A book about a culture you're unfamiliar with

[Cheri]

Roxanne wrote: "Wow Cheri, I added the sign language book to my read list & may add it to my book challenge list somewhere. I have several people in my family that is hearing impaired, it may even make my "Christm..."

Hi, Roxanne -- I'm so glad! I hope you enjoy the book. :)

[Melissa]

Does anyone have any suggestions for novels based on Russian or Eastern European cultures? Possibly Greek (that isn't ancient or mythology-related)? Either Soviet Era or Pre-Soviet Era, I have no preference.

[Melody]

Czech Republic
Anything by Franz Kafka. He gets a bad rap because people like to be pretentious and call things "Kafkaesque", but he really is quite good!
I plan on reading The Absolute at Large, a scifi tech dystopian satire, by Karel Capek for the satire prompt.

Ukraine
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer is an amazing and unique book about three different men uncovering secrets about themselves and their family during the Holocaust in Ukraine. A million times funnier then it sounds.

Bulgaria
East of the West: A Country in Stories is a really solidly amusing Bulgarian short story collection.

Russia
Anything by Alexander Pushkin! Eugene Onegin, Ruslan and Ludmila, and The Tale of Tsar Saltan are my favorites.
The Brothers Karamazov (or The Grand Inquisitor if you feel overwhelmed by the length) or The Idiot by Fyodr Dostoyevsky (Haven't read it, but I'm sure his other stuff is really good too)
The Master and Margarita or A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov, the master of Soviet Russian satire.
The Luzhin Defense is one of Nabokov's few books set in Russia, and while I don't like it as much as some of his other works, it's still worth a read for sure!
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is a classic for a reason.

[Nadine in NY]

Melissa wrote: "Does anyone have any suggestions for novels based on Russian or Eastern European cultures? Possibly Greek (that isn't ancient or mythology-related)? Either Soviet Era or Pre-Soviet Era, I have no p..."

Also, to add to Melody's awesome list ... There's always Gorky Park! That was on all the best seller lists when I was a kid during the tail end of the Cold War. Of course it's written by an American so I don't know how authentic the culture is.

[Kitty]

I am going to read A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, or a book by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche for this I think.

I got half way through A Suitable Boy, but it's such a chunker that I decided to pick it back up again later on (I can't read two books at the same time) and treat it as a two parter. I really want to finish it now though.

I can highly recommend Persepolis and Middlesex for this one, those are two books is really loved. Persepolis also taught me a lot about the history of Iran, so in that aspect it's also very informational about a different culture, so would fit this category greatly!

[Fannie]

Melody wrote: "
Czech Republic

Anything by Franz Kafka. He gets a bad rap because people like to be pretentious and call things "Kafkaesque", but he really is quite good!
I plan on reading ..."</i>

Thanks for your list. I might add some of those books in my to-read list.

I'd like to add the author [author:Alexandre Soljenitsin to the list.

[Donna]

Nadine Jones, I loved The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman. It is set in Prague.

[Wenyi]

Chinese historical fiction anyone? Try The Ghost Bride. I got hooked on this one, although it can be slow at some parts.

If you're familiar with the chinese after-life folk lore, then it wouldn't be too much to absorb, and the description is vivid, it kept me up at night turning the pages.

[Maree]

I've just finished 'Hate is such a strong word' by Sarah Ayoub. This is a YA novel with the main character a 17yr old girl whose parents are Lebanese immigrants to Australia- her family is also catholic. This is about her wanting to be more like the rest of the high school kids and be allowed out, about how a new to the school 1/2 Lebanese boy is treated and how She finds her voice and combines her love of family and still step outside the accepted boundaries as set by her parents.

[Charlotte]

Just finished Orhan's Inheritance for this one. Great read that takes place partially in Turkey in the early 1900s.

[Anniina]

I wonder if a book about a fictional culture would be suitable for this prompt? There are several science fiction books about future Moon colonies, for instance, with their own cultures. I was thinking about such classics as The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein or The Gods Themselves by Asimov...

Or maybe I'll just read one of the Russian classics mentioned above. Anna Karenina is an excellent book, really magnificent.

