2014- Around The World Challenge

[[deleted user]]

Jenny, I've also been pursuing an interest in Japanese fiction for the past several months. But my favorite in African literature so far is Thirty Girls. I thought it was a powerful book and excellently written. Americanah was also quite good.

[Jenny]

Thank you Dhanaraj and Terri, Yukio Mishima is on my TBR, so I will give him a try sometime soon.
And thank you for the recommendation Terri, I hadn't heard of Thirty Girls before.

[Dhanaraj]

The list updated:

Asia - Hiroshima Read
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could FlyRead
Africa - Echoes of an AutobiographyRead
Disgrace Read
Australia - The SonglinesCurrently Reading
Europe - Gunnar's DaughterRead
The Street of Crocodiles and Other StoriesRead
The Rings of SaturnRead
The Castle of Crossed DestiniesRead
Cassandra: A Novel and Four EssaysRead
La madreRead
L'ora del diavoloRead
RebeccaRead
Basta cosìRead
Canne al ventoRead
Catherine of SienaRead
Independent PeopleRead
Marta Oulie: A Novel of BetrayalRead
HeidiRead
North America - Death Comes for the ArchbishopRead
South America - A Very Old Man with Enormous WingsRead

[Leslie]

Dhanaraj, you are making awesome progress on this challenge!

[Dhanaraj]

Thanks Leslie.

[Diane S ☔]

Asia

Australia

Europe

Africa. Radiance of Tomorrow

North America. Stillwater read 3/14


South America

[Tweedledum]

I'm a bit confused. I know doesn't take much. How do the books in this list get entered? I tried to edit the bookshelf thing but kept getting a red alert message.

[Tweedledum]

Well it's March and I have just finished
Africa :
Africa: Eye to Eye with the Unknown

Excellent read. Would like to give it 10 stars but only allowed 5. Check out my review ....https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit...

[Tweedledum]

Jean wrote: "Jean's Around the World Challenge

Progress 4/12

Books Read:

1. Africa
Kenya:
Non-Fiction - A cry from the wild by Lissa Ruben
Nigeria and Cameroon:
Non-Fiction..."

Wow Jean ..seriously impressed. You are certainly getting around!

[Tweedledum]

Terri wrote: "Here's my spot.

Around the World Challenge

Progress:

Books Read: 27

1. Africa
Radiance of Tomorrow--Ishmael--0 Beah--01/22/14
The Forgiven--[aut..."

Seriously impressed Terri! Well done!

[Leslie]

Tweedledum wrote: "I'm a bit confused. I know doesn't take much. How do the books in this list get entered? I tried to edit the bookshelf thing but kept getting a red alert message."

For your challenge, you make a specific bookshelf of your own - mine is called around-the-world. Then when you read a book for the challenge include that shelf. Right now I am reading Bouvard and Pecuchet which I decided to count for Europe, so you can look and see that I have it shelved under currently-reading, around-the-world, guardian, french, and Kindle. When I finish, the challenge thingy will automatically increase how many I have finished.

Of course, you can participate without "officially" joining the challenge and just keep track here or on your own thread.

[Bionic Jean]

Tweedledum - I hope you get your page sorted out - it sounds as though there might be a bug. Maybe someone else can help, but otherwise I'd be tempted to start again with recording it.

Thank for the compliment! Personally I don't feel I'm progressing very fast with this one, but wanted to split it into countries, and then types of book, and just do one from each category. The thing is you always find you read more from one country than another, don't you? For me it's England, and this challenge is great for making me think outside the box :)

[Leslie]

Jean wrote: "...The thing is you always find you read more from one country than another, don't you? For me it's England, and this challenge is great for making me think outside the box :) "

Yes, indeed! I knew that I was very Anglophilic in my reading but keeping track this year, I am a bit shocked by how much so! And this year I am trying to read more "outside the box"! :D

[Bionic Jean]

I too felt shocked, but because it's my own country, and I would hate to be insular or parochial. And it turned out that my reading was! It's not nearly so bad in your case surely, Leslie. That's more akin to me having a particular interest in Australian fiction, say.

It will definitely take a while though. Even with something like genre fiction, I will feel relieved to be back reading an English crime novel rather than an American one. Maybe there's no hope for me :D

[Bionic Jean]

Just edited my comment.
Terri - your reading so far is phenomenal!
Diana S - I love your "stamps in my passport" idea!! Please may I copy it?

