Around the World discussion

Updated June 27:

Here's a start of my guide for 2015, although straying from this list is par for the course!

1. Uruguay: The Invisible Mountain - READ - 4 stars
2. U.S.: The Rosie Effect - READ - 2 stars
3. Bosnia: The Book of My Lives
4. Canada: a few books from Louise Penny Armand Gamache series - 4A) Still Life - READ - 4 stars: 4B) A Rule Against Murder - READ - 4 stars 4C) The Cruelest Month - READ 4 stars 4D) The Brutal Telling - READ - 5 stars 4E) Bury Your Dead - READ - 4 stars; 4F) A Fatal Grace - READ - 4 stars
5. China: Big Breasts and Wide Hips - READ - 1 star
6. Dominican Republic: In the Time of the Butterflies - READ - 4 stars
7. Egypt: The Map of Love
8. Egypt: The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street (3 books)
9. Egypt: The Alexandria Quartet(4 books)
10. Finland: The Summer Book
11. Greece: Mykonos After Midnight: A Chief Inspector Kaldis Mystery READ - 2 stars
12. Greece: Sons of Sparta: A Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mystery - READ - 3 stars
13. India: The Mountain of Light
14. India: The Case of the Love Commandos
15. India: The Twentieth Wife, The Feast of Roses, Shadow Princess (3 books)
16. Laos: The Coroner's Lunch READ - 3 stars
17. Liberia: The House at Sugar Beach
18. Nepal: Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal - READ - 3 stars
19. Mauritius: The Last Brother
20. Middle East – countries TBD: A Grave in Gaza, The Collaborator of Bethlehem, Samaritan's Secret, The Fourth Assassin (4 books)
21. Nigeria: 21A) Things Fall Apart - READ - 3 stars; 21B) No Longer at Ease - READ - 3 stars; Arrow of God, (3 books)
22. Morocco: Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood
23. Portugal: Raised from the Ground - READ - 3 stars
24. Spain: Winter in Madrid
25. Spain/Morocco: The Time in Between - READ - 4 stars
26. Tibet: Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet
27. Trinidad: 'Til the Well Runs Dry
28. Turkey: Bliss
29. U.S.: The Art Forger: A Novel - READ - 3 stars
30. U.K.: a few of Gyles Brandreth Oscar Wilde mystery series - 30A)Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder: A Mystery - READ - 3 stars;
31. Philippines, Faroe Islands, U.S., Canada, U.K. and TBD countries: a few of Ian Hamilton Ava Lee series - 31A) The Disciple of Las Vegas - READ - 4 stars; 31B) The Wild Beasts of Wuhan - READ - 3 stars; 31C) The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - READ - 4 stars; 31D)The King of Shanghai - READ - 2 stars;
32. France (French author) - The Little Prince - READ - 3 stars
33. Burma/Thailand - The Narrow Road to the Deep North - READ - 5 stars
34. Australia - The Light Between Oceans READ - 4 stars
35. Borneo trilogy (Malaysia) 35A) Land Below the Wind - READ - 4 stars; 35B) Three Came Home- READ - 4 stars; 35C) White Man Returns - READ - 3 stars
36. Sweden - A Man Called Ove - READ - 3 stars
37. Ireland - Pomegranate Soup - READ - 5 stars
38. Turkey - Last Train to Istanbul: A Novel - READ - 3 stars
39. Afghanistan - In the Sea There are Crocodiles: Based on the True Story of Enaiatollah Akbari - READ - 3 stars
40. Several countries - Italy, Greece, U.S., India, Kenya, islands off Tanzania - The Other Language - READ - 4 stars
41. Ireland - Blood Magick - READ - 1 star
42. India Tell a Thousand Lies - READ - 2 stars
43. Turkey Orhan's Inheritance - READ - 5 stars
44. Turkey Not Even My Name: A True Story - READ - 4 stars
45. Bosnia Girl at War - READ - 1 star
46. France - Mademoiselle Chanel - READ - 4 stars
47. Vietnam The Sympathizer - READ - 3 stars
48. France/U.K./U.S.: The Illusion of Separateness - READ - 3 stars
49. U.S.: The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress - READ - 5 stars
50. U.S.: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics - READ - 5 stars

Love your list too Lilisa, must add Things Fall apart to mine, that's on my shelf waiting to be read too. Love Tove Jansson's Summer and Winter books and her novel The True Deciever was one of my favourite reads of 2014.

