Read Around North America Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in North America.
Best books from North America (1210)
1031.
Firmin : Adventures of a Metropolitcan Lowlife by Sam Savage EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
This is a novel told through the voice of a rat. Firmin is born in the basement of a ramshackle old bookstore but because he is the runt of the litter, he is forced to compete for food and ends up chewing on the books that surround him. Firmin soon realizes his source of nourishment has endowed him with the ability to read and this discovery fills him with an insatiable hunger for literature and a very unratlike sense of the world and his place in it. As Firmin navigates the shadowy streets of his decaying area, looking for understanding, his excitement, loneliness, fear, and self-consciousnes... continue
1032.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
The "brilliant, funny, meaningful novel" (The New Yorker) that established J. D. Salinger as a leading voice in American literature--and that has instilled in millions of readers around the world a lifelong love of books. "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient chi... continue
1033.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
The terrifyingly prophetic novel of a post-literate future... Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the source of all discord and unhappiness, the printed book.
1034.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Lyman Frank Baum EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
After a cyclone transports her to the land of Oz, Dorothy must seek out the great wizard in order to return to Kansas.
1035.
The Last Jew : A Novel of The Spanish Inquisition by Noah Gordon EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
In the year 1492, the Inquisition has all of Spain in its grip. After centuries of pogrom-like riots encouraged by the Church, the Jews - who have been an important part of Spanish life since the days of the Romans - are expelled from the country by royal edict. Many who wish to remain are intimidated by Church and Crown and become Catholics, but several hundred thousand choose to retain their religion and depart; given little time to flee, some perish even before they can escape from Spain. Yonah Toledano, the 15-year-old son of a celebrated Spanish silversmith, has seen his father and brothe... continue
1036.
The March of Folly : From Troy to Vietnam by Barbara W. Tuchman EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Barbara W. Tuchman, author of the World War I masterpiece The Guns of August, grapples with her boldest subject: the pervasive presence, through the ages, of failure, mismanagement, and delusion in government. Drawing on a comprehensive array of examples, from Montezuma’s senseless surrender of his empire in 1520 to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Barbara W. Tuchman defines folly as the pursuit by government of policies contrary to their own interests, despite the availability of feasible alternatives. In brilliant detail, Tuchman illuminates four decisive turn... continue
1037.
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The startling true history of how one extraordinary man from a remote corner of the world created an empire that led the world into the modern age—by the author featured in Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan. The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-five years than the Romans did in four hundred. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization. Vastly more progressive than his European or Asian counterparts, Gengh... continue
1038.
From Time Immemorial : The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict Over Palestine by Joan Peters EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
This book is a study of the basic reasons for the Arab-Jewish feud and supports the author's thesis that the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who had lived in what became Israel in 1948 is not the reason for the conflict which has now been going on for years.
1039.
Everything Is Illuminated : A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man -- also named Jonathan Safran Foer -- sets out to find the woman who may or may not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war; an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior; and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.
1040.
The End is Always Near : Apocalyptic Moments from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses by Dan Carlin EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Connects the past and future in fascinating and colourful ways, exploring a question that has hung over humanity like the Sword of Damocles from the collapse of the bronze age to the nuclear era - that of human survival