21. Bermuda
Bermuda Shorts: The Hidden Side of the Richest Place on Earth, by T.C. Sobey (1995). Discover a Bermuda most tourists never do as author T.C. Sobey moves to the island in search of paradise and finds "nothing is ever as it seems on the surface." He writes, "Living on a remote island twenty-two miles long and barely two wide can do strange things to your head."
22. Kenya
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, by Nicholas Drayson (2008). This gently humorous tale weaves the destinies of bird-lover Mr. Malik; the object of his undeclared passion, Rose Mbikwa; and flashy Harry Khan, who flies in from North America and incites a romantic rivalry for Rose's attentions. Based on a bird-watching challenge between Malik and Khan, Drayson's narrative interlaces details about the birds of Nairobi and environs with equally insightful depictions of the capital's human inhabitants.
23. Eastern Europe
Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey, by Isabel Fonseca (1995). Fonseca spent four nomadic years living with the Roma (as the Gypsies call themselves), moving from Albania to Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Bulgaria to document their traditions.
24. Newfoundland
The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx (1993). After tragedy befalls his unfaithful wife, a desperate father relocates with his children and an elderly aunt to a remote harbor on the coast of Newfoundland. The icy, gray fishing village is filled with a cast of unforgettable townies that paints a picture of life in Canada's far-flung reaches. This novel is a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner.
25. Denmark
Smilla's Sense of Snow, by Peter Hoeg, translation by Tiina Nunnally (1993). Hoeg's protagonist, Smilla, a member of Denmark's Inuit/Greenlander community, confronts the tensions of Danish colonialism and the struggle for Greenlandic cultural identity as she investigates a young boy's death. The novel opens in Copenhagen and journeys through the city's streets to Greenland's Barren Glacier, tracing a mystery plot as chilling as the Arctic snow.
26. Greece
The Colossus of Maroussi, by Henry Miller (1941). Miller captures the spirit and warmth of the resilient Greek people in his story of a wartime journey from Athens to Crete, Corfu, and beyond with his friend Lawrence Durrell, himself the author of Bitter Lemons, a brilliant and funny evocation of Cyprus.
27. Iran
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, by Azar Nafisi (2003). Slip into a secret book club in revolutionary Iran as author and literature professor Nafisi remembers her clandestine discussions of Austen, Nabokov, politics, marriage, and everyday life—weekly pockets of freedom for Nafisi and students, insight into another world for us.
28. Rome
Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown (2000). This fast-paced novel by the author of The Da Vinci Code features intrigue at the Vatican and is largely set in the Holy See and Rome. The descriptions and histories of some of Rome's most famous sites—including Piazza Navona—make it worthwhile.
29. Santiago de Compostela
Travels With My Donkey: One Man and His Ass on a Pilgrimage to Santiago, by Tim Moore (2004). Take an ass named Shinto, a clueless traveler named Tim, and a country named Spain, and what do you get? Tim Moore's hilarious account of his 500-mile (805-kilometer) pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Tim is Britain's Bill Bryson—irreverent, funny, and surprisingly insightful and inspiring.
30. London
Brick Lane, by Monica Ali (2003). A Dickensian cast of characters and a fully realized setting in London's East End marks this Booker-shortlisted debut novel centering around Nazneen, a Bangladeshi girl whose parents arrange for her to be married to a Bengali immigrant in London. Her growing into her sense of self plays out against larger issues of immigration and identity in contemporary Britain.
