Around the World discussion
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2012-2024 Discussions
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2017 - Where in the world are you? (Currently reading)
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I'm in France, Germany and an unnamed place with Marie NDiaye's Ladivine: A Novel. A strange, thought provoking read, requires an active imagination and an open mind.
Now in Alaska with Velma Wallis's excellent legend Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival.
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I'm in revolutionary France with the steampunk short story "Let Androids Eat Cake" by Meg Merriet in Brave New Girls: Stories of Girls Who Science and Scheme . I believe this is the first steampunk I've read set in France during the revolution.
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I'm currently in contemporary Tibet with Skeleton God, the most recent in Eliot Pattison's Tibet mystery series. The detective is Chinese but he's very sympathetic toward Tibetans. This is one of my favorite mystery series.
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I've shied away because I thought he was a non-native author, but with your recommendation, I'll check it out.
Carol wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I'm currently in contemporary Tibet with Skeleton God, the most recent in Eliot Pattison's Tibet mystery series. The detective is Chinese but he's very sympathetic ..."The best are Water Touching Stone and Prayer of the Dragon.
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Funny when I got home from work, my first task was to send you a DM and ask. Thank you so much.
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I've have the first one on my TBR list for awhile. I need to move it up!
Update re Skeleton God-- This is highly ironic and upsetting to me. Nine books into the series with meticulous research and respect for the Tibetan people, Pattison makes a major cultural error. Tibetans consider it a terrible thing to bury someone in the earth. They practice what they call sky burial. The plot of this novel hinges on a centuries old grave of a lama. I'm sorry. I've never seen anything so inauthentic in a Pattison novel before.
Is it an actual burial, or could it be that the lama succeeded in self-mummification in a cave and then the entrance was covered? The latter would be in line with cultural tradition and would still mean he had to be dug up.
Val wrote: "Is it an actual burial, or could it be that the lama succeeded in self-mummification in a cave and then the entrance was covered? The latter would be in line with cultural tradition and would still..."It's an actual burial under a stone slab. Two other more recent corpses were added to the grave--one of which is the subject of investigation in Skeleton God.
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Egad. That's disappointing.
Carol wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "Val wrote: "Is it an actual burial, or could it be that the lama succeeded in self-mummification in a cave and then the entrance was covered? The latter would be in line with cultu..."I now have a further update on my trip to Tibet--I seriously considered ending my journey with a DNF this morning on the way to work. I realized that this was the only book I had to read for my commute, so I continued. I became invested in the character aspect. Pattison is very good at drawing people in that way. Then I got to page 112 where the grave that was originally described as an opening in the ground covered with a stone slab is called "an ice cave'. I believe this is an inconsistency that should have been dealt with in the editing process, but now I can decide that it was a cave all along. What would you do if it was one of your favorite series?
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I think if it has been culturally sensitive up to this point in #9, and now at least partially explained, I would forgive and keep reading. It sounds like there is reason enough to give the benefit of the doubt. I hope you can continue to enjoy the series after this!
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I started In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes. It takes place in 1950s California (U.S.).
Andrea wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "What would you do if it was one of your favorite series? ..."I think if it has been culturally sensitive up to this point in #9, and now at least partially explained, I would forgive and keep reading. It sounds like there is reason enough to give the benefit of the doubt. I hope you can continue to enjoy the series after this! "
I agree with Andrea. Give him the benefit of the doubt and don't let it put you off a series you have enjoyed up to now. It does sound like a touch of sloppy editing though.
I am in Italy in the early 1930's with By My Hand: The Christmas of Commissario Ricciardi which is a selection of the F2F mystery group that I attend. It's noir, but it comes highly recommended by the group's facilitator who gave it five stars. The opening is very vivid.8/3/17
As usual with noir, I found the characters unengaging. I abandoned it.
I am in 1960's Taiwan with Rose, Rose, I Love You by Wang Zhenhe and in 1980's India with A Breath of Fresh Air by Amulya Malladi.
