Caroline's Around the World in 80 Books

[[deleted user]]

Ok, well thanks for the suggestion. I just thought if you were promoting your book you'd reach more people on the promotion thread than on this one :)

[Ahmad]

I really like those around the world threads.

[Ian, Moderator]

Yes Ahmad, please use our author promotion threads which are there specifically for authors to use and say what they want about the merits of their work.

[Ahmad]

Ian, again I am not promoting!

This thread is about books from countries, and I am sorry Agatha's book is not about Iraq.

I will edit my first reply and remove the name of my book

[Ian, Moderator]

Thanks.

[[deleted user]]

Caroline wrote: "Staying in the same sort of area, Agatha Christie's Murder in Mesopotamia which I am counting as IRAQ on the basis of the information below...

"Mesopotamia is the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran"

..."

Ian, you're in charge of this challenge so I'll accept your ruling. Can I count Murder in Mesopotamia as Iraq. I thought it was, Ahmad thinks not. Up to you :) Cheers

[Ian, Moderator]

Yes, as it is "set" in Iraq.

Being a 1930's Agatha Christie murder mystery and having a cast of European characters, Ahmad is no doubt right that it may not be much "about" the reality of life in Iraq either back then and certainly not now, but that's not the point as setting is the criteria for our challenge.

Ahmad - if you still want to argue this point with me, please use the main The Challenge thread, not this one. Thanks.

[Ahmad]

I won't argue on small matters. It is up to the reader to enjoy the book he/she desires.

Enjoy your read Caroline.

[[deleted user]]

Ok, well that's that issue sorted. Thanks for the clarification Ian. On with my travels...

[[deleted user]]

#20 - RUSSIA - The Black Sun by James Twining.

Another globe-trotting, treasure hunting adventure but no Payne & Jones or Chris Kuzneski this time!
The search for long-lost Nazi treasure takes us all over Europe (and briefly to USA) with visits to France, Denmark, UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with the biggest page count belonging to St Petersburg, Russia.

More books set in RUSSIA (view spoiler)[

Zugzwang - Ronan Bennett (21/7/16)

(hide spoiler)]

[[deleted user]]

Recap - my world tour so far, countries 1 - 20.

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Start date: 7th May 2014
End date:

AUSTRALIA - The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion (5/8/14)
CANADA - Never Knowing - Chevy Stevens (18/8/14)
CHINA - Village of Stone - Xiaolu Guo (7/5/14)
EGYPT - Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie (10/8/14)
FRANCE - Thérèse Raquin - Emile Zola (19/5/14)
GERMANY - Frankenstein - Mary Shelley (19/6/14)
GREECE - The Lost Throne - Chris Kuzneski (6/8/14)
INDIA - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - Deborah Moggach (24/6/14)
IRAQ - Murder in Mesopotamia - Agatha Christie (16/5/14)
IRELAND (REPUBLIC OF) - One Hundred Names - Cecelia Ahern (27/6/14)
ISLE OF MAN - Safe House - Chris Ewan (2/8/14)
ITALY - Sign Of The Cross - Chris Kuzneski (25/7/14)
LEBANON - The Sanctuary - Raymond Khoury (13/5/14)
MEXICO - The Death Relic - Chris Kuzneski (21/8/14)
NORWAY - Don't Look Back - Karin Fossum (14/8/14)
RUSSIA - The Black Sun - James Twining (5/9/14)
SAUDI ARABIA - Sword Of God - Chris Kuzneski (27/8/14)
SPAIN - As Easy as Murder - Quintin Jardine (4/6/14)
SWEDEN - Echoes from the Dead - Johan Theorin (1/9/14)
TURKEY - Sanctus - Simon Toyne (6/7/14

[[deleted user]]

Been a while since I got to a new country! #21 - ROMANIA - The Hunters. First in a new series by Chris Kuzneski. Not overly impressed, much prefer his Payne & Jones books.

Split between Romania, Russia and USA, with Romania having the largest page count by a small margin.

[[deleted user]]

#22 - BRAZIL - The Mayan Conspiracy by Graham Brown.

Another one of my hubby's books, this was not quite what I was expecting. Started off as a treasure-hunting, conspiracy thriller then halfway through turned into Science-Fiction. Odd.

[[deleted user]]

#23 - ISRAEL - Before Bethlehem by James Flerlage.

