Andrew's around the world challenge

[Kate, Moderator]

Congratulations!!!!!

[Robyn]

Wow! Amazing! Hurray!!

[Babs]

Wow! Well done! Are you going to keep going for another 80??

[Andrew]

Babs wrote: "Wow! Well done! Are you going to keep going for another 80??"

Thank you- I think I will carry on and if brave start a new one as I have kept revisiting and finding books I wished I had done for certain countries.

[Andrew]

Robyn wrote: "Wow! Amazing! Hurray!!"

Babs wrote: "Wow! Well done! Are you going to keep going for another 80??"

Thanks

[Andrew]

Kate (Trojanhorse) wrote: "Congratulations!!!!!"

Thanks

[Andrew]

Ian wrote: "Well done mate. The champers has been on ice for a little while awaiting your arrival at the Reform club. I'll pop in later to make sure you get home safely."

Many thanks, A pint of Old Peculiar is probably more fitting particularly in my case.

[Andrew]

Sue wrote: "Well done!!!!"

Thanks

[Andrew]

Caroline wrote: "Congratulations Andrew :)"

Thanks

[Andrew]

Mercia wrote: "Allende is a perfect end to your challenge - unless you're going for the other 160 countries next."

Will plough on and maybe restart!

[Andrew]

Liz wrote: "Wow! Well done. That's another challenge complete. I still have a way to go..."

Thank you Liz

[Andrew]

Tania wrote: "Well done. Do you think you will be carring on on your travels or are you going to call it a day and go onto other things?"

Will carry on Tania but if feel brave may start a new one to revisit some countries.

[Tania]

Do you have any favorite books from the trip so far?

[Ian, Moderator]

Andrew wrote: "Ian wrote: "Well done mate. The champers has been on ice for a little while awaiting your arrival at the Reform club. I'll pop in later to make sure you get home safely."

Many thanks, A pint of Ol..."

In that case I'm having a Pedigree......my fave pint ever since my uni days when it was still just a local brew.

[Mercia]

Enjoy chewing your Old Peculiar. Fond memories of student days down The Bell in Nottingham's Market Square.

[Danielle]

Congrats Andrew.

[Andrew]

Danielle wrote: "Congrats Andrew."

Thanks Danielle

[Andrew]

Tania wrote: "Do you have any favorite books from the trip so far?"

There are a few Tania, looking back i started over 3 years ago and there have been some interesting reads but the three that stood out when i look back wereA Constellation of Vital PhenomenaThe Corpse WasherThe Pledge

[Ian, Moderator]

That's it. I've been meaning to read for a year now. Next up.

[Tania]

Have added then to my must get list, they look good.

[Sue]

Andrew wrote: "Tania wrote: "Do you have any favorite books from the trip so far?"

There are a few Tania, looking back i started over 3 years ago and there have been some interesting reads but the three that sto..."

The Corpse Washer was an interesting read.

[Andrew]

81 AZERBAIJAN After a prolonged sojourn in the reform club i have climbed back in the balloon with a book that reminded me why i enjoyed this challenge so much. Leila is a piano prodigy in Baku 1979 ,a country part of the socialist empire of Ussr but with a strong Islamist culture. The villain of the book farhad sends leila part of his socialist youth group to spy on the inhabitants of a house with a green door, there she meets tahir proprietor of a record shop who introduces her to western music including jazz and vladamir Horowitz a defector.
The book is a love story which wonderfully captures the joy of music to the extent that i had to listen to the pieces as they cropped up in the narrative. Very readable and an evocative portrayal of the clash of culture in the early 1980's. Added to that i have my next two countries in my radar so i am throwing my sandbags out as i type.

[Sue]

Glad to have you back fellow traveller!

[Ian, Moderator]

Ditto. Added to my wish list.

[Andrew]

82 SERBIA A very interesting memoir about pre 1991 Belgrade and Yugoslavia. Goldsworthy was born and grew up in Communist Yugoslavia and moves to London in the late 80's to live with her husband. In the 1990's she is a Serbian translator and announcer on the BBC's world service as the Balkan war rages sharing office space with Croats and Bosnians. she writes the memoir in the early 2000's shortly after the birth of her son as she is diagnosed with breast cancer so her child may know her story if she doesn't survive. The story is not linear it flits around but I found it a really interesting picture of the country and how Goldsworthy views her country from Britain during the horrors that effect her homeland at that time.

[Andrew]

83 SAMOA This is a curious novella in which we meet Robert Louis Stevenson as a horrible crime occurs on his adopted home of the Samoan islands. a mysterious scottish missionary has appeared as crimes occur which suggest echoes of Stevenson's darker side and the fable of Jekyll and Hyde. If you can get hold of it is well worth the read .

[Andrew]

84 INDONESIA This was an excellent read that starts of with a horrific murder that invokes magic and myth as Margio a young man believes that he is possessed by the spirit of a large white tiger. the remainder of the book then tells the story of what has lead to the crime and humanises what at first had appeared beyond understanding.

[Andrew]

85 OMAN The English Girl I really enjoyed this novel. Set in 1958 Oman at a time when British forces are trying to quell a rebellion against the sultan, a young English woman is visiting the country with her fiancée whilst her brother fights in the army. She meets an older Lady Maude Vickery who at the turn of the century had crossed the desert and now lives in Oman and the book alternates the two stories and time frames. I can forgive the romantic elements for the fact this was a real page turner at over 400 pages.

