2018 - Where in the world have you been? (Book finished and review linked)

[Rusalka]

Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "I was in an unidentified South American country (likely Peru) for most of The King is Always Above the People: Stories by Daniel Alarcón. I recommend it..."

Sounds interesting and nice review - added! "

Agree and agree!

[Val]

Is Australian archaeology interesting partly because it does not have ancient ruins, grand structures and so on?
Native Australians developed a way of life which mostly worked in harmony with nature, to the extent that they did not need to change it for thousands of years. Very few human cultures can make that claim.

[Rusalka]

It is, as there is 65 000 years worth of things to dig up from a continuous culture. You're right though, Indigenous Australians didn't have structures that have survived as well as in other places, but Archaeologists here work on lots of other things.

An example is a guy who used to have the office across the corridor from me. One of his projects is he tracks the movement of peoples and trading practices through SE Asia, Melanesia, Polynesia, Australia, and New Zealand using bananas. He tracks the spread of types of bananas through plant remains and human rubbish using archaeobotany and archaeogeology. He also works on remains of ancient peoples found in Aus, which has helped push back the date that Indigenous Australian arrived here by 15 000 years last year.

Our uni is well regarded for the disciplines above, forensic archaeology, evolutionary archaeology/anthropology, as well as sending teams all around the world to do what we all think when we hear the term archaeology. We just have further to travel than most lol

[Val]

The earlier settlement made the news over here, but I hadn't heard about the bananas.

[Carol]

I was in Libya and Syria with The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir, and Syria with The Arab of the Future - 2, both by Riad Sattouf. Both graphic art memoirs of the author's childhood growing up in those countries with a French mother and Syrian father. Dark humor abounds.

[Rusalka]

Val wrote: "The earlier settlement made the news over here, but I hadn't heard about the bananas."

Lol it's not one that usually makes the news. Even he acknowledges it's a very specific interest. But he pointed out that his banana research is of more interest that the similar work he does on yams. At least people like bananas, no one cares for poor little yams.

[Beth]

Just left Moscow, with The Kremlin Letter. Wasn't crazy about it, but it kept me mildly entertained. I hear it was made into a film with Orson Wells.

[Shomeret]

I returned from England and a fictional cat island off the coast of Turkey with Daughter of the Sun by Zoe Kalo. This is a first novel.

See my review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Carol]

I left England with Anne Meredith's Portrait of a Murderer. It was a 5-star read for me, and I'll draft and post a review in the next day or so.

[Rusalka]

I finished Half of a Yellow Sun for Nigeria. I get now why everyone is in love with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

[Beth]

Rusalka wrote: "I finished Half of a Yellow Sun for Nigeria. I get now why everyone is in love with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie"
She is amazing. Try Americanah!

[Carol]

Beth wrote: "Rusalka wrote: "I finished Half of a Yellow Sun for Nigeria. I get now why everyone is in love with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie"
She is amazing. Try [book:Americanah|157967..."

I MUST read Half of a Yellow Sun this year. I own it -- I have no excuse.

[Lilisa]

Glad you enjoyed Half of a Yellow Sun, Rusalka. Yes, that's what we're talking about! :-) Check out Purple Hibiscus and Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, besides Americanah that Beth mentioned. And if you have a few minutes, Adichie's Ted Talk https://www.goodreads.com/videos/1227... is a must watch in addition to her other stuff. Her humor is wicked smart too.

[Lilisa]

Carol wrote: "Beth wrote: "Rusalka wrote: "I finished Half of a Yellow Sun for Nigeria. I get now why everyone is in love with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie"
She is amazing. Try [book:Amer..."

Yes Carol - no excuse! 😋 - see my other post too.

[Carol]

Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "Beth wrote: "Rusalka wrote: "I finished Half of a Yellow Sun for Nigeria. I get now why everyone is in love with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie"
She is amazing. ..."

I know the Feminist Manifesto is short and I can always fit in a TED talk. Thanks for putting it all in one place. A consolidated nudge, as it were. :)

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I spent the weekend in Paris with The Reader on the 6.27. Lovely.

