2019 - Where in the World Are You? (Currently Reading)

[Carol]

I’m in Italy with Flowers over the inferno by Ilaria Tuti.

[Kim]

Spent last night briefly with these two hilarious, crazy, criminal Irish blokes waiting for the Night Boat to Tangier in a terminal in the port of Algeciras on the Spanish coast.

[Lilisa]

In still in France (and the U.K. and U.S.) with The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire and in Romania with The Girl They Left Behind.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I’m in 1970s Yugoslavia and Australia with political thriller, The Twentieth Man. Loving it! Reading with my iPad close by to check out lots of new info on Wikipedia as I go 😀

[Diane]

In Mexico with both Here's to You, Jesusa! and 2666.

[Lilisa]

Andrea wrote: "I’m in 1970s Yugoslavia and Australia with political thriller, The Twentieth Man. Loving it! Reading with my iPad close by to check out lots of new info on Wikipedia as I go 😀"

Hey Andrea - I just finished White Hot Silence - a thriller. I think you’ll like it. It’s the second in the series. The first is also pretty good.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Lilisa wrote: "Hey Andrea - I just finished White Hot Silence - a thriller. I think you’ll like it. It’s the second in the series. The first is also pretty good. ..."

They both sound good, but you know me - I can't read out of order so I'll take a look at Firefly first.

[Lilisa]

Andrea wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Hey Andrea - I just finished White Hot Silence - a thriller. I think you’ll like it. It’s the second in the series. The first is also pretty good. ..."

They both sound good, but you..."

I was too lazy to look for Firefly - glad you did - the audio is great on both.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I’m in Colombia with Breakfast in Bogota by Helen Irene Young.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Now I’m back in the Czech Republic with Slaughter and Forgetting.

[Lilisa]

I'm in Sweden with The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I've arrived in the Netherlands with In Darkness Visible, the sequel to The Twentieth Man which I read a couple of weeks ago. This time it's the mid-noughties and many of the big names from all sides of the Yugoslavian War/s (for want of a better term) are rubbing shoulders in prison while awaiting trial in The Hague.

[Nadine in California]

I'm in Uruguay in the 1970's with Cantoras

[Yrinsyde]

I'm about to start reading In the Country of Men (Hisham Matar) - a semi-autobiography of a man who lived through Gadaffi's takeover as a child. My Libya read!

[Lilisa]

Yrinsyde wrote: "I'm about to start reading In the Country of Men (Hisham Matar) - a semi-autobiography of a man who lived through Gadaffi's takeover as a child. My Libya read!"

That’s been on my list for awhile - interested in what you think. I read one of his other books The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between and enjoyed it immensely.

[Lilisa]

I’ve been walking along the Silk Road - in Iran right now - with Walking to Samarkand: The Great Silk Road from Persia to Central Asia - it’s taking me a long time!

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I am slogging through The Devils' Dance by Hamid Ismailov. I want to read it for Uzbekistan but it's slow going.

[Carol]

I'm in 1940s Laos with Run Me to Earth by Paul Yoon, and in various non-US, including imagined, locations with If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino.

[Lilisa]

I’m in Trinidad with 'Til the Well Runs Dry - enjoying the narration and storyline.

[Carol]

I’m in 1890’s Chicago (US) with The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson. I’m reading it for an IRL true crime book club and glad to have finally had an external nudge to read it.

[Lilisa]

Carol wrote: "I’m in 1890’s Chicago (US) with The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson. I’m reading it for an IRL true cr..."

How are you liking it, Carol? Read this one awhile ago and for some reason it didn’t do much for me, but many folks who generally have similar taste in books loved it.

[Kim]

I've been in Britain during the freezing winter of 1962 in The Everlasting Sunday by Robert Lukins. The coldest winter in 300 years was brutal but paled in comparison to the story. Beautiful writing delivered with a sort of British stiff upper lip.

[Carol]

Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "I’m in 1890’s Chicago (US) with The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson. I’m reading it for ..."

I’m enjoying it, although my suspicion is that Larson would win over more readers if he omitted some of the voluminous detail about the teams of architects. I find that topic interesting but it’s got to be pretty dry for the average reader, and this is, IMO, a well done research dump. :)

[Lilisa]

Carol wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "I’m in 1890’s Chicago (US) with The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson. I’m ..."

Oh good! I loved Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania though.

[Carol]

Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Carol wrote: "I’m in 1890’s Chicago (US) with The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by [author:Erik Lars..."

Great to know. I won’t take so long to get to this one. Plus I’m fascinated by the Lusitania disaster, going in.

[Diane]

In Nigeria again with Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I started Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie, set in Karachi, Pakistan.

[Karen]

Christmas Night and I am retiring to read a Turkish journalist and her take on the descent of her country into the modern style of authoritarianism with parallels in other places. How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

It's that time of year that I think of as the dead-zone of reading - with all my challenges for 2019 completed, and lots of books earmarked for 2020, what do I read!? I've started 2 that should see me across the line to New Year. So I'm in Mexico with The Zigzag Way and France with some festive fluff The Parisian Christmas Bake Off that should also whet my appetite for my 2020 challenge.

[Karen]

Good for you - completing your 2019 challenges! I plan for them and try to hit 50%. I do read many good things along the way - So we beat on....

It is a sort of dead zone -- the reality sets in that I will not complete the remaining 10 books in five days -- so I may as well read what I like and plan for the New Year.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Karen wrote: "the reality sets in that I will not complete the remaining 10 books in five days -- so I may as well read what I like and plan for the New Year..."

That's a good way of looking at it Karen, so if I actually finish my two fillers early I know exactly what I'm going to pick up next!

[V.ya]

@Andrea: lol, the dead zone of reading! But I know what you mean. I ended up reading a few books I've marked for 2020. Now I need to make a few adjustments to it.

[Lilisa]

Dead zone - good turn of phrase. I’m in the same boat. I’m listening to Five Star Billionaire and reading Amnesty and hoping I can check them off for 2019...

[Diane]

I am still in denial about not being able to finish my challenges. I probably will be until the 31st. I really need to embrace the Dead Zone.

Currently in the Republic of the Congo with Jazz and Palm Wine by Emmanuel Dongala.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm cramming in as many Asian novels as I can before the end of 2019 to meet my goals - currently doublefisting with In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddney Ratner (Cambodia) and A Golden Age by Tahmina Aman (Bangladesh) - both are female authors who were born in the countries they write about.

[Lilisa]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I'm cramming in as many Asian novels as I can before the end of 2019 to meet my goals - currently doublefisting with In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddney Ratner (Cambodia) and [bo..."

Hope you’re enjoying them Jenny - I liked both. Good luck on racing 2019 with them.

[Carol]

I’m in Scotland with Peter May’s The Lewis Man.