My Vicarity Project

I’m on the cusp of finishing a global cooking project where I cook one dish from every country in the world, plus a few others (Greenland, for example, which is technically part of Denmark, but which has its own cultural cuisine). I’ve had so much fun with the project that I’m sad to see it go, and I’ve been trying to think of ways I can continue travelling vicariously. Perhaps unsurprising to most people who know me, I landed on reading. So, my new project is to read a book from the same list of countries I used last year for my cooking project. I will be posting summaries, reviews/responses, and other tidbits after I finish each book. I’m also going to read a few folk stories from each country, just to familiarize myself with some traditional storytelling and characters that people from that country might know.

How will I choose the books, you ask?

First of all, I am not the first person to do this, or even to document doing it. Ann Morgan, who is based in the UK, did it first and published a book about it. I haven’t read the book, but I have read her blog, and the list of books she provides on that blog has been extremely valuable for finding works from some of the smaller countries and especially countries whose literature has not been widely translated into English. You can read her blog here: https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/

Criterion 1:

I will not be using the same set of criteria as Ms. Morgan, although mine is similar. As much as possible, I want to read books by people who actually grew up in the country. So, for example, there are many examples of authors whose families fled their native country and they are writing great books about their parents’/grandparents’ homeland, but they were not born there themselves, did not grow up there and do not currently live there. Or, there are plenty of authors who were born in a country, but left when they were very young and grew up somewhere else. One day, I want to read the books they have written! But my goal with this project is to find people whose formative years were spent living in their country of origin. For some of the smaller countries, where only one book has ever been translated into English, this might not be possible. Fine. I’m happy to read what’s available! But, for countries where I get my choice of books, I want to choose authors who grew up in the country in question. In cases of countries with a colonial history, I am attempting to find indigenous authors.

Criterion 2:

As much as possible, I would like the setting of the book to be the country of origin.

Criterion 3:

I want to read novels or short stories, not poetry, autobiographies or memoirs. This will no doubt prove difficult, and I imagine that I will end up reading some poetry or memoirs just because of a lack of availability of other genres. I am fine with that, but my preference is for fictional prose.

Criterion 4:

I am not restricting myself to contemporary authors, and I reserve the right to use this project as an excuse to read things I’ve been meaning to read, but have never gotten around to (I’m looking at you, Don Quixote!). That being said, I’ve already made the preliminary list of books (although it is subject to change), and most of them are contemporary novels.

I am, however, restricting myself to books I have never read before. No re-reading!

Criterion 5:

Whenever possible, I have chosen a different book than Ms. Morgan did. I have been conscientious about cross-checking against her list and finding books and authors to add to it rather than just copying her work. I have the benefit of doing my project six years later, so there are six years’ worth of new books and new translations to choose from. In some cases, however, the pickings are slim or the cost of obtaining a book may be prohibitive, so there will be some overlap. Again, my task was made immensely easier by her extensive groundwork!

The books/countries will not appear in any particular order. I’m going to follow the same order as my cooking project list, which was loosely organized around national holidays.

First up: Switzerland!