Detailing the events leading up to the Nativity, this is fairly evenly split between Israel and Palestine.

[[deleted user]]

#24 - ZIMBABWE - A Matter of Clues - - Monica Marsden

Published in 1962 this children's/ teen's mystery is set in Rhodesia.

[[deleted user]]

#25 - TIBET - Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet - - Xinran.

True story about a young Chinese woman searching for her missing husband in Tibet. Really good.

[Ian, Moderator]

Caroline wrote: "#25 - TIBET - Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet - - Xinran.

True story about a young Chinese woman se..."

I thought it was a lovely book that really gives you an idea of what Tibet is like.

[[deleted user]]

#26 - SOUTH AFRICA - The Man in the Brown Suit - - Agatha Christie.

I'd actually read this a few years ago but couldn't remember anything about it. Really enjoyed it this time around. Slightly different from the usual Christie murder mystery.

[[deleted user]]

Murder on the Orient Express - - Agatha Christie.

With almost all the action taking place on a train stopped by a snow drift this could be set anywhere, there are no local customs or scenery involved but it is mentioned that they are actually in Yugoslavia with the last station passed through being Vinkovci (spelt Vincovci in the book) which is now in Croatia, and as I'm not doing as well on this challenge as I'd hoped I'm counting it!

#27 - CROATIA.

[Mercia]

A case of the wrong sort of snow on the tracks? I love the Albert Finney movie, but I've yet to read the book.

[[deleted user]]

Mercia wrote: "A case of the wrong sort of snow on the tracks? I love the Albert Finney movie, but I've yet to read the book."

I loved the book (love most Agatha Christie books actually) but I've hardly seen any movie or TV adaptations. Except Death on The Nile with Peter Ustinov, which I've seen loads of times as it's one of my husband's favourite films!

[Monique]

I agree that the Peter Ustinov film was great it's one of my favourite films, have done a Nile cruise myself and believe me the boats and sites haven't changed, very old colonial feel to it, but it was back in the 90's, don't know if things have changed all that much now, but I'll always have that affinity with Egypt that part of me loves. I enjoyed murder on the orient express too a great film.

[[deleted user]]

#28 - JORDAN - Appointment with Death - - Agatha Christie.

Another enjoyable Poirot mystery.

[Ian, Moderator]

And another good country.

[Ahmad]

A good read, but again it is more like having Chianti wine produced in China.

There are many books from the Arab world written by Arabs, translated to English.

[[deleted user]]

Ahmad wrote: "A good read, but again it is more like having Chianti wine produced in China.

There are many books from the Arab world written by Arabs, translated to English."

I'm sure there are and one day I might get around to reading some of them but this year I've challenged myself to read or re-read all of Agatha Christie's books so two birds - one stone :)

[[deleted user]]

#29 - AUSTRIA - Five - - Ursula Poznanski (aka Ursula P Archer).

Interesting police procedural set in Austria. First in a series, will be looking out for the others.

[Ian, Moderator]

Ahmad wrote: "A good read, but again it is more like having Chianti wine produced in China.

There are many books from the Arab world written by Arabs, translated to English."

I'd love to find some good translated novels written by indigenous writers set in the smaller Arab countries like Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen and the UAE. Could you p.message me with suggestions. Some of my favourite reads have been by Arab writers. They'd need to be available on kindle and tbh I'm more into "what's it like to live there now or in the recent past" stuff rather than thrillers.

[[deleted user]]

#30 - CHANNEL ISLANDS - GUERNSEY - - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer .

Quick, easy read. I liked it.

[[deleted user]]

#31 - MOROCCO - Destination Unknown - Agatha Christie.

I'm a huge fan of Agatha Christie but this was disappointing. This is not your typical Christie murder mystery. It's more of a spy type thriller that's not actually very thrilling. Fairly short though, so over quickly.

[[deleted user]]

#32 - AFGHANISTAN - The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul - Deborah Rodriguez

Slightly disappointing chick-lit with an "exotic" location. A little bit shallow and superficial.

[[deleted user]]

#33 - DENMARK - One, Two ... He Is Coming For You - - Willow Rose.

Decent crime/thriller. Some slightly dodgy dialogue but that's possibly down to the translation. I will probably read more of this series.

[[deleted user]]

My one year travel anniversary - time for an update.

