2018 - Where in the world are you? (Currently reading)

[Lilisa]

I'm still in Paris with Paris Echo and also in Greece with Circe.

[Shomeret]

Carol wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I'm currently in British mandate Palestine with Lone Wolf in Jerusalem by Ehud Diskin. This is an English translation of זאב בודד בירושלים . The aut..."

It's too early in the book to make a decision about it, but I don't think I'll be a fan. For one thing, there's a bizarre historical error. I would think it's a mis-translation except that there's no translator listed so I have to think that the author is responsible for both the Hebrew and English versions. Maybe it's a copy editor's interpolation? This is an ARC. Who knows? If I wanted to be thorough I would buy the Hebrew edition to see if the error exists there, but that would be very expensive. Yes, I read Hebrew.

[Carol]

Shomeret wrote: "Carol wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I'm currently in British mandate Palestine with Lone Wolf in Jerusalem by Ehud Diskin. This is an English translation of [book:זאב בודד בירושלים|40223..."

Yikes. Even if he didn't translate it, he'd have approved the translation, I would think. Plus , he's a former intelligence guy - isn't he? (I might be confusing my authors) If so, he has no excuse for any historical errors.

I'm impressed :)

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I’ve started reading In Your Hands (Portugal) today.

[Carol]

I’m in England with Snap by Belinda Bauer. It is, indeed, a page-turner but it’s Booker long list placement puzzles. On the other hand, I stayed up two hours past my bedtime last night reading it, so there’s that!

[Lilisa]

Andrea wrote: "I’ve started reading In Your Hands (Portugal) today."

Hope you like it.

[Lilisa]

Carol wrote: "I’m in England with Snap by Belinda Bauer. It is, indeed, a page-turner but it’s Booker long list placement puzzles. On the other hand, I stayed up two hours past m..."

An extra cup of coffee this morning? :-)

[Claire]

I'm in France, literally and figuratively, reading Mend the Living by Maylis de Kerangal for #WITMonth

#WomenInTranslation

Are any of you reading women in translation titles this month you'd like to share? Or favourites you've read in the past?

[Carol]

Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "I’m in England with Snap by Belinda Bauer. It is, indeed, a page-turner but it’s Booker long list placement puzzles. On the other hand, I stayed up tw..."

Oh, I wish that had worked, Lilisa.

[Lilisa]

Carol wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "I’m in England with Snap by Belinda Bauer. It is, indeed, a page-turner but it’s Booker long list placement puzzles. On the other hand,..."

I interprete that to mean it didn't 😂!

[Carol]

Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "I’m in England with Snap by Belinda Bauer. It is, indeed, a page-turner but it’s Booker long list placement puzzles. On t..."

Sadly, no. And now I will stay up late to finish it even though I must be in at 7 a.m. There’s no teaching a reader maturity.

[Carol]

Claire wrote: "I'm in France, literally and figuratively, reading Mend the Living by Maylis de Kerangal for #WITMonth

#WomenInTranslation

Are any of you reading women in translation titles this ..."

I will be reading Sweet Bean Paste and So Long a Letter.

Favourites?

The Ten Thousand Things by Maria Dermoût (Dutch East Indies, now Java)
Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck (East Germany, now Germany)
Revenge by Yōko Ogawa(Japan)
Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen(Israel)
Sunlight on a Broken Column by Attia Hosain (India, before Partition, now Pakistan)

[Lilisa]

Carol wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "I’m in England with Snap by Belinda Bauer. It is, indeed, a page-turner but it’s Booker long list placemen..."

🙃

[Lilisa]

Carol wrote: "Claire wrote: "I'm in France, literally and figuratively, reading Mend the Living by Maylis de Kerangal for #WITMonth

#WomenInTranslation

Are any of you reading women in translati..."

Here are a few - I don't have a shelf for translated books so a bit challenged - that's a great idea - groan - adding to my to-do list.

Without a Country
In Your Hands
Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet
About the Night

[Claire]

Carol wrote: "Claire wrote: "I'm in France, literally and figuratively, reading Mend the Living by Maylis de Kerangal for #WITMonth

#WomenInTranslation

Are any of you reading women in translati..."

Oh I so loved 'So Long a Letter' in fact I just gave my copy to a friend who has left for a month's holiday, who is an avid reader and writer of letters and the epistolary form, and what better gift than such a poignant volume, a written conversation to a friend just before her imminent arrival.

