Around the World discussion

Asmah's World Journey 2012

AFRICA

Central Africa

*Congo (Democratic Republic of the) Dancing in the Glory of Monsters

East Africa

*Somalia From a Crooked Rib

North Africa

*Algeria The Stranger
*Egypt أصداء السيرة الذاتية Echoes of an Autobiography

Southern Africa

Botswana A Carrion Death
*South Africa Agaat

West Africa

Nigeria The Famished Road
*Sierra Leone The Heart of the Matter

AMERICAS

North America

Canada The Blind Assassin
*United States Ghosts by Daylight Love, War, and Redemption

Central America & Caribbean

Cuba Cold Havana Ground or Cecilia Valdes: Or El Angel Hill
*Jamaica Selected Poems of Claude McKay
Mexico The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book
St Lucia Omeros

South America

Argentina Hopscotch
*Brazil The War of the End of the World
Chile The Heights of Macchu Picchu
Columbia One Hundred Years of Solitude

ASIA

East Asia

*China Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
*Japan after the quake

South Asia

India Sea of Poppies
Pakistan Ice-Candy-Man

Southeast Asia

Myanmar/Burma From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey
Philippines Ilustrado: A Novel

Western Asia

Iran Reading Lolita in Tehran or Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East
*Iraq Naphtalene: A Novel of Baghdad
Palestine Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature
Syria Arabian Love Poems: Full Arabic and English Texts
*Turkey Ikinci Yeni - The Turkish Avant-Garde

EUROPE

Central Europe

*Austria The Post-Office Girl
*Germany The Swimmer
Hungary The Storyteller: Memory, Secrets, Magic and Lies
Poland Stone Upon Stone
Romania Hotel Europa
Yugoslavia (now Serbia) The Bridge on the Drina

Northern Europe

Denmark Hans Christian Andersen
Estonia The Same Sea in Us All
Netherlands Life Itself: Louis Paul Boon As Innovator of the Novel
Norway Child Wonder: A Novel or The Wild Duck / Hedda Gabler or The Half Brother
Sweden The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
*United Kingdom (England) On Chesil Beach

Southern Europe

*Albania The Ghost Rider
*Greece The Ionia Sanction
*Italy Between Two Seas

Western Europe

*France The Devil and Miss Prym
Portugal The Implacable Order of Things: A Novel or The Double
Spain The Hive or A Manuscript of Ashes
*Switzerland Berlin Stories

NORTHERN EURASIA

Russia The Brothers Karamazov

OCEANIA

Australia The Vivisector
Fiji Fiji: A Novel

*=FINISHED

Asmah,

I have great admiration for you. You have chosen so many difficult books. I avoid most books that are described as experimental, existential, using stream of consciousness and most magical realism. You must love all of those. I have read two books on your list. The Blind Assassin is terrific.

I can't wait to see the rest of your list.

Anne wrote: "I can't wait to see the rest of your list. ..."

Anne, the idea of a shared reading when lists have the same book also occurred to me. I like that everyone develops their own list. Excited to see whether there are any duplicates!

Judy wrote: "I was just looking at Omeros yesterday. I look forward to your comments about it."

Omeros became important when I read Homer's The Odyssey, Fagle's translation, because Walcott's is the Caribbean poetic epic. Looking forward to it, too.

Barry wrote: "Bros K is soooo good! i didnt even get it at the time and still owe it a full re-read

Hedda Gabler and Swanns Way are excellent as well

Great looking list! i may be borrowing some of these for al..."

The Bros K, absolutely! Thanks for looking over my "2012 Around the World (in 52 books)" list.

Asmah wrote: "Judy wrote: "I was just looking at Omeros yesterday. I look forward to your comments about it."

Omeros became important when I read Homer's The Odyssey, Fagle's translati..."

I've added Omeros to my wishlist. It sounds wonderful. I've been intending to re-read The Odyssey for several years but have only read a few pages. this work sounds good and perhaps more manageable on the short term. Not sure if I'll put it on the 52 list or not.

Barry wrote: "Bros K is soooo good! i didnt even get it at the time and still owe it a full re-read

Hedda Gabler and Swanns Way are excellent as well

Great looking list! i may be borrowing some of these for al..."
Tried to read Swann's Way on Audiobook but it's kind of a snoozer, which isn't good while I'm driving. Perhaps I'll try to finish it though, bc I'm really into the idea of Proust.

Allison wrote: "Tried to read Swann's Way on Audiobook but it's kind of a snoozer, which isn't good while I'm driving. Perhaps I'll try to finish it though, bc I'm really into the idea of Proust.
..."

I'll put my review of SW here in 2012.

Mine's at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I think I'll add this to my "considering" list. God knows if or when I'll ever get to it (sort of like Ulysses) but maybe)

Don't get me going about Amitav Ghosh. I would definitely NOT start with Sea of Poppies. His earlier books are much better! Read The Shadow Lines and or Dancing in Cambodia, at Large in Burma. They are the best. The Glass Palace is good. The worst is Sea of Poppies. I do NOT read many books by one author - except for Ghosh. I have read all except his newest, I was so annoyed about the Sea of Poppies. Look what happened to Allende's writing. We see the same thing here with Ghosh. Just my opinion of course.