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

AFGHANISTAN
AUSTRALIA (3 times)
AUSTRIA
BRAZIL
CANADA (3 times)
CHANNEL ISLANDS (GUERNSEY)
CHINA (6 times)
CROATIA
DENMARK
EGYPT (3 times)
FRANCE (4 times)
GERMANY (3 times)
GREECE
INDIA
IRAQ (twice)
IRELAND (REPUBLIC OF) (6 times)
ISLE OF MAN
ISRAEL
ITALY (3 times)
JORDAN
LEBANON
MEXICO
MOROCCO
NORWAY
ROMANIA
RUSSIA
SAUDI ARABIA (twice)
SOUTH AFRICA
SPAIN
SWEDEN (3 times)
TIBET
TURKEY (4 times)
ZIMBABWE

By my calculation, that's 63 books but only 33 countries. Must stop back-tracking!

[[deleted user]]

#34 - GREENLAND - Blizzard: Race to the Pole - Jasper Rees -

I read this for the Genre Challenge - Travel & Exploration. This was the story of how two teams of modern explorers, one British, one Norwegian, recreated the famous 1911 Scott/Amundsen "race" to the South Pole using only authentic equipment that would have been available at that time. Due to import restrictions on the dogs for pulling the sleds, they were unable to race in Antarctica to the actual South Pole so the entire recreation was relocated to Greenland.

My feelings about this book can be best summed up by this quote from Bruce Parry, leader of the modern day British team.

"I've set myself a challenge and I'll get on with it, but it isn't half dull".

At least it got me a new country - although not the one I was expecting. Setting is split roughly 60/40 between the recreation in Greenland and the original expedition in Antarctica, with the modern race taking up the majority of the book.

[Kate, Moderator]

Its funny how you set out to read a book which you think will get you one Country and then end up with an entirely different Country. That's happened to me a couple of times.

Well done on getting Greenland that seems to be a tricky one to tick off.

[[deleted user]]

#35 - ICELAND - Black Skies - Arnaldur Indriðason - .

I didn't really like this, it seemed to just keep going round in circles and the storyline featured in the blurb was more of a minor sub-plot. Disappointing.

[[deleted user]]

#36 - MADAGASCAR - Entwined - Colette Gale -

Downloaded and read this kindle freebie just to get the country. I'm not a big fan of erotic fiction and found this more silly than sexy.

[[deleted user]]

#37 - NETHERLANDS - The House of Dolls - David Hewson -

Crime/thriller set in Amsterdam. It was OK.

[Monique]

Caroline wrote: "#37 - NETHERLANDS - The House of Dolls - David Hewson -

Crime/thriller set in Amsterdam. It was OK."
Nearly half way, that's good going!

[[deleted user]]

It's a lot more difficult than I expected! :)

[Andrew]

some good books and countries Caroline.

[[deleted user]]

Andrew wrote: "some good books and countries Caroline."

Thanks Andrew, with this and my A-Z's I'm definitely reading a lot of books I wouldn't usually have considered!

[[deleted user]]

#38 - SWITZERLAND - Heidi - Johanna Spyri -

One of my favourite books when I was a child. Didn't love it quite as much this time around.

[[deleted user]]

#39 - IRAN - Not Without My Daughter - Betty Mahmoody

True story of an American woman who travels to Iran with her Iranian husband to meet his family and is then prevented by her husband from leaving when the holiday is over. Really good.

[Kate, Moderator]

It doesn't always do to re-read an old favourite does it?
I read Zendegi for Iran. I never thought I'd find a book for that Country let alone enjoy it as much as I did!

[[deleted user]]

Kate (Trojanhorse) wrote: "It doesn't always do to re-read an old favourite does it?
I read Zendegi for Iran. I never thought I'd find a book for that Country let alone enjoy it as much as I did!"

Zendegi sounds interesting. Will have to add it to my ever expanding TBR :)

[[deleted user]]

#40 - POLAND - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne - .

Third re-read in a row. (I'm trying to have a bit of a book clear out.) Decided to give this another go mostly to get the country but also because I recently watched the film and wanted to refresh my memory. I didn't like it any better this time around.

[[deleted user]]

Just realised I'm halfway!! Yay!

[Ellie]

Congrats!

[Kate, Moderator]

Well done!