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

[Rusalka]

Carol wrote: "I MUST read Half of a Yellow Sun this year. I own it -- I have no excuse."

It's okay, I owned it for about 3 years before reading it.

[Rusalka]

Lilisa wrote: "Glad you enjoyed Half of a Yellow Sun, Rusalka. Yes, that's what we're talking about! :-) Check out Purple Hibiscus and [book:Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fi..."

Beth wrote: "She is amazing. Try [book:Americanah|157967..."

Lol will do!

[Beth]

Just finished The Secret Chord (Israel) and The Translator (Scotland and Sudan). Liked both, but haven't written reviews yet. Secret Chord is beautiful, but also very graphic. King David and his family were pretty violent folks. The Translator is an exploration of Muslm faith, the ways death affects relationships, and cultural distance. I did it on audio and am not crazy about the narrator, but the book is good.

[Rusalka]

Beth wrote: "Just finished The Secret Chord (Israel) and The Translator (Scotland and Sudan). Liked both, but haven't written reviews yet. Secret Chord is beautiful, but also very graphic. King David and his family were pretty violent folks. ..."

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. And I am not surprised really. The Bible stories are pretty violent and they are toned down Iron Age stories.

[Beth]

Just zoomed through Washington D.C. and Addis Ababa with The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. I really liked this book and want to read more by Dinaw Mengestu. It was written beautifully and was both very personal, with well-developed characters, and an exploration of both immigrant experience and the conflict around gentrification.

[Lilisa]

Finished Breath, Eyes, Memory - 4 stars. Steeped in Haitian culture and sadness - if you're looking for a book that makes you smile, this one's not for you. If not, a good one. This is my second Edwidge Danticat book. I really like her writing style. Claire of the Sea Light is the other one I've read - I loved that one.

[Val]

I finished The Ventriloquist's Tale by Pauline Melville from Guyana.

The culture and setting are good, the story and writing not so great. I gave it three stars, but there are not many choices for Guyana, so some of you might want to consider it.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...?

[Beth]

Just left Saskatchewan, Germany, Switzerland, London, Italy, and Nairobi with The Constant Gardener. It was inspired by a true story of a French NGO worker killed to cover up corporate abuses in Africa. It was an engaging and suspenseful book.

[Carol]

I left 1950s Chicago (US) where I had been with A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. It was a 5-star read, without a doubt.

[Yrinsyde]

I finished reading Forever Foreign a few weeks ago. It was really interesting reading about European expats in Japan. Mary Kirby's story really touched me. I loved the photographs in it. You can see some of them in Google Books preview.

[Shomeret]

I returned from the U.S., Israel and the occupied West Bank with Goddess of Battle by Gwendolyn Rachel Ackerman.

The author intended it to be inspiring, but I felt sad after reading it because I didn't think the optimism could be justified based on all the hurdles to peace that the author depicts plus the deteriorating political situation that has developed since this book was written.

See my review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Hesper]

Finally finished Purge, which was harrowing enough to require pausing, and Tales of Moonlight and Rain, which totally didn't. Review for the former here, and the latter here.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I finally read Pachinko which has been on my unread shelf at home for months. But this afternoon, I'm going to go see the author speak, so I wanted to finish it by then. It is about Koreans living in Japan, but does start in Korea. My review is here.

I also read The Private Lives of Trees by Alejandro Zambra, translated from the Spanish. The author is Chilean and in the brief novella, Chile is mentioned a few times. My review is here.

I also finished The Bookworm by Mitch Silver, which I had an eARC for and it comes out tomorrow. It's set in Russia, about a woman who is doing research in an archive and starts to uncover a potential conspiracy about WWII. I wasn't completely thrilled with this one, and you can read more here.

[Beth]

Just finished An Unkindness of Ravens which takes place in the UK. Brief review here.

[Carol]

I finished The Restraint of Beasts: A Comedic Novel by Magnus Mills, which takes place primarily in England, but two of the three main characters are from Scotland, and carry Scotland with them wherever they might be. It was a 5-star read for me. That might not be universal.

