Top Ten Tuesday is hosted each week by the Broke and The Bookish.
I’m ready to get back into my Tuesday posts ! I really liked the topic of books that take place outside the United States because they really get us American readers out of our comfort zones.
1. I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak (Australia)
A few years before Markus Zusak’s runaway hit The Book Thief swept the world he published this YA novel about a teen taxi driver who starts receiving some mysterious messages.
2. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Ancient Greece)
This retelling of the story of Achilles through the eyes of his lover Patroclus is about a fictional version of Ancient Greece inhabited with centaurs, gods and goddesses, but I’m still counting it.
3. The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Brazil)
This book is like The Hunger Games, but with a lot more people or color. It’s about a futuristic matriarchal Brazil where every year a teenage boy is crowned the summer prince and then killed at the end of the summer.
4. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Czech Republic )
This is one of my favorite YA series ! It follows an art student who was raised by chimera and discovers an ancient war has been waging right in front of her eyes. Taylor paints the scenery of Prague wonderfully and it works so well with this magical book.
5. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley (Australia)
Another Australian book, but this is one of my favorites. It takes place over 12 hours and follows a group of Australian teens searching for the street artists Shadow and Poet. But what they don’t know is Shadow and Poet are with already with them. I loved this on audio, the accents really brought the story to life.
6. When A Scot Ties A Knot by Tessa Dare (Scottish Highlands )
I am not a big historical romance reader, but I really enjoyed this romance between an woman with social anxiety who creates a fake fiance to avoid her Season and a Scottish captain fresh from the Napoleonic Wars.

7. The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu (Israel)
I’ve stopped and started this book a lot over the years, but it’s an interesting look into the life span of three modern Israeli women.
8. Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (France)
This is the quintessential YA romance about an American girl who is sent to boarding school is Paris and falls for a British boy named Etienne. I like how Perkins didn’t just show the the tourist-y parts of Paris and explores the more eclectic parts of the city.
9. Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius (South Africa)
This is the memoir of a man who suffers from locked in syndrome and lived for 8 years without anyone realizing it. I thought it was interesting that despite Pistorius being South African the computer he uses to talk only comes with an American accent and how much of a sticking point that is for his family.
10. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
I’m sure this is on every bookworm’s list. This was one of the first books I ever read that didn’t take place in America and it was such a culture shock for 9-year-old me because I had never seen that before.
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- Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set Outside The US - July 18, 2016