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For mysterious reasons, I don't want to think about the USA right now. Here are 10 brilliant books that are set elsewhere.
Books Set Outside The USA
Anne Of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Children's Classic
Set in Canada
Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.
Why I recommend it: I understand why so many bookworms list Anne Of Green Gables as a childhood favorite. This book will make you smile. The characters are adorable. I like the contrast between Anne's imagination and the Cuthberts' work ethic. Anne finds the most creative ways to get in trouble, but her adoptive parents never stop loving her. She always has a safe place with them.
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All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Historical Fiction
Set in France / Germany
Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.
In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.
Why I recommend it: My copy is jam-packed with pink sticky notes because I love the characters, the writing style, the nonlinear structure, the way the chapters are divided, everything. This book is a chunker (over 500 pages), but I read 300 pages in one day because I needed to know what happened next. Whenever I wasn’t reading the book, I was thinking about it. It’s been a long time since a book has had that kind of grip on my imagination.
I want to rave about everything, but there are too many spoilers. I guess I can say that my favorite element of the story is the jewel. Mixing the legend of the jewel with a WWII battle is pure genius. According to the legend, whoever holds the jewel cannot die. The book shows the lengths people will go to in order to save themselves (and others). Deep down, the characters know that magic and legends are wishful thinking, but there’s always a tiny chance they could be real, right?
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Literary Fiction
Set in Japan
Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in the real world, so when she takes on a job in a convenience store while at university, they are delighted for her. For her part, in the convenience store she finds a predictable world mandated by the store manual, which dictates how the workers should act and what they should say, and she copies her coworkers’ style of dress and speech patterns so that she can play the part of a normal person.
However, eighteen years later, at age 36, she is still in the same job, has never had a boyfriend, and has only few friends. She feels comfortable in her life, but is aware that she is not living up to society’s expectations and causing her family to worry about her. When a similarly alienated but cynical and bitter young man comes to work in the store, he will upset Keiko’s contented stasis—but will it be for the better?
Why I recommend it: This is a tiny book that leaves a big impression. I don't think I'll forget Keiko anytime soon. She's one of those people who exist at the fringes of society and are just trying to mind their own business. Unfortunately, society is not great at leaving people alone.
Convenience Store Woman is relatable. It's about the pressure that people face to conform. We're expected to get a good job, get married, and have children. Keiko has her own ways of meeting society's demands, and they're definitely not what her family expects. The book highlights how ridiculous it is to "fix" people who aren't hurting anyone and who just want to live life on their own terms.
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DEAD MOUNTAIN: THE UNTOLD TRUE STORY OF THE DYATLOV PASS INCIDENT BY DONNIE EICHAR
Historical Mystery Nonfiction
Set in Russia
In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Eerie aspects of the incident—unexplained violent injuries, signs that they cut open and fled the tent without proper clothing or shoes, a strange final photograph taken by one of the hikers, and elevated levels of radiation found on some of their clothes—have led to decades of speculation over what really happened. This gripping work of literary nonfiction delves into the mystery through unprecedented access to the hikers' own journals and photographs, rarely seen government records, dozens of interviews, and the author's retracing of the hikers' fateful journey in the Russian winter.
Why I recommend it: A few years ago, I became obsessed with the Dyatlov Pass incident and read everything I could find on the internet about it. It's a freakin' terrifying mystery!
This book is the author's attempt to solve the mystery. He mixes the hikers' photos and journal entries with police reports and interviews. It's a short book, and it feels very personal. You really start to care about the young hikers. Even though I already knew the theories about what happened to them, I couldn't put the book down. If you like unsolved mysteries or wilderness disaster stories, you need to read this one. I don't want to say anymore because I don't want to spoil the mystery for you.
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ENDURANCE: SHACKLETON’S INCREDIBLE VOYAGE BY ALFRED LANSING
History Nonfiction
Set in Antarctica
In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton boarded the Endurance and became locked in an island of ice. Thus began the legendary ordeal of Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men. When their ship was finally crushed between two ice floes, they attempted a near-impossible journey over 850 miles of the South Atlantic's heaviest seas to the closest outpost of civilization.
In Endurance, the definitive account of Ernest Shackleton's fateful trip, Alfred Lansing brilliantly narrates the harrowing and miraculous voyage that has defined heroism for the modern age.
Why I recommend it: If you enjoy real-life snow survival stories, you need to read this one. It’s a classic, and it’s stunning. Shackleton and his crew were complete badasses. Everything went wrong on their mission, and they mostly just shrugged and rolled with it. I would have panicked and died.