Here's a link to my review:

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

[Lilisa]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I finally read Pachinko which has been on my unread shelf at home for months. But this afternoon, I'm going to go see the author speak, so I wanted to finish it by then. It is about..."

I really enjoyed Pachinko. How was the author session?

[Lilisa]

Finished A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival - an impactful, searing and incredible memoir - 5 stars - what more can I say. This book wants me to get off my duff and invest the time in writing reviews again...

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I'm glad Ava took me to Guyana, because I hope never to end up there on my own! The Water Rat of Wanchai

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

[Val]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I also read The Private Lives of Trees by Alejandro Zambra, translated from the Spanish. The author is Chilean and in the brief novella, Chile is mentioned a few times. My review is here."
That sounds just up my street Jenny.
In answer to something you were wondering about, the verb in Spanish is probably 'coger', perfectly innocuous in standard Spanish, but rather more specific in Chile. When I visited my daughter who was living in South America at the time, she warned me not to use the phrase in my Spanish phrasebook when I went to catch a bus, '¿por dónde coger el autobús para...', but to substitute the verb 'tomar' instead.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Val wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I also read The Private Lives of Trees by Alejandro Zambra, translated from the Spanish. The author is Chilean and in the brief novella, Chile is mentioned a few times...."

Oh interesting, I'm not sure why it stood out so much, but I am curious about the original language,

[Claire]

I just finished Petit pays by Gael Faye, set mostly in Burundi, a wonderful story of a boy reminiscing on his childhood and it's abrupt ending. It won a lot of French literary prizes, including the esteemed Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, the English translation is due out in June 2018.

My review here

[Carol]

I finished The Last Watchman of Old Cairo by Michael David Lukas. Parts of it were highly successful and interesting. Other parts reminded me of Western-authored historical fiction can be mighty irritating. My 3-star review is posted here:

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

[Sara]

I am in Vietnam with Chickenhawk. I am listening to it via audible and the narrator does a fantastic job.

[Beth]

Just finished Do Not Say We Have Nothing which was a very powerful book about China from the time of the revolution though and beyond Tianamen Square. Here is the link to my review. See the comments I wrote during it, too.

[Beth]

Also just finished the much lighter, and sort Forest Gumpish The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. It was a fun romp through 20th century events and a sort of goofy crime novel too. The present day action takes place in Sweden, but the historical events occur all over the place. My review.

[Shomeret]

I have returned from the fictional matriarchal Roma Nova, alternate Prussia and alternate Austria in the 1960's. The book was Aurelia by Alison Morton. Alternate Prussia was not well disposed to coping with representatives from a matriarchy.

See my review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I finished Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan’s Disaster Zone this morning (Japan). Fabulous book.

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

[Carol]

I returned from England with Appleby's End by Michael Innes and from Nigeria with Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Both were solid 4+ star reads.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Back from Poland with The Tattooist of Auschwitz, a 4 star read.

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

[Carol]

I am back from the US with Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks. It was a 4-star read and I will try to pull a review together next week.

[Lilisa]

Andrea wrote: "Back from Poland with The Tattooist of Auschwitz, a 4 star read.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Sounds like a good WWII one.

[Beth]

Just left Greece. House of Names by Colm Tóibín was a wonderful retelling of Electra and the family that gave Freud's female version of Oedipus conflict its name. The story focuses about equally on Electra, her mother, and her brother Orestes. Actually, Electra is less of a focus than the other two, but hers is one of the three narrative perspectives on the family dysfunction. Really well written and engaging.

[Shomeret]

I have returned from alternate revolutionary America and alternate England where I traveled with The Trial and Execution of the Traitor George Washington.

This was both suspenseful and entertaining.

See my review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Claire]

I decided to read Reservoir 13 set in England, since it was nominated last year for the Man Booker prize and had received many accolades of being a highly accomplished novel. Sadly it didn't transport me at all, and in my review I try to work out what it was lacking and why it provoked so little of a response in me.

My review here