Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
Around the World Team Challenge
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Team Journey to the Center of the Library
I'll take the D and read
for Draco Malfoy
Kiki wrote: "I'll take L and read The Diviners by Libba Bray"When you finish, let me know how it is. I absolutely loved her trilogy starting with A Great and Terrible Beauty.
I have finished my book for Thailand. Are we still working on our Russian stop or should I go ahead and post it?
We still have two books to complete - Isaboe and Kiki - for stop 1, but it's ok to complete your stop 2 reads.As your token Aussie travel buddy (there's always at least one of us in a travel group!), I've got some suggestions for stop 3 - Adelaide, Australia (city of churches FYI) ;)
Here's a few general lists:
Best Books Set in Australia
Best Modern Australian Literature
Some personal recommendations:
- Best classic Australian novel My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin - we have a National Literary Award named for her
- Best YA Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden - slow start in the first book, but it is one of the best series EVER - no joke
- YA/Fantasy - Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody - first book is a little slow as well, but the series as a whole is great
- Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta - lovely read
- Aboriginal perspective - a classic is My Place by Sally Morgan
- for a sweet, feel-good read, I loved The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
- crime fiction - Tara Moss has a Sydney-based series, and Cocaine Blues is also great.
I haven't read anything by Kate Grenville but I hear good things - Australian historical fiction is a growing genre.
I could keep going...but I won't fill up the feed...let me know if there's a particular genre you're interested in, that I haven't mentioned.
Isaboe wrote: "Oh also, basically anything by Melina Marchetta is the best. My nickname Isaboe is actually taken from Isaboe of Lumatere, from her Lumatere series! And I cried so many tears when I ..."oops sorry...but if it makes you feel any better, I now have to read the Lumatere series...;)
Today I finished
and rated it 3 stars. I wish I could rate it 3.5, but alas... I didn't really really like it, but I didn't just like it. It did...a lot...of jumping around for my taste, but the descriptions of Vietnam were lovely, and the food...seriously made me hungry. :) And, the issues tackled in this novel are ones that people should know about on some level.
I'm finishing with mine tonight, sorry for the delay =(
I got an author from Australian book
Hey...I went ahead and added the stop 3 spreadsheet as well, as some of you guys are smashing it! I thought spell it out AUSTRALIA would be better as it has more letters than ADELAIDE, so you super readers can do more than one ;)
Fill in your preferences when you select a book...and then it's over to the South Americas!
I kinda like sticking to the at least a week in each place thing. Technically we're still on Russia, which means we're supposed to be in Thailand till next Friday. Working so much ahead is starting to make me feel a little behind!However, I've got dibs on the T!
I'm done with my book, so we're officially out of Yekaterinburg!!! I'm taking the T in Australia with Fetish by Tara Moss
Kiki wrote: "I'm done with my book, so we're officially out of Yekaterinburg!!! I'm taking the T in Australia with Fetish by Tara Moss"
I think Caroline called that letter. :D
I'll take the R in Australia and read Remembering Babylon by David Malouf.
I agree with Carolina. And I thought we were picking books from Australian
I don't think the S has been taken, so I'll take that and read,
She's an Australian author too, so yay!
I will, however, wait until everyone is done with the Thailand stop before reading this one, so that people can catch up and we can all be together again.
Sorry, I didn't notice! And it was literally the post before mine lolAlso, I agree with Roseena. Why are we spelling for the Australian stop? We can just read Aussie books/authors without having to spell anything
Yeah, that's why I posted it as spell-it-out --- thought it gave more flexibility for people who wanted to complete the challenge, and those who wanted to read something associated with each stop. Happy to put it to a vote/discussion though :)
Also, there seems to be a debate over the T.Caroline "called it" first, but its in the spreadsheet with Kiki's name.
Who is doing the second A in Thailand?
I chose a second letter since no one seems to be fighting over the A's:)
I just finished As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial for the second A in Thailand. So just to summarize the debate about Aussie setting/author VS. spell-it-out, 6 of us are reading books that have to do with Australia, 1 doesn't want to read an Aus book and 1 hasn't responded. I think the spell-it-out offers less choice in this case because almost none of the recommended books work and there's already competition for some letters.
Cause we didn't discussed what we wanted to do. It was assume we were spelling. I would like to do Australia authors . We all do not have to i think we only need 5 or 6 of us
I'd be fine with either. The book I want to read works for the spell it out, and for a book dealing with Australia. If there are at least 6 of us who want to read books that have to do with Australia, I'd say let's go for it.
