2016 - Where in the world are you? (currently reading)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm back in Uganda (and somewhere in the south of the USA) with All Our Names.

[Claire]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I'm back in Uganda (and somewhere in the south of the USA) with All Our Names."

Great choice, I really enjoyed this one and look forward to reading more from him.

[Betty]

This year I'll be reading a lot of African literature, the current one being Our Musseque in Angola. Musseque is a shantytown; presumably there are many groups of shantytowns in the capital of Luanda. This is advertised as a coming-of-age novel, and it's peopled with a vibrant society.

[Lilisa]

I'm in the Dominican Republic with The Feast of the Goat.

[Claire]

Lilisa wrote: "I'm in the Dominican Republic with The Feast of the Goat."

Looks like a comprehensive and tension-filled read!

[Lilisa]

Claire wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "I'm in the Dominican Republic with The Feast of the Goat."

Looks like a comprehensive and tension-filled read!"

Thanks for the heads up, Claire :-) I'm very early into the book -- did you like it?

[Claire]

Lilisa wrote: "Claire wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "I'm in the Dominican Republic with The Feast of the Goat."

Looks like a comprehensive and tension-filled read!"

Thanks for the heads up, Claire :-) I'm ..."

I haven't read it, but was very intrigued, so read a few reviews to have an idea of it, look forward to your thoughts on it too.

[Lilisa]

Claire wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Claire wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "I'm in the Dominican Republic with The Feast of the Goat."

Looks like a comprehensive and tension-filled read!"

Thanks for the heads up, ..."

So far, "intense" is a great word!

[Carol]

I'm in Australia with Kerry Greenwood's The Green Mill Murder.

[Carol]

I am in Laos with Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill. Only on page 52, but excellent so far.

[Rusalka]

Carol wrote: "I am in Laos with Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill. Only on page 52, but excellent so far."

Hoping to get to this next month. So glad you're enjoying it!

[Rusalka]

I'm reading A Good Place to Hide: How One French Community Saved Thousands of Lives in World War II for France (surprise surprise with that title).

Easy to read so far, learning a lot. Birthday present from my librarian aunt, who has pretty good taste. I just wish he wasn't so heavy handed on his foreshadowing, but you can't have everything, can you?

[Claire]

I'm in Sri Lanka with What Lies Between Us by Nayomi Munaweera.

[Lilisa]

Claire wrote: "I'm in Sri Lanka with What Lies Between Us by Nayomi Munaweera."

Ooh, can't wait to hear your thoughts...

[[deleted user]]

I'm in China, with Loop of Jade

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I've made a good start on A Fine Balance, one of the heftier books in my challenge this year. At about 10%, I'm already drawn into Dina Dalai's world.

[My Book Strings]

I'm currently in Taiwan, with Li Ang's The Lost Garden. It's newly published by Columbia University Press. I like it so far.

[Lilisa]

Headed to Cyprus with Bitter Lemons.

[Melissa]

I'm in Mauritania with Travels in Mauritania.

[Rusalka]

I need to read faster to keep up with all your books!

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm back in Nigeria with The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi. I started it along with 9 other books for a book speed dating project and couldn't wait to get back to it. Like I need another book from Nigeria. Ha! But it really drew me in quickly (and I understand this author was very young when she wrote this one, although I've seen her more recent works discussed a lot too.)

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I'm back in Nigeria with The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi. I started it along with 9 other books for a book speed dating project and couldn't wait to get back to it. Like I need anoth..."

That does sound good, but mixed reviews so I think I'll wait for your verdict before adding it.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I started Sugar in the Blood: A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire by Andrea Stuart. It is the February pick for my in-person book club, all about the author's family heritage starting with her ancestor who moved from England to Barbados in the early 1600s.

[Lilisa]

Headed to Antigua with A Small Place.

[Carol]

I'm in Japan with The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino. I've just started it and am enjoying reading it.

[Lilisa]

I'm now in the Virgin Islands with Land of Love and Drowning and in Samoa with Leaves of the Banyan Tree.

[My Book Strings]

I'm in the Middle East now, with Excellent Daughters: The Secret Lives of Young Women Who Are Transforming the Arab World. It's fascinating so far.

