Nancy's Random Challenge 2020

[Nancy H]

I have not been very successful finishing my lists in other years, but I am setting my goal high again and trying for 20 countries, please. Thank you!

China - The People's Republic of Desire (12/5/20)
Paraguay - At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig (3/29/20)
Tajikistan
Italy - Acqua Alta (2/5/20)
Mongolia
Saint Lucia
Botswana - To the Land of Long Lost Friends (1/5/20)
Congo (Brazzaville) - Tomorrow I Will Be Twenty Years Old (5/29/20)
Malta - The Kapillan of Malta (2/17/20)
Japan - My Mother Is A Tractor (2/28/20)
South Sudan - God Grew Tired of Us (12/5/20)
Fiji - The Trouble with Paradise (3/13/20)
Solomon Islands - One Blood (12/25/20)
Ecuador - Cabs, Cakes, & Corpses (2/12/20)
Cuba
South Korea - the Bubble Match (12/3/20)
Chad
Egypt - Pyramids of the Giza Plateau (12/2/20)
Nepal
Argentina -Murdered in Argentina (3/25/20)

[Nancy H]

I've finished my first one:

1. Botswana - To the Land of Long Lost Friends by Alexander McCall Smith (1/5/20) - excellent novel!

[Nancy H]

2. Italy - Acqua Alta by Donna Leon (2/5/20)

[Nancy H]

3. Ecuador - Cabs, Cakes, and Corpses by Becca Bloom (2/12/20)

[Nancy H]

4. Malta - The Kappillan of Malta by Nicholas Monsarrat ( 2/17/20) - This book is historical fiction about Malta during World War II, and is really good.

[Nancy H]

5. Japan- My Mother Is a Tractor: A Life in Rural Japan by Nicholas Klar (2/28/20)

[Nancy H]

6. Fiji - The Trouble with Paradise by Jill Shalvis - A good adventure/romance

[Nancy H]

7. Paraguay - At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig: Travels Through Paraguay by John Gimlette. (3/29/20)

This is an amazing book about a country that I knew very little about, before I started reading it. The author has taken an unbelievable large amount of travel through this country and distilled it into a book that not only discusses about his trips (often with a great deal of wry wit and humor), but also gives the history and background of the whole country as it relates to all the places he has visited and all the people he has met.

[Nancy H]

8. Murder in Argentina by Diane Harman (4/25/20)

[Nancy H]

9. Congo - Tomorrow I Will Be Twenty Years Old by Alain Mabancku (5/29/20) This is a delightful story told through the eyes of a young boy as he is trying to figure out what it means to be an adult. There are lots of difficult situations for him to navigate, but his voice shines clear and true as he tells his own story.

[Nancy H]

10. Egypt - The Pyramids of the Giza Plateau (12/2/20)
11. South Korea - The Bubble Match (12/3/20)
12. China - The People's Republic of Desire (12/5/20)
13. South Sudan - God Grew Tired of Us (12/22/20)
14. Solomon Islands - One Blood (12/25/20)

I didn't get to all 20 but did better than last year, with 14! This challenge is a work-in-progress, so I am ready to start for 2021.