Around the World in 80 Books discussion

Well, I joined Around the World in 80 books at the end of July so I don't know how many books I'll get through during the remainder of the year but I've made a start!

Ojos de agua by Domingo Villar, a detective story set in Vigo, Galicia, Northwest Spain

The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri another detective story set in Sicily

Ruth wrote: "Well, I joined Around the World in 80 books at the end of July so I don't know how many books I'll get through during the remainder of the year but I've made a start!

Ojos de agua b..."

Welcome to the challenge, Ruth! You can also books you have read in 2017 toward your total. Happy travels!

Now that Diane has let me know that I can have books from earlier in the year I've added books set in 17 different countries that I've read up to now. I need to travel to 7 more countries and I aim to include at least one Middle Eastern country.

AFRICA
Liberia: The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Nigeria: We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

ASIA
Japan: Silence by Shūsaku Endō

THE CARIBBEAN
Jamaica/Dominica: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

EUROPE

Czech Republic: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

England, Sussex: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
England, various locations: A Life Drawing: Recollections of an Illustrator by Shirley Hughes
England/Scotland: The 39 Steps by John Buchan
England (Cornwall)/Italy: My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

Finland: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

France: Three to Kill by Jean-Patrick Manchette
An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris and
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Greece, Ithaca: The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood


Italy, Venice: Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
Italy, Naples: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Italy, Sicily: The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri

The Netherlands: The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Scotland: His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet

Spain, Albacete: Bajo la fría luz de octubre by Eloy M. Cebrian
Spain, Andalucía: The Summer Snow by Rebecca Pawel
Spain, Andalucía The Maze of Cadiz by Aly Monroe
Spain/Flanders/England: The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner
Spain, Galicia: Ojos de agua by Domingo Villar
Spain, Extremadura: La familia de Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela

Sweden: The Girl Who Played with Fire & The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

LATIN AMERICA
Colombia: Los funerales de la Mamá Grande by Gabriel García Márquez

NORTH AMERICA
USA, Baltimore, Maryland: Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
USA, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
USA, Jackson, Mississippi:The Help by Kathryn Stockett
USA, New York City: Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
USA, Washington DC: New Boy by Tracy Chevalier

OCEANIA
New Zealand: Faces in the Water by Janet Frame

Revisited Spain with For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway and Dolores Redondo's El guardián invisible (which has been translated into English as The Invisible Guardian)

Total to date
7 regions
17 countries
36 books

18 countries 37 books
Visited the fictional town of Molching, Bavaria in the company of Death who narrates The Book Thief

20 countries 39 books
Cuba: Waking up in Cuba was a snapshot of life on that island in the year 2000
India: The Space Between Us which has left me pondering

Finally made it to Iceland on page 335 (out of 448) of The Reykjavik Assignment. I found this book confusing and I didn't really male connections with any of the characters. The most interesting part was part two set in Iceland.

21 countries 40 books

Back in Spain again, this time in Valencia with Jason Webster's Max Cámara in Blood Med

21 countries 41 books

Still in Spain this time with Dulce Chacón's La voz dormida it has been translated into English as The Sleeping Voice. Harrowing, poignant and based on real experiences, this is the third time I've read it and it bears re-reading.

21 countries 42 books

Back in England. Informative, well researched book on London's housing crisis Big Capital: Who Is London For? by Anna Minton

21 countries 43 books

Claiming Cigars of the Pharaoh by Hergé for Egypt, but this fast paced adventure also goes to an unnamed Arabic country and to India. So I can add a further region (Middle East)

22 countries
8 regions
44 books

A first visit to Syria with Rafik Schami's Hand Full Of Stars

23 countries
8 regions
45 books

Back to the Czech Republic with The Gardener's Year by Karel Čapek and then revisited Sweden with Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally

23 countries
8 regions
47 books

Travelled to Iran with Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and the Story of a Return

24 countries
8 regions
48 books

I've just travelled around the world with Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days so I'm claiming this one for here-there-everywhere as he doesn't hang around anywhere for long, I suppose the greatest part of the time is spent at sea.

49 books

Back to the USA and back in time to 1976 and the early 1800s with Octavia E. Butler's Kindred

50 books
(Still 24 countries and eight regions)

Ruth wrote: "Back to the USA and back in time to 1976 and the early 1800s with Octavia E. Butler's Kindred"

I just finished this for another challenge. What did you think, Ruth?

