Around the World discussion

2014 TOUR OF NATIONS FINISHED



1.Algeria – The Stranger by Albert Camus finished 1/5/14
2.Australia – Remembering Babylon by David Malouf finished 1/20/14
3.Austria – The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Anne-Marie O'Connor finished 1/23/14
4.Bahamas – The Queen of Whale Cay: The Eccentric Story of 'Joe' Carstairs, Fastest Woman on Water by Kate Summerscale finished 10/25/14
5.Bangladesh - The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas by Anand Giridharadas finished 9/20/14
6.Brazil - The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard finished 10/21/14
7.Canada - Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow finished 8/24/14
8.China – Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang finished 8/12/14
9.Colombia – Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez finished 9/6/14
10.Cote'd Ivoire - Whiteman by Tony D'Souza finished 8/31/14
11.Cuba – Jose Marti by José Martí finished 7/19/14
12.Denmark – Babette's Feast by Karen Blixen finished 9/5/14
13.Egypt – Mistress Of Nothing by Kate Pullinger finished 10/22/14
14.England (UK) - Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes finished 4/21/14
15.France – The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss by Edmund de Waal finished 2/16/14
16.Germany – Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut finished 7/31/14
17.Honduras - Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario finished 8/24/14
18.Hong Kong (China) – A Beautiful Truth by Colin McAdam finished 8/9/14
19.India – Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts finished 8/22/14
20.Iran – Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan finished 9/12/14
21.Ireland – City of Bohane by Kevin Barry finished 2/20/14
22.Israel – God: A Biography by Jack Miles finished 7/16/14
23.Italy - The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner finished 9/11/14
24.Jamacia – Summer Lightning and Other Stories by Olive Senior finished 4/29/14
25.Korea – The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson finished 8/12/14
26.Lebanon – De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage finished 9/13/14
27.Lithuania – A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry by Czesław Miłosz finished 5/11/14
28.Marshall Islands – The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost finished 10/25/14
29.Mexico – The Children of Sanchez by Oscar Lewis finished 1/16/14
30.Mongolia – Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino finished 5/15/14
31.Netherlands – The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt finished 5/29/14
32.New Guinea - Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond finished 11/21/14
33.New Zealand – The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton finished 8/28/14
34.Nigeria - Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie finished 10/7/14
35.Norway – Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen finished 9/1/14
36.Orkney Islands (UK) - Collected Poems by Edwin Muir finished 8/9/14
37.Pakistan - How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid finished 10/14/14
38.Peru – The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilderfinished 8/22/14
39.Poland – Steps by Jerzy Kosiński finished 7/19/14
40.Portugal – The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by José Saramago finished 7/19/14
41.Russian Federation – War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy finished 7/10/14
42.Scotland (UK) – The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg finished 8/10/14
43.Senegal – So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ finished 5/9/14
44.Serbia – The World Doesn't End by Charles Simic finished 2/15/14
45.Sierre Leone – The Devil That Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest by Aminatta Forna finished 10/13/14
46.Spain – The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón finished 4/14/14
47.South Africa – Waiting for the Barbarians finished 6/30/14
48.South Sudan - They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan by Benjamin Ajak finished 10/30/14
49.Sweden – Selected Poems, 1954-1986 by Tomas Tranströmer finished 4/4/14
40.Switzerland - Daisy Miller by Henry James finished 8/5/14
51.Syrian Arab Republic – The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker finished 8/29/14
52.Thailand – The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi finished 8/20/14

Wow, I'm impressed! You're a great planner and an interesting list. I will have to check these out.

Lilisa wrote: "Wow, I'm impressed! You're a great planner and an interesting list. I will have to check these out."

Thanks! I found it easier this year to just go ahead and find the possibilities. It kept me on track and helped me coordinate my reading with other challenges.

Judy wrote: "It looks like a book-a-week and that you will clean a little space off your shelves in the process since you own several of the books. Good planning, T2!"

I tied in this one, the YLTO one, and one other challenge so I can coordinate them all. Now, if the toppler and monthly challenges fall into place, I'll be golden. Yes, I'm always trying to get books off of my shelves. I've run out of room and am using books for creative furniture ideas at this point. Not good ...

