Around the World discussion

It was great fun putting this list together. I geeked it out a little by coding the books as (1) a book I own, (2) a book I can get at my library, and (3) a book I would love to buy and maybe trade with anyone who has mutual books on our lists - let me know if you're interested!

* indicates a planned group read.

ARGENTINA
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
148 pages (1)

AUSTRALIA
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
688 pages (1)

AUSTRIA
The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig
244 pages (2)

BELGIUM
The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs
352 pages (1)

BRAZIL
Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis
176 pages (3)

CHILE
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
448 pages (1)
*July group read

COLOMBIA
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
417 pages (1)

CROATIA
On the Edge of Reason by Miroslav Krleža
182 pages (2)

CUBA
Before Night Falls: A Memoir by Reinaldo Arenas
317 pages (3)

CZECH REPUBLIC
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
306 pages (1)

DENMARK
Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg
469 pages (1)

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
325 pages (1)

EL SALVADOR
Clandestine Poems/Poemas Clandestinos by Roque Dalton
183 pages (3)

ECUADOR
The Queen of Water by Laura Resau
304 pages (3)

EGYPT
The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz
416 pages (1)
*April group read

FINLAND
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
160 pages (1)

FRANCE
Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
178 pages (3)

GERMANY
Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck
151 pages (2)

GREECE
The Jasmine Isle by Ioanna Karystiani
288 pages (3)

HAITI
The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat
312 pages (2)

HUNGARY
Sunflower by Gyula Krúdy
216 pages (3)

INDIA
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
603 pages (1)
*June group read

INDONESIA
The Ten Thousand Things by Maria Dermoût
208 pages (3)

IRAN
Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour
320 pages (2)

ISRAEL
A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz
560 pages (2)

ITALY
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
146 pages (1)

JAMAICA
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
432 pages (2)

JAPAN
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
613 pages (3)
*May group read

KENYA
The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood by Elspeth Huxley
288 pages (2)

KOREA
The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag by Kang Chol-Hwan
238 pages (3)

LEBANON
A Girl Made of Dust by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi
256 pages (2)

LIBYA
The Bleeding of the Stone by Ibrahim al-Koni
160 pages (2)

MEXICO
Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
241 pages (1)

MOROCCO
Hope & Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami
197 pages (2)

NEW ZEALAND
Faces in the Water by Janet Frame
254 pages (3)

NIGERIA
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
433 pages (2)
*February group read

NORWAY
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
144 pages (2)

POLAND
Primeval and Other Times by Olga Tokarczuk
250 pages (2)

PORTUGAL
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
304 pages

ROMANIA
The Days of the King by Filip Florian
208 pages (3)

RUSSIA
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
592 pages (1)
*January group read (Sun 1/22/12 - Sat 1/28/12)

SPAIN
The Wrong Blood by Manuel De Lope
254 pages (3)

SOMALIA
Desert Flower: The Extraordinary Journey Of A Desert Nomad by Waris Dirie
240 pages (2)

SWEDEN
The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
268 pages (2)

THAILAND
Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap
272 pages (1)

TURKEY
Portrait of a Turkish Family by Irfan Orga
316 pages (3)

UNITED KINGDOM
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
821 pages (1)

UNITED STATES
Stoner by John Edward Williams
278 pages (1)

URUGUAY
The Book of Embraces by Eduardo Hughes Galeano
282 pages (3)

VIETNAM
The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood by Kien Nguyen
343 pages (2)

YEMEN
The Hostage: A Novel by Zayd Mutee' Dammaj
168 pages (3)

ZIMBABWE
When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa by Peter Godwin
244 pages (2)

Hello ,

Very nice list , there are so many books I want to read :)
The Thorn Birds (I added it from your list), One hundred years of solitude (I started it and stopped before) , The Unbearable Lightness of Being , "portrait of a Turkish family" ,and The Hostage: A Novel.

I read "Thr bleeding of the stone" which is a very strange book but worth reading , "Half of a yellow sun" is one of my favorites , it is cruel but beautiful .

Yay, for readers of Portrait of a Turkish Family!!! Kien Nguyen's The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood is also wonderful. Both got five stars from me.

Hi Kristen.

Just updated to include group reads that are scheduled (*) - and changed my India choice to A Fine Balance. Can't wait to attack this list.

Welcome :).

I adore A Fine Balance, and David Copperfield; shame I can't simply read them again. Have fun with them! :)

Good Luck with The Post-Office Girl; I can't read Stefan Zweig, and I would have the original non-translated version.

Really like your list, Kristen. Don Casmurro is probably Machado de Assis' best book and maybe Brazil's best novel. I also listed Greece's Jasmine Isle, a novel I missed when I did my Greek readings but one that I do own (you see I had a good intention)!

Kristen,

We have several books in common.

The Summer Book is very special. I think you'll enjoy it. I've read books by Stephan Zweig and enjoyed them. I also have The Post Office Girl on my list. A Tale of Love and Darkness is a 5 star favorite book for me. Stoner is another excellent book - and another 5 star favorite for me. Same with Portrait of a Turkish Family.

I'll also be doing the group reads for A Fine Balance and The Harafish.

You have a lot of great reading to look forward to for next year,

Asmah wrote: "Really like your list, Kristen. Don Casmurro is probably Machado de Assis' best book and maybe Brazil's best novel. I also listed Greece's Jasmine Isle, a novel I missed when I did my Greek reading..."

Asmah, I've added Don Casmurro to my TBR after reading what you just wrote. Who can resist such an introduction?

Thanks for the comments Asmah and Anne! I can't wait for 2012 reading. This will be great fun comparing notes with such a smart, well-read group.

Asmah wrote: "Really like your list, Kristen. Don Casmurro is probably Machado de Assis' best book and maybe Brazil's best novel. I also listed Greece's Jasmine Isle, a novel I missed when I did my Greek reading..."

Oh cool. I added Don Casmurro from the 1001 list, but good to hear someone liked it, since some on the list aren't necessarily much fun.