Project One - Countries of the World Discussion Thread

[Bea]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Bea wrote: "I also posted one for Belgium...The Misfortunates by Dimitri Verhulst"

Added that one and it turned the country green."

Yay! I have participated!! Thanks, Elizabeth.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Bea wrote: "Yay! I have participated!! "

All your posts are noted always. :-)))

[Anika]

While looking over possible countries to read, I remembered I’d read a book set in Mongolia that I claimed back in 2020 (for task 30.1) that wasn’t recorded on the spreadsheet (Rough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race) hopefully that will help us turn it green with the help of this next season :-D

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Anika wrote: "While looking over possible countries to read, I remembered I’d read a book set in Mongolia that I claimed back in 2020 (for task 30.1) that wasn’t recorded on the spreadsheet ([book:Rough Magic: R..."

Thank you! Sorry I missed it when you posted.

[Anika]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Anika wrote: "While looking over possible countries to read, I remembered I’d read a book set in Mongolia that I claimed back in 2020 (for task 30.1) that wasn’t recorded on the spreadsheet ([book:..."

No worries! I’m just excited at the prospect of getting another country turned green! :-)

[Mary]

I have just posted a book for Syria

The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Mary wrote: "I have just posted a book for Syria

The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui"

Thank you, Mary! This turns Syria green, but will still be available for the bonus in Spring.

[Deedee]

Way behind on this .... last summer (June 2021) I read It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo which was set entirely in VENEZUELA.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Deedee wrote: "Way behind on this .... last summer (June 2021) I read It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo which was set entirely in VENEZUELA."

Thanks, Deedee. This turns Venezuela green!

[Coralie]

Last season I read The Girl from the Channel Islands which was set in Jersey.
Spring 2021 I read My Enemy's Cherry Tree set in Taiwan and The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday set in Nepal.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Coralie wrote: "Last season I read The Girl from the Channel Islands which was set in Jersey.
Spring 2021 I read My Enemy's Cherry Tree set in Taiwan and [book:The Gurkha and the Lo..."

Thanks, Coralie. Apparently I haven't had the Group Projects at on the last few seasons.

This turns, Jersey and Nepal green, though Nepal continues to be available for the bonus this season.

[Nick]

I just posted Deep Past by Eugene Linden in post 154.

It is set in Kazakhstan.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Nick wrote: "I just posted Deep Past by Eugene Linden in post 154.

It is set in Kazakhstan."

Great! I'll gather it up with the season's postings.

[Joanna]

I don't see Ascension Island on the list, but would a book set there fit under St. Helena:

Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the coast of Africa and 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from the coast of Brazil. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha,[2] of which the main island, Saint Helena, is around 800 miles (1,300 km) to the southeast. The territory also includes the sparsely populated Tristan da Cunha archipelago, 2,300 miles (3,700 km) to the south, about halfway to the Antarctic Circle.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Joanna wrote: "I don't see Ascension Island on the list, but would a book set there fit under St. Helena:

Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. ..."

Yes! What a great find!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Bea wrote: "10.4 Name

Read any book by an author whose given name is 3, 4, or 5 letters long.

Bermuda Grass by Keith Miles

KEITH = 5 letters

Review:
I must admit that I did n..

Note: This counts for BERMUDA on the RwS Countries of the World.."

Thank you, Bea. This turns Bermuda green!

[Bucket]

Just claimed points for Written in Black by K.H. Lim in post 493. It's set 100% in Brunei Darussalam.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Bucket wrote: "Just claimed points for Written in Black by K.H. Lim in post 493. It's set 100% in Brunei Darussalam."

Excellent! Thank you!

[Bucket]

Claimed points in post 1032 for Batouala by René Maran. This one is set fully in what is now called the Central African Republic.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Bucket wrote: "Claimed points in post 1032 for Batouala by René Maran. This one is set fully in what is now called the Central African Republic."

Fabulous! Thank you!

[Bucket]

In post 374, I just claimed points for She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore.

About 63% of the novel takes place in Liberia.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Bucket wrote: "In post 374, I just claimed points for She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore.

About 63% of the novel takes place in Liberia."

Wonderful! That turns Liberia green!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Karen Michele wrote: "20.10 Birthday (Elizabeth (Alaska's) Task

Takes place in Andorra

Death Has a Thousand Doors by Patricia W. Grey"

Thank you Karen Michele!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Thank you! Anika turned Andorra green!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Valerie - thanks for the heads up about Norfolk Island. Fixed!

[Valerie]

On post 503, I read Murder on Mustique (which is ~98% set in Mustique). This will turn St Vincent + the Grenadines green.

[Anika]

Yay!!! Will update the spreadsheet now to reflect that. Well done, Val!

[Nick]

It's been a while since I've done this. Hope I am posting in the right place.

I read I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchú which should turn Guatamala green.

[Rosemary]

That's great, thank you, Nick! The spreadsheet will be updated soon, so that's perfect timing.

[Valerie]

How did we do overall this spring with our spreadsheet?

[Anika]

Valerie wrote: "How did we do overall this spring with our spreadsheet?"

