Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set Outside the US

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Check it out!

This week’s theme? Books set outside the US. This was a really fun list to put together. I tried to cover every continent, but I’m missing Antarctica and South America. *furiously adds more books from South America to my TBR*

1. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy. This book is my antidote to the beats. A 20-something American young woman coming of age in 1950s France.
2. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. A family saga intertwined with the history of India with a dash of magical realism. My favorite Salman Rushdie book.
3. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. The story of a friendship between two smart, ambitious girls in 1950s Naples, Italy. I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.
4. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. A coming-of-age graphic memoir set in Iran during the Iranian Revolution.
5. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Anne Shirley is a) an orphan, b) a ginger, and c) CANADIAN! Set in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
6. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Want to spend 1300+ pages reading about the Napoleonic wars and spending A LOT of time in Russia? This book’s for you!
7. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. The Illiad through the relationship of Patroclus and Achilles. Set in Greece and Troy (i.e. Turkey).
8. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. While half of the YA angels-and-monsters romance/adventure is set in a fantasy universe, the other half is set in Prague and Morocco.
9. The Thousand Lives of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. Who knew a book about Dutch traders in 18th century Japan could be so fascinatingly weird?
10. In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. My non-fiction pick – Bill Bryson’s travel memoir in Australia. It’s hilarious and will make you terrified to travel to Australia.