Comments on Countries - page 1

I know it's Netherland and it should be Netherlands....may delete it at some point but the list is so sparse right now I wanted it to be on there.

Are nationalities okay? Such as "American Pastoral" or "The English Patient"

Uh, for the purposes of this list - what about 1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England?

"Seven Years in Tibet" and "Stephen Fry in America" aren't fiction.

Deseret, Pondicherry, Heligoland and the Falklands aren't countries.

Should these be removed from the list?

Ben wrote: "Are nationalities okay? Such as "American Pastoral" or "The English Patient""

No.

Susanna wrote: "Uh, for the purposes of this list - what about 1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England?"

Nein.

Michael wrote: ""Seven Years in Tibet" isn't fiction.
Deseret, Pondicherry, Heligoland and the Falklands aren't countries.

Should these be removed from the list?"

Yes, I removed.

I'm letting Siberia stay on there because it was the Siberian Khanate (or Khanate of Sibir) before Russia took it over.

You removed Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the King's of Britain", and I can understand why, but I will make a plea (once only - I will bow to your final decision) for it to be re-instated: While it was presented as "history" upon first publication, it is generally accepted that Geoffrey invented much of the content, even though heavily based upon existing legend. I think it could be argued as an early example of historical fiction - what do you think?

I'm sympathetic...to a point....but even though it's not accurate history, its writer still intended it to be seen as history, part of the historical record. I don't want to get into arguments about genre flexibility. So it had to go. Sorry. Maybe you could start a pseudohistory list?

Ooh, that could be a fun list...

Lobstergirl wrote: "I'm sympathetic...to a point....but even though it's not accurate history, its writer still intended it to be seen as history, part of the historical record. I don't want to get into arguments abo..."

:-)

Removed: Star of the Sea
(not a country)
Murder In Chinatown
(the country must be a discrete word, not a composite word)
To the Finland Station
(nonfiction)

Is Basque a country? I thought the country was called "Basque Country" and Basque was the adjective.

Basque is not a country, though they would like to be, and Basque separatists agitate against the Spanish government.

I think I allowed Hawaii to stay on the list because it was a kingdom and a republic before becoming a state. Could we allow "Basque" under the same loophole? My concern is more that it's an adjective, than that it's not a recognized nation-state.

There were medieval kingdoms and principalities with Basque populations (chiefly Vasconia, later Gascony, and Navarra), but they were not named "Basque," which, as you say, is an adjective.

I think it has to go then.

I agree

Yeah, I think so.

Haha, non-Americans will have to consider whether or not America counts as a country name. Sorry, couldn't help myself. But I was reading something about the 10 most **** in America and my friend comes up and asks why they had only things in the U.S.A. She's got a point. :P

Timbuktu removed, it's a town.

Please no adjective forms of countries - American, Jamaican, Russian, Pakistani, Indian, etc.! These will be removed.

On the verge of disqualifying straplines, as they seem to be taking over.

No more straplines!

#72 - Rivers of London; London is a city, not a country.

Deleted.

Lobstergirl wrote: "I know it's Netherland and it should be Netherlands....may delete it at some point but the list is so sparse right now I wanted it to be on there."

How about 'Holland'? It's quite commonly used for the Netherlands....

How about #14: Russka: The Novel of Russia?

'Straplines' is not a very familiar word to me, being Dutch, so I might be wrong here.

Holland is fine. Russka is okay because I assume Russka is another name for Russia, and because it comes before the strapline. However "Vladimir: A Novel of Russia" would not be acceptable.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Holland is fine. Russka is okay because I assume Russka is another name for Russia, and because it comes before the strapline. However "Vladimir: A Novel of Russia" would not be acceptable."

"Russka" means 'Russian', as far as I know, which is why I was wondering about the meaning of 'straplines' :-).

The strapline is what comes after the hyphen. It was a new word for me, too. I learned it from GR member Bettie.

Lobstergirl wrote: "The strapline is what comes after the hyphen... "

Just after a hyphen or also after a (semi) colon?

I looked up 'straplines' in my new English-Dutch dictionary (wasn't in the previous, 30-years-old, one) and it says 'ondertitel', which in Dutch would mean the bit of text that comes after a (semi) colon ('ondertitel' is 'subtitle' in English).

How do you feel about Palestine? Technically not a country, I suppose.

Murder in Mesopotamia (#2): Mesopotamia isn't a country, is it? And the same thing goes for Siberia (To Siberia, #17) as it is part of a country but not a country in itself.