Thank you for the recommendations, I'll check them out.

[Shomeret]

Carol wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "Carol wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I'm currently in British mandate Palestine with Lone Wolf in Jerusalem by Ehud Diskin. This is an English translation of [book:זאב בו..."

And now I need to correct that impression, but I wouldn't if Diskin had included the full name of the organization the first time he had mentioned it. Early in the book, he referred to the Mossad. An Israeli would probably know from context that it was the original organization that used that word in its title, but I'm an American who knows that the Israeli spy organization referred to as the Mossad didn't exist in 1945. I had no idea that there was another organization called the Mossad because I'd never heard of Mossad l'Aliyah Bet. It had never been mentioned by name in anything this American had read in English, nor had any Israeli ever mentioned it to me. He mentioned the full name in a flashback about 20% later. Here's where I found Mossad l'Aliyah Bet online: https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-w.... So I've learned something, and I have to apologize here.

[Carol]

Shomeret wrote: "Carol wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "Carol wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I'm currently in British mandate Palestine with Lone Wolf in Jerusalem by Ehud Diskin. This is an English translation o..."

That’s really interesting and exactly the sort of info we love to learn from our non-US fiction reads. Thanks for sharing this, Shomeret.

[[deleted user]]

I'm currently in Thailand :) Hands Across The Water

[Lilisa]

I'm in Japan with The Street of a Thousand Blossoms.

[Carol]

Lilisa wrote: "I'm in Japan with The Street of a Thousand Blossoms."

I don’t know this one and am eagerly awaiting your judgment.

[Carol]

In NYC but it feels like a foreign country or at least unfamiliar. I’m reading The Lonely Witness by William Boyle, originally from Brooklyn and now residing in Oxford, Mississippi. (Ol’ Miss does such a great job of hiring writers that, at this point, when I see that an author is living in Oxford, I don’t even check friends’ reviews before committing.). Boyle’s description of Brooklyn’s and the Bronx’s dark streets, all night diners, drunks, old ladies, thugs, blood, filthy restrooms, pubs and alleyways are so real you can smell it all as you read. Of course both burroughs have much more than what’s described here — including sunshine, Formula 409 and compliant citizens...

[Shomeret]

I am in medieval Japan with Shadow of The Fox by Julia Kagawa. It's about an orphaned half-human kitsune who has been raised in a temple since infancy. The master of the temple wants her to learn how to control her kitsune powers.

This is an ARC and it's the first book by YA writer Julie Kagawa that takes place in Japan. It won't be published until October.

[Lilisa]

Carol wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "I'm in Japan with The Street of a Thousand Blossoms."

I don’t know this one and am eagerly awaiting your judgment."

I liked it, Carol. Life in pre-WW II, WW II and post-WW II in Japan - a nice combo of culture, people and relationships. A solid 3.5.

[Heather]

Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "I’m in England with Snap by Belinda Bauer. It is, indeed, a page-turner but it’s Booker long list placement puzzles. On the other hand, I stayed up tw..."

I picked this up at my library last night. I hope that it keeps me up too!

[Heather]

I'm in the Giralang Ranges in Australia, searching for a lost hiker. Hopefully, it is just that-a lost hiker and not something more sinister.

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

[Carol]

Heather wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "I’m in England with Snap by Belinda Bauer. It is, indeed, a page-turner but it’s Booker long list placement puzzles. On the other hand,..."

Heather, I hope you like it. It did so many things right, but in an understated way.

[Heather]

I have returned from Australia and am quickly on my way to Georgia, USA, to close up my father's business after his mysterious death.

Water's Edge by Robert Whitlow

[Claire]

I'm in Turkey as well with the literary prize (1996) winning The Other Side of the Mountain by Erendiz Atasu, tracing the lives of three generations of a Turkish family from the end of the Ottoman Empire to the 1990's.

[Lilisa]

I'm in Tibet with Princess in Land of Snows: The Life of Jamyang Sakya in Tibet.

[Heather]

After a disappointing trip to Greece (left early) I'm on my way to Japan The Housekeeper and the Professor

[Shomeret]

I'm in Ireland with Killing in C Sharp by Alexia Gordon. African American music director Gethsemane Brown has been sharing a cottage in an Irish village with a ghost for a while now. This is the third book in the series. I was entertained by the first one, Murder in G Major.