[Yrinsyde]

I'm around 500 pages into Beijing Coma (666 pgs). Won't be long until I write my review!

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I have skipped across to Nepal with Annapurna Circuit: Himalayan Journey. It's nicely descriptive, but I'm not in love with the writing. The author has chosen to write in the present tense which feels a bit awkward so far.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm in Rwanda with Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated from the French. It is about a school for girls in the mountains right as the (most recent) violence toward the Tutsi is starting. The school is mostly Hutu girls but also contains Tutsi students. This was recommended to me by a friend who teaches African lit in college.

[Carol]

I'm in North Korea with Hidden Moon by James Church. 55 pages in and it's fantastic, notwithstanding the suffocating effect of reading about North Korea's totalitarian society.

[Hesper]

In South Africa, with Zoo City, but in spite of a great beginning, I'm not really feeling the hype I've seen about this book. Maybe it's just midpoint blues.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Hesper wrote: "In South Africa, with Zoo City, but in spite of a great beginning, I'm not really feeling the hype I've seen about this book. Maybe it's just midpoint blues."
I felt like up until The Shining Girls, her books felt more like good concepts without a lot built on top, if that makes sense.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

In South Korea with the recently translated book The Vegetarian by Han Kang.

[Hesper]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I felt like up until The Shining Girls, her books felt more like good concepts without a lot built on top, if that makes sense. "

Perfect sense. I finished it yesterday, and my impression is that it's a book that tries to be too many things at once, and consequently never achieves being just one thing. Great premise, extremely uneven execution.

[Ida]

I am in Ivory Coast with Loin de Mon Père by Véronique Tadjo .

[Hesper]

In Japan, with Masks.

[Ida]

I went to Australia with The Rosie Project

[Lilisa]

Twenty pages into What Lies Between Us by Nayomi Munaweera - loved her first book and excited to delve into this one.

[Rusalka]

Hesper wrote: "In South Africa, with Zoo City, but in spite of a great beginning, I'm not really feeling the hype I've seen about this book. Maybe it's just midpoint blues."

There is a bit of a lull in the middle I will admit. I still really liked it, but it only got 4 stars from me for that lull.

[Rusalka]

Also check in from me. I am alive. I have not been around much this Feb as life has been overly crazy. I have been reading all your posts, just haven't been posting much back.

Bring on March is all I can say!

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm back in Uganda with Child of Dandelions

[Claire]

Lilisa wrote: "Twenty pages into What Lies Between Us by Nayomi Munaweera - loved her first book and excited to delve into this one."

I haven't read her first book, but I was riveted by this one, so evocative and surprising, have her first book to read now too, look forward to reading your review.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I'm reading The Gurkha's Daughter, a book I discovered in Darjeeling last year. It's a collection of 8 stories about the Nepali diaspora. Halfway through #3, I'm surprised so far at the importance of caste (to the characters; what they say, how they act) in what I had thought was supposed to be a modern, virtually casteless society.

[Lilisa]

Andrea wrote: "I'm reading The Gurkha's Daughter, a book I discovered in Darjeeling last year. It's a collection of 8 stories about the Nepali diaspora. Halfway through #3, I'm surprised so far at..."

Sounds interesting Andrea- added it to my list.

[Carol]

I'm reading I Remember You, a book I'd never heard of prior to reviewing the Book Riot Reading Harder Challenge list for the task, "read a horror novel", but which was highly recommended. It's set in Iceland and I doubt I'll be sleeping much the next several evenings.

[[deleted user]]

I'm in North-East Wales with an author from The Netherlands, reading The Detour (called De Omweg in Dutch, Ten White Geese in the US). I expected not to like this- it's a quiet, still book - but it appears to have got me, good and proper.

[Hesper]

Back in Korea with Six Korean Women: The Socialization Of Shamans, which I discovered while reading Comfort Woman. So far, it's an excellent ethnography.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Short re read of The Stranger in Algeria (before reading The Meursault Investigation.)

[Hesper]

Taking a side trip to India with Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling. It's kind of a door stop, but it might be the most accessible English language version I've encountered. It practically reads itself.