[[deleted user]]

I love this challenge! I've found out I have a huge interest in Australia. Lots of reading potential here. I'm struggling a bit with Antarctica though. I need to troll the lists and find some ideas.

[Kristi]

UPDATE Kristi's Around the World Challenge

Progress: 9/14

Books Read:

1. Africa - The Grass is Singing -complete Jan 18, 2014

2. Antarctica - The People in the Trees -complete Mar 30, 2014 (Oceania)

3. Asia - How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia -complete Mar 2, 2014
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan -complete Jul 7, 2014

4. Australia - TBD

5. Europe - The Preacher -complete Jan 26, 2014
Rustication -complete Apr 2, 2014

6. North America - Orphan Train -complete Jan 8, 2014
Eleanor & Park -complete Mar 9, 2014

7. South America - At Night We Walk in Circles -complete Jan 30, 2014

[Kristi]

Terri wrote: "I love this challenge! I've found out I have a huge interest in Australia. Lots of reading potential here. I'm struggling a bit with Antarctica though. I need to troll the lists and find some ideas."

My Antarctica book was a bit of a stretch, since it mostly took place on a Micronesian island that I don't think really exists. I didn't like the book, but a lot of people on Goodreads rated it highly.

[Bionic Jean]

And I wouldn't recommend my Antarctica book (comment 7) as I only gave it 1* ! Though to be fair, the average Goodreads rating is a smidgen under 4*.

[Erica]

So i've just finished my book for North America - The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. I've just got South America and Antarctica to go :)

The other books I've read were:

Asia - Out
Africa - The Girl that Married an Eagle
Australia - Jasper Jones
Europe - Marcel.

I really enjoyed the books set in Japan, Australia and U.S.A but the Africa and Europe books were average.

[Markie]

Markie's Around the World Challenge

Books read: 22/35 (goal is 5 books from each continent)

Africa 4/5
The Bite of the Mango - completed 3/17/14
Things Fall Apart - completed 7/19/14
Conversations With Myself - completed 7/31/14
Nelson Mandela: Remembered - completed 7/31/14

Antarctica 1/5
Midnight Sun - completed 3/18/14

Asia 2/5
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban - completed 2/26/14
Shantaram - completed 7/4/14

Australia 2/5
Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback - completed 3/14/14
The Book Thief - completed 6/1/14

Europe 5/5
Itsy Bitsy Spider - completed 3/15/14
Coraline - completed 6/1/14
My Uncle Oswald - completed 6/13/14
Matilda - completed 6/13/14
The Silkworm - completed 7/5/14

North America 5/5
Dust - completed 3/10/14
The Museum of Extraordinary Things - completed 5/1/14
Unlucky 13 - completed 5/10/14
Death at Olana - completed 5/14/14
Point of Direction - completed 5/17/14

South America 3/5
The Pilgrimage - completed 3/17/14
The Alchemist - completed 4/21/14
Papillon - completed 6/9/14

[[deleted user]]

Edited my challenge. Read Austrailasia (The Luminaries) and North America (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks).

Just Antarctica and South America to go

[Melissa]

Melissa wrote: "Melissa's 2014 Around the World Challenge


Africa
- The Quest by Nelson DeMille; Ethiopia: READ 1/14
-The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing

Antarctica
-[book:Shack..."

I have fulfilled my requirements, reading a book from each of the seven continents, but there are at least three books that still need to be read -- just because. I would love to do this challenge again! This was a fun way to discover new authors (one reason to finish the three books) and to travel besides.

[Bonita]

Africa
1) Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
2) The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz

Antarctica

Asia
1) Dragon Seed by Pearl S. Buck
2) Oriental Tales by Marguerite Yourcenar

Australia
1) Tracks: One Woman's Journey Across 1,700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson
2) The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin

Europe
1) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
2) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
3) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

North America

South America
1) Who Killed Palomino Molero? by Mario Vargas Llosa

[Gigi]

1. Africa:√
The Handsome Man's Deluxe Café by Alexander McCall Smith- (Botswana)
Slave My True Story by Mende Nazer- (Sudan) READ

2. Antarctica:√
At The Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft- READ
Le Sphinx de Glaces Extraordinary Voyages) by Jules Verne- READ
The Narrative of Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe- READ

