2013 Halfway Checkpoint

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I haven't figured this out yet, but I thought I'd post it as we approach July 1.

What countries have you read so far this year?
How many books have you read for this challenge? (we learned last year that sometimes you get stuck in one, so the answers may not be the same!)
What are your goals for the next six months?

[Janice]

I had 16 books left over from my 2012 challenge and I have read 5 so far this year - Russia (Dancer), Korea (The Calligrapher's Daughter), Ireland (Haunted Ground), Brazil (State of Wonder, and Canada Any Known Blood.

That leaves 11 to go. I also have 10 books in my Cross Canada Challenge to go, and 16 in my Alphabet Challenge. I have a funny feeling I'm not going to finish all three challenges, but I shall try.

[Lilisa]

Thanks for starting this string Jenny.

I've read 21 so far, a few from the same country, etc. I ended up straying from my original list as interesting books popped up - surprise, surprise! So far I've been to India, North Korea, the U.S. a few times, the U.K., Nigeria a couple of times, Italy a couple of times, Cambodia, Iraq/Germany, Egypt/Italy (ancient Rome), Japan, Turkey, Myanmar, China, an unknown Asian country, The Netherlands and Poland.

And, hoping to hit my goal of 40 with a few more countries!

[Val]

I have been finding it more difficult to get hold of books this year as I am visiting smaller countries. I reread some books I already owned, but also discovered some good new ones. I have 24 on my list, including the old ones, so am not going to list them all.
Some I have enjoyed this year are:
The Legend of the Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel in the Land of Flanders & Elsewhere from Belgium,
Paranoia: A Novel from Belarus,
Little Star from Sweden,
From A Crooked Rib from Somalia,
Ali and Nino: A Love Story from Azerbaijan.
I am a bit behind, so may not complete the challenge this year and will carry any unread ones forward into 2014.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

This year, if I count the audiobook I'm almost finished with, I've read 23 books that I'm counting for my Around the World list. The countries list is longer because one book had short stories set in 8 African countries!

Breakdown by genre
Literary fiction: 10
Fantasy: 4
Non-fiction: 3
Memoir/Autobiography: 3
Short stories: 2
Poetry: 1

Breakdown by country
Turkey: 5
Canada: 3
All the rest have 1 each: Iran/Persia, Russia, Croatia, Japan, Greece, France, Holland, Ireland, China, Madagascar, Italy, Czech Republic, Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Brazil.

I don't really have any specific goals. I still have an entire bookCASE of books to read that I've gathered between last year and this year, so I'll continue my whimsical picking. I already met my small goal that I set for myself since I had other challenges to work on this year! Eventually I want to have read something in every country, but I'm going to wait until the end of 2013 to figure out what I have left.

[Tanya]

I'm at 23 countries so far, and hope to make 52 again by the end of the year. I've been attempting not to double up on countries from my 2012 exercise, but have re-visited a couple - mainly to pick up on authors I enjoyed first time around.

I haven't had a 5 star read yet, but 4 star standouts so far have been Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War (Vietnam), Caim (Portugal), Midnight Riot (England) and The Gamal: A Novel (Ireland).

Like Jenny, I have collected an enormous number of books for this challenge, so I think I'll be going around again for the next couple of years.

[Amanda]

I have been to 29 countries so far. A little behind, but it's been fun--and the great thing about books is that you can be in two places at once!

My book collection for this challenge is steadily growing too. :)

[Chrissie]

Judy, I think you know that I listened to Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War. I had trouble with it for quite some time but by the end I did feel it was worth fours stars and the narration was excellent.

My reason for writing this message is to bring to your attention to another book set in Vietnam, Buffalo Afternoon, which I am listening to now. It is so different, and yet it too excellently captures the Vietnam War experience. It does more than that. It starts by showing you a bit abut a Vietnam veteran, then it reverts to his youth, which explains why he goes to the war. Only then do you go to the war and its horrors. It shows the whole experience before during and after. And it is different in that it centers on about five soldiers so you get close to them. The idiocy of war is shown through humor. I am not kidding. I have quite a bit left, and sometimes I don't know what to think....( spirits and stuff related to Viet beleifs) but there is no way this wasn't worth its time. It has won all sorts of prizes. The author recently died. It is like this author has captured how these soldiers felt rather than perfectly relaying event after event. For example a guy gets shot, ends up in a hospital and that he sees as w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l! And that is exactly how you would see it/ feel it, having just been out in the jungle in the dirt and horror. The hospital with hot showers and toilets that flush is just magical and the author captures that. And what does he do? He leaves to go back to his buddies. I am astounded at how even if not all the events seem as accurately described as in Matterhorn, it captures the total experience almost better. I just had to tell you. I have about 1/2 to a third left...... I don't know yet how many this will get, but I am impressed.

[Tanya]

Judy wrote: "Tanya, did you read Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War or listen to the audiobook?"

The audiobook - but I have picked up a paperback copy to re-read somewhere along the line. I need to test my theory that I generally rate audiobooks higher because of the amount of time you need to invest in an audiobook compared to reading directly.

and thanks Chrissie, for the Buffalo Afternoon recommendation - I'll keep an eye out for it.

