The Bookworm Challenge discussion

The bonus is a non-point challenge. Books posted here can be also be posted in a point earning challenge (main challenge, monthly specials, and BINGO).

2025's bonus challenge is books set in a foreign country. Foreign would be outside the country you hold citizenship in. If you have multiple citizenships, choose the one that feels most like home to you.

The rules are basically:
- If the book is set in multiple countries, you can choose any of them. However, the plot has to advance itself in some way in that country. It can't just be mentioned as a passing spot on a journey. For example: A book could involve a trip to India, with a layover in Japan (I have no idea if that's how you get to India. Just go with it.) If Japan is just mentioned in passing, it doesn't count as a foreign setting for this challenge.
- You can only choose one country per book. However, if you later read another book in that country and want to change the country from an earlier book, that is allowed, as long as it follows the previous rule. Example: A book has several countries that could count, like France, Germany, and England. You choose France. Later, you read a book set only in France. You can add it to this challenge as long as you change the previous book to either Germany or England.
- A book can only be used once in this challenge. I may be stating the obvious, but I'm covering bases.

Ask questions if you have them!

Michael's Bonus Challenge: Foreign Country Settings:
1. (United States) Fort Starke Wade Everett 1/1/25
2. (England) Otter Country: An Unexpected Adventure in the Natural World Miriam Darlington 2/24/25
3. (France) Murder à la Carte Susan Kiernan-Lewis 2/28/25
4. (Egypt) Liberty Stephen Coonts 3/26/25
5. (Greenland) Treasure Clive Cussler 4/16/25
6. (Russia) Night Witches Kathryn Lasky 5/5/25
7. (Iraq) Zero Six Bravo: The Explosive True Story of How 60 Special Forces Survived Against an Iraqi Army of 100,000 Damien Lewis 5/13/25
8. (Philippines) The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931 - April 1942 - Volume 3 of set History of United States Naval Operations in World War Two Samuel Eliot Morison 5/29/25
9. (Ukraine) Night Witches: The Amazing Story Of Russia's Women Pilots in World War II Bruce Myles 7/5/25
10. (United Arab Emirates) Locked On Tom Clancy 8/24/25
11. (Guadalcanal) Claws of the Eagle E.V. Correale 10/11/25

Connie's Foreign Country Settings: (not Canada)

Egypt: What I Know About You by Éric Chacour 01/17
England: Your Story, My Story: A Novel by Connie Palmen 01/03
Italy: The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare 01/10
Norway: Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbø 01/25
Rwanda: Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin 01/26
Scotland: Mind Game by Iris Johansen 01/05
Thailand: Cockroaches by Jo Nesbø 01/07
United States: The Rebel by Gerald Brandt 01/20

Wanda's Bonus Challenge - Foreign Country Settings:

1. Denmark - Locked In by Jussi Adler-Olsen
2. England - The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves
3. Netherlands- The Noose's ⁷Shadow by Graham Brack
4. Mexico - 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
5. Czech Republic - Lying and Dying by Graham Brack
6. Nigeria - Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
7. Japan - The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
8. Scotland - Death of a Green-Eyed Monster by M.C. Beaton
9. Belgium - The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
10. Oman - The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
11. Sweden - The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
12. Botswana- The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith
13. France - Big Bad Wool by Leonie Swann
14. Korea - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
15. Tibet - The Lord of Death by Eliot Pattison
16. China - The Emperor's Tomb by Steve Berry
17. Russia - Eye of the Red Tsar by Sam Eastland
18. Chile - The Kaiser's Web by Steve Berry
19. Germany - Borrower of the Night by Elizabeth Peters
20. Canada - Moon of the Crusted Snow Waubgeshig Rice
21. Dominican Republic - The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez
23. Laos - The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
23. Trinidad - The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini
24. Greece - Outline by Rachel Cusk
25. Ireland - Christmas Cocoa Murder by Carlene O'Connor
26. Afghanistan- Saving Cinnamon: The Amazing True Story of a Missing Military Puppy and the Desperate Mission to Bring Her Home by Christine Sullivan
27. Montenegro - The Black Mountain by Rex Stout

Turtlefrog's Foreign Country Settings (Not USA)

1. Bermuda - Untamed 1/28
2. South Africa - Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood 2/11
3. Canada - Calling Forever 3/9
4. Poland, German, & France - Lilac Girls 7/17
5. Cancun, Mexico - The Fate Of A Marlowe Girl 8/8
6. England & Germany - The Night Circus 9/12

Cathy's Foriegn settings ( not Canada

1.Hour of the Witch - (Boston) USA
2. The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill - England

Ann-Marie´s foreign settings (not Sweden)

1 - The Book of Witching (Orkney)
2 - Moon of the Crusted Snow (Canada)
3. Pengar på fickan (Denmark)
4. Vaka över henne (Italy)
5. Marseille 1940: Die große Flucht der Literatur (France)
6. Fristaden (Sweden)
7.