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Although the book started off in contemporary New York, I am now in both contemporary Spain and 15th century Spain. So I'm time traveling. This is a Net Galley of By Light of Hidden Candles by Daniella Levy. Both the male and female contemporary protagonists are in Spain tracking their family genealogy. The 15th century female protagonist is dealing with the Inquisition. I'm liking this a great deal, but the author doesn't label chapters with the year it's taking place so I feel a bit unmoored.
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Sounds wonderful and yet that last would annoy the heck out of me.
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I'm in England at a place called Vindolanda - an hour outside of Newcastle by train, alongside Hadrian's Wall. I'm going to be there as a volunteer on Sunday next week. I was last there two years ago, which is when I bought this book!!! So now I'm frantically trying to finish it. I LOVE IT. Kind of wish I'd read it on the plane home two years ago. The writing style is like listening to a really entertaining lecturer. I cannot wait to get back and do another two weeks of digging on site.
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Yay! So glad you are reading it. Have lots of unshelled pistachios handy.
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Having recently been in Cape Town with Yewande Omotoso's excellent and entertaining The Woman Next Door (long listed for the Baileys Women's Prize for fiction 2017), I'm now back there with my first read for #WITMonth (reading women in translation) with another title from one of my favourite authors, Maryse Condé, The Story of the Cannibal Woman, a book she says is her personal favourite of those she has written. Ironically, it is also about the life of a widow.
I've just started my journey to Serbia with The Exiled which is the last of the books that I won from Goodreads Giveaways in 2016. This is a good time to read this book because it's Women in Translation Month. The English translation is beautifully written so far.Later addition to comment: There was a Serbian sign and a reference to this being part of the former Yugoslavia, but the village name is Magyarkanizsa which made me wonder if I was really in Hungary.
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I had a sense that the novel takes place primarily in Serbia but close to the border between Hungary and Serbia such that several of the MC's day trips might cross the border. There are interesting discussions of schools in Serbia, their location and approach to their residents of Hungarian ancestry, too. I'll be interested to see what you think. I enjoyed this read more for the culture and history than for the mystery.
Carol wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I've just started my journey to Serbia with The Exiled which is the last of the books that I won from Goodreads Giveaways in 2016. This is a good time to read this ..."Yes, I've now figured out that the protagonist and her village are part of a Hungarian ethnic minority in Serbia. Yet there is also a Romani quarter within the village which is another ethnic minority. That's interesting because I know that the Romani from Serbia once formed a distinct group among the Romani with a very different culture and traditions than other Romani. There's a book about them that I read some time ago called The Church of Cheese: Gypsy Ritual in the American Heyday.
Lilisa wrote: "I'm in India listening to Slumdog Millionaire and also in the U.S. with Golden Hill."Interesting how the popularity of the film has resulted in a name change of the book, I remember reading this when it first came out as Q & A, but have to say it's not a very memorable title for a novel.
I'm in Halifax and Toronto with The Clay GirlI felt a little bit awkward while reading the first few pages, I just needed time to adjust to the narrative form and to the little girl's world ;-)
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Interesting how the popularity of the film has resulted in a name..."
Agree Claire. Q&A is a pretty insipid title for a book although I'm not wowed by "slum dog." It's more appropriate for the film's storyline than the book's storyline, which was totally changed fir the movie. I'm enjoying listening to the audiobook. How are you liking Train to Pakistan?
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In a small village in France with Colette and her The Complete Claudine which is about to move to Paris.
Last year I read a book from every continent as a challenge in this group. It was nice. Then I went home and got stuck in Scandinavia among killer and police. Now it's time to go to nice countries for the rest of the year. I also think that I will read only female writers for the rest of the year.I'll start in the US with
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Lebanon, with The Locust and the Bird: My Mother's Story by Hanan Al-Shaykh;
China, with Frontier by Can Xue; and
United Stares, with Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
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Around the World
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Sounds interesting Jenny - how is it?"
Very good so far. The timeline moves forward an..."
Great - adding to my list - thanks!