Reading is one of the easiest ways to explore different worlds. If you’re looking for something more grounded than Narnia or Mordor, fiction can be a portal to a real-life culture outside your own. For an idea of where to start, check out the highest-rated books in over 130 countries in the map below.
To paint a diverse picture of popular world literature, WordFinderX limited each country’s top books to works by local authors. They then analyzed user ratings from Goodreads to determine the most popular books by nationality across the globe.
In the U.S., American fantasy author Brandon Sanderson claims the most beloved title. His novel Words of Radiance received a 4.76 star rating from the book recommendation site. Elsewhere in North America, Los Fantasmas De Fernando by Jaime Alfonso Sandoval is the top book in Mexico with 4.63 stars, and Kusum by Michel Jean wins over Canadian readers with 4.61 stars.
Svědectví o životě v KLDR (Witnessing Life in the DPRK) by Czech author Nina Špitálníková is the highest-rated book not just in the Czech Repiblic, but in the world. The book detailing the experiences of North Korean refugees boasts a 4.79 star rating. You can click to expand the map above and see the rest of the most popular books from around the world.
Even if you have travel plans this summer, an escape between the covers of a good book is essential. Here are nine worldly titles to indulge your wanderlust.
This article was originally published on www.mentalfloss.com as The Highest-Rated Book in Each Country, Mapped.