Where is Palestine on the list?

Mesopotamia is OK because it's an archaic name for Iraq, more or less. Siberia is not a country so I removed it.

I didn't add any books with Palestine yet. I have some in mind, but I was wondering if you thought they would fit the list.

I think they should be left off.

I agree. Palestine has never been an official country, I don't think.

Not sure about these two:

---The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer
Unsure about this one...
According to Wiki: Guernsey (/ˈɡɜːrnzi/ (About this soundlisten); Guernésiais: Guernési) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. It lies roughly north of Saint-Malo and to the west of Jersey and the Cotentin Peninsula. With several smaller nearby islands, it forms a jurisdiction within the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency....The jurisdiction is not part of the United Kingdom, although defence and most foreign relations are handled by the British Government. The entire jurisdiction lies within the Common Travel Area of the British Islands and the Republic of Ireland, and although it is not a member of the European Union, it does have a special relationship with it, being treated as part of the European Community with access to the single market for the purposes of the free trade in goods. Taken together with the separate jurisdictions of Alderney and Sark it forms the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

Is it a its own county...or not, for the purposes of the list?

--Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha (Mrs. Pollifax, #7) - Dorothy Gilman
Wiki: Hong Kong (/ˌhɒŋˈkɒŋ/; Chinese: 香港, Hong Kong Cantonese: [hœ́ːŋ.kɔ̌ːŋ]), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is a special administrative region on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary in southern China. With over 7.4 million people of various nationalities[d] in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world. Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire at the end of the First Opium War in 1842. Sovereignty over the territory was returned to China in 1997. As a special administrative region, Hong Kong maintains governing and economic systems that are separate from those of mainland China. Its people tend to identify as Hongkongers rather than Chinese.

For the purposes of the list is it considered its own county, even though technically, "sovereignty over the territory was returned to China in 1997" ?

These do not have countries in the main titles -
Millennium Approaches (Angels in America #1) - Tony Kushner - #140
Flight of the Sparrow - Amy Belding Brown - #352

Appears to be non-fiction:
The Penguin New Literary History of Australia - Laurie Hergenhan - #236
Ireland's Heritage : A selection of houses, castles, gardens, national monumnets, nature parks and visitor attractions - Bord Fáilte - #242
Abandoned Mansions of Ireland II: More Portraits of Forgotten Stately Homes - Tarquin Blake - #246
Georgette Heyer's Regency England - Teresa Chris - #260


Edit to ask:
Thoughts on "Rome" as a county. Mostly thinking of it in the context of ancient Rome, the empire, not the city.
There are a lot of ancient Rome based historical fictions that have "Rome" in the title, but I was reluctant to add them all.

I'm fine with all the ones you mentioned @39 being removed.

I do hesitate to open the list to Rome as I know there is so much historical fiction featuring it.

Okay. I thought you'd want to remove them, but I noticed you didn't get to them yet, so I removed those that I mentioned in #39

--The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer
--Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha (Mrs. Pollifax, #7) - Dorothy Gilman
--Millennium Approaches (Angels in America #1) - Tony Kushner
--Flight of the Sparrow - Amy Belding Brown
--The Penguin New Literary History of Australia - Laurie Hergenhan
--Ireland's Heritage : A selection of houses, castles, gardens, national monumnets, nature parks and visitor attractions - Bord Fáilte
--Abandoned Mansions of Ireland II: More Portraits of Forgotten Stately Homes - Tarquin Blake
--Abandoned Mansions of Ireland - Tarquin Blake
--Georgette Heyer's Regency England - Teresa Chris
--Journeys to authentic Australia ; travel beyond your expectations - Peter Cruttenden, George Dunford, Susannah Farfor

# 83 The Mist and the Magic = no country

Vicki wrote: "# 83 The Mist and the Magic = no country"

Removed.

I've removed Black Ops (no country)

I don't buy that Mesopotamia belongs. And if it does, then I think Palestine does too.

Rosa wrote: "I don't buy that Mesopotamia belongs. And if it does, then I think Palestine does too."

True...

Booklovinglady wrote: "I've removed Black Ops (no country)"

There is an edition of that book that has a county in the title:
Raid on Afghanistan

Asteropê wrote: "Booklovinglady wrote: "I've removed Black Ops (no country)"

There is an edition of that book that has a county in the title:
Raid on Afghanistan"

I've added it again.. (currently #410)

#158 (last b4 170) American Gods (adj. form)

Deleted that one along with several others.