Around the World discussion

This is a really interesting concept. So here is my list -- books I've been wanting to read for some time. Some are already sitting on my shelf, others on my wife's shelf. Only 42 for the moment, but in 42 different countries. I may add others, but I doubt in any case that I can read a book a week in the challenge, since I'm a slow reader and there are other things I want to read. (Also, I probably won't wait until January to start.) But it certainly means I'll be spending less time in front of the TV and more with a book in my hand! Updated regularly. Asterisk indicates book read.

Afghanistan: The Bookseller of Kabul
Angola: The Book of Chameleons
Austria: A Death in Vienna
*Azerbaijan: Ali and Nino: A Love Story
Bosnia: The Bridge on the Drina
Botswana: Tears of the Giraffe
Bulgaria: Night Soldiers
*Canada: Voyage of the Narwhal
Chile: Easter Island
China: A Floating Life: The Adventures of Li Po: A Historical Novel
Dominican Republic: The Farming of Bones
Egypt: The Serpent and the Scorpion: An Ursula Marlowe Mystery
*England: In Pale Battalions
France: The Forger: A Novel
Germany: Effi Briest
*Greece: Murder in Mykonos
*India: The Siege of Krishnapur
Indonesia: This Earth of Mankind
Israel: The Attack: Novel
Italy: Stone Virgin
Jamaica: Wide Sargasso Sea
Kenya: Weep Not, Child
Japan: Kafka on the Shore
Mexico: The Savage Detectives
Morocco: The Tenth Gift
New Zealand: The Bone People
Nigeria: Arrows of Rain
North Korea: A Corpse in the Koryo
Norway: To Siberia
Persian Gulf: Cities of Salt
Peru: Bel Canto
Portugal: The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon
Romania: The Passport
*Russia: Snowdrops
Rwanda: A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali
*Saudi Arabia: Eight Months on Ghazzah Street
South Africa: Bitter Fruit
*Spain: Winter in Madrid
Sudan: Acts of Faith
Sweden: Frozen Tracks
Trinidad: Bruised Hibiscus
Turkey: The Black Book
Vietnam: Paradise of the Blind
Zimbabwe:Butterfly Burning: A Novel

Welcome, Darrell. You have found a fun and lively group. At the moment things are quiet. That's pretty unusual.

Hi Darrell, welcome! I recognized some great books on you list - Ali and Nino and Bel Canto, to name just two. I have added your book from Zimbabwe. thanks. I will be studying your list more thoroughly since there were a number I have never heard of. Thank YOU for your list!

Hi Darrell,

Thanks for contributing a very different list.

Lynne, I agree. I like finding new titles, not just seeing the ones everyone else is adding........

Oh, looks like someone likes Mystery ;).

I think I won't wait until January either, but that's mostly because I can't stand two months of looking at a NOT-to-read-shelf :).
You could split the 42 books between yourself and your wife and enter the challenge as an entity. Then you'll definitely finish it ;).

Nice going with your list, Darrell.

Thanks everybody, now if I can just get some of them read!

The Voyage of the Narwhal is a great book, beautifully written and tremendous characters. Thoroughly recommended.

I loved The Bone People too, but it can be a brutal read in places.

Welcome Darrell! I added your selections to the master lists, so just let me know if you add anything else. Just FYI I added Cities of Salt to Saudi Arabia because that's where everyone else had it, and I didn't know what to do with Bel Canto, which says it takes place in an "unnamed South American country." Ha!

Jenny wrote: "Welcome Darrell! I added your selections to the master lists, so just let me know if you add anything else. Just FYI I added Cities of Salt to Saudi Arabia because that's where everyone else had i..."

Jenny, thanks. Bel Canto is pretty clearly based on the Lima hostage situation, so you could add it to Peru...

Barry wrote: "Great list, Darrell! Effi Briest was the reason I started this group. i plan to read it the first week of 2012 if you want to time yours and we can trade notes as we go - but i'm a compulsive devou..."

Barry, that is so not funny. That would make creating book lists the number two activity on my plan. People would think I'm getting obsessed with books :P.

As for Effi Briest, have fun with it. I got around reading it in school by watching the movie and seeing it in theatre and still can't stand her one bit ;).

loool ... no, I saw a stage adaptation in theatre, I saw the Fassbinder movie on VHS and the 2009 movie in cinema.

I'm way too young to have seen Fassbinder's movie as it came out; besides I'm not sure it was shown in the GDR ;).

Jenny wrote: "Welcome Darrell! I added your selections to the master lists, so just let me know if you add anything else. Just FYI I added Cities of Salt to Saudi Arabia because that's where everyone else had i..."

Jenny, I swapped out In Pale Battalions for Mistress of the Art of Death under England. It's also the first in my list that I've read and reviewed.

Barry wrote: "Darrell, be sure to link to your review in the Where In the Wrold Are You thread so we all can read it!"

Done! Thanks for the tip.

Finished second book on my list Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom, which of course takes place in Spain. Brought back my own stay in Madrid. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Haven't mentioned it before because I've read it, but my own book, The Grand Mirage, could be read for either Turkey or Iraq -- the action takes place in Constantinople and Baghdad, and points in between.

I mention it now because the ebook version will be available free on Amazon tomorrow and Friday, Dec. 15 and 16 as a promotion. Download to Kindle at no cost, and enjoy!

Barry wrote: "thanks, Darrell! i will definitely grab it, although I'm doing author's nationality so it may have to wait until 2013 but maybe I'll be working in extra readings if my Last 16 Weeks of 2011 project..."

Thanks, Barry. If it helps, I'm a native Kansan, which sometimes seems like another country...

It took me some time to read Eight Months On Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel because it was often painful to read. Some reader comments on Amazon say her descriptions of Saudi Arabia are exaggerated, but the most exculpatory comments seemed to come from men and my own belief, from everything I've heard, is that her depiction is devastatingly real.

Here is the link to my Goodreads review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Have read a mystery, Murder in Mykonos by Jeffrey Siger for my Greece entry, but it certainly fills the bill for transporting you to the country.

My 5-star review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Great book about India The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell

Here is my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Thanks for that review Darrell. I was not familiar with J.G. Farrell so looking forward to reading.