My Round the World trip through books begins!

Welcome to my journey!
This is the first post on a blog that will chart my journey on a Round the World trip through literature... which commences May 22nd 2009.
I am travelling the globe through literature (fiction and narrative non-fiction), starting in London, England.

I have mapped out a route around the world, as well as a book (or books for larger countries) to represent each nation that I am travelling to.

Just so you know, my constraints are:
1) Book must be fiction or narrative non-fiction (i.e. not a Lonely Planet-type Travel Guide) written by a native-born author* and set in the country of origin;
2) Book must not have been written, or be set, any earlier than 1990;
3) Books must be translated into English (or French at a push) - sorry, was never that good at languages...
4) Travel from one country / continent to another must be realistic (i.e. from one neighbouring country to another - such as France to Spain - or between landmasses which have an actual air/shipping route - e.g. Australia to Antarctica to Argentina:- a planned part of my trip much later on);
5) Books must be reasonably representative of the country - with a certain degree of cultural / social representation etc - even if this is as a background to a wider plot... what I am after is a sense of the country in question in recent times...

* where absolutely necessary I will go with a suitable non-native author.

Well, there you go, just to give you an example:- my first port of call will be in my native England. My first choice was "Salaam Brick Lane" - a narrative non-fiction by a public-school-educated Londoner who returned from 10 years abroad to live in the modern East End, and so incorporating an interesting breadth of class, as well as cultural, diversity in contemporary England.

Any further comments / suggestions more than welcome - either on this blog or at: contact@readingtheworld.co.uk