2013 Where in the World are you?!? (Currently Reading)

[Rusalka]

Look forward to your thoughts Jenny. That one caught my attention too.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Back to China with Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw, on the Booker longlist. I like it very much so far, very modern China.

[Shomeret]

I'm in Japan in the 16th century having dinner with a Jesuit priest who is learning Japanese from the samurai assigned to him in Claws of the Cat: A Shinobi Mystery, a first novel by Susan Spann

[Rusalka]

I started The Kite Runner yesterday for Afghanistan. Hoping it lives up to it's rep!

[Rusalka]

I've heard really good things about Five Star Billionaire.

What you think of The Secret River Gaeta? It was voted in the top 10 Aussie books, in a poll run by a book TV show late last year. I haven't gotten to it yet.

[Rusalka]

I hadn't heard anything but googled. It was announced on the 23rd May 2013 that they will be making one, on the ABC (our government funded Australian Broadcasting Corp, not the American ABC, it get's confusing) website:

"The project has been developed by producers, Stephen Luby, and Mark Ruse of Ruby Entertainment (Crackerjack, the Murray Whelan telemovies, Bed of Roses), Oscar nominee screenwriter, Jan Sardi (Shine, Mao’s Last Dancer) and acclaimed director, Fred Schepisi (Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, Six Degrees of Separation), and will now be adapted into a television mini-series by Sardi with Mac Gudgeon. The Sydney Theatre Company’s adaptation of the novel played to sell-out audiences in January this year."

[Lilisa]

In England with Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill that focuses on Churchill's early career.

[Chrissie]

Judy, I really liked "Falling Leaves". I read that so long ago, before GR. Before GR is BC book-wise. I hope you like it. Would I like it today? Sometimes I wonder how our opinions change!

As soon as I am done with Jayber Crow (only two more hours) I am going to try Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival, which I know you liked.

[Chrissie]

Judy, yeah "Touching the Void" was very short! I am still thinking about this one....... (view spoiler)[What I think is bad is that Simon never asked people to come and search for Joe. He just sat there. (hide spoiler)] Definitely an action-filled survival story.

Mixing up books is easily done!

[Shomeret]

I'm currently in what will be known as Saudi Arabia with Gertrude Bell in 1913. I saw all the names of the people she encountered and felt like I was having a Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumphflashback. I read T.E. Lawrence's memoir many years ago, but I guess I remember more of it than I realized. So Gertrude Bell overlapped a great deal with T. E. Lawrence. I wasn't aware of that.

The book I'm reading is Improbable Women: Five Who Explored the Middle Eastand I'm 70% done with it. I really want to find out more about Gertrude Bell and Lady Hester Stanhope.

[Gill]

Shomeret wrote: "I'm currently in what will be known as Saudi Arabia with Gertrude Bell in 1913. I saw all the names of the people she encountered and felt like I was having a Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumphfla..."
I like the look of the Improbable Women book, Shomeret. I'm not sure it's been published yet in the UK.

[Friederike]

I am looking into several books right now, but my primary book is set (most of it) in formerly East Germany.: Eugen Ruge's In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts (In times of diminishing light)

[Shomeret]

Gill wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I'm currently in what will be known as Saudi Arabia with Gertrude Bell in 1913. I saw all the names of the people she encountered and felt like I was having a Seven Pillars of Wis..."

I am not sure if it will be. The U.S. publisher is a small academic press. The book is interesting, but has a very basic problem. The author starts out by telling us that all of these women were fascinated with Queen Zenobia and there's no evidence that all of them were fascinated with her. A potential publisher in the UK would notice that.

[Terri R]

Desert Queen by Janet Wallach was kind of interesting on Gertrude Bell.

[Shomeret]

Yes, Improbable Women mentions Janet Wallach as an author who has different opinions about Gertrude Bell.
There is a newer biography of Gertrude Bell that I want to check out. It's Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations.

[Janet C-B]

I am currently in North Korea, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. This selection is for another group challenge. I have listened to about 25% of the audiobook. So far, I tend to zone out, despite the very positive reviews. I plan to stick with it...at least until the library loan expires.