Great list. I think the only one I've read is The Coroner's Lunch, which made me want to read more of the series.
Tove Jansson will probably be part of my challenge, too.
Happy reading!

I have read a few of them, but not any of Tove Jansson's books for adults, so I will be looking out for your review of that one.

The Map of Love is one of my favourite novels - seeing it in your list makes me want to re-visit it. I've also been enjoying the Dr Siri (The Coroner's Lunch) series in recent years. Great list!

Thanks all - your comments are going to help me with the order of my reading :-). And the list was made without pinching from others' plans...yet!

I did love The Summer Book. NOt usually my style, but there was something so beautiful about her storytelling.

I recently read a book by the Irish author Nuala Ní Chonchúir's called The Closet of Savage Mementos and the main character was called Lillis, it made me wonder if your name is Irish? I've never heard of the name and then to read it in a book and see it here, was a bit of a coincidence, so thought I'd share it with you in case you're looking for an excellent Irish read. I just listened to a podcast with the author and she mentioned that her character Lillis featured in 10 short stories before she wrote the novel, it's a really authentic voice.

Claire wrote: "I recently read a book by the Irish author Nuala Ní Chonchúir's called The Closet of Savage Mementos and the main character was called Lillis, it made me wonder if your name is Irish? I've never he..."

:-) if it is I didn't know! It's a version of Lisa, just adding an "Li" before it! Now I'm going to have to add The Closet of Savage Mementos to my TBR list - thanks for an Ireland read!

You're most welcome and I'm pleased you're going to add it to the list, I don't think she's well known outside Ireland yet but she has a book out in May 2015 called Miss Emily being published in the US under her birthname Nuala O'Connor that is likely to make her work more known outside Ireland, told alternatively from the point of view of Emily Dickinson and her maid Ada.

Claire wrote: "You're most welcome and I'm pleased you're going to add it to the list, I don't think she's well known outside Ireland yet but she has a book out in May 2015 called Miss Emily being published in th..."

Thanks Claire. Miss Emily sounds interesting too - groan - just added it to my list as well.

The Summer Book is memorable, made more so by the connection of characters to the sea and by the girl and her grandmother.

Thanks Rusalka and Asma on The Summer Book endorsement - on my TBR list!

hahaha! It is on mine too. I cannot pass up all of the good things I have heard about it. My list grows "around the world, by default". I cannot stop looking at everyone's challenges. ☺

Cherie wrote: "hahaha! It is on mine too. I cannot pass up all of the good things I have heard about it. My list grows "around the world, by default". I cannot stop looking at everyone's challenges. ☺"

Yes Cherie - my TBR list keeps getting longer!

Mine too.

Nice list, Lilisa! I realized I haven't even created my 2015 ATW list yet, but I have been reading. Some of the books on your list look wonderful. I'll have to add some to my TBR list!

Thanks Suzanne. There have been some great ones - some of which I've stolen from others' lists. Feel free to do the same from mine - that's what it's all about! Have you read any brilliant ones this year yet?

I particularly liked The Passion of Artemesia (Italy) and In the Sea There are Crocodiles: Based on the True Story of Enaiatollah Akbari (Afghanistan). I've also been working on my USA list and the best so far have been Chesapeake (Maryland), Caleb's Crossing (Massachusetts), The Art of Fielding (Wisconsin), Clara and Mr. Tiffany (New York), and Snapper (Indiana).

I'm also currently reading A Tale for the Time Being (Japan), which I'm enjoying very much!