3. Asia:√
The Almond Tree by Michelle Cohen Corasanti- (Palestine) READ
The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak- (Istanbul) READ
The Flea Palace by Elif Shafak -(Istanbul) READ
The Forty Rules of Love A Novel of Rumi by Elif Shafak -(Turkey/Massachusetts/ Amsterdam) READ
Honor by Elif Shafak- (Kurdistan in Western Iran) READ
The Leaving of Things by Jay Antani - (India) READ
The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar-(India) READ
The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar- (India) READ
The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar- (India) READ
Together Tea by Marjan Kamali-(Tehran/ NYC) READ

4. Australia:√
Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood- READ
My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin - READ
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume-READ

5. Europe:√
Armadale by Wilkie Collins(England) - READ
Cloud Atlas A Novel by David Mitchell- (Chatham Islands, New Zealand/ Neerbeke, West Vlaanderen, Belgium/ Buenas Yerbas, CA/ London, England/ Seoul, Korea/ Maui, Hawaii) READ
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra - (Chechnya, Russian Federation) READ
The Fair Penitent by Wilkie Collins - (England) READ
Howards End by E. M. Forster- (Hertfordshire, England/ London, England, Germany) READ
The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais - (Mumbai, India/Lumière, France) READ
The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins- (England) READ
Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock-(Lincolnshire, England)
Poor Miss Finch by Wilkie Collins - (England) READ
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - (Kingsbridge, England) READ
Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forester- (England/ Italy) READ
Multiple More Titles by Wilkie Collins- all set in England

6. North America:√
Ajax Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan- (San Francisco) READ
The Awakening by Kate Chopin- (New Orleans) READ
Backpacked A Reluctant Trip Across Central America by Catherine Ryan Howard - (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua & Panama) READ
Castle Cay by Lee Hanson- (Florida, Florida Keys, Caribbean) READ
China Dolls by Lisa See- (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, New York) READ
The Complete Stories of Truman Capote by Truman Capote - (US) READ
D.V. by Diana Vreeland- (New York) READ
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker -(Gdańsk/ Danzig, Poland/ Syrian Desert/ Zahlé, Lebanon/ NYC-Lower East Side & Little Syria) READ
The Invention of Wings by Sue Kidd Monk- (North Carolina) READ
Mousetrapped by Catherine Ryan Howard - (Disney World Orlando, Florida) READ
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern- (NYC, 'Spontaneous Locations' around the world) READ
Mr. Penumbra's 24Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan -(San Francisco) READ
Mystral Murder by Lee Hanson-(Caribbean) READ
Swan Song by Lee Hanson -(Orlando, FL) READ
Teaching the Cat to Sit A Memoir by Michelle Theall - (Texas, Colorado) READ

7. South America:√
Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende-(Peru, Chili) READ

[Brooke]

Hello, just joined this group earlier today and I want to try this challenge out.

Africa:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)

Antarctica:
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

Asia:
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Japan)
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (India)

Australia:
Underdogs by Markus Zusak

Europe:
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

North America:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (United States)

South America:
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez (Colombia)

I'm normally horrible at sticking to TBR lists but I really want to read some famous authors that have been long overdo, so hopefully this challenge will help me in doing so!

[Janice]

Delighted to discover this group! I'm seeing so many books/authors on your lists that I've read and loved - from Bruce Chatwin to Doris Lessing to Casino Royale and Milan Kundera.

I live in Florence, Italy, and I found this group among "Groups in Italy" but it seems to rather reflect the tastes of the group than their residence - very eclectic and multicultural, and a great fit for me.

I'm reading (Europe) My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante - a Neapolitan who writes under a pseudonym to protect her identity - (so I'm surprised to see her photo on Goodreads!).

Also on my shelf is (Africa) Taiye Selasi's Ghana Must Go

One of my all time favorites, which I always re-read so it's always on my list, is The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad -

I'm an author myself (no self promotion, just a fact of life) and my last 3 works have been situated in 19th century England - which meant that's about all I read for years. Now as I'm working on a contemporary novel I find I can read contemporary works - so I'm delighted to share these reads with a group.

Glad to meet you all, and thank you, Becca, for starting the thread.

[[deleted user]]

Janice wrote: "Delighted to discover this group! I'm seeing so many books/authors on your lists that I've read and loved - from Bruce Chatwin to Doris Lessing to Casino Royale and Milan Kundera.

I live in Floren..."

