Around the World in 80 Books discussion

I love this challenge! In 2022 I read 13 of the 24 books, Hope 2023 is similar.

1. Turkey-- Last Train to Istanbul
2. France-Sprinting Through No Man's Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France
3. Spain—Beautiful Exiles
4. England--The Canterbury Tales
5. Roman Britain-The Eagle of the Ninth
6. Hong Kong-The Piano Teacher
7 Panama- Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope
8. Greece-A Spartan's Sorrow
9. France-Picnic in Provence: A Memoir with Recipes
10. Venezuela-Two Spies in Caracas
11. China--Red Scarf Girl
12. Ancient Britain--Sarum: The Novel of England
13. Mauritius--An Impossible Return
14. Mexico--Pesos: The Rise and Fall of a Border Family
15. Nicaragua--Pearl Lagoon
16. Bolivia--The Puma Years
17. Tunisia--The Ardent Swarm
18. Czech Republic--The Last Goddess
19. Belize--The Fallen Stones: Chasing Blue Butterflies, Mayan Secrets, and Happily Ever After in Belize
20. Ghana to Spain--North to Paradise
21. England, Turkey, Paraguay--Travels with My Aunt
22. Mexico--The Lacuna
23. Lebanon-An Unnecessary Woman
24. UK--The Last Bookshop in London
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Scoring is as follows:
1 point each for reading 1st and 2nd book
2 points each for 3rd and 4th book
3 points each for 5th and 6th book
4 points each for 7th and 8th book
5 points each for books 9-12

Finished January's #12: Sarum: The Novel of England Epic chunkster of a book that starts with pre Ice Age and follows family lines through 1985 Britain. It started strong, had some definite weak eras. But the sweeping British history was well-researched and fun. (caveat: I do have a decent grasp of British History so that may have helped me follow the storylines).

Points: 1

Finished February’s #2. Sprinting Through No Man's Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France. So much potential, about Tour de France immediately following Great War. Unfortunately the execution felt more like loosely connected facts without capturing the sense of drama.

Finished #1 for March. Last Train to Istanbul was historical fiction about getting Turkish citizens, especially Jewish citizens, out of German-controlled France. A perspective of WW2 I have not encountered. Interesting concept. I’m glad I read it.

Points: 4

Finished April's #9: Picnic in Provence: A Memoir with Recipes Memoir with recipes. I always enjoy expat experiences, since it allows me to relive my expat days. This one brought the area of Provence to life enough that I want to visit. I enjoyed it, but I did not love it. I will try some of the recipes.

Cumulative Points: 6

Finished #18 for May: The Last Goddess Grim look at how women with healing skills were often labeled witches and persecuted. The format of this book was difficult, often in the form of official documents from secret police surveillance. The story line of the women was compelling and kept me reading, but there was a choppiness to the reading that perhaps is related to translating this rather dense subject.

Cumulative points: 9

Finished #5 for June: The Eagle of the Ninth. Set in Roman Britain a centurion sets off on adventure to find what happened to his father’s legion years before. Quick read. I enjoyed it.

Points: 12

Finished #20 for July: North to Paradise. Immigration story from Ghana to Barcelona, with all the challenges and tragedies of traveling over the desert and across Mediterranean. Informative and inspiring.

Points: 16

Finished #3 for August: Beautiful Exiles Novel based on war correspondent Martha Gellhorn and her relationship with Ernest Hemingway (she was his 3rd wife). Set in Key West, Cuba and Spain with periods of time in London, Paris, China and Montana. It was well-told in that it made me incredibly angry at how Hemingway treated her and how she allowed it. Definitely identified with her as the protagonist even if I never actually liked her as a character. Learned a lot. 3 stars for me.

Cumulative Points: 20

Finished #17 for September: The Ardent Swarm Allegorical parable set in Tunisia about hornets set out to destroy the beehives of Sidi and his quest to save them. Translated allegory is difficult since it loses some of the nuance, but the story did keep me engaged.

Cumulative points: 25

Finished #19 for October: The Fallen Stones: Chasing Butterflies, Discovering Mayan Secrets, and Looking for Hope Along the Way My second book by this author (also read The Tenth Island: Finding Joy, Beauty, and Unexpected Love in the Azores) and found this one much more engaging and accessible. Living on a butterfly farm in Belize just before the Pandemic and lessons learned. I found myself googling butterflies and locations and dreaming of Belize which was never on my travel radar, so that was the mark of a good book.

Cumulative points: 30

Finished November's #14: Pesos: The Rise and Fall of a Border Family An interesting memoir of a son trying to both be more legit than his con man father and still reckon with the relationships. It was immensely readable, often unbelievable and ultimately an enjoyable read.

Finished December's #8: A Spartan's Sorrow A retelling of the life of Clytemnestra during and after Trojan War. The concept was great, and this book had moments of great prose and even surprise. But those moments were mingled with passages that were tedious and felt like filler rather than enhancing the story. Three star for me.

Well done! Another year of literary travel completed.