Keli’s Comments (group member since Jun 23, 2016)

Keli’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Melindam wrote: "So, just putting it out there -in case some of you may be interested- author Nalini Singh was born in Fiji (a hard country). I just heard on the grapevine. 😊"

I forgot about the author could be from the country rule that does make some of the hard countries easier. Unfortunately, for my other challenge they need to take place there. But I will start double checking where authors are born.

Sophie wrote: "Excellent list, thanks Keli!

I'm trying to remember which Agatha Christie books were set abroad as I know I've read a few set in Turkey and the Middle East"

I think The Labours of Hercules was set somewhere like that. Again though, it might not meet the 50% requirement.

Denise wrote: "As far as lazy music goes, I just watched a live recording of Mazzy Star singing Fade Into You at the Shoreline Amphitheater. It took me back to my youth (and probably dates me). I thought she was ..."

My husband plays that often. It is a brilliant song.

Also for South Korea The Island of Sea Women. So good. I cried a little to this one. Actually, I cry to most books, even happy ones!

KayLynn wrote: "


Would any of these count as a statue for the cover?"

KayLynn, I really enjoyed the Restorer and it is defo a statue

And though there are many from Canada, I recently read Looking for Jane. I recommend it

Antigua and Barbuda - The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave Narrative - worth a read just to learn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bahamas - On Stranger Tides - Really enjoyed this pirate story⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Barbados - River Sing Me Home - Defo worth a read ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cuba - The Old Man and the Sea😴😴😴 but it’s Hemingway. So you might like it
Grenada - Sugar Money ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Guatemala - The Mulatta And Mister Fly - Crazy psychedelic fiction⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jamaica - The Book of Night Women: From the Man Booker prize-winning author of A Brief History of Seven Killings - heavy but amazing. Not an easy read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mexico - So many to choose from
Trinidad and Tobago - The Bread the Devil Knead - I really liked this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fiji - A Disappearance in Fiji -
Kiribati - The Sex Lives Of Cannibals - An entertaining and moderately informative travel book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
New Zealand - Kiwi Rules - Enjoyable romance ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Solomon Islands -Devil-Devil - Another cozy ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Vanuatu - Man Belong Mrs Queen: Adventures with the Philip Worshippers - not as good as the Kiribati book ⭐️⭐️
Argentina - Polo - silly romance⭐️⭐️
Bolivia - Purity - a little cult fiction ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Brazil - State of Wonder - Not the best Ann Patchett ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chile - The Wager Disaster: Mayhem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas - Amazing unbelievable story ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Colombia - One Hundred Years of Solitude - Fabulous ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Egypt - The Red Tent - I googled the region and it seems to be modern day Egypt. Loved this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ghana - Tail of the Blue Bird - I don’t do cozy mysteries. And this was like a Ghanaian cozy ⭐️⭐️
Kenya - Pandemic - Decent medical thriller ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Madagascar - Red Island House -This was okay. It’s a collection of short stories about island life. Not a lot of fiction from here. But there’s probably a good book on the insanely murderous queen of the 18th or 19th century. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Malawi- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope - Quite joyous ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Morocco - In the Country of Others - Another just okay book that had potential ⭐️⭐️⭐️
🇳🇬Nigeria - My Sister, the Serial Killer and Half of a Yellow Sun very different tones but I gave them both ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
South Africa - Zoo City - I did not get on with this. But if you are looking for a weird urban fantasy you might ⭐️
Swaziland - The Wah-Wah Diaries: The Making of a Film - Richard E Grant is from Swaziland, so any of his books are good for this hard country .⭐️⭐️⭐️
Afghanistan - A Thousand Splendid Suns - Not as good as kite runner. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Burma (Myanmar) - Saving Fish from Drowning ⭐️⭐️⭐️
China - Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress and The Three-Body Problem - Again very different but both ⭐️⭐️⭐️
India - The White Tiger - Loved this one too. Very entertaining ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Japan - so many options
Korea, North - Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea - Amazing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Korea, South - The Hole - Creepy slow burn psychological horror ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Malaysia - Black Water Sister - Decent lgbtq fantasy ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Russian Federation - Metro 2033 - Weird but good dystopian fiction ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Saudi Arabia - The End of October - Another pandemic thriller . Again not sure if it’s 50% in Saudi Arabia ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sri Lanka - A Passage North. Literary fiction ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thailand - The Beach - Not really my thing. ⭐️⭐️
Turkey - The Historian - loved it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🇻🇳 Vietnam - The Mountains Sing - harrowing On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - touching. both of these are heartbreaking but so good ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🇦🇱 Albania - The Traitor's Niche - Interesting and weird ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Denmark - Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow - ok ⭐️⭐️⭐️
🇫🇷 France - Down and Out in Paris and London - Again so many to choose from, but this was different ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Georgia - Magic Rises - Love Ilona Andrews ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Germany - Your Perfect Year - quirky romance ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Iceland - The Sealwoman's Gift - I really liked this when I read it. A little soppy but I gave it five stars. In retrospect I’d give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ireland - In the Woods - If you like police crime this is a good one ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Italy - From Sand and Ash - Made me cry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Luxembourg - The Expats - Contemporary crime caper ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Netherlands - The Arnhem Lift - a little dry but short and interesting war memoir⭐️⭐️⭐️
Norway - The Singer -
Romania - And I Darken - 14/01/20 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spain - The Muse - 12/08/20 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ukraine - Grey Bees kind of a Ukrainian Fredrick Bachman story ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I will probably mostly be reading from the middle & hard levels because they are needed for other challenges. I probably won’t revisit a country, since I have so many to get through. It will be heavily interspersed with some fantasy and my rl book club picks.