Janice, I have Ghana Must Go on my TBR list as well but I don't own it yet. I really want to though as I love Ghana

[Bionic Jean]

Welcome Janice! Maybe announce yourself in the welcome thread if you like? We seem to have had a lot of new Italian members recently. Now all is clear! But you are right; we are a very eclectic and broad group. I personally love that aspect :) Hope you enjoy it here.

[LauraT]

Done some reading:
1. Africa  Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook ***
Doris Lessing, The Grass is Singing ****
2. Antarctica 
3. Asia  Lisa See  Snow Flower and the Secret Fan ****
4. Australia 
5. Europe  William Shakespeare,  Richard III ****
Rosa Ventrella, Il giardino degli oleandri***
6. North America  Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables ****
7. South America 

[Leslie]

I finished my first book for Antarctica (and it really was the South Pole!) - Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole

[Leslie]

reposting to be at the top :) I have read a fiction & nonfiction for Asia, Australia, North America, and Antarctica so "done" with those. Need fiction for South America & nonfiction for Africa, Europe...

Leslie's Around the World Challenge
I am going to attempt to read books written by authors from (living in) the continent rather than simply set there...

Books Planned:
1. Africa - Cry, the Beloved Country or Things Fall Apart ✔
2. Antarctica - ?? maybe a nonfiction (Amundsen, Scott, Shackleton...)
3. Asia - The Good Earth ✔, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea ✔
4. Australia - Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1,700 Miles of Australian Outback ✔, Cocaine Blues ✔
5. Europe - Madame Bovary
6. North America - The Magnificent Ambersons
7. South America - perhaps something by Mario Vargas Llosa ✔ &/or Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Books Read (completed):

1. Africa - Heart of Darkness {Belgian Congo}; Things Fall Apart
2. Antarctica - The Atlantis Gene, At the Mountains of Madness (novella) , Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole (nonfiction)
3. Asia - Interpreter of Maladies {partly in India} replaced with The Good Earth {China}, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea {North Korea} (nonfiction)
4. Australia - Cocaine Blues; Tracks (nonfiction)
5. Europe - Nightmare Abbey {England}, Bouvard and Pécuchet {France}
6. North America - Moonheart {Canada}, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl {United States} (nonfiction)
7. South America - Three Singles to Adventure {Guyana} (nonfiction); Fully Empowered {Chile} (poetry); Blow-Up and Other Stories {Argentina & Paris} (short stories)

Completed on: October 2014

[Kristina]

Kristina's Around the World Challenge

Books Read:

1. Africa:
Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
No Longer At Ease - Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
Black Bazaar - Alain Mabanckou (Congo - Brazzaville)
Black Star Nairobi - Mukoma wa Ngugi (Kenya)
African Psycho - Alain Mabanckou (Congo - Brazzaville)
We Need New Names - NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwe)
The Virgin of Flames - Chris Abani (Nigeria)

2. Antarctica:

3. Asia:
The Blue Notebook - James A. Levine (India)
I am Malala - Malala Yousafzai (Pakistan)
The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga (India)

4. Australia:

5. Europe:
Ondskan - Jan Guillou (Sweden)
Jämställdhet: En del av skolans värdegrund - Maria Hedlin (Sweden)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Brontë (England)
Incendiary - Chris Cleave (England)
Mor gifter sig - Moa Martinson (Sweden)
Kyrkbröllop - Moa Martinson (Sweden)
Kungens rosor - Moa Martinson (Sweden)

6. North America:
Dreaming in Cuban - Cristina Garcia (Cuba)
The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M. Auel (USA)
Moonlight Mile - Dennis Lehane (USA)
Generation A - Douglas Coupland (Canada)
The Language of Trees - Ilie Ruby (USA)
Orphan Train - Christina Baker Kline (USA)

7. South America:

[Bionic Jean]

Just updated my challenge, in comment 6. I've kept my subdivisions into different countries and I'm still only putting in one book for each category of fiction and non-fiction (plus some poetry.) I'm still a bit stuck as to what to choose for South American fiction though!

[Leslie]

Jean wrote: "I'm still a bit stuck as to what to choose for South American fiction though!"

you and me both!

[Bionic Jean]

Came back on here to see if anyone has any suggestions apart from Isabel Allende...

[Dhanaraj]

Try Jorge Luis Borges or Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

[Gigi]

Check out the titles of Jorge Amado. See if any of his titles interest you. (Brazil)
Also Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)

[Bionic Jean]

Of course - thank you both :)

[Gigi]

Jean wrote: "Of course - thank you both :)"

Não é problema!

