Reading with Style discussion
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Rebekah wrote: "If someone puts an unclaimed country on their plan, does that mean no one else can use it to be first claimed? Can an unclaimed country be saved to be first claimed?"No, the plans are just plans. Anyone can read for any country. Choosing whether to read in alpha order, or by unread country might be part of your strategy.
Rebekah wrote: "Is Antarctica a country on this list?"
Yes. See the list here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Any country that has been highlighted has already had a reader.
I asked a question in the Plans thread, sorry about that. I don't want to delete it and the responses since it might mess you up for tracking.Also would this book count for Fiji or Vanuatu? I can't really tell and since one is F and the other V, it will be hard to do alphabetically without knowing. Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu
Rebekah wrote: "I asked a question in the Plans thread, sorry about that. I don't want to delete it and the responses since it might mess you up for tracking.Also would this book count for Fiji or Vanuatu? I can'..."
In this case, it won't mess up our tracking, and now that you've found it over here, I'll delete them.
Without reading it, we don't know which would be 51%.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "I asked a question in the Plans thread, sorry about that. I don't want to delete it and the responses since it might mess you up for tracking.Also would this book count for Fiji or..."
I read it a while back...and as I recall, most of the book takes place in Vanuatu.
Ed wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "I asked a question in the Plans thread, sorry about that. I don't want to delete it and the responses since it might mess you up for tracking.Also would ..."
Thanks, Ed!
So Elizabeth, can I count it as Vanuatu?
Rebekah wrote: "So Elizabeth, can I count it as Vanuatu? ..."As long as it is
Rebekah wrote: "Ed wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "I asked a question in the Plans thread, sorry about that. I don't want to delete it and the responses since it might mess you up for tracking...."
I think you're fairly safe Rebekah. My memory is that Fiji only is the setting in the beginning as the author is on his way to Vanuatu and at the end when he and his family leave Vanuatu. The entire middle of the book, as I remember, is on various islands of Vanuatu.
Does U S Virgin Islands count as U or V?
Rebekah wrote: "Does U S Virgin Islands count as U or V?"V - we'll use the alpha as sorted in the main list here.
I am reading Baba Dunja's Last Love by Alina Bronsky which my library catalogues as being set in the Ukraine but I am not completely convinced. I feel it could just as easily be set in Belarus or Russia. Can I use it for this challenge?
I'm reading a history of Istanbul Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities, which I'd planned for Turkey. I'm now second guessing myself, because obviously Turkey is a modern day state. Does the fact that the story takes in times before Turkey existed mean that I can't use it?
Coralie wrote: "I am reading Baba Dunja's Last Love by Alina Bronsky which my library catalogues as being set in the Ukraine but I am not completely convinced. I feel it could just..."Everything we see about this indicates it is sufficiently set in Ukraine for this to work for that country. Still, there is the caveat that we haven't read it and cannot confirm the 51%.
Cat wrote: "I'm reading a history of Istanbul Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities, which I'd planned for Turkey. I'm now second guessing myself, because obviously Turkey is a modern day state. Doe..."You can have Turkey for Istanbul.
Ugh. RG has been a nightmare for me so far! Before I go any further, can I make sure Georgian Folk Tales will work for Georgia? I can't bear to start/finish another one that I think is going to work and then not :-(
Anika wrote: "Ugh. RG has been a nightmare for me so far! Before I go any further, can I make sure Georgian Folk Tales will work for Georgia? I can't bear to start/finish another one that I think..."Yes, we will accept that for Georgia.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Anika wrote: "Ugh. RG has been a nightmare for me so far! Before I go any further, can I make sure Georgian Folk Tales will work for Georgia? I can't bear to start/finish another on..."Yay! Thank you! These were some of the strangest folktales I've ever read--it was fun to read them for this challenge, because I doubt I'd have ever found them in the course of my "normal" reading otherwise.
Anika wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Anika wrote: "Ugh. RG has been a nightmare for me so far! Before I go any further, can I make sure Georgian Folk Tales will work for Georgia? I can't bear..."I was wondering how they were. I like folk tales, and thought this book would be a good addition to the TBR list! Thanks for finding it, Anika.
Valerie wrote: "Anika wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Anika wrote: "Ugh. RG has been a nightmare for me so far! Before I go any further, can I make sure Georgian Folk Tales will work for Georgia..."Sometimes they were hard to read because they were so disjointed and slapdash--it reminded me of someone trying to describe a really bizarre dream (or acid trip, more likely) that featured speaking apples, multiple-headed demons, and lots of beheading (some of which was reversed by putting a magic hanky over the severed appendages). Verrry strange. But I quite liked their version of Cinderella and absolutely LOVED the way they started many of the stories: rather than, "Once upon a time...", they begin, "There was and there was not at all," or sometimes, "There was, there was, there was, there was, and nothing there was." Something about some of them felt like poetry--nonsensical poetry, but still delightful to the mind's ear.
Still though, pardon my French, mostly they were batsh*t crazy!
Anika wrote: "Valerie wrote: "Anika wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Anika wrote: "Ugh. RG has been a nightmare for me so far! Before I go any further, can I make sure Georgian Folk Tales will ..."Ha, ha..... that sounds right up my alley!
Which country applies for a book set in Crimea? Russia? Ukraine?
