2014 Where in the world are you? (Currently reading)

[Shomeret]

I'm in 16th century England with The Fool's Girl. This is Celia Rees' sequel to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night which is my favorite Shakespeare play.

[Jan]

Shomeret wrote: "I'm in 16th century England with The Fool's Girl. This is Celia Rees' sequel to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night which is my favorite Shakespeare play."

Looking forward to your review - I love Celia Rees' writing style.

[Shomeret]

Jan, I'm seriously behind on my reviews. I'm prioritizing reviews for books given to me for free by authors on condition that I review them and Net Galley downloads. Then I need to review all the books that I've read that weren't in those categories since May 2013.

That said, I'm really enjoying The Fool's Girl. It has great characterization and a compelling plot. I also may finally figure out the location of Illyria where Twelfth Night takes place.

[Jan]

Thanks for the update Shomeret...it went on both my TBR and my Amazon wish list.

[Diane]

Leaving France with The Elegance of the Hedgehog and hopping over the border to Germany with Steppenwolf.

[Diane]

Judy wrote: "Diane wrote: "Leaving France with The Elegance of the Hedgehog and hopping over the border to Germany with Steppenwolf."

Do we have an animal theme going here, Diane, o..."

lol, I didn't realize that!

[Lilisa]

Excited to get back to The Luminaries in New Zealand and sink my teeth back into awesome writing, super plot and great character development. Was waiting to get a chunk of time so I can read undisturbed!

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I finally read the first part of Africa: A Biography of the Continent. I'll be reading bits of it throughout 2014, in between other things.

[Marina]

Right now I'm walking through medieval Spain with La catedral del mar

[Shomeret]

Jan wrote: "Thanks for the update Shomeret...it went on both my TBR and my Amazon wish list."

I finished The Fool's Girlthis morning and I loved it, but I still don't know for sure where Illyria was supposed to have been. Based on Wikipedia, it may have been Albania. Yet very little of The Fool's Girl actually takes place in Illyria. Enjoy!

I expect to be in Italy tomorrow reading The Aquatic Labyrinth: A Venetian Mystery. It's got so much interesting stuff about Venice.

[Jan]

LOL...I Googled it too and that's what all the sites said. Looking forward to reading it.

I just finished Berserk: My Voyage to the Antarctic in a Twenty-Seven-Foot Sailboat. I really enjoyed it - review to come.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm finally starting on my year-long exploration of Iceland with Iceland's Bell. It has a lot of footnotes explaining places and references and because if this it is not very easy to read starting out.

[Lilisa]

I am also in Hungary with The Invisible Bridge - not sure why I'm reading this along with the other weighty one The Luminaries but one reason might be because I don't want The Luminaries to end so I'm pacing it out.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

One of my 2014 reading goals is to read letters. I picked up Love Letters of a Portugese Nun, published anonymously in 1669. I'm counting it for Portugal. (If you have any recommendations for letters, I'd love to hear them.)

[Val]

Penguin Classics have The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse, originally written in Latin in C12th France.
There are several collections of author's letters, but you would probably have to be a big fan of the author first to find them interesting.
The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh are funnier than most.

[Lilisa]

Jenny - Glimpses of Bengal is one of my favorites - select letters written by Rabindranath Tagore, the first non-Westerner to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.

[Lilisa]

Judy wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "I am also in Hungary with The Invisible Bridge - not sure why I'm reading this along with the other weighty one The Luminaries but one reason might be ..."

You can tell how much I'm enjoying it! :-)

[Suzanne]

Lilisa wrote: "I am also in Hungary with The Invisible Bridge - not sure why I'm reading this along with the other weighty one The Luminaries but one reason might be because I don't..."

I've heard many good things about The Invisible Bridge! I'll be reading it in March, so I'll be interested to read your review!

[Suzanne]

I'm currently in Nigeria with A Different Sun and enjoying it very much! The author obviously knows first-hand about the area, so it really adds something to this work of historical fiction.

[Diane]

In Sweden with Gösta Berling's Saga.

[Jan]

Suzanne wrote: "I'm currently in Nigeria with A Different Sun and enjoying it very much! The author obviously knows first-hand about the area, so it really adds something to this work of historica..."

I've been eyeing that book at the library for weeks now. I think it's going on my list.

[Jayme]

I'm somewhere in South America with At Night We Walk in Circles. I think Peru. The author never says, but there are enough reference points that I am fairly certain...? maybe

[Shomeret]

I have been in Melbourne Australia with Unnatural Habitsbut I'm nearly finished with my trip there. As is usual with a Phryne Fisher book, it's been fun.

[Lilisa]

Suzanne wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "I am also in Hungary with The Invisible Bridge - not sure why I'm reading this along with the other weighty one The Luminaries but one reason might be ..."

Suzanne - I will let you know. Haven't gotten very far with it - only a couple of chapters in but like it so far. Something called work got in the way...

