This project has one rule, and it has nothing to do with the number of books.
I do not consider a country “read” when I have read a book about it. I consider it read only when I have heard a voice from within — a local author, writing in a local language.
That is why every book in the register carries a label showing where its voice comes from.
From within — for its own readers.
The author writes in their own language for readers from the same culture; a translation may come later — or may never come at all. Such a book does not stop to explain what everyone around the author already knows. And precisely because of that, it often reveals the most.
On the Afghan shelf, one example is Saduddin Shpoon’s Shayesto: a novel he wrote in Pashto and published himself — with no publisher or editor standing between him and his readers.
From within — looking outward.
The author comes from the country but writes in the language of a former colonial or metropolitan centre, addressing an international readership.
Atiq Rahimi’s The Patience Stone is an example: an Afghan writer who switched to French and went on to win the Prix Goncourt.
From outside.
A journalist, historian, traveller or diplomat — the perspective of a visitor.
Åsne Seierstad’s The Bookseller of Kabul: five months spent living with another family, followed by that family eventually answering with a book of its own.
These labels are not judgments of quality.
A book written from outside can sometimes be more accurate than one written by a local author. But a shelf made up entirely of such books may ultimately tell you more about those looking at the country than about the country itself.
The register makes that visible at a glance.
This is a living register: it is updated continuously, in real time, as I read, add new books and move through the project. So rather than publishing separate reading lists, I will keep this one shelf permanently up to date.
And it is always one click away: you can access the register at any time through “The Shelf” in the navigation bar at the top of the site.