Lagullande wrote: "Which country applies for a book set in Crimea? Russia? Ukraine?"
dive right into the tangled geopolitical mess!
Ukraine, for my money, I think
Lagullande wrote: "Which country applies for a book set in Crimea? Russia? Ukraine?"
With a small amount of arbitrariness, we'll call it Russia.
Cat wrote: "Lagullande wrote: "Which country applies for a book set in Crimea? Russia? Ukraine?"
dive right into the tangled geopolitical mess!
Ukraine, for my money, I think"
I agree! When I lived in Ukraine, Crimea was most certainly considered part of the country...the only people who thought/think otherwise are the Russians. (While Russia and ten other UN member states recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, Ukraine continues to claim Crimea as an integral part of its territory, supported by most foreign governments and United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262.)
My answer was Russia, because it became part of Russia following the Crimean War of 1768-1774, and then was an autonomous state within the Russian Federation until 1991. And then more recently has been re-annexed by Russia. So, for most of what literature period might come to us, part of Russia. Not sure what book will be read that applies.
Crimea is one of those examples I read about in The Revenge Of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate with historically disputed lands.My grandmother was born in the Ukraine and lived there until she was in her 20s, but it was the Russian speaking part. She spoke an older German at home & church, Russian at school (could read, write and speak both, but learned to read, write & speak English when she came to Canada along with my grandfather). So it's definitely an interesting area. My late uncle (NOT related to my grandparents, but who married an aunt on my Icelandic side) was born in the Ukraine, but he and his family left when he was a baby and moved first to Belgium and then Quebec--they spoke Ukranian at home.
Just trivia, I suppose, and when making this kind of decision, I think you made the right choice since politically it is now part of Russia.
Ed wrote: "de jure Ukrainede facto Russia"
That was my problem!
But to avoid further debate.... I have discovered that the book in question doesn't quite meet the 51% setting requirement.
Planning to read The White Steamship by Chingiz Aitmatov ...which seems to clearly be set in Kyrgyzstan....but the book was published in 1970...when the country was still part of the Soviet Union. Am I correct to assume this will still count for Kyrgyzstan and not for Russia?
Ed wrote: "Planning to read The White Steamship by Chingiz Aitmatov ...which seems to clearly be set in Kyrgyzstan....but the book was published in 1970...when the country was st..."If it is clearly set there, yes, we will accept that.
Anika, how did you like Baking Cakes in Kigali? I have that out from the library, but keep falling asleep when I read at the moment, so not getting far with my other books :(
I liked it a lot! I listened to this one and the narrator made it so enjoyable. I think that if I had read it myself it wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining...all of the "eh"s and "huh"s that were in the audio version made perfect sense verbally but I think I would have found them irksome or off-putting had I read them visually. The main reason I chose it was because it was the only book about Rwanda I could find that wasn't heavy on the genocide/rape/murder aspect of that country's history. It touched on it, but not graphically and it certainly wasn't a main focus in the book.
At times it felt like a collection of short stories: every character who comes to Angel to commission a cake sits down over tea and tells her their story, but I love stories like that so it worked for me.
Anika wrote: "I liked it a lot! I listened to this one and the narrator made it so enjoyable. I think that if I had read it myself it wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining...all of the "eh"s and "huh"s that ..."That's the same reason I chose it as I remember reading a non-fiction about it many years ago in the old global challenge I did.
I have a text copy, so will let you know how I go with that.
I am listening to an audiobook about another difficult African country (will hopefully post tomorrow), and I don't think I could do two texts on such atrocities.
I thought I'd mention, in case someone else is considering this book:Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art by Carl Hoffman
that this book DOES NOT take place in Papua New Guinea (as described) but actually occurs in the Indonesian portion of the island.
The Who's on First list has a mistake. The country I read for was Uruguay, not Uzbekistan.
Rebekah wrote: "The Who's on First list has a mistake. The country I read for was Uruguay, not Uzbekistan."Thanks Rebekah, I should have been awake by the time I was working on this, but I do tend to work on things first thing in the morning. OOps!
Is The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism ok for Japan? It is non-fiction. I don't think it has a YA designation at BPL.
Lagullande wrote: "Is The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism ok for Japan? It is non-fiction. I don't think it has a YA designation at BPL."Yes - and I checked BPL, no YA!
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Lagullande wrote: "Is The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism ok for Japan? It is non-fiction. I don't think it has a YA designation at BPL."Yes ..."
Thanks, Elizabeth.
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
The Reason I Jump: the Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism (other topics)The Reason I Jump: the Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism (other topics)
The Reason I Jump: the Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism (other topics)
Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art (other topics)
Baking Cakes in Kigali (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Carl Hoffman (other topics)Chingiz Aitmatov (other topics)
Chingiz Aitmatov (other topics)
Alina Bronsky (other topics)
Alina Bronsky (other topics)
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I don't remember that story being location specific. It is said to be based on a true story and Melville certainly traveled in that part of the world. If you are bent on reading Melville, and you don't have an "E" country, you might try In the Galapagos Islands with Herman Melville, the Encantadas or Enchanted Isles for Ecuador. I'll just add that I'm not necessarily recommending this tale as it wasn't much to my liking, but that doesn't mean it won't be to yours.