[Juanita]

One of my friends suggested using the Harry Potter books in this category "because you don't know a lot about the wizarding culture."

The point of the challenge, as I see it, is to stretch yourself. If you don't read much sci-fi and reading about life on the moon is a stretch for you, go for it.

[Samantha]

I just finished In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park. She grew up in and escaped North Korea. I read it in two sittings! It was so good and heartbreaking at times. She's already lived such a fascinating life at such a young age. Highly recommend for this prompt.

[Sarah]

Sam wrote: "I just finished In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park. She grew up in and escaped North Korea. I read it in two sittings! It was so good and hear..."

Thank you! I was stuck on this category!

[Steven]

Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns are suggestions. Kahled Hosseni ( possible misspell) wrote both and I thought they were great.

[Shilpi]

I am reading 'Wild swans:Three daughters of China' for this category. It is really good!

[Roxanne]

I've had "wild swans" for like forever. I am thinking of making it my autobiography book, didn't think to use it as my different culture book. The debate continues, on what will make the cut.

[[deleted user]]

The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff

[Marta]

Oh my god, amazing suggestions - my tbr just expanded!

[KLB]

The Art of Hearing Heart Beats - learned a lot about the Burmese people

[Angie]

I readThings Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. While I didn't care for it, it was interesting learning about that culture.

[Kelly]

I saw a TED talk recently about a woman who wanted to expand her bookshelf and read stories from diverse authors. Her project was called 'A Year of Reading the World'. the site has a useful list of books from around the world. not sure if all of them are available for purchase, as some books were translated into English by volunteers and they sent the translated version to her.

TED talk:

https://www.ted.com/talks/ann_morgan_...

Her site:

http://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/the...

[Stacey]

In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner was a wonderful book. If I was allowing myself to reread books, this one would be at the top of my list. The author was a young Cambodian princess in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took over. This is a fictionalized memoir of her experiences experiences under Pol Pot. Her family was forced to leave Phnom Penh and work in the fields in the countryside, while surrounded by starvation and death. After reading it, I watched The Killing Fields, and read several other books and documentaries. I know something horrible happened in Cambodia in the 1970s, and many millions of people died, but I was ignorant of the details.

Hopefully, the book I chose for this prompt will have the same effect, and lead me into digging deeper to learn more.

[Shilpi]

Kelly wrote: "I saw a TED talk recently about a woman who wanted to expand her bookshelf and read stories from diverse authors. Her project was called 'A Year of Reading the World'. the site has a useful list of..."

Thank you for sharing!

[Christi]

I read The Moonlit Garden by Corina Bomann,
A lot of the narrative takes place in early 20th century Sumatra.
It was interesting to learn about the Dutch influence and the Minangkabau matriarchal society. I really like the parts that focused on Rose Galloway, a famous violin protege.

But for the most part the book dragged and was a chore to read.

[Alice]

This is what I am going to read.

[Angie]

I read The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul, not as highbrow as some of your suggestions but I enjoyed it

[Kirsten]

Just finished reading Belshazzar's Daughter by Barbara Nadel, an enjoyable murder mystery set in Turkey.

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

[Nadine in NY]

I am currently reading The Piano Teacher (Lee) for this (Brit ex-pats in Hong Kong in the 40s and 50s) and enjoying it, but I just stumbled upon two other books that look great and would work here: Finding Nouf (Ferrraris), a murder mystery in Saudi Arabia. Also, Smaller and Smaller Circles (Batacan), a murder mystery in the Philippines (yeah okay I guess I like murder mysteries!)

[Nadine in NY]

I'm reading a book right now for the BookRiot challenge ("a book set in the Middle East") that would work quite well for this category also, if you're unfamiliar with Middle East culture: Alif the Unseen. I've had to look up quite a few words and phrases that were unfamiliar to me (you don't HAVE to look them up to understand the meaning of the sentences, I just enjoy doing that, and I'm reading an e-book so it's easy to switch over to Google). The author is an American woman who lived in Egypt for a while and converted to Islam; she's also a comic book author, which is a plus if you're into that sort of thing (which I am).

