When I decided to embark on a quest to read a book written by an author from every country in the world, I assumed there would be an undisputed list of countries in the world and no one would question the countries I am reading.
[cue hysterical laughter]
Turns out there are different opinions about what constitutes a country, and the definition of country is very political and personal, but I’m (currently) following this definition:
The independent country is not only a self-governed nation with its own authorities, but this status needs the international diplomatic recognition of sovereignty.
Thereby, we can say that the total number of independent states in the world today is 197, including 193 fully recognized members of the United Nations and 2 countries, Vatican City and Palestine, have the status of permanent observers in the UN. The other 2 states we include in the list are Kosovo (recognized by 101 UN members) and Taiwan (recognized by 12 UN members and one UN observer).
https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com/all-countries.html
According to this definition, Aruba is not a country. (This has made a lot of people deeply unhappy on TikTok.) It also means that England, Scotland, and Wales are folded together into the single country called the United Kingdom, and places like Puerto Rico are considered territories of the United States, and therefore not official countries.
I find myself torn by some competing thoughts: (1) I’m striving to expand my horizons, so why should I skip countries like Aruba and Wales? but (2) I don’t know how many “countries” miss my current list of 197 countries is already a HUGE undertaking, and (3) if the project gets too big and there end up being 500+ countries, I might hit the panic button and abandon it altogether.
Whew. Deep breaths, Courtney, deep breaths.
For now, to keep this project manageable, I am following this list of 197 countries because I know I can read 197 books in four years. Maybe five years. (Okay, eight years TOPS if I end up reading really long books.) (But I’m trying to avoid books like War and Peace because I would like to finish this project before I die!)
Yet while I want to keep my project “manageable,” my goal is also to expand my horizons. And as I’m writing this on 4/5/2024, I’m only on Belarus, but damn, my soul already feels deeply and profoundly enriched. I AM SO GLAD I PULLED THE TRIGGER ON THIS PROJECT.
Part of me keeps thinking, Fuck it, I’ll just include Wales and Scotland during my first pass. But then part of me thinks, There I go, prioritizing Anglophilic bookworm tendencies. For me, it feels better to stick with the list of 197 countries while recognizing that the definition of country is HIGHLY POLITICAL and places that “feel” like a country are not officially recognized as such for various reasons.
(It should probably be noted that I did not take a single Government/Political Science class in college. I’m a bookworm, not a politician!)
Below, I’m going to keep track of all the “countries” that do not make the list that I’m following, so at some point, I can go back and read authors from those countries as well.
Countries That Do Not Make The List I’m Following*:
- Aruba
- American Samoa
- Bermuda
- England
- Guam
- Northern Ireland
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Puerto Rico
- Scotland
- U.S. Virgin Islands
- Wales
*Many thanks to all the folks on TikTok who are pointing out the countries I have missed! This list is a work-in-progress.