[Ian, Moderator]

Great find for an elusive land....tho' not on kindle so not for me. I have which I'm hoping will do the job tho' no idea when I'll ever get around to reading it.

[Andrew]

86 THE ARCTIC- I had to double check what was allowed but this book is firmly placed in the arctic seas and eventually ice wastes as skulduggery takes place on a 19th century whaling ship setting sail from the port of Hull. Fast paced and brutal at times a very enjoyable read.

[Andrew]

87 CAMBODIA The joy of this challenge is finding great fiction that tells the reader about significant events in recent history in an accessible way. The horrors of the Khmer rouge and post 1979 Cambodia are brought brilliantly to life in a poignant love story. An excellent read.

[Liz, Moderator]

That one's on my to read list. Glad to hear it's good.

[Ian, Moderator]

On mine as well.

[Andrew]

Liz wrote: "That one's on my to read list. Glad to hear it's good."

I'd definitely recommend it Liz.

[Andrew]

Ian wrote: "On mine as well."

It's a fascinating period which interconnects with American and Vietnamese war, definitely a subject I'd like to explore, any recommendations Ian ? certainly might try and rewatch The Killing fields again although saw that at cinema many moons ago.

[Ian, Moderator]

by Patricia McCormick gives a child's eye view of the Pol Pot Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. Novel based on the recollections of a survivor. Very good.

As for Vietnam - a novel that gives a broad sweep is by Anthony Grey. It's an epic tale based over 50 years from the 1920's.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

Other than Matterhorn which I think you've read, my favourite US novel is by John M. Del Vecchio which I am reading again at the mo'. A bit slow to start and a bit too philosophical in places but overall it gives a really good feel for fighting in a discredited war, feeling hatred from home whilst still having to go out on patrol in an alien environment with a nice balance between boredom and terror.

Of the factual/memoir US stuff.... by Michael Herr is a must as is by Tim O'Brien.

[Ian, Moderator]

One other thought. Not read it but have always planned to.

as collated by Stewart O'Nan.

[Andrew]

Ian wrote: "One other thought. Not read it but have always planned to.

as collated by [author:Stewart O'Na..."
Thanks Ian, I have Dispatches to read and may do it for war month. The Anthony Grey looks good. Matterhorn was another I picked up from your list and was excellent.

[Andrew]

88 NEW ZEALAND; A cross generational story of a group of adolescents who we first meet in 1967 Wellington at the neight of the Vietnam protests. 40 years later we meet some of them again with the middle age problems of children and parents before a return to New Zealand. Not a bad read but probably just ok.

[Andrew]

89 AUSTRIA The Sweetness Of Life Its always fun to find a crime novel for a new country and I enjoyed this mixture of cantankerous detective and child psychiatrist, the only negative was a very confusing ending. still enough there to add to the ever expanding series of crime novels I am enjoying.

[Andrew]

90 Eire I was surprised when revisiting my list that i hadn't visited southern Ireland, albeit im pretty sure i have over the last 4 years read books set there. Anyway fittingly this was a wonderful read that i thoroughly enjoyed. Comic, brutal, and poignant- coincidence used excellently, i was hooked, a prize winner that deserves the plaudits.

[Andrew]

91 MALI
1797 Africa is a time of significan change as Traditional religions are slowly being pushed aside by the force of Islam whilst slavery and colonialism are a constant threat to the population whose trribes are warring against each other. This book is about a nobelman in the Bambarra tribe who falls foul iof intrigue in the court, the book then spans forty years as we follow his sons and family on their journeys around wetern Africa . A fascinating family saga which has echoes of modern issues but painting a wonderful picture of the sophistication of a society assumed by the western colonialists to be savages. Long but well worth the effort.

[Ian, Moderator]

Sounds good.

[Andrew]

To inspire me on to 100 a map:

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

[Sue]

Looking good! Lots of littlies to choose from now! Apart from Africa of course!

[Ian, Moderator]

Never mind the little Blatter FIFA dom's......loads of big easy ones there as well..... Egypt, Sudan, Mongolia I think, Bangladesh, Myanmar?? and whole swathes of Africa. You'll be at your ton in no time at all raising your bat. Nice map.

[Andrew]

Ian wrote: "Never mind the little Blatter FIFA dom's......loads of big easy ones there as well..... Egypt, Sudan, Mongolia I think, Bangladesh, Myanmar?? and whole swathes of Africa. You'll be at your ton in n..."

Certainly there are still some doable ones- id like to get Mongolia done soon as its a big white bit. I will have to alter my map as I've done Bangladesh- doh! Thanks Ian

[Andrew]

Sue wrote: "Looking good! Lots of littlies to choose from now! Apart from Africa of course!"

Thanks sue- i end up with several tabs open with maps, book sites, and library catalogue- hopefully no one at work will notice!!

[Mercia]

You should hit the ton before me as I'm in the early 90s but since hitting 80 have treated this challenge as one to add to coincidentally. Taking an axe to my paperback TBR has priority at the mo.

[Andrew]

92 EL SAVADOR A curious trip to San salvador with an interesting twist on a crime novel. The book is the inner monologue of the best friend of a murdered woman. Shady politics and violence against the backdrop of the memories of the civil war pervade the book. Interesting read although to be honest inner monolgues/stream of consciousness are not my favourite type of narrative style .