Read Around North America Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in North America.
Best books from North America (2024)
2011.
The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Ned Beaumont is a tall, thin, moustache-wearing, TB-ridden, drinking, gambling, hanger-on to the political boss of a corrupt Eastern city. Nevertheless, like every Hammett hero (and like Hammett himself), he has an unbreakable, if idiosyncratic, moral code. Ned's boss wants to better himself with a thoroughbred senator's daughter; but does he want it badly enough to commit murder? If he's innocent, who wants him in the frame? Beaumont must find out.
2012.
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
First published in 1905, THE HOUSE OF MIRTH shocked the New York society it so deftly chronicles, portraying the moral, social and economic restraints on a woman who dared to claim the privileges of marriage without assuming the responsibilities. Lily Bart, beautiful, witty and sophisticated, is accepted by 'old money' and courted by the growing tribe of nouveaux riches. But as she nears thirty, her foothold becomes precarious; a poor girl with expensive tastes, she needs a husband to preserve her social standing and to maintain her in the luxury she has come to expect. Whilst many have sought... continue
2013.
A Time to Kill by John Grisham EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • John Grisham’s first novel is a searing courtroom drama that probes the savage depths of racial violence and introduced the world to fearless lawyer Jake Brigance. “John Grisham may well be the best American storyteller writing today.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer The life of a ten-year-old black girl is shattered by two drunken and remorseless white men. The mostly white town of Clanton in Ford County, Mississippi, reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime—until the girl’s father acquires an assault rifle and takes justice into his own hands. For ten days, ... continue
2014.
The Jungle : The Uncensored Original Edition by Upton Sinclair EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
For nearly a century, the original version of Upton Sinclair's classic novel has remained almost entirely unknown. When it was published in serial form in 1905, it was a full third longer than the censored, commercial edition published in book form the following year. That expurgated commercial edition edited out much of the ethnic flavor of the original, as well as some of the goriest descriptions of the meat-packing industry and much of Sinclair's most pointed social and political commentary. The text of this new edition is as it appeared in the original uncensored edition of 1905. It contai... continue
2015.
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • The renowned novel from crime fiction master Raymond Chandler, with the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times), Philip Marlowe • Featuring the iconic character that inspired the film Marlowe, starring Liam Neeson. In noir master Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye, Philip Marlowe befriends a down on his luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, whom he divorced and remarried and who ends up dead. And now Lennox is on the lam and t... continue
2016.
The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
The Man with the Golden Arm is Nelson Algren's most powerful and enduring work. On the 50th anniversary of its publication in November 1949, for which Algren was honored with the first National Book Award (which he received from none other than Eleanor Roosevelt at a ceremony in March 1950), Seven Stories is proud to release the first critical edition of an Algren work. A novel of rare genius, The Man with the Golden Arm describes the dissolution of a card-dealing WWII veteran named Frankie Machine, caught in the act of slowly cutting his own heart into wafer-thin slices. For Frankie, a murder... continue
2017.
Crimson by Niviaq Korneliussen EN
Country: North America / 
Greenland
Greenland
Description:
'Effortlessly cool, funny yet sad, breezy but thoughtful - this is an edgy and unputdownable work of modern literature' Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti 'Crimson is written with immense courage - there's no faking the feeling of honesty on each page. It is a brave novel reminiscent of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting' Laline Paull, author of The Bees The island has run out of oxygen. The island is swollen. The island is rotten. The island has taken my beloved from me. The island is a Greenlander. It's the fault of the Greenlander. In Nuuk, Greenland . . . Fia breaks up with her long-term boyfriend an... continue
2018.
La vallée des fleurs by Niviaq Korneliussen FR
Country: North America / Greenland
Greenland
Description:
Elle vit à Nuuk, la capitale du Groenland. Elle est inuite, jeune, moderne et pleine d'humour. Elle est amoureuse de sa copine. Elle a été acceptée à l'Université d'Aarhus au Danemark et va enfin sortir du nid familial. Mais l'arrivée sur le continent réveille en elle une souffrance muette, une fêlure qui tue lentement le goût de vivre. Un événement tragique dans sa belle-famille la rappelle opportunément dans l'est du Groenland, au pied de la Vallée des Fleurs où, contre toute attente, la beauté des montagnes déclenche chez elle le début d'une rupture radicale. Elle, qui enfant avait sauté d'... continue
2019.
Last Night in Nuuk by Niviaq Korneliussen EN
Country: North America / Greenland
Greenland
Description:
Five friends attempt to find themselves in the nightlife of Greenland’s capital city in this “audacious and honest, sorrowful and triumphant” debut novel (NPR). In a collection of blurry nights and bleary mornings after, Greenlandic author Niviaq Korneliussen weaves together the coming of age of five young people in the city of Nuuk. Fia has recently sworn off men only to discover that the woman she wants is unavailable. Her brother Inuk is forced to escape Greenland after being implicated in a political scandal. Arnaq struggles to cope with her past as her hard-partying life spirals out of co... continue
2020.
Blomsterdalen by Niviaq Korneliussen NO
Country: North America / Greenland
Greenland
Description:
HVAD ER MIT NAVN? JEG HAR IKKE ET NAVN, JEG ER BARE ET TAL. Hun oplevede det første selvmord, da hun var tretten. Selv vil hun begraves mellem de høje fjelde i den østgrønlandske by Tasiilaq, hvor de navnløse grave på kirkegården i Blomsterdalen er dækket med blå, røde og pink plastikblomster, der skriger i den rene sne. Hun har en kæreste, hun elsker, en omsorgsfuld familie, og hun er lige kommet ind på universitetet i Aarhus. Verden står åben, men intet føles rigtigt, og gradvist begynder verden at snævre sig ind omkring hende, og en nedtælling begynder. Blomsterdalen er en kuldslået og fand... continue