Around the World discussion

Asia's adventurous trip around the world Talk about the unplanned and hopefully serendipitous vacation, I present my literary adventure(s), one stage at a time.

AUSTRALIA
Death Of A River Guide

INDONESIA
The Rainbow Troops: A Novel

ITALY
A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change

JAPAN
After Dark

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea

RUSSIA (CHECHNYA)
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

UNITED STATES
The Catcher in the Rye

Four Corners... is a memoir of Kira Salak's solo adventure in the mid 1990s to Papua New Guinea, an autonomous country just north of Australia, south of the Philippines, and the eastern side of an island shared with Indonesia.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

After Dark by Haruki Murakami, a surrealist series of interlinking vignettes that occurs in the dark hours of Tokyo between midnight & sunny dawn.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Rainbow Troops: A Novel by Andrea Hirata is a memoir (memories) about his childhood education on Belitong Island, Sumatra--his inspiring teachers, his fellow students, and his environment. More than just events, the author sees education as the greatest gift to be given a child.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change by John Glassie is a biography of a seventeenth-century polymath and his contemporary scientists.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger depicts a 1940s or early 1950s preppy boarding school student Holden Caulfield, who leaves his boarding schools like a snake sheds skins. Not a bad boy he is polite and generous and is reactive against phoniness (it's his oft-spoken response to characters).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Death Of A River Guide by the Booker Prize author Richard Flanagan. This was my introductory experience with this lauded author of nonfiction, fiction,...In this debut novel, he writes about a river guide and an expedition on the Franklin River of Tasmania. In so doing, he brings to the fore insights into life, death, history, fate, and will through realistic details and magic realism. The river itself becomes a metaphor for living.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Asma wrote: "Death Of A River Guide by the Booker Prize author Richard Flanagan. This was my introductory experience with this lauded author of nonfiction, fiction,...In this debut novel, he writ..."

I might give that one a try. As a born and bred Tasmanian I really want to like Richard Flanagan but so far he has been a bit hit and miss for me.

Andrea wrote: "...As a born and bred Tasmanian I really want to like Richard Flanagan but so far he has been a bit hit and miss for me.."

I'm reading at least four of his six fiction works this year for a Challenge at The World's Literature. I don't know about his other writings but this book had a lot of magical realism in parts by the main character, while other characters are not immune to the fabulous; in other parts, there is real life, adventure narrative. I hope you enjoy it, I did. However, some readers were not gripped by it.

Andrea wrote: "Asma wrote: "Death Of A River Guide by the Booker Prize author Richard Flanagan. This was my introductory experience with this lauded author of nonfiction, fiction,...In this debut n..."

Andrea - talking Taswegian authors to really like - have you read any of Christopher J. Koch work? I love his stuff - Highways to a War is one of my all time favourites.

Tanya wrote: "...have you read any of Christopher J. Koch work? I love his stuff - Highways to a War is one of my all time favourites."

No, I haven't. I am considering Lost Voices by him, or one of his books the library has.

Tanya wrote: "Andrea wrote: "Asma wrote: "Death Of A River Guide by the Booker Prize author Richard Flanagan. This was my introductory experience with this lauded author of nonfiction, fiction,......"

I read The Doubleman many, many years ago and have 2 of his better known novels sitting on my bookshelf. Another that I've always liked the sound of is Out of Ireland.

Andrea wrote: "I read The Doubleman many,..Another that I've always liked the sound of is Out of Ireland."

I guess that Koch's connection to Ireland came when he worked in London. He's written at least two books about the place.

A couple more titles related by author or subject to Australia or Tasmania.

Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev

In Tasmania: Adventures at the End of the World

Andrea wrote: "Asma wrote: "Death Of A River Guide by the Booker Prize author Richard Flanagan. This was my introductory experience with this lauded author of nonfiction, fiction,...In this debut n..."

I've had my eye on Death of a River Guide for a while. I think it's now firmly on my TBR list.

An wrote: "I've had my eye on Death of a River Guide...it's now firmly on my TBR list. "

It will be interesting to know your opinion of ...River Guide, An, after reading R.F.'s debut novel. I found most of it to be entertaining as a story and informative about Tasmania's history and environment. Someone else might find it difficult to pinpoint what bothered her about the story; and to another person, the description of whitewater rafting might dampen her courage to try that water sport in real life.

The book about Russia (Chechnya) I read is A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra. Effect of reading it is captivating no less by the horror than by the humanitarian generosity and kindness. Towards the ending, one character answers the question of where to find those two humane traits once the bearer of them is gone forever, saying they will have to be sought in someone else.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...