Around the World in 80 Books discussion

After a quick browse, I now have on my Kindle possible reads for the whole of column A:
A1: Strewn Flowers
A2: A Meditation on Murder
A3: Sheriff and Priest
A4: Snow on the Equator: Mount Kenya, Kilimanjaro and the great African odyssey
A5: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
But some of them may not live up to expectations, and others may fit better in another square. Last year I managed 25 books from 25 different "countries" (including Outer Space). I don't think it will be possible this time; I already have possibilities from India for three squares. But I look forward to reading material from or about a variety of epochs and genres. The above selection covers:
India: poems of different times, translated by the anthologist
Ste Marie, Caribbean: mystery fiction
England, historical fiction, 12th century
Kenya, travel memoir written 1937
Poland, magical realism
When I have completed this row, I shall repeat this list showing the books actually read for the challenge!

A1: Translated from Hindi
Strewn Flowers
Setting : INDIA, various dates unspecified.
A collection of 30 poems in Hindi, "older" and "contemporary" with English translations by the compiler, Pavrita Mohan. I really enjoyed some of them, especially in the "Wisdom" section, and hope to revisit them from time to time. There is a page of "snippets" - a few lines from half a dozen of his favourites - for example
"If there are corpses decaying in one room of your house,
Can you pray in another room?
If yes, then I have nothing to say to you."
The book is aimed at a well-educated Indian readership, and I would have found it helpful to have a glossary and some idea of the dates.

B2 Dream Vacation
A Meditation on Murder
Four people receive letters through the post, telling them that they have won a free holiday in a luxury spa hotel on a Caribbean island. How about that for a dream vacation! Little do they know that they will become suspects in a murder.
This book sprang out of Robert Thorogood's television series Death in Paradise, filmed in GUADELOUPE and set on a fictitious island Saint-Marie. The story is told from the perspective of the quirky English Detective Inspector who insists on wearing a heavy suit through the tropical sunshine, and having a stray drawing pin treated with the same forensic analysis as the actual murder weapon.

A2 Set on an Island
The Island of Missing Trees
Setting: CYPRUS 1974, early 2000s; London, late 2010s.
Young lovers, a Greek boy and a Turkish girl, growing up in Nicosia, are separated when their island is torn apart, and reunited many years later. Much of their story is told by the fig tree, which accompanied them to England as a fresh cutting, and has a deep understanding of biodiversity. This is an amazing book by the Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, definitely a 5*. It could almost have worked for D2, two adjacent countries, but that is neither the official status of Cyprus nor the way in which their daughter Ada regards it. "Which side will you visit first?" asks her Cypriot aunt. "North or south." "I'll come to the island," Ada said, a new note in her voice. "I just want to meet islanders, like myself."

A3 Has a character that shares your profession
This was an easy one, as I am a priest. THIS CHOICE HAS NOW BEEN REPLACED (SEE MESSAGE 7) AS I want to use ENGLAND elsewhere.
Setting: ENGLAND, 12th century. Genre: Historical novel.
Sheriff and Priest
Wimer, son of a Saxon peasant, grew up in a cathedral school in Norwich and was employed as Chaplain to the Earl of Norfolk. Excommunicated by Archbishop Thomas Becket (whom he never met) because of his complicity in a land dispute, he used his administrative talents in the service of King Henry II as Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk before retiring to found a monastery. The author, Nicky Moxey, accidentally discovered its ruins, and was able to follow up with documentary evidence. Interesting perspectives on legal and economic life, as well as the medieval church.

A4: Tropical Setting
Setting: KENYA, UGANDA, Belgian Congo (CONGO DR), French Equatorial Africa (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC), French Cameroons (CAMEROON), 1919-1933
Genre: Travel Memoir
Snow on the Equator: Mount Kenya, Kilimanjaro and the great African odyssey
After the First World War, Bill Shipman moved to Kenya to establish and maintain a coffee plantation, taking time out to climb Mount Kilimanjaro (which he found "devoid of interest from a mountaineering point of view"), Mount Kenya and the Mountains of the Moon. The book gets more interesting when he decides to return to England, not by the familiar East Coast route, nor by expensive plane, train or car, but by bicycle to the West Coast, using roads only recently constructed and encountering amazing hospitality. "The absence of difficulty and danger may be disappointing to others" was his laconic conclusion. He went on to write another 14 books about journeys of exploration in mountains and on his sailing boat Mischief.

