Sushicat’s 2018

[Sushicat]

PBT monthly tag

Jan - science - The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert - 4 stars / War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges - 5 stars
Feb - Asia - Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle - 3.4 stars
Mar - autobiography - Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah - 4.4 stars / The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir by Riad Sattouf - 3 stars
Apr - strong women - The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - 5 stars / Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - 5 stars and a heart
May - family drama - Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming - 5 stars
Jun - magical realism - The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead - 4 stars / Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein - 3.4 stars
Jul - dystopia - American War by Omar El Akkad - 4.6 stars / Red Clocks by Leni Zumas - 3.4 stars
Aug - espionage - Casino Royale by Ian Fleming - 3.6 stars
Sep - friendship - The Dog Stars by Peter Heller - 5 stars
Oct - canada - A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny -3.6 stars
Nov - literary fiction - White Tears by Hari Kunzru - 4.4 stars / The President's Gardens by Muhsin Al-Ramli - 5 stars
Dec - geek reads - Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson - 3.6 stars / We Are Legion - We Are Bob by Dennis E. Taylor - 3.6 stars

[Sushicat]

Listopia - Best Middle East Fiction
I will choose only books from the list that are by authors that are native to the region - definitely no Death on the Nile...

1 - Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz - 4 stars
2 - Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi - 4 stars
3 - The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - 5 stars
4 - Memed mein Falke by Yaşar Kemal - 4 stars
5 - The President's Gardens by Muhsin Al-Ramli - 5 stars
6 - The Dove's Necklace by Raja Alem

[Sushicat]

PBT Decathlon - completed

Jan - Tribute to Linda: top 10 2017 - Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders - 4 stars
Feb - longest on TBR: 1989 - Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz - 4 stars
Mar - all three options - autobiography: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah - 4.4 stars / classic & illustrated: The Annotated Alice by Lewis Caroll - 4 stars
Apr - randomizer - Their Eyes Were Watching God - by Zola Neale Hurston - 5 stars and a heart
May - man booker - The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt - 4 stars
Jun - big event - Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein - 3.4 stars
Jul - Buddy read - Red Clocks by Leni Zumas - 3.4 stars
Aug - recommended - Casino Royale by Ian Fleming - 3.6 stars
Sep - 5 stars by moderator - The Dog Stars by Peter Heller - 5 stars
Oct - answered some questions

[Sushicat]

Nicole’s Culture Challenge - six books about other cultures (preferably written by a woman, author must be of the culture or have lived there)

1. Harlem 1920s: Passing by Nella Larsen - 4 stars (though not specifically picked for this challenge, I think it fits the bill very well)
2. Bulgaria: Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe by Kapka Kassabova - 4.4 stars - another very good match, written by a woman, a journey into the borderlands between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece, steeped in history, filled with stories old and recent about people migrating by choice or by force between these lands
3. Lapland: Einsam und kalt ist der Tod by Lars Pettersson 4 stars - this one fits as well as it gives insights into the life and culture of the Sami - though it is written by a man
4. Basque Country: Ich habe Wale gesehen by Javier de Isusi - 4.4 stars - a thoughtful look at the impact the decades long, violent struggle for independence has on individual lives - great art, also written by a man
5. Colombia: El coronel no tiene quien le escriba by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 4 stars - short but vivid in its look a life in abject poverty, but clinging to pride and dignity

6. Egypt: Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz - 4 stars - set in the micro cosmos of a street in the poorer quarters of Cairo during the 1940s, it paints a vivid picture of that culture

7. South Africa: Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah - 4.4 stars - the racial divide looms big in this very personal recollection of how his mother's personality shaped his world
8. South Africa: Red Dust by Gillian Slovo - 4.6 stars - finally another one written by a woman, the theme is the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings post Apartheid
9. Iraq: Frankenstein à Bagdad by Ahmed Saadawi - 4 stars - set in US occupied Bagdad, this does not read as genre fiction, but rather as a window into a world destabilized by conflict and dissolving into chaos
10. Syria: The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir by Riad Sattouf - 3 stars - a child of two cultures - French mother, Syrian father - who fits nowhere, tells it from a child's perspective

11. Iran: The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - 5 stars - about growing up in a very liberal family in a very repressed country, and finding your place where non-conformity can come at a very high cost

12. Morocco: Le Fou Du Roi by Mahi Binebine - 3.6 stars - a close view into the life of the courtiers of King Hassan II

13. Turkey: Memed mein Falke by Yaşar Kemal - 4 stars - suffering under the oppression of a greedy man, a village of share croppers eke out a meager life, but finally Memet is faced with an impossible choice

14. Bulgaria: Viola d'amore by Viktor Paskov - 5 stars

- none in August / September / October

15. Iraq: The President's Gardens by Muhsin Al-Ramli - 5 stars - a view on Saddam Hussein's country from the point of view of simple villagers, the impact of the wars had on their lives

16. India: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy - 4 stars - a fragmented tale set in a fragmented land, a look into modern India and it's fracture lines of ethnicity, caste and religion, how people are at the mercy of random events that have the power to wreck a life
17. Colombia: Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras - 4.6 stars -
of which written by women: 6...

Saudi Arabia: The Dove's Necklace by Raja Alem

[Amy]

I think eventually we should have a thread by the end of the year that lists our books in 2018 for Nicole’s cultural challenge.

[Sushicat]

6 Nonfiction Pulitzer’s

1 - The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert - 4 stars
2 - The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation by Gene Roberts - 4 stars
3 - Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall
4 - Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery by Leon F. Litwack
5 - Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman Jr.
6 -

[Sushicat]

For 2019: Listopia - Africa https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...