BetterReads · A reading pathway
World Voices
Beyond the Anglophone canon—epic, romance, and revolt.
Step 1 · Analects
Analects
Confucius
Confucius on learning, ritual, and rule
Step 2 · The Lusiads
The Lusiads
Luís de Camões
Camões’s epic of Portuguese voyages
Step 3 · Home and the World
The Home and the World
Rabindranath Tagore
Tagore on nation, home, and desire
Step 4 · The Village
The Village
Ivan Bunin
Bunin’s Russia before the storm
Step 5 · María
María
Jorge Isaacs
Isaacs’s Colombian romance of loss
Step 6 · Saragossa
Saragossa
Benito Pérez Galdós
Galdós’s siege in the Peninsular War
Step 7 · Jenny
Jenny
Sigrid Undset
Undset’s woman artist in Rome
Step 8 · Wild Carpathians
’Midst the Wild Carpathians
Mór Jókai
Jókai’s Hungarian historical fantasy
Step 9 · Akutagawa
Short Fiction
Akutagawa Ryūnosuke
Spare, unsettling tales from Japan
Step 10 · Lazarillo
The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes
Anonymous
The picaresque born in 1554
Step 11 · Book of Khalid
The Book of Khalid
Ameen Rihani
Rihani’s immigrant picaresque
Step 12 · Slaves of the Padishah
The Slaves of the Padishah
Mór Jókai
Jókai’s Ottoman Hungary—captivity and revolt