[Karen]

Well here goes! My first group ever and my first comment ever! My goal is to read 36. although I reckon finding books on Antarctica might be interesting to say the least!

So far: (17th Nov 2014) 36/36

Africa: The Good Italian (Eritrea & Ethiopia)
Summertime (S Africa)
The Twelve Rooms of the Nile (Eygpt)
Purple Hibiscus (Nigeria) Best book this year by a mile!


North America:The Wedding Gift (The Deep South and Caribean, for good measure!)
The Grapes of Wrath (from Oklahoma to California - but you knew that!)
Looking for Alaska (Alabama)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Pennsylvania)
Short Girls (Chicago & Detroit - the lives of Vietnamese immigrants and their 'American' daughters)
The Sentimentalists (Canada)
Maine (go on - bet you can't guess!!)
The Goldfinch (NY,NY)
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail


South America: The Sound of Things Falling (Colombia)
Winters in the South (mostly in Argentina but also parts in Croatia and Vienna - so where to put?!)
Maya's Notebook Chile - fab read!


Asia: And the Mountains Echoed (Afghanistan)
A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar (Tien Shen mountains/China)
The Garden of Evening Mists (Malaysia)
Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (Pakistan)
The Accidental Apprentice (India)


Europe: Motherland (UK and France mainly);
A Watermelon, a Fish and a Bible (Cyprus/UK)
Meeting the English (Scotland and....er?)
I Curse the River of Time (Denmark & Norway)
Shame (Sweden)
The Girl You Left Behind (France & London)
Never Let Me Go (England)
The Importance of Being Seven (Scotland)
Unusual Uses for Olive Oil (Germany)
The Prisoner of Heaven (Spain)


Australasia: In a Sunburned Country (Oz) very funny travel book
Jasper Jones Western Australia
Eyrie Freo & Perth, Western Australia - a fine book with a frustrating ending, but fab writing indeed!
After the Fall NZ


Antarctica: Sun at Midnight. Rosie Thomas (Oxford, Uk and Antarctica) not my usual genre (too chick kitty for me!) but hey had to get at least one book in on this continent.

I'm up to date now - just hope I can figure out how to edit it later!! Ooooh and can I recommend Kamchatka as a book for South America? I loved it but can't add it to my list cos I read it last year...

Update: 26/11/14 Finished and thoroughly enjoyed every minute.

[Bionic Jean]

Thanks Karen! And welcome to the group - we have a lot of fun here, so I hope you'll feel at home. There's a "welcome" thread for new members if you'd like to introduce yourself, and I'm sure our friendly mods will steer you around if you need any help. :)

I'd recommend my non-fiction book on Antarctica, but not the fiction one! (My list is comment 6.)

[Erica]

Thanks Karen for the book suggestion for South America, that's my last continent to go.

[Karen]

Oh Erica what did you read for Antarctica? I'm not greatly into non fiction other than memoir!
Erica wrote: "Thanks Karen for the book suggestion for South America, that's my last continent to go."

[Karen]

Thank you I'll check it out!
Jean wrote: "Thanks Karen! And welcome to the group - we have a lot of fun here, so I hope you'll feel at home. There's a "welcome" thread for new members if you'd like to introduce yourself, and I'm sure our f..."

[Erica]

I think I went for a book set in the artic circle and read The Snow Child which I really enjoyed.

[Karen]

You could try The Sound of Things Falling I really enjoyed it (Colombia)
Jean wrote: "Came back on here to see if anyone has any suggestions apart from Isabel Allende..."

[Karen]

Also Goodreads does a good search on settings too so type in South America and see if that helps! Jean wrote: "Came back on here to see if anyone has any suggestions apart from Isabel Allende..."

[Bionic Jean]

A big thank you Karen!!! I was beginning to despair, as I liked the suggestions, but NONE of the suggested authors were available in Large Print. Any that were on Kindle were all a bit pricey, too. But this book was £1.54 at the moment, so I have bought it. I'm really pleased :)

[Karen]

gosh! i just hope you like it now! give it some time and enjoy the journey!Jean wrote: "A big thank you Karen!!! I was beginning to despair, as I liked the suggestions, but NONE of the suggested authors were available in Large Print. Any that were on Kindle were all a bit pricey, too...."