Sue wrote: "I think I'll add this to my "considering" list. God knows if or when I'll ever get to it (sort of like Ulysses) but maybe)"

Ha, I'm in the middle of Ulysses right now, and no way could it be done in a week. It's a great Dublin read though, and I bet Dubliners would be great for this challenge.

I haven't read Proust yet either. I need to get a madeleine pan first. I'm a baker and sometimes bake things inspired by what I read - you never realize how much writers talk about baked goods until you start paying attention!

Gaeta, I like Ghosh's earlier writing a lot. Having read all of his earlier books then I was disgusted with Sea of Poppies. This guy knows how to write. If you have loved a writer you demand more of them. The characters use a vernacular that is impossible to understand. I usually look up all the word when I begin a new book, but these words are to be found nowhere. That irritated me to no end! Maybe this is just one of my foibles.

In an Antique Land is good, but I read it ages ago, so I cannot remember the details.

Ha! Well, here is the kugelhopf I made after reading The Elegance of Hedgehogs.

Jenny, I'm impressed with your baking and that you're reading Ulysses. I haven't read Dubliners since college. Another one to read again.

Asmah, before I forget, I loved The Anthologist. It started me on a poetry reading binge that I'm still not over. I got annoyed that it was hard to find the poets as they were mentioned in Baker's novel, so I made an index. Just in case you needed a project for 2013!

Thanks. I always like more poetry sources.

Jenny wrote: "...I loved The Anthologist. It started me on a poetry reading binge that I'm still not over. I got annoyed that it was hard to find the poets as they were mentioned in Baker's novel, so I made an index..."

Poetry 2013 may be a relief after the Asian Pacific novels, the biographies, and the 2012: Around the World tour.

Sue wrote: "...I always like more poetry sources."

Do you know about this one, Sue? http://www.poetryinternational.org/pi...

And, this resource...http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

I'm very familiar with the poetry foundation and get the daily poems from poem.org. The international site ... I think I've seen it but I just bookmarked it so I don't lose track of it. I have developed increased interest in poetry since I joined GR and eventually would like to explore more international sources.

Thanks Asmah.

Asmah, I'm so thrilled to find a St. Lucian author on your list because I was having a lot of difficulty finding any. Stories set in St. Lucia, yes. I have added him to my TBR list and perhaps will make room for the book on my 52 countries.

I've been wanting to read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind it looks fascinating.

Barry wrote: "Bros K is soooo good! i didnt even get it at the time and still owe it a full re-read

Hedda Gabler and Swanns Way are excellent as well

Great looking list! i may be borrowing some of these for al..."

I haven't read that book, but I need to because I live in the town where it is set.

Judy wrote: "Brittany wrote: "I've been wanting to read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind it looks fascinating."

Brittany, it is."

Hmm. I can borrow that from my library on kindle. Maybe I'll be reading that soon.

I'm so glad that I listed The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope. The story gets high marks (2601 readers rated it 4.12) and the boy's finding a way to help himself and his family is inspirational and hopeful.

I first heard about it from you, Sue. It's in on my list. I was so happy to find it at my library.

Someone here recommended "The Boy Who Harnessed...". I don't exactly remember who the person is, though Sue and Judy could have mentioned it.

I know it wasn't me since it's not on my list (yet?).

Judy wrote a nice review and based on both of your interest and recommendation, I've added it to my list.

Jenny wrote: "Asmah, before I forget, I loved The Anthologist. It started me on a poetry reading binge that I'm still not over. I got annoyed that it was hard to find the poets as they were mentioned in Baker'..."

How great is this? Are those page mentions in brackets?

Sue wrote: "I know it wasn't me since it's not on my list (yet?)."

Oh, I meant to say that I heard about it from Judy. Sorry Judy. You can see by my sentence structure that I wasn't thinking or writing clearly when I posted message 37.

I had a feeling that it might be Judy but I didn't want to put words in your mouth (or computer) Anne.

You were right, Sue. You can put words in to my computer any time (if you can).

If I can manage that from here I'll have to see if I can market the skill!

I see if done on TV all the time.

Putting words in to my computer.

You've got some really interesting books on your list! I had to go an add several of them to my to-read list (maybe for next year?).

I've always meant to get around to reading Doctor Zhivago, considering I'm named for one of the main characters. I'm looking forward to seeing what you think of it!

Warnie B. wrote: "...I've always meant to get around to reading Doctor Zhivago, considering I'm named for one of the main characters. I'm looking forward to seeing what you think of it! ..."

You must be Lara!

When I am done with my list, I can see I am going to borrow many from urs :)

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope seems so interesting!


*sigh*

Paras wrote: "When I am done with my list, I can see I am going to borrow many from urs :)"

...if you'll let me borrow The Return of the Dancing Master.

I feel the excitement creeping over me when I think of reading "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind".

Judy wrote: "Paras wrote: "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope seems so interesting!


*sigh*"

It is. :-)"

I think I just would have to read it then. my 52 books challenge might end up being 54 :p

Asmah wrote: "Paras wrote: "When I am done with my list, I can see I am going to borrow many from urs :)"

...if you'll let me borrow The Return of the Dancing Master."

Sure. That one seems really interesting, right?

Yes. A good thing for sure. I have found so many books I didnt even know about, I am glad abt it. :)