[Val]

I am visiting the Baltic states at the moment: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. I should have read the Lithuanian book last year, if I was keeping to my list, but decided to read all three of them together.
Whitehorn's Windmill: Or, the Unusual Events Once Upon a Time in the Land of Paudruve
Yet Icebound Rivers Flow
The Czar's Madman

[Cherie]

I am still in Spain listening to William Hurt narrate The Sun Also Rises after finishing Sophie's Choice in New York, USA.
I am going to stay in Spain with The Club Dumas before heading back to Australia.

[Diane]

Finished Purge for Estonia. Currently reading The Tower and Other Stories for Latvia.

[Betty]

Men Ghosts African Writers Series, also called Of Men and Ghosts, takes place in a Ghanaian village. Its author Kofi Aidoo (full name: Daniel Kofi Osei Aidoo) difficult to locate at GR; besides his novel I'm currently reading, he is the author of Saworben[g]: a collection of short stories.

[Jan]

I'm heading to South Africa and listening to: The Elephant Whisperer.

[Bonnie]

still in India, but now reading Oleander Girl

[Vicky]

Can I count the Iron Islands, the Dothraki Sea and Beyond the Wall as destinations for 2014? I read A Game of Thrones at the end of last year, and I feel I've been sucked in to the series and have to read them all this year. Just finished A Clash of Kings.

As a real-world detour, I'm currently reading When in Rome by Nicky Pellegrino, set in 1950s Roman Holiday Rome, with all the romance that conjures up. So far no-one has a pet direwolf or has been killed with a sword. Disappointing.

[Jan]

LOL....that's funny Vicky. I'm in the middle of A Game of Thrones so I understand your diasppointment.

[Bonnie]

I will be spending February in part in Canada, not on my around the world list, but reading Dear Life (short stories by Alice Munro) with another group.

I'm also staying in India. This time with my second book in this funny, smart mystery series.

[Lilisa]

Bonnie wrote: "I will be spending February in part in Canada, not on my around the world list, but reading Dear Life (short stories by Alice Munro) with another group.

I'm also staying in India. This time with ..."

Glad you enjoyed Tarquin Hall's Vish Puri - he is funny.

[Cherie]

Judy wrote: "Oooo...I can't wait to see what you think of The Club Dumas, Cherie!..."

I finishd it about an hour ago, Judy. I'm still mulling it over. I really can't decide if I really liked it or not. I thought the book information was very interesting. The whole game thing, not so much. The girl and Cohn's friend - meh. The ending for the bad guy - serves him right!!! I did not believe any of it. There were way too many literary cliches thrown around.

I am willing to give The Flanders Panel a try. Have you read his Captain Alatriste (will not link)?

I amm going back to Australia tonight with The Road from Coorain after I watch the movie of The Sun Also Rises (Erroll Flynn - YES!)

[Shriya]

Just back from a double trip to Russia and Israel with The Master and Margarita. (Review on http://tometravelling.blogspot.in/201...) Now off to India with The Treasure of Kafur.

[Lilisa]

In Macau with The Red Pole of Macau: An Ava Lee Novel - a fast Ian Fleming-type read.

[Diane]

Shriya wrote: "Just back from a double trip to Russia and Israel with The Master and Margarita. (Review on http://tometravelling.blogspot.in/201...) Now of..."

I just finished that book too! Now I am over the border in Ukraine with Cataract by Mykhailo Hryhorovych Osadchyi

[Bonnie]

Lilisa wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "I will be spending February in part in Canada, not on my around the world list, but reading Dear Life (short stories by Alice Munro) with another group.

I'm also staying in India. ..."

he is and I will read more

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm in the Iran of WWII - Suvashun

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm in Croatia with A Handful of Sand by Marinko Koščec. I was looking through my NetGalley unread list for inspiration and that's where I landed.

[Lilisa]

I'm in Albania with Chronicle in Stone.

[Diane]

In Lithuania with Lithuanian Short Stories by Tadas Klimas.

[Sara]

I am in Nigeria with "Ghana Must Go", unfortunately not an easy read :0(

[Sara]

Suzanne wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "I am also in Hungary with The Invisible Bridge - not sure why I'm reading this along with the other weighty one The Luminaries but one reason might be ..."

I really enjoyed " The Invisible Bridge" it was a great story!

[Daisy]

In India with a so far, very evocative The Sleeping Dictionary. I'm listening to an audio version and the narrator's voice is just lovely.

[Lilisa]

Sara wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "I am also in Hungary with The Invisible Bridge - not sure why I'm reading this along with the other weighty one The Luminaries but one ..."

Sara - glad you enjoyed it too.

[Lilisa]

Daisy wrote: "In India with a so far, very evocative The Sleeping Dictionary. I'm listening to an audio version and the narrator's voice is just lovely."

Daisy - I have it on my TBR list. How are you liking it so far?

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I'm in Croatia with A Handful of Sand by Marinko Koščec. I was looking through my NetGalley unread list for inspiration and that's where I landed."

I just wanted to say that this book was going in circles so I ended up abandoning it about 1/3 of the way in. The author is very handsome though.

[Jan]

I have veered from my itinerary and decided to stop in Pari. I'm listening to The Painted Girls.