Anyone else read or listened to this book?

[Vizara]

At the moment I'm in the Sudanese desert with Khartoum: The Ultimate Imperial Adventure
where Hicks and his column of 11.000 have just been annihilated by the followers of the Mahdi. It's 1883 and general Gordon will be beheaded in Khartoum in 1885. It will only be in 1898 that the Mahdi and his followers will be vanquished by Kitchener at Omdurman. Winston Churchill was present at this battle as a young man. Very interesting period.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm in Guadaloupe with The Bridge of Beyond.

[Shomeret]

I'm in the Canadian Yukon with Kiwi author Helen Thayer, her husband, and a dog that is part-wolf who she calls Charlie. The book is Three Among the Wolves: A Couple and Their Dog Live a Year with Wolves in the Wild. It's an interesting book, but I think the author made some assumptions about wolves that seemed invalid to me. Her strategy worked, but probably not for the reasons that she imagined.

[Lilisa]

I'm in Chile with Maya's Notebook by Isabel Allende.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm transeurope/Asia again with The Great Railway Bazaar... I had put it aside for a while and it's harder going now. Something flipped and I'm finding the author obnoxious; that doesn't help.

[Shomeret]

I'm in Kenya on a wildlife preserve where a 16 year old girl is re-wilding a leopard. The book is The See-Through Leopardby Sibel Hodge which I'm reading for review.

[Gill]

I'm back in Paris again with The Belly of Paris.

[Daisy]

So far A Tale for the Time Being takes place in Tokyo and on an island off the coast of Canada. I'm listening to an audio version of this read by Ruth Ozeki herself and I really like it...

[Chrissie]

I have begun The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed, set in British Colombia, Canada.

[Lilisa]

I'm in Russia in The House by the Dvina: A Russian Childhood.

[Chrissie]

Lilisa, I absolutely adored, adored, adored "The House by the Dvina". When I was about to finish it, Oscar who was then a puppy, ripped it to shreds and I had to buy a second copy for the reaming 20 pages. I had to replace it b/c I so loved it. have you gotten to the part where she is in the bath house? SUCH a good book.

[Janet C-B]

I am in London with The Cuckoo's Calling. The storyline is slow moving, but I am enjoying the setting, streets, parks, and pubs.

[Lilisa]

Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa, I absolutely adored, adored, adored "The House by the Dvina". When I was about to finish it, Oscar who was then a puppy, ripped it to shreds and I had to buy a second copy for the reaming ..."

Chrissie - great to hear you enjoyed it so much and too funny re: Oscar! My dog did his share of chewing (and yes, books were involved) and remodeling of the house a few years. I'm still in the first couple of chapters so haven't come to the bath house part yet. Now I'm intrigued...

[Chrissie]

Lilisa wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa, I absolutely adored, adored, adored "The House by the Dvina". When I was about to finish it, Oscar who was then a puppy, ripped it to shreds and I had to buy a second copy..."

I particularly love the depiction of life before the Revolution.

Puppies will be puppies!

[Lesley]

I'm also reading Maya's Notebook, set off the coastline of Chile.

[Lilisa]

Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa, I absolutely adored, adored, adored "The House by the Dvina". When I was about to finish it, Oscar who was then a puppy, ripped it to shreds and I had to bu..."

I am REALLY enjoying The House by the Dvina: A Russian Childhood. Besides being so evocatively written with great character development, I'm contrasting it with the very poor literary attempt of The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story - another nonfiction, albeit a totally different subject matter, which I read recently.

[Lilisa]

Lesley wrote: "I'm also reading Maya's Notebook, set off the coastline of Chile."

I enjoyed it Lesley. Would be interesting to see what you think of Maya!

[Chrissie]

Lilisa, if you are loving that Dvina book you will also love Olga's Story: Three Continents, Two World Wars and Revolution--One Woman's Epic Journey Through the Twentieth Century. Those are maybe my two favorite books for Russia. If you want to suck up the beauty of The House by the Dvina: A Russian Childhood go look at my review. I adored that book and I think in the comments under the review there is a link to the author at Youtube.