I'm halfway through and enjoying the book. I see it shelved as YA by some people on GR, but it doesn't read like a YA. The characters are teens living with their parents, but they are older teens, in college, planning marriages, that sort of thing. (In fact, maybe some of them are in their twenties, I don't remember now.) The protagonist, Alif, is a computer hacker who is on the run - with some help from some jinn - from another hacker who may or may not be the chief government censer (and he may or may not be Alif's girlfriend's fiance). There's no explicit sex or violence (well, no explicit violence YET) so it would be okay for a YA read also, but it just doesn't "feel" like one to me. The book this reminds me of the most is Lauren Beuke's Zoo City, mostly because it involves a protagonist who is suddenly in deep shit, racing around a city I don't know, trying to save their situation and their lives, and using slag terms that I'm not familiar with.

[AF]

I read Outlander and am now hooked. I thought about sneaking in Dragonfly in Amber for this prompt. That way I can read the next book in the series. This is the one prompt I have been struggling with all year. I have Middlesex and A Thousand Splendid Suns on my shelf, but neither is pulling me in although both are spoken highly of in earlier posts here. 1700s Scottish clans is definitely a culture I know nothing about.

[Juanita]

I read , which is about a Nigerian woman who moves to the U.S. to complete her college studies. It also parallels her childhood friend who spends time (illegally) in London and then returns to Nigeria.

It had its pros and cons. The writing, fortunately, was a big pro. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a phenomenal writer.

[Nicole]

I've decided to go with We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families-I took a class on the Political History of Africa in 2011 and bought this book off of a reccomendation from my professor-it has been sitting on my bookshelf ever since!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Kathy]

I read the book From the Land of the Moon by Milena Agus which was about a woman from Sardinia, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, an autonomous region of Italy (according to Wikipedia). It's a very moving story; I'm still thinking about it. 4 stars

[Sarah]

I just finished reading Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief for this book. I learned a lot about a culture I was unfamiliar with. I would recommend the book,cut was well-written and very interesting.

[Holly]

when it says "unfamiliar with, " does it mean never heard of? I would love to read something about Amish people (any recommendations?), but I know a bit about their culture, like their beliefs and way of life, but I wouldn't say it's familiar to me. Thanks, Holly x

[Nadine in NY]

Holly wrote: "when it says "unfamiliar with, " does it mean never heard of? I would love to read something about Amish people (any recommendations?), but I know a bit about their culture, like their beliefs and ..."

I took it to mean "a culture that you have never lived in" (or, if you're a sociologist or anthropologist, a culture you have not researched).

[Martha]

Juanita wrote: "I read , which is about a Nigerian woman who moves to the U.S. to complete her college studies. It also parallels her childhood friend who spends time (illegally) in ..."

Ditto on Americanah for me! I agree the writing was fantastic, and it's definitely made me want to try her other novels.

I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban would also work for this (I think someone else might have suggested that) and also potentially Norwegian Wood? I've read that for another prompt, and there were certainly things I learned about modern Japanese culture (i.e. as opposed to older, more traditional culture as seen in novels like Memoirs of a Geisha) that I was unfamiliar with

[Nadine in NY]

Martha wrote: "Ditto on Americanah for me! I agree the writing was fantastic, and it's definitely made me want to try her other novels...."

Last year I read Half of a Yellow Sun and thought it was fantastic!! Better than Americanah. I've got Purple Hibiscus on my mental "must read" list now.

[Martha]

Nadine wrote: "Martha wrote: "Ditto on Americanah for me! I agree the writing was fantastic, and it's definitely made me want to try her other novels...."

Last year I read Half of a Yellow Sun and t..."

Ooh that's good news! I have that one on my shelf, reading another by an author you've liked is always a risk in case you don't like it and it colours your perception of the other book - glad to hear positive reviews!

[Amber]

I read the Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin about a polygamist family in Nigeria, very interesting.

[Kim]

A River Sutra by Gita Mehta. Beautifully written, possibly my favorite book read for the 2016 Challenge

[Rachel]

I just finished reading With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child for the second time. I love this series!