I just finished this for another challenge. What did you thi..."
I wasn't sure if the time travel aspect would appeal to me but I found myself really engaged in the story and didn't find it too hard to suspend my disbelief even though the idea that she had to ensure her ancestor would be born seemed farfetched. I thought she created a complex character in Rufus, pitiable and unlikeable in turn, and the book explored issues relating to parent child relationships and the the way we are conditioned by the prevailing social norms. This was the first book by Octavia E Butler I've read and I'm encouraged to try antoher. How about you?

Adding another book for Japan, Japanese Fairy Tales loosely translated and retold by Yei Theodora Ozaki.

First visit to Poland this year with The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Àngels Anglada, translated from the Catalan by Martha Tennent

52 books, 25 countries

I agree, the book was quite complex for it's size. The time travel was what drew me to it actually, and I was disappointed to begin with when it seemed like it wasn't really going to explain the "how". But I soon forgot about that and got sucked in.

I agree about Rufus, and I actually found all the characters a mix of unlikable/unrelatable, and wonderful. A wonderful mix of characters in the book, which makes the theme of social norms and how they change us so much more understandable and relatable to ourselves. I do wonder how her relationship at the end of the book with Kevin will go after their experiences.

I will definitely pick up another. I loved her writing. Butler isn't really on our radar here in Aus, I found out about her via goodreads. I have Dawn on the shelf ready to go when I am ready.

Congrats on reaching (and exceeding) 24 countries, Ruth!

Diane wrote: "Congrats on reaching (and exceeding) 24 countries, Ruth!" Thanks Diane, I'm enjoying this challenge. I see nobody has yet visited Western Sahara this year so hope to go there soon!

I've just read Lorenzo Silva's first book in his series about 2 Spanish civil guards Bevilacqua and Chamorro El lejano país de los estanques set on the island of Mallorca. So I'm adding the Balearic Islands to my list. I don't know if that counts as a separate destination to Spain, I see the Channel Islands can be counted as different from the UK.

53 books still 25 countries

Have just added another (disputed) country to my list - Western Sahara - with Luis Leante's Mira si yo te querré (translated into English by Martin Schifino as See How Much I Love You). This is fascinating on several levels, giving an idea of what life was like for Spanish soldiers doing military service in Spain's last colony as Morocco and Mauritania prepare to invade in the days following the death of General Franco in 1975. It's also a love story, and that includes falling in love with a place and its people. Well worth a read.

54 books 26 countries

Now adding Hungary to my list with Iván Sándor's Legacy

55 books 27 countries

Back in Spain with La casa junto al río

Uruguay

I've been in Latin America with Eduardo Galeano's 1970 book Open Veins of Latin America. A shocking read and still sadly relevant nearly 50 years after it was first published. I'm claiming this for Uruguay as he was Uruguayan even though in 1973 he had to go into exile.

57 books 28 countries

Romania

The Passport by Nobel Prize winning author Herta Müller translated from the German (Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt) by Martin Chalmers.

58 books 29 countries

Portugal

Lisbon Poets - a bilingual anthology of 5 Portuguese posts

59 books 30 countries

Back to Spain with a crime novel El baile de los penitentes by Francisco Bescós

60 books 30 countries

Chile

Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada by Pablo Neruda

61 books 31 countries

Indonesia (Bali)

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson and translated into English by Rod Bradbury. This takes place in a number of countries but Bali gets visited twice.

62 books 32 countries

China

Have been in Shanghai with Lust, Caution and Other Stories by Eileen Chang

63 books 33 countries

Russia

Feeling uncomfortable with Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground translated from the Russian by Jessie Coulson

64 books 34 countries

Argentina

Enjoying some of the Mafalda strip cartoons that hadn't been published in book form since they appeared in the press. Mafalda inédita by Quino

65 books 35 countries

Thailand

Cockroaches by Jo Nesbø, a bit too violent for me.

66 books 36 countries

Saudi Arabia

Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea

67 books
37 countries

The Accordionist's Son by Bernardo Atxaga

I think the Basque region counts as a country for this challenge so 68 books and 38 places/countries

Canary islands: just finished Lorenzo Silvas detective thriller set on the islands of La Gomera, La Palma and Tenerife - La niebla y la doncella

68 books 38 places/countries

Adding four reads over the Christmas holidays and two new destinations.
I revisted Spain with Roberto Bolaño's La pista de hielo (available in an English translation as The Skating Rink). A very seasonal visit to Wales with Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales. Not claiming any particular country for The Book of the Cat: Cats in Art & lastly Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd

So I'm adding two more countries to my 2017 list - Wales and Congo - although the country in Brazzaville Beach is unnamed and might be either Congo or Angola.

So I've visited a total of 70 places/countries in 2017. I think I may try for a full 80 countries in 2018. Now starting to work out which countries I'll visit from Monday.