discussion

[Seraphina]

so it's come to the end of the year where most of the group have finished their challenge.
what did everyone think of the challenge overall? anything surprise you while doing it? what books did you love and hate? did other people's reads get added to your tbr list?
what was your favourite continent to read about? what continent did you learn something new about?

any other comments....

[Seraphina]

so I'm still finishing my Europe read so I'm not fully finished but I really enjoyed the challenge and it was just enough books to not interfere with other reading I thought. what surprised me most was the Antarctic read because it was probably my favourite of them all but the one I found hardest to pick a book about. my most disappointed read was the Australian one but I have read some excellent novels from here in the past so don't think I'll abandon Australian lit over that one book. I added way too many of other people's picks to my tbr list, definitely some of trelawn that I can think of. there was a very mixed bag between everyone's picks which was great to see.

[Trelawn]

I loved the challenge. I found some new authors that I read more of like Bruce Chatwin and Beryl Bainbridge. I was most surprised by the Antarctic pick. I thought I'd never find anything I'd enjoy but it turned out to be my favourite. And I took Seraphina's recommendation of Manhattan '45 to use for next year's challenge.

[Paul]

Really loved my South American choice , Kalpa Imperial. My African choice , Lagoon , was my most dissapointing.

[Colleen]

I haven't finish my Europe novel yet . i don't know if I can force myself back to this one yet after the high from The Thirteenth Tale. It's funny because I thought I would love it ,it has every thing I usually love in a novel but it doesn't flow at all. I know that i added Trelawn's pick to my TBR list .I might attempt The Mercy Room if I can't get back into my original pick.
My favorite was a three way tie between my African read Cutting for Stone my North American Ordinary Grace and my Antarctic pick The Birthday Boys

My least favorites were Bittersweet my Australian choice . I also thought my Asian read was weird .

I really enjoyed this challenge . I know I wouldn't have picked up a few of this it.

[Paul]

I'm hoping the Antartica effect carries into next years challenge and the categories people are worried about actually end up being the most interesting and surprising ones come the end.

[Bookworm with Kids]

I'm afraid I didn't get through this challenge this year. I think it was mainly because I took on too many challenges - I am a member of another group which is all about challenges. I did pick books for this that I wouldn't necessarily have picked to read on my own. I liked my Africian pick but the South American one took me ages to get through - it just didn't capture my heart or my attention.
I am looking forward to next year's challenge!

[Margo]

I thoroughly my year reading around the world! Thank you so much Seraphina for coming up with challange idea :-D

My favorite continent was Africa where I found Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee.

My least favorite was, surprisingly, Asia with Elephant Moon, not that it was a terrible book, but I felt cheated that the blurb promised a true story and all the was through the book I was feeling for characters as if they were real people, only to discover at the end that all charactors and events were fictional. They were based on similar events that could have happened to some other people! Is it me or is that the definition of a fictional story??

As for additions to my wish list: anything by J.M. Coetzee, Garth Nix, Isabel Allende, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, Ordinary Grace, The Idiot

[Andy]

was a late starter - set out around the world in July.

very enjoyable challenge - all were 4 or 5 stars

a mix of fiction and non-fiction, including a few travel books.
Many I probably would not have read outside the challenge - only one was already on my TBR list - sign of a good challenge

5* for me were:
Antarctica, The Home Of The Blizzard: A True Story Of Antarctic Survival
America, Between the World and Me and The Round House
Europe, The book of Hygge: The Danish art of living well

was surprised how well the community feel to the challenge worked, despite the variety of selections for each continent

@Paul - roll on 2017 Challenge and 'the Antarctica Effect'

[Paul]

The Antarctica Effect sounds like a dodgy thriller doesn't it

[Andy]

a post-factual Trump-era courtroom boilerplate
probably by John Grisham

[Marcia]

I really enjoyed this challenge. I found new authors I wouldn't other wise have thought about reading. I didn't like all of them and some I just couldn't finish but this is part of looking at different authors. My favorites were because I thought it was so well written, because I really liked the way the author looked into the lives of different people in each of the stories and because it was so quirky.

[Lorraine]

In Cold Blood is superb. I'm still reading my South American read Kiss of the Spider Woman, hopefully I'll finish it this weekend. My favourite continent was Australia but I wasn't very adventurous. I reread Picnic at Hanging Rock and I still loved it.