Claire wrote: "For Nigeria, I recommend My Sister, the Serial Killer and Children of Blood and Bone, great for the fantasy fans here."

I liked my sister, the serial killer. Very entertaining

Yeah, DRC books all look heavy. I’ve got this real aversion to crying whilst reading. I don’t mind the odd gush of tears at the end. But heavy heartbreaking reading is not my bag. And there are soooooo many places where there is almost no getting around the tragedy. I managed to find that book about Myanmar where the atrocities are respectfully referenced and incorporated into the story, but it is not the direct focus. I can do tangential trauma.

I joined the NBRC Ultimate International Reading Challenge way back in 2018. This is the first year I’ve really dedicated myself to going around the world. Previously I was a haphazard kind of reader.

Melindam wrote: "Keli,

that's a great link.

We will ask Sophie to add it to her Message 9, where country website links are collected.

Concerning the novels set in a country, actually I just realised that we MU..."

Excellent, I have the Sri Lanka on audio so I will probably get through it in a couple days. I’ll just read what I have planned and you, lovely captains, can fit it where you need to. I’m not a fast reader, so would you still like me to claim? Or just list possible options for use?

I’m in a group that has done a fab job listing books by country. I’ve posted the link for Africa below. There are folders for each continent and separate posts for each country. It’s another handy resource.

There’s also a handy authors from that region discussion at the top of each folder.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Sophie wrote: "KayLynn wrote: "When I log into the spreadsheet today, it says I'm 'view only' and all of the data we input isn't showing."

The most likely thing that's happened is you've opened the official shee..."

That is what I did. Hence me listing everything here.

Just got caught up on all the posts. Yikes, two days away and there are so many!
I have a Sri Lanka book cued up, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida and a Somalia bookThe Orchard of Lost Souls. If I can squeeze a third in I also have People of the Book which is Bosnia Herzegovina and a non-fiction about Ebola primarily set in Gabon. But it depends on how long we have for the mini and my other reading

I recently read Saving Fish from Drowning which is set in Myanmar and was good solid3 star read. And The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope was very enjoyable and that's set in Malawi. I recommend that one.

Also, I've got Perdition waiting, it's set in space on a floating prison ship thing.

I dropped my phone and had to order a new one. I got it delivered next day, but it's an IPhone, so i spent all day yesterday learning how to use it.

And today was/is my daughter's bday. So been hanging out with her. But it's now midnight thirty and I have a shelf

So sorry I'm a little late - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I'm here! I'll get my shelf up in just a mo. I'm in the UK so UTC time, I think. I can't remember how daylight savings affects is but I'm pretty close to UTC. 🤣 I'm really excited this is my 6th Tower Teams. I'm estimating that, I might be including some Wheel in there.

🏯What are your favourite places in the world?

Wales and France

🏯 What are the places you would love to visit the most?
I've neve been to Asia and would love to do a tour.

🏯Preferred mode of travel?


Train

🏯Desert Island question: if you were allowed to take the (all) books of only three authors with you, who would they be?

Ilona Andrews, Lilith Saintcrow and John Irving.

Ugh, I'm so behind, I'm not even listed on the % chart! Lol, how could I forget to entet my numbers. Unfortunately, I'm still behind even after entering. 😬

Level L-9 = 51 books.

Read one (1) book for 2016, then the corresponding ending number to 2025.

2016
1. The Sun Is Also a Star - 04/02/25

2017
1. Lincoln in the Bardo - 16/03/25
2
3
4
5
6
7


2018
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

2019
1. The Island of Sea Women 10/02/25
2. Two Witches and a Whiskey 10/02/25
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

2020
1. Grey Bees -
23/03/25

2021
1. The Country of Others - 24/01/25
2. The Last Graduate - 03/02/25
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

2022

2023
1. Bitterthorn 27/01/25
2. The Golden Enclaves - 24/03/25

2024
1. A Disappearance in Fiji - 12/01/25
2. When Among Crows - 19/02/25
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

2025

Fantasy maze- Can't find a book with a throne on the cover that i want to read
Heading south
C - The Salt Grows Heavy 19/10/24 (113 pgs)
A - Ninth House Alex Stern Series - 26/10/24 (458 pgs)
N - Network Effect - 27/10/24 (350 pgs)
T - T. Kingfisher, What Moves the Dead - 19/10/24(165 pgs)