Around the World in 80,000 pages
I thought my Round the World in 65(ish) Novels challenge would have sated my curiosity about world literature, but actually, it has only my appetite. I think it is now fair to say that world literature is a passion of mine. 1 book per country is not enough to get a handle on that nationality. And so I have set myself a new bigger, better challenge: to read my way Around the World in 80,000 pages.
Starting at the centre of the universe (Shropshire) I shall read books that are no further apart in miles than the books have pages. For example, if my first book is 300 pages long, then the setting for my second book can be no more than 300 miles away. In this way, I will circumnavigate the globe. I've set myself the following rules:
- 1 page per mile.
- Pages may be carried over - for example, if I travel only 250 miles after reading a 300-page book, I will have 50 pages in the tank which can be used at a later point (this will be necessary for some legs, for example crossing the Pacific).
- Start and finish in Bridgnorth, England.
- Each country must be represented by a minimum of two books.
- Priority will be given to authors also from that area, though sometimes this might need to be a bit lax.
- Contemporary literary fiction will be interspersed with genre fiction, classics and a small amount of non-fiction.
- 7 checkpoints must be visited along the way.
- A minimum of 80,000 pages must be read before finishing (as the crow flies, the route is just over 41k miles, but I reckon with pottering around a circuitous route it'll easily end up being 80k).
- For every two books that are part of the challenge, a third may be read which is off topic (to save getting bored with books from a certain location - Canada, I'm looking at you here) but these won't count towards page totals).
I'm also going to spread my remit beyond just books. Whilst metaphorically in the area I will look at other aspects of the culture, notably music, with each book paired with a suitable song. But also food, probably beer as well, and I'm a sucker for a good cup of tea.
The checkpoints are as follows (my ETAs are based on an average reading rate of 36.2 pages per day, the same as my last challenge):
Utqiaġvik - Formerly known as Barrow and found in Alaska, this is the northernmost town in the Americas. ETA: 17th Nov 2026.
Tierra del Fuego - Pretty much as far south as you can go in the Americas. This is the longest leg as the crow flies, at just a smidgen under 10k miles. ETA: 23rd December 2028.
Perth - In Western Australia. I deliberately set the checkpoint as far west as I could in the antipodes, as there is so much great literature here, I wanted the excuse to read as much of it as possible. ETA: 19th May 2030.
Vladivostok - I was tempted to go further north, but Siberia is distinctly lacking in novels. I reckon this should be far enough to get a feel for the region. ETA: 10th June 2031.
Johannesburg - All the way across Asia and down through Africa. In a straight line this is slightly less than the second leg, but will probably come in longer - Google Maps makes the journey 12,676 miles (taking 286 hours without traffic). ETA: 12th April 2033.
Palos de la Frontera - A port city in Spain. From where Christopher Columbus set sail to the Americas. ETA: 7th May 2034.
Istanbul - A quick trek across Europe, to the very edge of Asia. ETA: 7th October 2034.
And the shortest leg of the trip is home, back to Bridgnorth, 1669 miles, arriving just after tea on 16th February 2035.
But before I start properly, I have a prologue of kinds planned, three books with a global setting and one that will inform the philosophy of the journey, these won't count towards my miles.
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