Cathy wrote: "Also, there seems to be a debate over the T.Caroline "called it" first, but its in the spreadsheet with Kiki's name.
I edited the spreadsheet, I couldn't do it from my phone without installing the app.
Now I'll take A and read Picnic at Hanging Rock, one of the characters is called "Mrs Appleyard"
I let the mods know we finished stop one - should be added to challenge leaderboard soon :)
I'll take the last A and read
Mm-kay, so I'm a bit lost...Are we doing the Australia spell it out? If so, I'm still reading the Secret Chord. If we are doing books that are set in Australia or written by Australians, I want to read another one of her books. Either way, I'm fine with it, but I honestly have no idea, lol.
And, are all of the letters taken for Thailand? It seems as though they are, but I just wanna be sure.
I don't know that we decided. It seems like most people want to read Australia books, but can alter their choices to also do spell-it-out for the 1 or 2 people who don't want to.However, if we do spell-it-out I think we need to be more careful that everyone who wants to participate can. I mean Thailand has 8 letters, but not everyone has one and Australia has 9 letters, but already there are 2 people with 2 letters. This would be great if someone wants to sit out a week, but I don't think that's the case.
So we are technically in Thailand until this Friday, right? I mean that as the minimum. If anyone needs more time, that's also fine. I'm just trying to get the schedule down.If I'm correct, then we have 5 days, minimum to decide on exactly what we should do for stop 3. Like we've done before, I think we should put it to a vote, majority decides.
For me, first preference is to read books by Australian authors or set in Australia.
Second preference is to spell out Australia.
First choice Australian author Then spell out
Yeah I didn't take part in Thailand cause everyone grab everything so I didn't bother.
I'm a bit behind schedule with my Thai book, I picked a really long one :P I don't know if I'll finish it by Friday, but I'll try.Regarding Australia, I chose a book written by an Australian author that also fitted the spell out, it was a bit complicated, tho.
For our South American stop, I'll make a list with books that can be used to spell either El Calafate or Argentina, and I'll try to include as many books as possible so there'll be a lot to chose from =)
I vote for Australia. My library lost the book I was going to read so some flexibility would be helpful.
My suggestion would be to do this:I think spell-it-out of the longest word at each stop is the most flexible option for ALL players. Those who want to read a local author for that stop can, those who want to read a book set in that country can, or you can read what you like.
All 8 players take a single letter each. Once the last player takes an 8th letter, as other readers COMPLETE a book, if they can make it fit, add it to the spreadsheet.
At the bottom of the spreadsheet, I have added a section where you can note what letters your selected book fits. For example, in stop 3, the book I want to read only fits R. But Kiki's read fits A and L. As we fill in the first 8, you can move the books around if needed so that we each have a book locked in...once the first 8 books are locked in, then the rest can be filled in around them. It's a group spreadsheet where anyone can edit it, so you can move around books as needed to fit in your first read.
Does that make sense?
Elise wrote: "My suggestion would be to do this:I think spell-it-out of the longest word at each stop is the most flexible option for ALL players. Those who want to read a local author for that stop can, those ..."
I really like this idea. I think the spell it outs are the most flexible option. the only problem is some people are wanting to read books dealing with Australia, and they can't find any to fit the couple of remaining letters. At least, that's what I'm seeing.
So I'm not really sure how we can make it work.
You probably haven't heard, but since earlier today the Perito Moreno Glacier is in the process of rupturing! It happens once every four years or so and it's so majestic! The reason I'm bringing this up is because the glacier is a stone drop away from El Calafate!So in celebration of the rupturing, here is my list of recommendations for our Argentine stop! I must admit I was really looking forward to recommend you some of my favorite books and authors :')
What's great about our literature is that there are a lot of short stories, which is helpful given the time limit. I will include some novels in case someone prefers them.
Borges and Cortázar are my favorite Argentine authors. Borge's short stories transport you to ancient times with great civilizations that never existed, but are written in such exquisite detail that will make you believe that they were real.
Cortázar specialty is magical realism, his stories give common situations a twist of fantasy and are filled with surrealism.
A bit of context: You'll see that some books refer to the "Dirty Wars". That's the name that was given to our last dictatorship, which took place between 1976 and 1983. During that time over 30.000 people were kidnaped by the government, tortured and killed. Babies were taken from their mothers and given to military families. Those who openly opposed the government had to fled the country or risked to be murdered. It was a dark time and any novel set during the Dirty Wars will reflect it.