A3, Has a character that shares your profession
Priest in the Pyrenees
Setting: FRANCE, Pyrenees. Genre: Travel memoir
David Lewis not only shares my profession; he was a Church of England chaplain in Norway in 2003, when he undertook the walk described in the book, while I became a Church of England chaplain in Sweden in 2005. Moreover, as I read his account of a six-week walk from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean end of the Pyrenees on the French side, I am planning a six-week walk along the Camino del Norte from the border at the Atlantic end through Spain to Santiago de Compostella.
When the idea of writing a book about the journey first came to him, he described it as a "sort of cathartic autobiography". This may be a pun, whether conscious or subconscious, as he later discloses a longstanding fascination with the Cathars, and devotes the best part of two chapters to surveying their history and its reception. "Autobiography" is putting it too strongly; mostly, it's a book about a walk - aches and pains, food and lodging, occasional meetings. "Was I any closer to making sense out of this bittersweet thing we call life? No, definitely not. The questions only multiply and deepen."

A5: Best Translation Book Award or Nominee
The True Deceiver
Setting: Finland, Genre: Novel
Translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal
Tove Jansson is best known for her Moonmintroll childrens' stories, but turned to adult fiction later in life. This is a grim story about a sister and brother who move in with an older woman and destroy her trust in everyone else. She retaliates by teaching their dog new tricks.

This completes column A:
1. Translated from Hindi: Pavrita Mohan, Strewn Flowers
2. Set on an island: Elif Shafak, The Island of Missing Trees
3. Same profession as myself: David Lewis, Priest in the Pyrenees
4. Tropical setting: H W Tilman, Snow on the Equator
5. BTBA Award: Tove Jansson, tr Thomas Teal, The True Deceiver
Countries: India, Cyprus, France, Kenya, Finland

B1: Fire, flood or hurricane
The Sandcastle Hurricane
Setting: USA, Texas; Genre: Romance
Two cousins, recently bereaved, have just taken over running their great-aunt's bed-and-breakfast when a hurricane strikes. Their home survives with minor inconveniences, but neighbours are less fortunate and have to move in to the B&B. A cosy read.

For B2: Dream Vacation see comment 3.

B3: TBR Book Completion
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Setting: Poland, village near Czech border
Genre: Prize-winning novel nominated for Best Translated Book Award
A leading member of the local hunting community is found dead. There are deer tracks around his body. Could the animals be taking revenge? Mrs Duszejko thinks so, and writes to the police, But her argument is based on astrology, and is ignored.,,

B4: Central or South American Author
The Murmur of Bees
Setting: Mexico, early 20th century
Genre: historical novel, family saga
An old man tells his family story, with a detailed account going from some ten years before he was born, when the old nanny discovered a newborn baby with a disfigured face, covered in bees. The family adopted the foundling and named him Simonopio. He turned out to have amazing gifts which enabled the family to survive the flu pandemic of 1918. In spite of political and economic difficulties, the farm flourished, until tragedy befell the family and the bees on the narrator's seventh birthday.

B5: BIPOC Author
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
Setting: Ghana, 1960s. Genre: Autobiography
The fifth in a series of six autobiographical writings finds Maya Angelou in Ghana with her teenage son, in 1962. "We were black Americans in West Africa, where for the first time in our lives the color of our skin was accepted as correct and normal." As one of a community of black Americans which "thought of itself as a cadre of political emigres", she helped to facilitate the visit of civil rights leader Malcolm X. At the end of the book, she returns to the USA to work as his Campaign Manager - not before discovering her kinship, through ancestors who left West Africa as slaves, with the descendants of those who stayed behind.

This completes column B:
B1: The Sandcastle Hurricane (USA)
B2: A Meditation on Murder (Guadeloupe*)
B3: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Poland)
B4: The Murmur of Bees (Mexico)
B5: All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (Ghana)

C1: Set in a Nordic Country
The Blood Strand
Setting: Faroe Islands; Genre: Detective
A police detective returns to the country where he was born, for only the second time since leaving it as a small child, on learning that his father is seriously ill. But why was someone else's blood found on the door of his father's car? Jan and the local cop Hjalti work out what may have happened, but the mystery in Jan's life remains unresolved for a sequel.

