Around the World discussion
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2019 - Where in the World Are You? (Currently Reading)
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I've checked this out and returned it without reading twice, I'm sorry to say. If you have a good experience with it, third time's the charm.
Is that the annual study that seemingly always declares that Norway's supposedly the happiest? Maybe it's a cultural thing and Burundi's don't want to brag about their happiness?
Mars... with the Martian. Sorry but its uninteresting book. Out of this world.Kay
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If you ever like to read books that take their own journey around the world, I just finished The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats and it was fascinating! I kept stopping to read tidbits to my husband. Fairchild travels to so many different places to bring back what would become our avocados, grapes, tomatoes, heck he even brought back quinoa in 1899, even if it would take ten more decades for it to become popular.Some of it is funny too, the part about kale had me giggling (I think perhaps the author doesn't care for kale.)
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Sounds interesting Jenny - I love kale!
I am in what I'm assuming is Australia with Terra Nullius, but I just started it - I think there will be much pulling of rugs out from under feet with this one :)
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I am in Czech Republic with The Castle by Franz Kafka and in the Netherlands with The Garden Where the Brass Band Played by Simon Vestdijk.
I'm in Brazil, starting in the 14th century, but will be traveling through time, up through the 20th century in Her Mother's Mother's Mother and Her Daughters
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I am adding that one to my wish list!"
:-)
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I will eventually be reading most of these:Man Booker International prize 2019 longlist
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi (Oman), translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth (Sandstone Press)
Love in the New Millennium by Can Xue (China), translated by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen (Yale University Press)
The Years by Annie Ernaux (France), translated by Alison Strayer (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
At Dusk by Hwang Sok-yong (South Korea), translated by Sora Kim-Russell (Scribe)
Jokes for the Gunmen by Mazen Maarouf (Iceland and Palestine), translated from Arabic by Jonathan Wright (Granta)
Four Soldiers by Hubert Mingarelli (France), translated from French by Sam Taylor (Granta)
The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann (Germany), translated by Jen Calleja (Serpent’s Tail)
Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin (Argentina and Italy), translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell (Oneworld)
The Faculty of Dreams by Sara Stridsberg (Sweden), translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner (Quercus)
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (Poland), translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia), translated from Spanish by Anne McLean (MacLehose Press)
The Death of Murat Idrissi by Tommy Wieringa (Netherlands), translated by Sam Garrett (Scribe)
The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán (Chile and Italy), translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes (And Other Stories)
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I'm in Western Africa, between Togo and Ghana in what I think is imaginary (?) In Praise Song for the Butterflies, one from the Women's Prize longlist
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I had to put it down for real life issues in Feb, and then eased myself back to reading with a side trip to Belize and Guatemala with Wanderlove
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Tracking what you think overall. I've read two of her books - finished one just the other day A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea - both were in the 3-star category.
The shortlist for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize has been announced.The shortlisted titles are:
Celestial Bodies (Jokha Alharthi, trans by Marilyn Booth, Sandstone Press)
The Years (Annie Ernaux, trans by Alison L Strayer, Seven Stories)
The Pine Islands (Marion Poschmann, trans by Jen Calleja, Serpent’s Tail)
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Olga Tokarczuk, trans by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Text)
The Shape of the Ruins (Juan Gabriel Vásquez, trans by Anne McLean, MacLehose Press)
The Remainder (Alia Trabucco Zeran, trans by Sophie Hughes, And Other Stories).
Chosen from a longlist of 13, the shortlist is dominated by independent publishers and includes work spanning five languages (Arabic, French, German, Polish and Spanish).
Chair of the judging panel Bettany Hughes said of the shortlist: ‘Subversive and intellectually ambitious with welcome flashes of wit, each book nourishes creative conversation. We were struck by the lucidity and supple strength of all the translations.'
The list is also dominated by women: five of the six authors and all six of the translators.
I'm in the middle of reading a memoir called Eat Now Talk Later about rediscovering Malaysia through the author's parents. To my mind it is more of a political history of Malaysia and not memoir. The memoir bits are very thin on the ground.Lilisa, I forgot to tell of food while in Japan! Husband and I met my Japanese penfriend in Kanazawa and she took us to various places. We had Takoyaki (fried octopus dumplings - gorgeous!) and we went to a okonomiyaki place which had hot plates set in the tables and little implements to turn and cut them. Mixtures were brought to the table in bowls with an egg - you cracked it and stirred it into the mixture.
I'm in a Russian labour camp with people referred to as 'kulaks', wealthy peasants who owned land and were deemed to require re-education, so sent away to live in dire conditions, having to build the settlement themselves and learn how to survive under the direction of one man, whose story is also told, in Zuleikha a riveting novel, inspired by the author's grandmother's memories of being exiled to the gulag.
Val wrote: "The shortlist for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize has been announced.The shortlisted titles are:
Celestial Bodies (Jokha Alharthi, trans by Marilyn Booth, Sandstone Press)
The Years (Ann..."
Have you read any of these Val? Or planning to? I'm intrigued to read a novel by a women author from Oman, and interesting that the entire shortlist is women authors this year - there has certainly been efforts to increase the imbalance in this area, so few translations and historically so few by women, although more women are working as translators.
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Uhhh, sounds yummy Yrinsyde! Glad you had a fun time in Japan.
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I am equally mesmerized and terrified by this topic. How brutal is this novel, given the subject matter? (I know that’s like ranking a concentration camp book..)
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I am in Guadeloupe with The Bridge of Beyond by Simone Schwarz-Bart and in Wales with The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis.
Diane wrote: "I am in Guadeloupe with The Bridge of Beyond by Simone Schwarz-Bart and in Wales with The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis."Oh I LOVED The Bridge of Beyond Diane, so beautifully written, a real treasure of a book.
Carol wrote: "Claire wrote: "I'm in a Russian labour camp with people referred to as 'kulaks', wealthy peasants who owned land and were deemed to require re-education, so sent away to live in dire conditions, ha..."It's really not at all brutal, well, that said, you could say the brutality was within the marriage she was in before being sent into exile, quite unlike most gulag stories, this is a tale of emancipation, a woman whose life was improved by being sent into exile, and its inspired by the authors grandmother's memories.
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Thank you, Claire. That's very helpful.
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Andrea wrote: "I’m back in Nepal with All of Us in Our Own Lives. I think Manjushree Thapa might be my first female Nepali author."I looked for this book and couldn't find any way to obtain it.
I'm currently in Australia with hard of hearing investigator Caleb Zelic in And Fire Came Down by Emma Viskic, the second book in this mystery series. This book has just taken a much darker and more political turn. I ran a search and discovered that there is no national database for hate crimes in Australia. So no national trends can be determined.
I now understand why so many reviewers say this book is better than the first one. I would still recommend reading the first book for character background.
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That's a shame, as it's turning out to be a little gem. The copy I'm reading is one I picked up on one of my trips to Nepal, from an independent Indian publisher.
If you (or anyone reading this) want books that are generally only available on the Indian subcontinent, I can give you details of a very well-respected bookseller who has a worldwide mailing service (no idea of postage costs, however).
By the way, I'm looking forward to getting stuck into Emma Viskic's books soon, too!
Claire wrote: "Have you read any of these Val? Or planning to?"I have read them (nine of the long list, including all six on the shortlist). The Oman one gives a good insight into the society while it changed within the lifetime of the older characters. All of those I read, I have also reviewed and included on the other thread.
PS I may not complete the rest of the long list.
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Also, in Palestine with In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story and in Russia/U.K. with The House of Special Purpose.
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Around the World
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I try to set a low bar.