[Diane]

As of today, I have read books from 69 countries, 5 of them new ones not read last year. My goal is 100, but I would like to get to at least 125, if possible. Not all of them are true sovereign countries (see list below), as I have split up the UK and counted some islands that belong to other countries, etc. Some countries I have read more than one book from, bringing my total read to 89 books (not counting multiple US books).

I have been reading in geographical order, but I have read a couple countries out of sequence for book club and other challenges. Here are the countries I have been to so far in geographical order:

1. USA (multiple books)
2. Canada (9 books)
3. Greenland
4. Svalbard
5. Russia
6. Japan
7. South Korea
8. North Korea
9a. China
10. Tibet
9b. China (2nd book)
11. Mongolia
12. Kazakhstan
13. Kyrgyzstan
14. Uzbekistan
15. Afghanistan
16. Pakistan
17. Iran
18. Azerbaijan
19. Armenia
20. Georgia
21. Turkey
22. Cyprus (2 books)
23. Syria
24. Lebanon
25. Israel
26. Palestine
27. Jordan
28. Iraq
29. Kuwait
30. Saudi Arabia
31. Bahrain
32. Qatar
33. United Arab Emirates
34. Oman
35. Yemen
36. Eritrea
37. Sudan
38. Egypt (3 books)
39. Libya
40. Algeria
41. Western Sahara
42. Morocco
43. Madeira
44. Portugal
45. Spain
46. Basque Region
47. France (4 books)
48. Wales
49. England (3 books)
50. Scotland
51a. Ireland
52. Northern Ireland
53. Iceland (2 books)
51b. Ireland (2nd book)
54. Bermuda
55. Virgin Islands
56. St. Maarten
57. Anguilla
58. Saba
59. St. Eustatius
60. St. Kitts and Nevis
61. Montserrat
62. Antigua
63. Guadeloupe
64. Dominica
65. Grenada
66. Barbados
67. Suriname

Out of sequence:
68. Malawi
69. Australia

Breakdown by genre/sub-genre:

Biography/Memoir: 26
Chick Lit/Romance: 3
Contemporary Fiction: 7
Essays: 1
Fantasy/Sci-Fi: 2
Folklore: 2
Graphic Novels: 1
Historical Fiction: 13
History: 3
Horror: 1
Literary Fiction: 17
Mystery: 4
Poetry/Epic Poetry: 3
Short Story Collections/ Anthologies: 5
Suspense Thrillers: 1

# of 1001 books read: 22
# of books from native or resident authors: 74

Goal for next 6 months: Read books from Latin America, Oceania, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and eastern Europe to finish challenge.

I will be definitely doing this for a few years to come, as I have amassed a rather large tbr pile.

[Amanda]

Impressive list Diane!

[Chrissie]

Tanya, there are elements in the story that I think are a bit unbelievable, but I really don't care b/c they serve a purpose. And the writing is excellent.
Re: Buffalo Afternoon

When I rate an audiobook, I try and consider it first as a book. I I try and distinguish between the words and how they are narrated. Not always so easy.

[[deleted user]]

Hi. Is anyone going into 2014? I am very interested. I saw that there was a state's one, but I really enjoy reading from other countries.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Cassie ♥ wrote: "Hi. Is anyone going into 2014? I am very interested. I saw that there was a state's one, but I really enjoy reading from other countries."

Yep I'm going to keep going until I've read one from every country! I'm going to combine this year and last year and see which countries i still have left, and try to tackle those more intentionally.

[Lilisa]

Cassie ♥ wrote: "Hi. Is anyone going into 2014? I am very interested. I saw that there was a state's one, but I really enjoy reading from other countries."

I plan on going into 2014 Cassie. There are way too many books on my TBR list! Who else is?

[Rusalka]

Indeed. I feel like I will be doing this forever!

[Lilisa]

Rusalka wrote: "Indeed. I feel like I will be doing this forever!"

Me too - and willingly. It's generally what I do anyway, reading books from around the world that is, so I'll probably be doing it for years to come!

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Well if I could let some of these countries go, that would take me more quickly through, but I even read three books set in Holland without realizing it.... :)

I like how I keep returning to some, and lingering in others. That's the kind of reader/traveler I want to be!

[Jessaka]

Jenny wrote: "Cassie ♥ wrote: "Hi. Is anyone going into 2014? I am very interested. I saw that there was a state's one, but I really enjoy reading from other countries."

Yep I'm going to keep going until I've r..."

I am still going but I have no idea how many books I have read but I put them in right categories when I do.

[[deleted user]]

Yes!! Glad to know there are others going into 2014. Nice to meet all of you. Hope we can become Goodread friends. I've made some good friends in another group where I do a challenge. I'll be excited to say, "Happy New Year".

[Sharon L.]

Diane wrote: "As of today, I have read books from 69 countries, 5 of them new ones not read last year. My goal is 100, but I would like to get to at least 125, if possible. Not all of them are true sovereign co..."

ANY chance you could post titles of the books you've read before the end of the year? I'd love to find 'em for 2014!

[Diane]

Sharon L. wrote: "Diane wrote: "As of today, I have read books from 69 countries, 5 of them new ones not read last year. My goal is 100, but I would like to get to at least 125, if possible. Not all of them are tru..."

You can see what I have read this year under the group challenge section here: https://www.goodreads.com/user_challe...