Thanks Suzanne - I've added the first two to my list (In the Sea has actually been downloaded to read already!) and I have Caleb's Crossing on my nightstand. I had read the blurb on A Tale... earlier. Might end up adding that one too.

I'm reading/listening to two books and might be able to sneak in a short one before the end of the year. Hope to update 2015's list before year end and begin mapping 2016's. I strayed quite a bit from my 2015 list so will keep what I chart for 2016 pretty flexible.

Around the Woeld books read in 2015:

The Little Prince - France
The Rosie Effect - U.S.
His Majesty's Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India's Struggle against Empire - India
The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Australia, Myanmar, Thailand
Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder: A Mystery - U.K.
Raised from the Ground - Portugal
The Disciple of Las Vegas - Philippines
Still Life - Canada
The Art Forger - U.S.
A Rule Against Murder - Canada
The Light Between Oceans - Australia
In the Time of the Butterflies - Dominican Republic
The Wild Beasts of Wuhan - Canada/Denmark/Faroe Islands, U.K./U.S.
Big Breasts and Wide Hips - China
The Invisible Mountain - Uruguay
The Cruelest Month - Canada
The Brutal Telling - Canada
Land Below the Wind - Malaysia/Indonesia/Brunei
A Man Called Ove - Sweden
Sons of Sparta - Greece
Pomegranate Soup - Ireland
Mykonos After Midnight- Greece
Things Fall Apart - Nigeria
A Fatal Grace - Canada
Last Train to Istanbul - Turkey
Three Came Home - Indonesia/Malaysia/Brunei
White Man Returns - Indonesia/Malaysia/Brunei
The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - Indonesia
Bury Your Dead - Canada
In the Sea There are Crocodiles: Based on the True Story of Enaiatollah Akbari - Afghanistan
The King of Shanghai - China
The Other Language - Greece, India, Italy, Kenya, Tanzania, U.S.
The Time in Between - Morocco, Spain, Portugal
Blood Magick - Ireland
The Coroner's Lunch - Laos
Tell a Thousand Lies - India
Orhan's Inheritance - Turkey
Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal - Nepal
Girl at War - Croatia
Not Even My Name: A True Story - Turkey
No Longer at Ease - Nigeria
Mademoiselle Chanel - France
The Sympathizer - Vietnam
The Illusion of Separateness - France, U.K., U.S.
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics -U.S.
The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress -U.S.
Arrow of God - Nigeria
The Girl on the Train - U.K.
The White Woman on the Green Bicycle - Trinidad/Tobago
Euphoria - Papua New Guinea
The Rice Mother - Sri Lanka, Malaysia
Never Fall Down - Cambodia
The Song of Achilles - Greece
House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East - Lebanon
Pompeii - Italy
The Nightingale - France
Vita Nuova - Italy
Death at La Fenice - Italy
Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World - Italy
The Nature of the Beast - Canada
Serpent Pool - U.K.
The City of Falling Angels - Italy
The Agony and the Ecstasy - Italy
Corelli's Mandolin - Greece
The Girl in the Spider's Web - Sweden
The Marriage of Opposites - St. Thomas
The Blue Between Sky and Water - Palestine
Rebel Queen - India
After You - U.K.
Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free - Chile
The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing - India
The Signature of All Things - Netherlands, U.K., U.S., Tahiti
Circling the Sun - Kenya
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt - U.S.
The Passion - Italy
Other Colors - Turkey
The Case of the Love Commandos - India
The Accidental Empress - Germany, Austria, Hungary
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - U.K.
Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders: A Mystery - U.K.
Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol - U.K.
The Heretic Queen - Egypt
The Crescent Moon - India

The list you eventually went for has some very good books on it. I'm going to have to add the rest to my to-read list now. Will I ever get out of my armchair and do some more real travelling?

Val wrote: "The list you eventually went for has some very good books on it. I'm going to have to add the rest to my to-read list now. Will I ever get out of my armchair and do some more real travelling?"

I ended up meandering quite a bit and didn't get to many I wanted to. Armchair traveling is great, real traveling is even better! :-)