Judy wrote: "That was smart tying them all together. I got lucky and was able to tie three of my challenges together as well. I made a commitment to only read books from my shelf. The only way I'll get a librar..."

Good luck with that! It works until there's some oddball challenge - like a cozy mystery! I made a promise to myself not to add books to fulfill challenges, but had to break that promise to participate this month. SOMEbody kept disqualifying my selections! (Meanie 1? Meanie 2? Meanie 3?)

This is quite an impressive list, Thing Two. So many interesting titles on it...

I really enjoyed The Orphan Master's Son and have read it twice!

*whistles innocently*

Just don't be callin' me a galah.

Finished 10/30/14!

Congrats - that's awfully impressive! Not only have you completed the challenge - and early at that - but you stuck to your original list, that's amazing. I've strayed considerably away from mine, meandering all over the place. Great job!

Lilisa wrote: "Congrats - that's awfully impressive! Not only have you completed the challenge - and early at that - but you stuck to your original list, that's amazing. I've strayed considerably away from mine, ..."

I edited the list as I went along. :)

Congratulations!

What a great list of books and countries read, Thing Two. Congratulations in finishing them all!

Thing Two wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Congrats - that's awfully impressive! Not only have you completed the challenge - and early at that - but you stuck to your original list, that's amazing. I've strayed considerably a..."

:-)

Africa (9)

Angola - The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa
Botswana - Whites by Norman Rush (1987 Rosenthal)
Djibouti - Djibouti by Leonard Elmore
Ghana - Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd (1990 Black)
Kenya - One Day I Will Write About this Place by Binyavanga Wainaina
Nigeria - Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe Challenge 2
South Africa - Zulu by Caryl Ferey
Uganda - Thirty Girls by Susan Minot
Zimbabwe - Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith

America (10)

Brazil - The Substance of Fire & The Film Society by Jon Robin Baitz
Canada - US Conductors by Sean Michaels (2014 Giller)
Colombia - The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez (2014 Int'l Impac)
Guatemala - The African Shore by Rodrigo Ray Rosa
Honduras - The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux (1981 Black)
Jamaica - Citizen by Claudia Rankine
Mexico - Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez
Nicaragua - The Jaguar Smile by Salman Rushdie
Panama - The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez
Saint Kitts and Nevis - Cambridge by Caryl Phillips

Asia (11)

Afghanistan - Redeployment by Phil Klay (2014 NBA)
Bangladesh - The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell Series challenge 5 (1973 Booker)
China - Sons by Pearl Buck Series challenge 2
India - The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri (2004 Bingham)
Iraq - Mission Rejected by Peter Laufer
Israel - The Retrospective by Abraham Yehoshua (2012 Meilleur)
Malaysia - The Edge of the World by Gail Vida Hamburg
Myanmar - The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (2014 Booker)
Philippines - Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley (1987 Faulkner)
Singapore - The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell Series challenge 6
Viet-Nam - Parthian Shot by Loyd Little (1976 Hemingway)

Europe (17)

Austria - Paper Love by Sarah Wildman
Czech Republic - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (2001 Pulitzer)
England (UK) - Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Book Club)
France - Missing Person by Patrick Modiano (1978 Goncourt)
Germany - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Book Club)
Greece - Gorgios by Plato
Hungary- Dracula by Bram Stoker
Ireland - A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride (2014 Women's)
Italy - A History of Rome by Theodore Mommenson (2014 Nobel)
Poland - Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels (1997 Women's)
Norway - The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen
Romania - The Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller (1998 Int'l Impac)
Russian Federation - US Conductors by Sean Michael
Scotland - The Mandelbaum Gate by Murel Spark (1965 Black)
Spain - Jose by Armando Valdes
Sweden - Maus 1 by Art Spiegelman
Ukraine - Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol

Oceania (5)

Australia - A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute (Book Club)
Fiji - Getting Stoned with Savages by J Maarten Troost
Micronesia - Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
New Zealand - The Carpathians by Janet Frame (1989 Commonwealth)
Samoa - Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead