Every year I tell myself that I’m going to read more South American books. Every year I don’t. Here are the issues:
- I’m such a mood reader that I’m rubbish at sticking to a plan
- Most of the books in translation tend to be oh so serious. I want my reading to be fun. I don’t read depressing books.
This year I’ve decided to try to focus a bit. I realized last year that I also hardly read any books from Australia or New Zealand and those don’t even have the translation problems. So I decided to try to pick up more books this year from the Southern Hemisphere.
I’ve copied a list of countries from World Atlas.
The Southern Hemisphere
To determine which countries are in the Southern Hemisphere, one must know which countries lie on the equator. These are, in alphabetical order:
- Brazil
- Colombia
- Ecuador
- Gabon
- Indonesia
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Maldives
- Republic of the Congo
- São Tomé and Principe
- Somalia
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo
Oceania
The list of Oceania countries that completely fall within the Southern Hemisphere is extensive.
- American Samoa
- Antarctic and Subantarctic Islands
- Ashmore and Cartier Islands
- Bouvet Island (Norway)
- British Indian Ocean Territory
- Christmas Island
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands
- Cook Islands
- Coral Sea Islands
- Easter Island
- Falkland Islands / Islas Malvinas
- Fiji
- French Polynesia (including Tahiti)
- French Southern and Antarctic Lands
- Heard Island and McDonald Islands
- Jarvis Island
- Kiribati
- Nauru
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Niue
- Norfolk Island
- Papua New Guinea
- Peter I Island
- Pitcairn Islands
- Prince Edward Islands
- Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha
- Salas y Gómez Island
- Samoa
- Solomon Islands
- South Orkney Islands
- South Shetland Islands
- South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
- Tokelau
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Vanuatu
- Wallis and Futuna
Africa
One-third of Africa is located in the Southern Hemisphere, and the list includes these countries:
- Angola
- Botswana
- Burundi
- Comoros
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eswatini
- Gabon
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mauritius
- Mayotte
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Reunion
- Rwanda
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Seychelles
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Tanzania
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
- South America
Most of South America is also in the Southern Hemisphere:
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- Ecuador (including Galapagos Islands)
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Uruguay
To make this a little easier on myself I’m counting books that are set in the country or where the author is from the country. Preferably both would be true but I’m going to take what I can find.Â
I’ve been looking at Goodreads lists for ideas and have already picked up a few books to get this started. Â
Good luck with the challenge!
Great challenge! We should all be reading more translated books for the global perspective (but personally, I find it intimidating). Here’s a great list of Argentinian books, if it helps: https://bookriot.com/argentinian-books-in-translation/
You will find a lot of choices! Just from Nigeria, I can think of quite a few wonderful writers:
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Amos Tutuola
• Chinua Achebe
• Wole Soyinka
• Ben Okri
• Helen Oyeyemi
I hope you find lots of good ones.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I applaud your undertaking! If you’re looking for a good Australian writer, I recommend Jane Harper, especially her most recent novel, The Survivors. Good luck!
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll check it out!
Fantastic idea for a reading challenge! I love reading outside the US and you’re right, most of them are northern hemisphere. I’ll also make an effort to read more southern hemisphere books this year.