This book was first published in 1959. The author conducted extensive interviews with the surviving members of Shackleton's crew. He also had access to the journals kept by the explorers. It’s interesting to read a detailed firsthand account of events that happened so long ago. Even though I knew Shackleton’s story before I started the book, I was on the edge of my seat. There’s so much tension!
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Life Of Pi by Yann Martel
Adventure Fiction
Set in the Pacific Ocean
The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.
The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea.
Why I recommend it: That plot twist at the end. It was so shocking that I still remember where I was when I read it. I thought about it for days. This book is a work of art. It's beautifully written with a harrowing ocean survival plot. It's the type of book you give to your friends and say, "You have to read this right now!"
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My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
Literary Fiction
Set in Sweden
Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.
When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.
Why I recommend it: The best part of this book is how the characters are developed. In the beginning, Elsa lives in a fairytale world. Everything is over-the-top. Her grandmother is a manic hero who causes mayhem but somehow always manages to save the day. Elsa’s apartment building is inhabited by monsters and other fantasy creatures. Some of the creatures are scary, some are funny, and others are just confusing.
PROJECT HAIL MARY BY ANDY WEIR
Science Fiction
Set in space
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.
Or does he?
Why I recommend it: Read this book if you like plot twists because there are a lot of them. It's actually an impossible book to review because there are so many twists. Everything I want to say is a spoiler! The characters handle each twist with humor and optimism. It's kind of inspirational. These people are very, very determined to live. Every time they start to feel hopeless, they refocus and try a different way of solving their problems. Nothing is easy in space!
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Stay With Me by
Yejide and Akin have been married since they fell in love at university. Though many expected Akin to take several wives, he and Yejide have always agreed: polygamy is not for them. But four years into their marriage—after consulting fertility doctors and healers, trying strange teas and unlikely cures—Yejide is not pregnant. She assumes she still has time—until her family arrives on her doorstep with a young woman they introduce as Akin's second wife. Furious, shocked, and livid with jealousy, Yejide knows the only way to save her marriage is to get pregnant, which, finally, she does—but at a cost far greater than she could have dared to imagine.
Why I recommend it: Have you ever read a book that left your brain empty? I don’t have words to describe how I felt about this novel. All that’s in my head right now is a high-pitched screech. I never thought I’d be riveted by a book about marriage and the pressure that society puts on couples to have children, but that’s what happened. I was listening to the audiobook at work and getting irritated when I had to pause the book for job stuff. I needed to know what happened next! I was invested in Yejide’s story. She badly wants to be a mother, but everything keeps going wrong. The problems just make her more and more desperate. It's a book I'll never forget.
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The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett
Historical Fiction
Set in England
Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time: the twelfth century; the place: feudal England; and the subject: the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape.
Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters. Into their dreams, their labors, and their loves. Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life.
The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.
Why I recommend it: This is one of the biggest books I've ever conquered. Looking at it gave me chest pains because I knew it was a 976-page brick about building a cathedral. Yes, building a cathedral. How tedious can you get? It sounds miserable! I fully expected to read a few hundred pages and then quietly jam the book into the library return slot. (Can it even fit in the slot? Would it cause a minor earthquake when it hit the floor?)
But. Um. I read the whole book. All 976 pages. And I accidentally loved it? Seriously. This beast consumed my life for twenty-one days. I couldn't leave it alone. I miss lugging it around like a morbidly obese house cat.
It's a book about building a cathedral in the Middle Ages. I promise it doesn't suck! Actually, it's a lot like A Game of Thrones without dragons and zombies. It starts with a mason searching for a job and then keeps sprawling outward until it's about a whole town. There are a ton of characters, but I never got confused because they're developed beautifully. They have distinctive personalities and goals. I was never mad about switching perspectives because I was invested in this town. I wanted to be in everybody's business.
For a giant book, the pacing moves quickly, and there's a new plot twist every few chapters. I can tell that the author was originally a thriller writer. Nothing goes right for these characters.
I can’t wait for the Project Hail Mary film next month!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see how Project Hail Mary will be adapted. The previews all look really promising!
ReplyDeleteDead Mountain looks good!!
ReplyDeleteI read a lot of books set outside the US - sometimes I feel like half the books I read are set in England, ha!
ReplyDeleteI just remembered THE CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN this morning after making my list last night. It really informed me about Japanese cultural phenomenons.
ReplyDelete