Around the World discussion

Will fill this is more as I go, but needed a place to store my random 10 countries for 2022.

These 10 have to be read to complete the challenge. I can switch one (or more) out but will generate 5 more for each switch:
Venezuela - It Would Be Night in Caracas
Czech Republic
Somalia
Sudan - The African Equation
United Arab Emirates - Alif the Unseen
Libya
Iceland - Ashes to Dust
South Sudan
Nepal - Sold
Uzbekistan

Other possible reads from other challenges:
Andorra
Belgium
Canada
Finland
France - All the Light We Cannot See
Gibraltar
Italy
Lithuania
the Netherlands
New Zealand - Cemetery Lake
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Spain
Switzerland

And complete randoms:
Hungary - The Travellers
Mexico - Mexican Gothic
Ukraine - Death and the Penguin
and many many more...

Any recs will be gratefully received!! I think I have something for Somalia, Sudan, and Iceland and can find something for Czech Rep.

Some suggestions, Rusalka - happy trails! What do you have for Sudan? I thought I had checked off a read for Sudan but I don’t see one on my shelf.

- Czech Republic - The Lost Wife, A Second Death
- Somalia - Desert Flower, Infidel
- United Arab Emirates - Temporary People (haven’t read this one yet, it’s on my TBR list)
- Libya - The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between
- Iceland - Burial Rites, Woman at 1,000 Degrees, How To Live Icelandic (loved this one, it published end of last year so not sure if it’s available by you - I did a NG read)
- Nepal - Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal (Andrea would probably have loads of recommendations for Nepal)
Uzbekistan - Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road, Walking to Samarkand: The Great Silk Road from Persia to Central Asia - not set solely in Uzbekistan, but a slew of central Asian countries - former Soviet counties.

Thanks Lilisa! I forgot we had a resident Nepali expert with Andrea.

I have Black Mamba Boy and The African Equation that both look like they cross over both Somalia and the Sudan. I will read both and work it out.

South Sudan will be a bit more tricky.

Rusalka wrote: "Thanks Lilisa! I forgot we had a resident Nepali expert with Andrea.

I have Black Mamba Boy and The African Equation that both look like they cross over both Somalia..."

You’re welcome! I did have one for Sudan, which I’d mis-shelved, which is why I couldn’t find it - What Is the What was a great listen.

For South Sudan, found this one on GR - There Is a Country: New Fiction from the New Nation of South Sudan.

Rusalka wrote: "Thanks Lilisa! I forgot we had a resident Nepali expert with Andrea. I have Black Mamba Boy and The African Equation that both look like they cross over both Somalia..."

Re South Sudan, I also had trouble finding something for my list this year, but I ended up choosing Deng Thiak Adut’s memoir, Songs of a War Boy. I figured that with the profile he has here, I should learn more about him. I think there will invariably be some crossover with Sudan.

I realised I have not updated this thread this year! I have been, honestly, terrible at life admin recently. And this is much funner than my taxes for example!!

Will be much more diligent going forward

France - All the Light We Cannot See

When I started this challenge 10ish years ago, I went gangbusters on the WWII books, as they were every where. And they were too much and I have avoided them for a while now. I will psych myself up for one, but there are just so many bad books about WWII. The other issue is that there are just too many good books about WWII as well... bah

Had this for years. Heard the hype. Avoided it because of hype and the whole WWII thing. Wish I had read earlier as I loved this. The writing was beautiful and accessible. If you have to choose one or two WWII books, bump it up the list.

Hungary - The Travellers

I really enjoyed the part in Hungary. I loved the feeling in the small country town being absorbed by the locals and the scenery. I liked the descriptions of being a tourist in a really unknown land. I want to go to Hungary now, although I know this is told through an English woman's eyes.

I disliked the other two thirds of the book while the main character was in England with her normal life, particularly the last third where is got pretty dark. I understood the first third which was premise building. I just got uncomfortable at the end.

Ukraine - Death and the Penguin

I picked up this read as I had heard great things about this book and enjoyed another read from this author, and it was the beginning of the current war. Dark, dark humour, which I appreciate and understand more the reports that come out of the Ukraine. Not my favourite read, but there is a penguin.

New Zealand - Cemetery Lake

Books written in English should not be translated to other countries slang. This book was "translated" to American and was lesser for it. It felt fake and disingenuous, and serves me right for getting an NZ book from an US website. That on top of other issues (too many rotting corpses for me), not the best read.

My aim: for 2023 to be back to normal both for my reading and for my reporting. Apologies for some walls of books over the next couple of days now I have some brain capacity to catch up.

Read earlier this year:
Mexico - Mexican Gothic
United Arab Emirates - Alif the Unseen
Venezuela - It Would Be Night in Caracas

All four star reads. It Would be Night I ummed and ahhhed about, but I still think about it every now and then, and books that stay with you obviously have something to them.

Right. 2022 final tidy up:

Sudan - The African Equation
Nepal - Sold
Iceland - Ashes to Dust