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

[Lilisa]

I'm in Iceland with Reply to a Letter From Helga.

[Lilisa]

I'm in Egypt with Palace Walk and in Italy with A Thread of Grace.

[Val]

I read A Thread Of Grace some years ago and liked it. I will be interested to read your review Lilisa.

The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street is on my to-read list, one (or three) of the many books I haven't got to yet.

[Lilisa]

Val wrote: "I read A Thread Of Grace some years ago and liked it. I will be interested to read your review Lilisa.

The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street is..."

I started out with the audio of A Thread of Grace and was enjoying it but I was more than 1/3rd of the way through and realized I was having a hard time keeping track of the storyline/characters. I kept having to go back - not easy to do - there are a ton of characters...So have abandoned the audio for the e-book version and voila - much better for me -- I am enjoying it. Tip - I'd definitely recommend reading over listening for this one. I just counted the number of characters listed at the beginning of the book -- there are 45!

So far enjoying Palace Walk too.

[Shomeret]

I'm in Napoleonic France with Miss Jacobson's Journey. It is a Regency Romance by Carola Dunn, but the heroine is Jewish. So it deals with the status of Jews during this period. There are Rothschilds in this book, so there is content about the history of this influential family. The heroine Miriam Jacobson is independent minded. I'm enjoying her.

[Carol]

I'm in Spain (in 1940) with Watcher in the Pine by Rebecca Pawel, and also in the US, in Ohio's Amish country with Separate from the World. The first is excellent. The second might also be but I am not far enough in to tell.

[Claire]

I'm in Korea with Hwang Jungeun's One Hundred Shadows

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I was getting a bit bogged down in The Far Pavilions (enjoying it, but just very, very long), so I've picked up Miss Timmins' School for Girls set in Maharashtra, India. It's not at all what I expected, so I'm keen to get stuck into it over the coming weekend and see what it's all about.

[Carol]

Claire wrote: "I'm in Korea with Hwang Jungeun's One Hundred Shadows"

How are finding this one, Claire? Enjoying it?

[Lilisa]

I'm in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) with The Tea Planter's Wife, in Japan and Canada with A Tale for the Time Being and in China and Canada with Do Not Say We Have Nothing.

[Shomeret]

I am currently in China in 1900 with the science fiction and fantasy anthology Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History. The story is "A Wedding in Hungry Days" by Nicolette Borischoff. It's about a ghost whose parents are looking for a husband for her, but doesn't wish to get married. Yesterday, which was Halloween, I was in Denmark in 1886 with another story in this anthology called "The Witch of Tarup" by Claire Humphrey about a woman who is looking for a witch. I also went to Jamaica in 1843 yesterday with the same anthology . The story was called "Jooni" by Kemba Banton about a woman who was being stigmatized because she was the daughter of an Obeah woman. So far "Jooni" is the story I liked best of those I read in this anthology. I skipped a great many stories because they didn't hold my attention. This is typical when I read anthologies, but almost all the stories I did read were good ones. This makes it an unusually high quality anthology for me.

[Carol]

I am in Japan in 1912 with Kokoro by Sōseki Natsume. I'm leading a group discussion and also doing a buddy read with a friend here, so I'm enjoying it immensely.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I'm halfway through my first Tarquin Hall - The Case of the Missing Servant, set in Delhi and Jaipur.

I notice the second-hand bookshops here in Nepal are flooded with copies - not sure if that is a good or bad thing...

[Carol]

Andrea wrote: "I'm halfway through my first Tarquin Hall - The Case of the Missing Servant, set in Delhi and Jaipur.

I notice the second-hand bookshops here in Nepal are flooded wit..."

What are your thoughts at the halfway point? I have checked this out from my library on multiple occasions and still haven't read. I'm a little concerned that it's more cute/humorous than is my preference.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Carol wrote: "Andrea wrote: "I'm halfway through my first Tarquin Hall - The Case of the Missing Servant, set in Delhi and Jaipur.

I notice the second-hand bookshops here in Nepal ..."

Carol, it's definitely on the 'cosy/cozy' side of the mystery genre. Very quick to read, and quite funny in parts. It sometimes makes me slightly uncomfortable to remember that it's a British author using Indian stereotypes.

[Lilisa]

I'm in Taiwan with Green Island and in India with The Palace of Illusions.

[Carol]

Andrea wrote: "Carol wrote: "Andrea wrote: "I'm halfway through my first Tarquin Hall - The Case of the Missing Servant, set in Delhi and Jaipur.

I notice the second-hand bookshops ..."
Interesting. I didn't realize the author'sBritish. Thanks for the feedback.

[Carol]

I'm in Brazil with The Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza.

[Val]

Andrea wrote: "It sometimes makes me slightly uncomfortable to remember that it's a British author using Indian stereotypes."
He is married to an Indian journalist and I would hope she wouldn't let him get away with too much stereotyping.

[Pauline]

I'm in Australia with The Husband's Secret and Rwanda with We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families

[Claire]

In New Zealand with Fiona Kidman's The Captive Wife

[Carol]

I'm in the United Kingdom with Strange Tide by Christopher Fowler. It's good to be back with Bryant and May.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I've started my 2nd last book for ATW 2016! I think I'm going to make it to my target.

It's Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey Into Bhutan, and so far it's chugging along at a nice pace.

[Shomeret]

I'm in apartheid South Africa with Honorary White by E.R. Braithwaite, the author of To Sir, With Love . This is a memoir of his 1973 trip to South Africa. He was given the status of "honorary white" because all foreign visitors of African descent were given that status. There was a concerted effort to try to change Braithwaite's opinion of apartheid and the white rulers of South Africa. Needless to say, it didn't work.

[Rusalka]

Hello everyone! Sorry for my long absence.

I'm trying to get one more read in for 2016, and am halfway through Guardian of the Dead for New Zealand. I'm really, pleasantly surprised. It was a whim last night when I wanted to complete another challenge, and it's a pretty good urban fantasy, Māori mythology, young adult book.

I'll let you know how it goes, but so far so good!