Wow, Barbara - you are flying through the bingo challenge! Amazing!

C2: Set in a hotel
The Hotel on the Roof of the World: From Miss Tibet to Shangri-La
Setting: Tibet; Genre: Memoir
"You mean, you WANT to work in Lhasa?" The title of the first chapter was the response of an interviewer for Holiday Inn in Hong Kong, and that day the author was appointed Sales and Marketing Manager there. The rest of the book explains the interviewer's incredulity. A local workforce, friendly but unfamiliar with western ideas of hygiene and technology; the Chinese establishment making life difficult with sudden and arbitrary restrictions; invasions of flies in summer and rats in winter. Yet his enthusiasm and love for the country survived the five years he spent in Tibet.

C3: African Classic
How I Found Livingstone in Central Africa
Setting: Tanzania; Genre: Travel Memoir (1870s)
"Doctor Livingstone, I presume." "Yes". H M Stanley's account begins with a more colourful conversation between H M Stanley and the young manager of the New York Herald in the latter's hotel bedroom:
"Where do you think Livingstone is?"
"I really do not know, sir."
"Do you think he is alive?"
"He may be, and he may not be."
... "do what you think best - BUT FIND LIVINGSTONE."
Stanley was not even sure that David Livingstone, if still alive, would want to be found. Nevertheless, he embarked on a journey in the footsteps of the first British explorers of Central Africa with an expedition of 150 porters carrying bales of cloth and other goods for barter and "presents" for local chiefs.

C4: History
The Last Days of the Incas
Setting: Peru; Genre: Non-fiction History (16th century)
From the arrival of Francisco Pizarro to the execution of the last Inca emperor were 50 years of conflict: between the Spanish settlers and the Inca population; between rival Spanish leaders; and between rival members of the Inca royal family. The story is framed with an account of twentieth century journeys of exploration seeking the lost city of Vilcacamba. There is a helpful chronology at the beginning.

C5: LGBTQ character
Christopher and His Kind
Setting: Germany et al.; Genre: Autobiography, 1929-1939
Most of the characters in this book are gay. Christopher Isherwood travelled to Berlin in 1928 to find an environment where he could establish himself as an author and explore his sexuality. Some of his early writing was based on suitably anonymized people he met in Berlin, known to today's public through adaptation in the musical Caberet. Towards the end of the decade covered by this book, as a published author, he was beginning to tell his own story. Nearly forty years later, he wrote an autobiography, starting from his first visit to Berlin and ending with arrival in the USA. His friends - his tribe - his kind ranged from well-known literary figures to working-class German boys met in gay bars.

This completes column C:
C1: The Blood Strand (Faroe Islads)
C2: The Hotel on the Roof of the World: From Miss Tibet to Shangri-La (Tibet)
C3: How I Found Livingstone in Central Africa (Tanzania)
C4: The Last Days of the Incas (Peru)
C5: Christopher and His Kind (Germany)

D1: Published in year I was born (1946)
The Honjin Murders
Setting: Japan; Genre: Detective
A locked-room murder plotted and solved by Japanese fans of locked-room murders. One of the characters was killed in the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. An easy read after the long and detailed accounts in C3 and C4.

D2: Adjacent Countries
Laying it on the Line
Countries: Northern Ireland, Ireland; Genre: Politics
A collection of 26 interviews of public figures in Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic, and Irish Americans conducted between February to June 2019 on the future of the border between the two countries following Brexit as the UK leaves the EU. The author admits that "the rapid pace of events may render some of the views expressed out of date" and regrets that no members of the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) and Ulster Unionist Party had agreed to participate. Only one woman was interviewed.

NB. I suggested the topic "book set in two adjacent countries". What appeared in the grid was "two books set in adjacent countries", but I decided to go with my original suggestion.