We turned TEN countries green (Bouvet Island, Uruguay, Timor-Leste, Cayman Islands, Fiji, Bahamas, Azerbaijan, Guatemala, and Puerto Rico, Solomon Islands) and FOUR countries orange (Lithuania, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Luxembourg, and French Polynesia)! Go team!

[Valerie]

Anika wrote: "Valerie wrote: "How did we do overall this spring with our spreadsheet?"

We turned NINE countries green (Bouvet Island, Uruguay, Timor-Leste, Cayman Islands, Fiji, Bahamas, Azerbaijan, Guatemala, ..."


Wow! That's good!

[Joanne]

Anika-did my read for the Solomon Islands not work for some reason? No big deal, just curious

[Anika]

Joanne wrote: "Anika-did my read for the Solomon Islands not work for some reason? No big deal, just curious"

I don't know why it didn't come up in my search of the Spring Completed Tasks when I searched for "30.1" entries! So bizarre. I have updated it to reflect your turning Solomon Islands green! Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention! :-)

[Joanne]

Oh, no problem-I thought I did something wrong, as I am more than likely to do in any challenge 🤣

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

In the 2025 Personal Reading goals Apple wrote: "I am going to print a map of the world and focus on global reading. I read a lot of Japanese and Korean, going to spread my wings a bit more."

Let's help Apple in her quest!

Ok, maybe this belongs in a different thread, but do you have authors/titles you would recommend for more global reading?

Still, Asia, Apple, but one of my all time favorites is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. India, at about the time of partition.

[Valerie]

Off the top of my head - Broken April by Ismail Kadare - an excellent book that will give authentic insight to the very different Albanian culture.

[Valerie]

I am hoping to read Spring Flowers, Spring Frost also by Kadare early in 2025 as well.

[Valerie]

Sorry for the multiple answers; I’m on my phone so can’t edit previous to add. 🙁 Also, Dogeaters (Philippines) + The Purple Land (Uruguay) - prob can access this one free ‘cause is old.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I also loved Embers by Sándor Márai. Hungary.

[Anika]

I adored Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (Dominican Republic), The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach (Belarus), Melmoth by Sarah Perry (Czech Republic), and When the Apricots Bloom by Gina Wilkinson (Iraq)--and, of course, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (Ethiopia), but I'm guessing you may have already read that one.

[Apple]

Thanks all, I will respond properly when on laptop instead of phone, and my brain recovers from all the sugar consumed at my work break up today. No alcohol consumed! I am sticking to a promise to myself to only have one day of alcohol a week, and I will need it more on Sunday when I see my extended family. 🤪🤣

Maybe I will even set up a thread in the Members corner 😉

[Apple]

Valerie wrote: "Off the top of my head - Broken April by Ismail Kadare - an excellent book that will give authentic insight to the very different Albanian culture."

I Broken Aprilread in the group many years ago, but I have The Successor on my bookshelf to read. It's one of those books that I have scheduled many times but never got around to. I have a few of those ...

[Apple]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "In the 2025 Personal Reading goals Apple wrote: "I am going to print a map of the world and focus on global reading. I read a lot of Japanese and Korean, going to spread my wings a bit more."

Let'..."

And A Fine Balance is another book I have scheduled many times and never gotten around to. It's part of the reason I am planning to read less, to get to the books I keep putting off for one reason or another, instead of "gobbling" up books that are feeding a current whim.

[Apple]

Valerie wrote: "Sorry for the multiple answers; I’m on my phone so can’t edit previous to add. 🙁 Also, Dogeaters (Philippines) + The Purple Land (Uruguay) - prob can access this one free ‘cause is old."

Did you know Dogeaters was made into a play? It's not available at any of my libraries, (I am a digital member of at least 10), but I have been able to put both versions on "Notify".

For South American fiction, there is a wonderful publishing house in the UK that puts out translated fiction, Charco Press. I asked for the box set for Christmas, but I don't think my family organised it, so I will see what sets they have around my birthday ;)

[Apple]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I also loved Embers by Sándor Márai. Hungary."

I have a copy of this on my shelf (I actually bought two, because I hadn't recorded the purchase of the first one), and because it is on the 1001 list I will probably read this season for 10.3. ;)

[Apple]

Anika wrote: "I adored Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (Dominican Republic), The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach (Bela..."

Not that I will stick to one book per country, but I picked up Drown by Junot Díaz for Dominican Republic this year. I really loved The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (not that my rating seems to reflect!), and wanted to give him another go.

For me, reading globally is more about the author than setting, but I have put most of these on my TBR :)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

For translated mysteries, you might check out Pushkin Vertigo. Many of these are Asian authors, but there are South Americans also and non-English Europeans.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

I’m not sure this GR list is comprehensive.

[Apple]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "For translated mysteries, you might check out Pushkin Vertigo. Many of these are Asian authors, but there are South Americans also and non-English Europeans.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/15..."

A good list! I like that there are publishers out there promoting world literature.

The Nordic countries are very good for mysteries ;)

[Apple]

Okay, set up a topic, post your recommendations here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...