2025 Reading Challenge discussion
ARCHIVE: Yearly Challenges
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Around the World Through Language - 2017

The Dream of the Celt - Mario Vargas Llosa
A bit of a disappointment. The character of Roger Casement did not really come alive for me.

I loved it - gave it five stars. I thought the concept was very interesting and I enjoyed how he managed to explain quite difficult science stuff in a way that felt easy to understand. I do think it might be a bit heavy on the 'science talk' for some people, but I like that kind of stuff. I'm looking forward to reading the second book in the series now.

2. French A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot Completed 14/01/17 Rating 4 stars
2/10

1. Korean: The Vegetarian (in English) - FINISHED
2. Italian: The Story of a New Name (in Swedish) - FINISHED
3. English: A Christmas Carol (in Swedish) - FINISHED
4. Russian: The Blizzard: A Novel (in Swedish) - FINISHED
5. German: The Metamorphosis (in English) - FINISHED
6. French: The Stranger (in English) - FINISHED
7. Norwegian: The Solitaire Mystery (in Swedish) - FINISHED
8. Czech: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (in Swedish)
9. Portugese: The Alchemist (in Swedish) - FINISHED
10. Danish: Nordiska Myter (in Swedish) - FINISHED

The Feast of the Innocents - Evelio Rosero
Hard going. So many of the references were beyond my understanding. You need to have a good knowledge of Simon Bolivar to tackle this one.

1) French: Il grande marinaio (Le Grand Marin) by Catherine Poulain
2) English: Persi in un buon libro (Lost in a Good Book) by Jasper Fforde
3) Japanese: Silenzio (Silence) by Shūsaku Endō
3/20


1. Japanese- Rashomon and Other Stories
2. Thai- Love Sick: The Chaotic Lives of Blue Shorts Guys
3. Spanish- Kiss of the Spider Woman

First 2 completed
English The Taxidermist's Daughter (Completed)
Norwegian Cockroaches (Completed)
2/6 so far

1. English: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Dirk Gently #1) by Douglas Adams -- READ
2. French: Paris Spleen by Charles Baudelaire -- READ
2/11

1 English: Swing Time ✔
2 Icelandic: Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was ✔
3 Japanese: The Housekeeper and the Professor ✔
4 Catalan: Tuin aan zee ✔
5 Indonesian: Schoonheid is een vloek ✔
6 Finnish: Vroeger was alles beter ✔
7 Swedish: De brandweerauto die verdween ✔
8 Italian: Kwellende liefde ✔
9 Spanish: Ripper ✔
10 French: Tram 83 ✔
11 Norwegian: Vermissing ✔
12 Arab (Syrian): Een dag van stilte en lawaai ✔
13 German: Kamp ✔
14 Turkish: Legende van de berg Ararat ✔
15 Chinese: Veranderingen ✔
16 Hungarian: De Pendragon legende ✔
17 Czech: Het jaar van de tuinier ✔
18 Russian: De Russische muur ✔
19 Hungarian: Onverplichte lectuur ✔
20 Latin: Lof der zotheid ✔

✔Spanish - The Japanese Lover -- 01/24/17
✔Swedish - Detective Inspector Huss -- 01/29/17
✔Korean - The Vegetarian -- 01/30/17
I decided to read The Vegetarian by all the readers in this challenge who listed it. I had no idea what I was getting into......jeez what a dark and powerful book.

I think this is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.

Italian: The Clothing of Books by Jhumpa Lahiri (4 stars). Translated by Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush.

I'll set my goal on 12 books with different original languages.
1. Swedish: A man called Ove - Fredrik Backman

1 English: Swing Time ✔
2 Icelandic: Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was ✔
3 Japanese: The Housekeeper and the Professor ✔
(NB My native language is Dutch)

English The Taxidermist's Daughter (Completed)
Norwegian Cockroaches (Completed)
Swedish The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Completed)
3/6
Books mentioned in this topic
Christuslegenden (other topics)The Color of Summer: or The New Garden of Earthly Delights (other topics)
The Rabbit Back Literature Society (other topics)
Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (other topics)
Britt-Marie Was Here (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Camilla Läckberg (other topics)Zhu Xiao-Mei (other topics)
Haruki Murakami (other topics)
John Ajvide Lindqvist (other topics)
Franz Kafka (other topics)
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1/10 - English - The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin