Around the World in 80 Books discussion

It has come to my attention that there is already another user called Maria doing a TBR Takedown (with some of the same books I'll be reading!), and having two threads with the same title was confusing, so I've chosen to call myself Malfoy instead.

I guess my list isn't as impressive as some others on here, I've tried to add some shorter books that I never get around to reading... I know that if I don't somehow make them a priority then I'll never read them!

☃ 1- Chess by Stefan Zweig - Austria
2- Manual of the Warrior of Light by Paulo Coelho - Brazil
3- Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo - México
4- The Perfect Nine by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o - Kenya
5- Canto jo i la muntanya balla by Irene Solà - Spain
☃ 6- The Dancer from Khiva by Bibish - Uzbekistan
7- Poonachi by Perumal Murugan - India
8- I am a Japanese Writer by Dany Laferrière - Haiti
9- The Fool by Rafi - Armenia
✘ 10- The Summer Book by Tove Jansson - Finland
11- Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq - Canada
12- Love by Hanne Ørstavik - Norway
13- Minor Detail by Adania Shibli - Palestine
14- Mars by Asja Bakić - Bosnia and Herzegovina
15 - The White Ship by Chingiz Aitmatov - Kyrgyzstan
16 - The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi - Nigeria
17 - Death and the Penguin by Kurkov - Russia
☃ 18 - The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany - Egypt
19 - Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse - Switzerland
20- The Salmon Who Dared to Leap Higher by  Ahn Do-hyun - South Korea
21 - The Weekend by Charlotte Wood - Australia
22- Un Padre de película by Antonio Skármeta - Chile
23 - Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck - Germany
☃ 24 - Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky - Ukraine

Your list is a lot more realistic than mine. I loved Chess and The Summer Book.

Chess by Stefan Zweig - Austria
Date finished: January 11th

Short but the mystery of what was going on and what was going to happen kept me on the edge of my seat. All the characters were curious people and I loved their descriptions. I've read 3 books so far this year, and all were on the topic of the nazis. I promise it was accidental!

Diane wrote: "Your list is a lot more realistic than mine. I loved Chess and The Summer Book."

I've heard good things about The Summer Book! I hope I get to read it this year!

The Dancer from Khiva by Bibish - Uzbekistan
Date finished: February 2nd

Well, I've already finished February's book... At the start I wasn't sure whether to even add it to my TBR list (most people say it's badly written), turns out I got hooked and binge-read it in one go.

My review

(Missed March) 10- The Summer Book by Tove Jansson - Finland

The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany - Egypt
Date finished: April 12th

It’s that sort of book that is boring while you read it, but then, once it’s done, you think “ah, that was actually alright”. Fairly predictable in terms of the bigger plot events, but the interest was in the details of how it happened and came to be. Can’t exactly call it “heartwarming” because it’s a little crude and miserable, but it’s a good portrayal of the nature of life and humans being human with a backdrop of corruption and religious beliefs. Some of the dozens of names could’ve been cut out though, on the last 50 pages I was still checking my cheat-sheet to see who was who.

Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky - Ukraine
Date finished: May 1st

I read this in one sitting on the first day of the month, but I kept procrastinating on posting this here :P

My review