[Lilisa]

Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa, if you are loving that Dvina book you will also love Olga's Story: Three Continents, Two World Wars and Revolution--One Woman's Epic Journey Through the Twentieth Century. Those are maybe m..."

Thanks Chrissie. I will put Olga's Story on my list. I enjoyed your review - including the Oscar reference. The You Tube piece on Eugenie Fraser is not available for some reason :-( when I checked it out. I will try again later - maybe there's a temporary streaming challenge.

[Chrissie]

Lilisa wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa, if you are loving that Dvina book you will also love Olga's Story: Three Continents, Two World Wars and Revolution--One Woman's Epic Journey Through the Twentieth Century. ..."

Lilisa, the Olga book is great too. I read it ages ago and just found it by walking through a bookstore, years before GR. I wonder why that link to Frazer doesn't work. Do go back and check it b/c it is good!

[Lesley]

Lilisa, I didn't think that much of Maya's Notebook, though it started out well.

Now I am reading Cry, the Beloved Country set in South Africa.

[Chrissie]

Cry, the Beloved Country is VERY good, Judy and Lesley. Enjoy.

[Chrissie]

Misunderstood you, Judy. I understand. :0)

[Lilisa]

Lesley wrote: "Lilisa, I didn't think that much of Maya's Notebook, though it started out well.

Now I am reading Cry, the Beloved Country set in South Africa."

Lesley - for me it was just okay - not stellar. I gave it 3 stars.

[Lesley]

Lilisa, I also gave Maya's Notebook just 2 stars.

I am really liking Cry, the Beloved Country so far.

[Lilisa]

I'm in Iran with The Book of Fate by Parinoush Saniee - for some reason I can't seem to make it pop up to add the book, so here's the link:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17... - very interesting so far.

[Chrissie]

Isabel Allende has gone down the drain. Her first books are very good but only them. The one about her daughter too. The House of the Spirits, now that IS good. the new stuff - no thank you. Not for me.

[Lesley]

I have The House of the Spirits on my bookshelf to read someday. I enjoyed Daughter of Fortune and Inés of My Soul.

[Chrissie]

Lesley wrote: "I have The House of the Spirits on my bookshelf to read someday. I enjoyed Daughter of Fortune and Inés of My Soul."

I liked those too, also Portrait in Sepia. These are all the early ones, and they are about subjects that lie close to her heart.

[Lilisa]

Chrissie wrote: "Lesley wrote: "I have The House of the Spirits on my bookshelf to read someday. I enjoyed Daughter of Fortune and Inés of My Soul."

I liked those too, also Portrait in Sepia. These are all the ear..."

I've read Paula, Inés of My Soul, Island Beneath the Sea, Zorro and The Sum of Our Days. I need to read the others. My average rating is 3 stars. Maybe The House of the Spirits, Daughter of Fortune and Portrait in Sepia will yield a higher rating!

[Chrissie]

Lilisa, I hated Zoro and then she started writing some kids books. I thought she even started going downhill with Eva Luna and The Stories of Eva Luna was even worse. I very much enjoyed all of the last three you named and Paula, but now I am done reading her.

[Lilisa]

Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa, I hated Zoro and then she started writing some kids books. I thought she even started going downhill with Eva Luna and The Stories of Eva Luna was even worse. I very much enjoyed all of the..."

Yep, Zorro got 2 stars from me.

[Shomeret]

I am a huge Zorro fan and loved Allende's Zorro. It was my first Isabel Allende book. I've purchased others since then. Since I rarely get to read any books I purchase, I haven't gotten to them. I'm glad I borrowed Island Beneath the Sea from the library because I found the characters extremely unsympathetic. I couldn't finish it.

[Thing Two]

I'm reading in Egypt with The Yacoubian Building. Really great story with lots of Egyptian political commentary woven in.