The list is organized according to the letters used to spell both El Calafate and Argentina
E
Heartbreak Tango, by Manuel Puig (character's last name starts with E) (if you like passionate dramas, this is for you)
The Eternaut, by Héctor Germán Oesterheld (a graphic novel set in Buenos Aires during an alien attack)
The Slaughteryard, by Esteban Echeverría (set in the 1800, it's one of the most important stories in South American literature)
L
Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings, by Jorge Luis Borges
Days of the Deer, by Liliana Bodoc (the first of a high fantasy trilogy)
The Things They Didn't Bury, by Laekan Zea Kemp (a romance set just after the Dirty War)
Uttermost Part of the Earth, by Lucas Bridges (a travel adventure set in Tierra del Fuego)
C
Cronopios and Famas, by Julio Cortázar
Blow-Up and Other Stories, by Julio Cortázar
Hopscotch, by Julio Cortázar (this is a novel, most who have read it loved it, I'm not really fond of it, but it's written so you can skip parts of it, jumping between pages as if you were playing hopscotch)
Rosa at Ten O'Clock, by Marcos Denevi (character's name starts with C)(a murder mystery)
A
The Aleph and Other Stories, by Jorge Luis Borges
Around the Day in Eighty Worlds, by Julio Cortázar
The Seven Madmen, by Roberto Arlt (one of the best accounts of Argentine society)
Scars, by Juan José Saer (character's name starts with A) (a crime fiction)
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors, by Piers Paul Read (based on the true story of a rugby team's plane that crashes in the Andes, you've probably seen the movie)
Asleep in the Sun, by Adolfo Bioy Casares (an intoxicating mixture of fantasy, sly humor, and menace)
The Dream of Heroes, by Adolfo Bioy Casares (a magical realism novel set in 1930)
F
Collected Fictions, by Jorge Luis Borges
The Museum of Eterna's Novel, by Macedonio Fernández (a humorous novel, often called an anti-novel)
Op Oloop, by Juan Filloy (an insane, modernist tragedy with tons of humor)
T
The Library of Babel, by Jorge Luis Borges (this is a journey inside of an infinite library, it matches our team's name lol)
The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories, by Horacio Quiroga (horror short stories, with a lot of folklore, highly recommended!)
The Tunnel, by Ernesto Sábato (psychollogial thriller novel)
Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number, by Jacobo Timerman (a memoir about his tragic experience during the Dirty Wars)
R
Operation Massacre, by Rodolfo Walsh (one of the first non-fiction novels written in Spanish, about a failed Peronist uprising)
Rage, by Sergio Bizzio (a psychollogical thriller)
Perla by Carolina De Robertis (a coming-of-age story set after the Dirty War about a girl who discovers a terrible family secret)
G
The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey, by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara (an autobiography)
Show No Mercy, by Cindy Gerard (a romance/suspense novel set in Buenos Aires)
The Honorary Consul, by Graham Greene (a spy thriller set in the north of Argentina)
I
The Invention of Morel, by Adolfo Bioy Casares (a short mystery/fantasy novel)
Opendoor, by Iosi Havilio (a thriller set in La Pampa)
The Secret in Their Eyes, by Eduardo Sacheri (character's name starts with I) (a murder mystery set during the Dirty Wars)
Idle Days in Patagonia, by William Henry Hudson (his accounts of his stay in Argentina in the late 1800)
N
Needle in a Haystack, by Ernesto Mallo (a crime thriller set in the Dirty Wars)
Nobody Nothing Never, by Juan José Saer (the hunt for a horse killer and an intense sexual affair)
The Lanin And Other Mapuche Legends, by Nathalia Tórtora
The Ministry of Special Cases, by Nathan Englander (an account of the Dirty Wars by a jewish family)
This is an amazing list Kiki, thank you! It makes me want to read lots and lots more than just one.
Good job Kiki - I think I want to read about 75% of what you put up!
This just makes me so excited for Argentina! My tbr is about to get so much longer! Are you close enough to see the Perito Moreno Glacier?
Caroline wrote: "Are you close enough to see the Perito Moreno Glacier?"Oh, I wish! I'm 3000km (or 1800 miles) away! I can only see the rupturing on TV u_u
Elise wrote: "Good job Kiki - I think I want to read about 75% of what you put up!"Rylie wrote: "This is an amazing list Kiki, thank you! It makes me want to read lots and lots more than just one."
Thank you! I'm so glad you like them! I had to leave so many books outside of the list because they haven't been translated to English, it was a real shame u_u
Roseena wrote: "How's Thailand going?"As far as I know, we still have 2 people working on it. Did you finish Divergent yet?
Half way. Why can we use it? I can finished it this weekend if we need it.
Nothing But Reading Challenges
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