Gillis' foreign settings (not Belgium)

1. United Kingdom/Scotland: Stad vol geesten by Victoria E. Schwab - 1 Jan 2025
2. Poland: De Violist van Birkenau by Mike van Hoecke - 7 Jan 2025
3. United Kingdom/England: Lang leve Jane by Cynthia Hand - 10 Jan 2025
4. USA (Illinois-Chicago): Je bent prachtig by Ann Napolitano - 14 Jan 2025
5. Iran: Sneeuwvlokken in Teheran by Marjan Kamali - 21 Jan 2025
6. Sweden: Het Stockholm komplot by Colin Forbes - 27 Jan 2025
7. Colombia: Gevangen: De complete trilogie by Anna Zaires - 19 Mar 2025
8. Japan: Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean - 25 Mar 2025
9. Greece: Elektra by Jennifer Saint - 27 Mar 2025
10. the Netherlands: De Cock en het lijk aan de kerkmuur by A.C. Baantjer - 18 July 2025
11. China: Mao's Mussen by Dirk-Jan Hoek - 27 July 2025
12. Ireland: Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy - 5 Aug 2025
13. Ecuador: Galapagos by Michaël Olbrechts - 16 Aug 2025
14. Italy: Bloedregen by Michael Dibdin - 31 Oct 2025
15. South Korea: De plotters by Kim Un-Su - 17 Nov 2025

Rhonda's foreign settings (not USA)

1. Switzerland: A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
2. UK: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
3. Norway: Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbø

Emily's Foreign Setting (not USA)

- Vietnam: The Women by Kristin Hannah
- Iraq: Home Front by Kristin Hannah
- France: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
- Italy: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
- Canada: The War We Won Apart: The Untold Story of Two Elite Agents Who Became One of the Most Decorated Couples of WWII by Nahlah Ayed

Linda's Foreign Settings (Not USA)

Australia - Dream Chasing: My Four Decades of Success and Failure with Walt Disney Imagineering by Bob Weis
Barbados - The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes
Canada - The Long Way Home by Louise Penny
China - The Bartered Bride by Mary Jo Putney
Costa Rica - The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History by Thor Hanson
England - The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8 by Beth Brower
France - Those Who Leave and T[author:Pam Muñoz Ryanhose Who Stay|23156040] by Elena Ferrante
Germany - Echo by
India - The Secret Keeper of Jaipur by Alka Joshi
Italy - My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Iran - The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Ireland - The Women of Primrose Square by Claudia Carroll
Japan - Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Mexico - A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs by Ben Garrod
Morocco - The Hero Next Door by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
The Netherlands - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
New Zealand - The Moon Is Missing by Jenni Ogden
Norway - Once in a Blue Moon Lodge by Lorna Landvik
Peru - Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark
Phillipines - The Last Voyage by Brian D. McLaren
Poland - The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
Portugal - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
Russia - Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire
Scotland - The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Sierra Leone - Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green
Slovakia - Three Sisters by Heather Morris
Spain - I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
Sweden - My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Vietnam - Boat Baby: A Memoir by Vicky Nguyen

Lisa's Foreign Country Settings (Not USA)

1. Australia - Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
2. Scotland - The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan
3. Iran - Together Tea by Marjan Kamali
4. England - The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
5. Sweden - The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz
6. Russia - The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Sam's Foreign Settings (not Wales)

1. USA - Shutter Island
2. England - Cold Blooded Evil: The true story of the 'Ipswich stranglings'
3. Scotland - Killing for Company: The case of Dennis Nilsen
4. Australia - The Graveyard Shift
5. South Africa - Birds of Prey
6. Afghanistan - 12 Strong
7. France - Victorian Murderesses: A True History of Thirteen Respectable French and English Women Accused of Unspeakable Crimes
8. Israel - Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
9. Germany - Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust
10. Jamaica - Woven

CathyG's Foreign Settings (not USA)
1. Argentina - The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey (Chile, Columbia)
2. Venezuela - It Would Be Night in Caracas
3. England - The Consequences of Fear
4. Ireland - The Choice
5. Viet Nam - Artemis Fowl
6. China - The Chase
7. Peru - The Recovery Agent
8. Russia - Reindeer Moon
9. Portugal - The Job

Carolyn's Foreign Settings

1. France: The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel
2. England: The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
3. Italy: The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner
4. Spain: A Bookseller in Madrid: A Novel by Mario Escobar
5. Canada: This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
6. Indonesia: The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
7. Afghanistan: Full Measures by Rebecca Yarros
8. Turkey: Hallowed Ground by Rebecca Yarros

Foreign country settings

1. 24. De dag van de Jakhals Frederick Forsyth 476 p. 25 march France
2. The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 220 p. 28 march 2025 England
3. Met onbekende bestemming Agatha Christie 195 p. 31 march Casablanca and atlas gebergte
4. Mathilde 3 april 356 p. Morocco
5. BloedverwantStuart Neville 296 p. 8 aprilUSA
6. Moord op de golflinks Agatha Christie 208 p. 9 april
7. Nachtangst Ronald Giphart 182 p. 10 april
8. Odyssee Stephen Fry 368p. 17 april Greece
9. Eeuwige vriendschap Nele Neuhaus 20 april 578 p. Germany
10. Het boek der deuren Gareth Brown 431 p. 22 april USA