[Claire]

In Paris with Simone de Beauvoir's debut novel of revenge, She Came to Stay

[Heather]

I'm in London --- staring across the street and in amazement realize that someone is moving into my house!

Our House

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I’m only a few pages in, but I’ve made a start on To a Mountain in Tibet. Just a few more days till I go there myself!

I also started The Last Dance, which I believe is going to take me to Morocco, but currently in 1930s England.

[Lilisa]

Andrea wrote: "I’m only a few pages in, but I’ve made a start on To a Mountain in Tibet. Just a few more days till I go there myself!

I also started The Last Dance, which I believe..."
Have a great time, Andrea, and safe travels!

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Lilisa wrote: "Have a great time, Andrea, and safe travels ..."

Thanks - I’m pretty excited

[Carol]

I’m in Nigeria with Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor and on Martha’s Vineyard (US) with The Wedding by Dorothy West

[Shomeret]

I'm in Canada with The Spying Moon by Sandra Ruttan. This is the first police procedural that I have read dealing with the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). The protagonist is a female RCMP officer whose mother belonged to one of the First Nations. Americans refer to First Nations as Native Americans.

[Carol]

Shomeret wrote: "I'm in Canada with The Spying Moon by Sandra Ruttan. This is the first police procedural that I have read dealing with the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). The protagonist is a..."

I do hope your feedback is positive. I would love to read a good police procedural with a MC with a First Nations background.

[Shomeret]

Carol wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I'm in Canada with The Spying Moon by Sandra Ruttan. This is the first police procedural that I have read dealing with the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). The..."

I am almost finished with it. It's a really good police procedural, but if you're looking for a great deal of content about the protagonist's mother or her stories, you will be disappointed. The First Nations mother disappeared and the protagonist was put into foster care as a child. She has no knowledge of her heritage at all. OTOH, there is significant content dealing with prejudice and harassment.

[Carol]

Shomeret wrote: "Carol wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I'm in Canada with The Spying Moon by Sandra Ruttan. This is the first police procedural that I have read dealing with the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounte..."

Thank you for circling back on this. Definitely sounds worth pursuing.

[Shomeret]

I'm currently in Fascist Italy before WWII and contemporary Italy with The Girl from Berlin by Ronald Balson. This is a dual period legal thriller in the Liam Taggert and Catherine Lockhart series. American lawyer Catherine Lockhart can't practice law in Italy, but she's still trying to help a sick and elderly Italian woman in the process of being evicted by a large corporation. There is a mystery involving the ownership of the land and a young German Jewish violin prodigy.

[Heather]

I'm in the Biltmore Estate in Wisconsin, hunting rats so my dad's employer (the rich folks) never see them or me.

Serafina and the Black Cloak

[Carol]

Heather wrote: "I'm in the Biltmore Estate in Wisconsin, hunting rats so my dad's employer (the rich folks) never see them or me.

Serafina and the Black Cloak"

Wait. There was (or is) a Biltmore Estate in Wisconsin? Was it also built by a Vanderbilt family member? Or is this purely a fictional estate?

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Carol wrote: "Heather wrote: "I'm in the Biltmore Estate in Wisconsin, hunting rats so my dad's employer (the rich folks) never see them or me.

Serafina and the Black Cloak"

Wait. There was (or..."
Definitely North Carolina, been there.

[Shomeret]

I'm currently in sixth century Scotland with The Lost Queen by Signe Pike which is an Arthurian retelling that won't be released until October. Yes, it's another Net Galley. I'm liking it better than the book I put aside to read The Lost Queen.

[Diane]

I am in Italy again with The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino.

[Carol (§CoverLoverGirl§)]

I’ve just arrived in Moscow and am getting to know the Count who is “A Gentleman in Moscow”. I’ve had the book for ages but I’ve not been in the mood for reading much lately. Hopefully the Count will prove to be irresistible. 🤗

[Lilisa]

Carol - Hope you enjoy A Gentleman in Moscow! Haven't had much time with books lately - still with Princess in Land of Snows: The Life of Jamyang Sakya in Tibet - hoping to finish it this weekend.

[Carol]

I am all over the place this week.

In 12th century Japan, with The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon;
Contemporary Oakland, CA, with The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater;
and LA, with an arc of Nighttown by Timothy Hallinan; and
Still have a foot in Nigeria, whilst finishing Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor.