Top Ten Tuesday – Books set ouside the U.S.

Happy Tuesday, everyone! It’s Top Ten Tuesday time! Click the link to see future topics and join in the fun!

This week’s topic: Ten Books Set Outside of the U.S. I’m going to attempt to list books I haven’t discussed in previous posts! Or haven’t discussed multiple times, anyway 🙂

1. The Lost City of Z by David Grann (The Amazon) – This is a non-fiction book about a British explorer who disappeared in the 1920s while searching for an ancient lost city in the Amazon. I thought this book was completely fascinating. It also made me want to avoid the Amazon.

2. We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families by Phillip Gourevitch (Rwanda) – Another non-fiction title, this award-winning book is about the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. The author interviewed survivors and shares their tales. Needless to say, this is not an easy read.

3. City of Thieves by David Benioff (Russia) – I absolutely loved this historical fiction novel. It takes place during WWII as two young men are on a desperate search for eggs. It manages to be both funny and heartbreaking. I really loved these two characters.

4. The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir (England) – Another non-fiction book (I’m sensing a theme here). For a period of time I was really fascinated with Henry VIII and this book goes into pretty great detail ( 650+ pages!)

5. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Botswana) – This is a really fun series about a woman named Precious Romotswe who starts her own detective agency. Each book has a different mystery and the secondary characters are really great too! I think HBO made this into a TV series but I never had the opportunity to see it.

6. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (France and Germany) – This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction last year. The writing is just beautiful. It took me a while to get used to the back-and-forth style but it’s really a great book.

7. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton (England) – This was Kate Morton’s first novel and I really enjoyed it (her other books are also good!) It has a murder mystery, a little romance, an old manor, and a lot of secrets. I highly recommend it!

8. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (England) – Apparently I enjoy novels set in England about family secrets and fancy houses. Unlike Morton’s novel, however, this one has a supernatural aspect to it. I really enjoyed this book. In fact, writing this makes me want to read it again!

9. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (France) – This is technically a children’s book but even adults will enjoy it (I did!) This is an illustrated historical fiction book that was inspired by the true story of filmmaker Georges Melies. If you enjoy old films you will particularly like this, I think. The movie is good as well!

10. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Iran) – This is an autobiographical graphic novel about the author’s childhood in Iran. Even if you don’t typically read graphic novels, give this one a shot! It’s fantastic.

What is your favorite book set outside the U.S.?

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