Editors Reads

Topic

World Literature

49 reading guides and book lists curated by the Editors Reads team.

49 posts — page 1 of 3

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Best African Literature: Essential Novels from the Continent

The best African literature — from Things Fall Apart and Half of a Yellow Sun to Americanah and Homegoing. Essential novels from Nigeria, Ghana, and across Africa.

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Best Australian Literature: Essential Novels from Australia

The best Australian literature — from Patrick White's Voss to Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang and Oscar and Lucinda. Essential novels from Australia.

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Best Booker Prize Novels: The Essential Reading List

The best Man Booker Prize-winning novels — from Wolf Hall and The Remains of the Day to Shuggie Bain and The God of Small Things. Winners chosen for literary excellence, not just prize prestige.

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Best Books About Colonialism and Empire: Essential Reading

The best books about colonialism and empire — from Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart to A Passage to India and Half of a Yellow Sun. Essential postcolonial reading.

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Best Books About Diaspora and Exile: Essential Fiction

The best books about diaspora and exile — from Americanah and White Teeth to The Namesake and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Essential fiction.

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Best Books for College Students: Essential Reading for University

The best books for college students — from The Great Gatsby and Beloved to 1984 and Things Fall Apart. Essential reading for university and intellectual life.

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Best Books in Translation: Essential World Literature

The best books in translation — from One Hundred Years of Solitude and Crime and Punishment to My Brilliant Friend and The Name of the Rose. Essential world literature.

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Best Books Set in Africa: Essential Reading Across the Continent

The best books set in Africa — from Things Fall Apart and Half of a Yellow Sun to Disgrace and Americanah. Essential African fiction and literature from across the continent.

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Best Books Set in India: Essential Indian Fiction and Literature

The best books set in India — from Midnight's Children and The God of Small Things to A Passage to India and A Fine Balance. Essential Indian fiction.

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Best Books Set in Japan: Essential Fiction from and About Japan

The best books set in Japan — from Norwegian Wood and Snow Country to Kafka on the Shore and Memoirs of a Geisha. Essential fiction set in Japan.

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Best Books Set in Russia: Essential Russian Fiction and Nonfiction

The best books set in Russia — from Anna Karenina and The Master and Margarita to A Gentleman in Moscow and The Gulag Archipelago. Essential Russian literature.

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Best Canadian Literature: Essential Novels from Canada

The best Canadian literature — from Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace to Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient and Yann Martel's Life of Pi. Essential Canadian novels.

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Best Eastern European Literature: Essential Novels from Central and Eastern Europe

The best Eastern European literature — from The Master and Margarita and The Trial to The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Drive Your Plow. Essential fiction.

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Best French Literature: Essential Novels from France

The best French literature — from Madame Bovary and Germinal to The Stranger and Swann's Way. Essential novels and the canonical reading list for French fiction.

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Best German Literature: Essential Novels and Stories

The best German literature — from The Magic Mountain and The Tin Drum to The Trial and The Metamorphosis. Essential reading from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

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Best Indian Literature: Essential Novels from India

The best Indian literature in English — from The God of Small Things and Midnight's Children to A Fine Balance and The White Tiger. Essential Indian fiction.

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Best Irish Literature: Essential Novels and Books from Ireland

The best Irish literature — from Joyce and Beckett to Sally Rooney and Claire Keegan. Essential novels from Ireland across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

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Best Italian Literature: Essential Novels from Italy

The best Italian literature — from My Brilliant Friend and The Name of the Rose to Germinal. Essential Italian novels and the canonical reading list for Italian fiction.

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Best Japanese Literature: Essential Novels and Stories

The best Japanese literature — from Snow Country and Norwegian Wood to Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Essential reading from Japan.

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Best Korean Literature: Essential Reading from South Korea

The best Korean literature — from The Vegetarian and Human Acts to Pachinko and The White Book. Essential contemporary and classic Korean fiction.

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