Read a book from each country discussion

Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

Wave of Terror by Theodore Odrach. Fascinating book detailing atrocities committed by Stalin on average citizens after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939.

Oksana Zabuzko | Badania terenowe nad ukraińskim seksem (Field work on Ukrainian sex)

Nervous People by Mikhail Zoshchenko (Ukrainian but wrote in Russian).

Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles.
Moonlight in Odessa A Novel

The country is called Ukraine, not The Ukraine, it's not an island, FYI

Ukraine vs the Ukraine - article sums it all up. http://www.infoukes.com/faq/the_ukraine/

Sho wrote: "The correction is useful. The incorrect but rather widespread use of the "the" seems to be declining. The whole time I was growing up in the US, it was generally referred to as "the Ukraine." I hav..."

I meant that you use 'the' before a country name in case if the country is or consists of islands, with some exceptions, of course.
One more link: http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/articl...
And the article on infoukes.com does indeed sum it all up.

Those countries that demand the definite article must simply be learned. When you tackle a new language you don't analyze, you just learn the rules. The same phenomenon occurs with French; you just plain have to memorize for which countries and in which situations you must use a definite article. I am wondering a bit if the French grammatical rules are a hangover in those countries which were French colonies. It is even more complicated in French - there you also have the partitive artcles to consider.

Set in Ukraine.
Otherland: A Journey With My Daughter is a memoir by Maria Tumarkin who returns to her homeland Ukraine with her 12 year-old daughter after a twenty year absence and reconnects with friends, culture and the turbulent changes in post Soviet Russia and Ukraine. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ here is my review