See here for methodology. Books are disqualified if less than 50% of them is set in Peru.
| Title | Author | Goodreads raters | LibraryThing owners |
| Bel Canto | Ann Patchett | 305,834 | 13,723 |
| The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure | James Redfield | 118,809 | 7,100 |
| The Bridge of San Luis Rey | Thornton Wilder | 37,164 | 5,058 |
| Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man’s Miraculous Survival | Joe Simpson | 62,315 | 2,763 |
| Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter | Mario Vargas Llosa | 22,064 | 2,788 |
| The Time of the Hero | Mario Vargas Llosa | 25,982 | 1,910 |
| Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time | Mark Adams | 20,164 | 1,172 |
| Conversation in the Cathedral | Mario Vargas Llosa | 10,654 | 1,341 |
These are pretty solid numbers, after a few countries which scored less well.
Slightly controversially, perhaps, I’m allowing the top spot to Bel Canto. Even though it is not explicitly set in Peru, everyone agrees that it’s based on the 1996-97 hostage crisis at the Japanese embassy in Lima, so I think it qualifies. I was a bit surprised to find that the book in second spot, The Celestine Prophecy, is also set in Peru – I don’t feel the slightest inclination to read it – but apparently that’s the case. The others are much less surprising, with the recently departed Mario Vargas Llosa filling a lot of the spots as you go down the table.
I disqualified the following:
- Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, by Tracy Kidder – only two of its five parts is set in Peru
- The Feast of the Goat, by Mario Vargas Llosa – set in the Dominican Republic
- The Bad Girl, by Mario Vargas Llosa – set in various countries
- Inés of My Soul, by Isabel Allende – only one part set in Peru
- The War of the End of the World, by Mario Vargas Llosa – set in Brazil
People seem to have a tendency to slap the ‘Peru’ tag onto books by Mario Vargas Llosa, whether or not his country is represented in the actual content.
Incidentally, RTÉ recently ran a piece about how my great-great-great-grandfather became deputy governor of Huanta province in Peru, back in the 1770s. I have never been to any part of Latin America myself.
Coming next: Saudi Arabia, Madagascar, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon.
Asia: India | China | Indonesia | Pakistan | Bangladesh (revised) | Russia | Japan | Philippines (revised) | Vietnam | Iran | Türkiye | Thailand | Myanmar | South Korea | Iraq | Afghanistan | Yemen | Uzbekistan | Malaysia | Saudi Arabia | Nepal | North Korea | Syria | Sri Lanka | Taiwan | Kazakhstan | Cambodia | Jordan
Americas: USA | Brazil (revised) | Mexico | Colombia | Argentina | Canada | Peru | Venezuela | Guatemala | Ecuador | Bolivia | Haiti
Africa: Nigeria | Ethiopia (revised) | Egypt | DR Congo | Tanzania | South Africa | Kenya | Sudan | Uganda | Algeria | Morocco | Angola | Mozambique | Ghana | Madagascar | Côte d’Ivoire | Cameroon | Niger | Mali | Burkina Faso | Malawi | Zambia | Chad | Somalia | Senegal | Zimbabwe | Guinea | Benin | Rwanda | Burundi | Tunisia | South Sudan
Europe: Russia | Türkiye | Germany | France | UK | Italy | Spain | Poland | Ukraine | Romania | Netherlands | Belgium
Oceania: Australia