Around the World discussion

This book list is a work in progress (updated 5 April 2012). My sisters (Mino and Renee), Martha, Sandra and I agreed to take the same route around the world, at times we may read different books. I also mapped our route, http://www.travellerspoint.com/member...

Canada:The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed or Déjà Dead
Ireland: Three Bags Fullor In the Woods
Sweden: Death Angels, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, or The Girl Who Played With Fire
Russia: Doctor Zhivago (Group read 1/21/12-1/28/12).
Mongolia: In the Empire of Genghis Khan: An Amazing Odyssey Through the Lands of the Most Feared Conquerors in History
China: Pearl of Chinaor The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West
Tibet: Waiting for the Dalai Lama: Stories from All Sides of the Tibetan Debateor Sorrow Mountain: The Journey of a Tibetan Warrior Nun
Nepal: Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal
India: Siddhartha, Life of Pi, Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God: Retracing the Ramayana Through India or There Are Other Rivers: On Foot Across India
Pakistan: Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time
Afghanistan: A Thousand Splendid Suns or The Sleeping Buddha
Saudi Arabia: A Season in Mecca: Narrative of a Pilgrimage or Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam
Iraq: Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America And American in Iran or After The Prophet: The Epic Story Of The Shia Sunni Split In Islam
Lebenon: Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War
Turkey: Black Milk: On Writing, Motherhood, and the Harem Within or Porcelain Moon and Pomegranates : A Woman's Trek Through Turkey
Greece: The Olympian: A Tale of Ancient Hellas, Harlot's Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece or Zeus: A Journey Through Greece in the Footsteps of a God
Italy: Under the Tuscan Sun or Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love
Kosovo: A Village Destroyed, May 14, 1999: War Crimes in Kosovo or The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo
Romania: Dracula
Poland: The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story
Germany: The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor
Netherlands: Girl with a Pearl Earring, Love Life, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister or The Vanishing
England: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, The Staffordshire Hoard, or Neverwhere
France: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, The Elegance of the Hedgehog or My Life in France
Spain: The Way Is Made by Walking: A Pilgrimage Along the Camino De Santiago or The Shadow of the Wind
Portugal: The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon or The Dream Merchant Of Lisbon: The Game Of Espionage
Morocco: The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca or This Blinding Absence of Light
Mali: Timbuktu
Egypt: Apricots on the Nile: A Memoir with Recipes or Cleopatra's Daughter
Ethiopia: Notes from the Hyena's Belly: An Ethiopian Boyhood or Cutting for Stone
Somalia: Desert Flower: The Extraordinary Journey Of A Desert Nomad
Kenya: Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa or It Happened On the Way to War
Rwanda: The Bone Woman: A Forensic Anthropologist's Search for Truth in the Mass Graves of Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo
Tanzania: In the Dust of Kilimanjaro
Madagascar: Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar or The Eighth Continent: Life, Death, and Discovery in the Lost World of Madagascar
Thailand: Ladyboys
Vietnam: When Hell Was in Session
Philippines: When the Elephants Dance
Japan: Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa, The Diary of Lady Murasaki, The Street of a Thousand Blossoms or The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan
Australia: The Shiralee
New Zealand: The Bone People
Fiji: Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu
Rapa Nui, Chile: The Statues that Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island or Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island
Antarctica: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Brazil: The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
Peru: The Last Days of the Incas, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time or The White Rock
Galapagos Islands, Ecuador: Galapagos at the Crossroads: Pirates, Biologists, Tourists, and Creationists Battle for Darwin's Cradle of Evolution, Voyage of the Beagle : Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches or Evolution's Captain: The Dark Fate of the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World
Colombia: Strange Pilgrims
Cuba: Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba
Guatemala: The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?
Mexico: The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book
USA:

I know you said you aren't quite done, but I went ahead and added your selections to the master list (as MRMM). Reading with a group should be really fun! And would you believe you even have a country nobody else had listed yet - Mali.

And, for all four of you to take the literary journey together is original. How did you decide on the books?

There are some interesting books on your list. Enjoy!

I love that you're all travelling together. There looks to be some great titles listed that I need to add to my TBR!

And like Asmah, I'm interested in knowing how choices were made.

A lot of great choices, especially Forty Days of Musa Dagh. I like anything by Franz Werfel. How can you chose between Perfume and My Life In France? They are both really special. I liked Hedgehodge as well.

I notice that your USA spot is still open. Do you have any ideas about what you want to read?

Chelsea wrote: "Quadruplets!! This is a new one for the Group."

Chelsea, you crack me up.

Galapagos: Evolution's Captain: The Dark Fate of the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World

There is a fantastic novel about Fitzroy and Darwin, called [Book:This Thing of Darkness|142050] by Harry Thompson. It is a brilliant book, but sadly the only novel by the author as he died soon after writing it (he also wrote biographies).

It is very true to the real story, and the characters are fantastic and very human. Darwin is a real young man, with tonnes of curiosity and adventurous spirit, and not the old bearded man from the usual pictures. And Fitzroy is wonderfully realised, capturing all his darkness and depression.

Jenny wrote: "I know you said you aren't quite done, but I went ahead and added your selections to the master list (as MRMM). Reading with a group should be really fun! And would you believe you even have a co..."

I chose Mali because of Timbuktu. =)

Asmah wrote: "And, for all four of you to take the literary journey together is original. How did you decide on the books?"

The group Master List was a great help. Also used Listopia as well as searching on Amazon.