Read The WORLD by Pushpinder Khaneka

8th October 2025

Read the World by Pushpinder Khaneka. A Country-by-Country Guide to the best Books on Africa, Asia and Latin America.

This is an updated edition of the collected titles that was first published, I believe, in 2018, with a second edition in 2020. The aim is to introduce readers to countries through books, thus providing a window into the soul, history and culture of a place. The books are a mix of genres, all carefully chosen to lift the lid on the featured continents.

With parts of the world currently in tumult, reading a book can so often inform and offer a backstory to unfolding events, and the author’s choice of titles in this collection offers relevance and congruity. Both native and indigenous authors are featured as well as writers from beyond a country’s borders, all offering different and informed perspectives. The focus is mainly on books that will inform, with a selection of novels to add an extra and colourful dimension.

“Read The World can be a gateway  to your literary and historical adventures for years to come” (Global Justice Now)

For each country there are curated titles with a “Read On” section, which highlights further books to offer insight for a deeper immersion.

New countries and titles have been added and Yemen, given the issues in that country, is a timely inclusion.

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As an aside, among the fiction choices, I am glad to see the curated titles feature some of my personal favourites, including A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and In The Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner. And of course The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng and The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh and many more. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka – published in 2022, and Brotherless Night by W Ganeshananthan (2023) are great contemporary additions for Sri Lanka.

The author is a widely travelled journalist who has worked in Britain and abroad for, among others, the Guardian, the Observer, the Independent, ITN and ABC Radio. He was deputy editor of the Guardian Weekly from 1994-2003.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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