life, coming of age, education, and prison term: Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
First in a series of light-hearted mysteries in Botswana: The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Memoir of a journey from segregated South Africa to late-night TV fame: Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
Suspense and mind games in 1950s Tangier: Tangerine by Christine Mangan
Antarctica
Highly-rated true story of one of the world’s greatest adventures: Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Explore the modern-day life of Antarctic researchers: Antarctica: An Intimate Portrait of the World’s Most Mysterious Continent by Gabrielle Walker
Murder mystery in Lunacy, Alaska: Northern Lights by Nora Roberts
A fictional thriller of endurance and survival set at a research station with a strong dose of the literary: Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor
4,000 mile wilderness journey from the Pacific rainforest to the Alaskan Arctic: The Sun is a Compass by Caroline Van Hemert
Like Eat, Pray, Love or Wild, but set in the Arctic tundra: Dalvi: Six Years in the Arctic Tundra
You’ve got the book, now all you need are the flights