D3: Planes, trains and automobiles
Stopping Planes, Ditching Trains, & Hijacking Automobiles: True Stories from the Road Less Travelled
Country: Russia et al. (The 28 travellers' tales come from almost as many different countries.)
Genre: Travellers' Tales
Between the tales, the author offers refreshments: a suggested drink, and a recipe appropriate to the country. Following these up would have made reading the book more enjoyable, no doubt, but slower, harder work, and more expensive.

D4: Polar setting
Rescue Below Zero
Setting: Greenland, 1952; Genre: Aviation
A supply plane serving a British Arctic expedition crashes into the ice cap as the arctic summer draws to a close. This is the story of its crew and how they were rescued.

D5: Fewer than 1000 ratings
Only Fools and Horsepower
Setting: England &c; Genre: Travel?
Originally borrowed from Kindle Unlimited for D3, but the life of a long-distance lorry driver didn't quite fit the category Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Only 46 ratings for this earthy account of his life on the road, over 70% were 5 star.

This completes column D:
D1: The Honjin Murders (Japan)
D2: Laying it on the Line (Northern Ireland, Ireland)
D3: Stopping Planes, Ditching Trains, & Hijacking Automobiles: True Stories from the Road Less Travelled (Sweden et al.)
D4: Rescue Below Zero (Greenland)
D5: Only Fools and Horsepower (England et al.)

E1: Pacific Islander author
The PASEFIKA Beat: Poems and Art From The Island of Jamztoma
Setting: American Samoa at el.; Genre: Poetry
A refreshing collection of easy-to-read poems about several Pacific islands including James Toma's native American Samoa, and a few on recent events in the USA where he lives now.

E2: History mystery set before 1900
Mars the Avenger
Setting: Rome, 2nd century CE; Genre: Mystery
First of a series about Judge Marcus Flavius Severus, a fictional contemporary and fellow Stoic philosopher of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. Meticulous details of ceremonial dress and legal dilemmas.

E3: Fairytale or Folklore
Spring of Wonder: A Collection of Yemenite Folk Tales
Country: Yemen; Genre: Folklore
Four stories, featuring a wicked witch who is hired to carry out the evil intent of someone else by disguising herself as a person in need of help and rewarding her benefactor with a "promise".

E4: Set during a war
Turn Left for Gibraltar
Setting: Malta; Genre: Naval
Third novel in a set of five about the wartime adventures of Harry Gilmour, posted to Malta as navigator on a submarine.

Only one book to go now, but it's the one with 500+ pages.

Great reads there! Way to go

E5: More than 500 pages.
On Sacred Ground: A 7,000-Mile Walk of Discovery into the Heart of Wild Nature
Setting: Norway et al. Genre: Travel Memoir
The second part of the author's account of a solo walk from the southern tip of Italy to the north of Norway.

******************
*** B I N G O ***
******************
This completes the Magic Square.
Row E:
E1: The PASEFIKA Beat: Poems and Art From The Island of Jamztoma (American Samoa et al.)
E2: Mars the Avenger (Ancient Rome)
E3:Spring of Wonder: A Collection of Yemenite Folk Tales) (Yemen)
E4: Turn Left for Gibraltar (Malta)
E5: On Sacred Ground: A 7,000-Mile Walk of Discovery into the Heart of Wild Nature

Fiction: 11
Poetry: 2
Travel/Memoir/Autobiography: 9
Other Nonfiction: 3

Each book was set in a different country:
Europe: 12
Asia: 4 of which 1 is Middle East
Africa: 3
Americas: 4 (N, S, Carib)
Oceania: 1
Polar: 1

2 of the books were already on my Kindle; 14 borrowed from Kindle Unlimited; 9 purchased for the challenge, total cost £35. I could have used more books I already had, but for my extra requirement that all should come from different countries and a reluctance to tackle a more demanding book for E5.

Congratulations on finishing!
Which ones were your favorite?

Perhaps The Island of Missing Trees and The Murmur of Bees. Both have a main character with extraordinary gifts and a love of nature.

Congrats!!! Might I suggest a translated from Japanese work duology (which also fits fairytales or folklore!) The Beast Player & The Beast Warrior (which I would link here but I am on the mobile app!)? Just based on the reasons you named your favorites! I think these very character based novels (though they ARE written for a YA audience, they are books for people of all ages, as fairytales often are!) may just strike your fancy!!