Read Around The World - Help and Recommendations!

[Louise, Group Founder]

Having trouble finding a book set in a particular country? Have a favourite African author you want to recommend? Ask the community for help and share your own recommendations here.

Between all of us I think we've got this challenge covered!

[Carol]

Germany, Austria, Switzerland

I noticed that a Reading German Books in 2020 group has started up and wanted to share the link here in case anyone is interested. As a member of Read Scotland, I find these groups are awesome for being introduced to country- or language-specific literature that I might not encounter no matter how many lists and blogs I read, or how many GR friends' bookshelves I peruse.

The group's purview includes any book written in the German language. Thus, books by Austrian and Swiss authors, as well as books by authors of other nationalities writing in German are in-scope.

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

[Ines]

Dear group members,

I am currently looking for books about/set in Venice.

I'd like them to contain at least some historical information, so I'm not looking for books set in a completely fictional Venice, but everything from non-fiction to urban fatasy is completely fine, as are contemporary settings, if they contain some historical info or seem interesting to me in any other way. I'm usually not big on crime or murder mysteries, but I will look at anything you thought was good. If there's romance in the story, it would be great if it wasn't the main focus or, if it is, it was at least a well-written, believable romance, not your usual, generic historical romance plot.

I am currently reading The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in Venice and like it a lot, but the next book can be something completely different.

I know these are a lot of requirements, which is why I am hoping you can help me out with some personal recommendations. I've done a lot of research here on goodreads and what I came up with are those books:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
So if any of you read one of those I would like to read your opinion, I am not sure about all of them myself.

Thank you so much to anyone who even took the time to read this! <3

[Story]

Ines, I wonder if you would enjoyed Sarah Dunnant's In the Company of the Courtesan. I read it ages ago but remember liking it.

[Carol]

Ines wrote: "Dear group members,

I am currently looking for books about/set in Venice.

I'd like them to contain at least some historical information, so I'm not looking for books set in a completely fictional..."

Ines, I’m sorry I don’t have any personal Recs. Your list is quite extensive, though, bravo. If you’re a member of either the Around the World or the Around the World in 80 Books groups, you may want to post there and ask, as well.

[Nadine in California]

Story❤ wrote: "Ines, I wonder if you would enjoyed Sarah Dunnant's In the Company of the Courtesan. I read it ages ago but remember liking it."

I love Sarah Dunant novels - I think of them as guilty pleasures that don't need to make you feel guilty. I turn to her when I want some historical pleasure reading.

[Carol]

Ines wrote: "Dear group members,

I am currently looking for books about/set in Venice.

I'd like them to contain at least some historical information, so I'm not looking for books set in a completely fictional..."

Ines, I did a search at "Five Books" for Venice and uncovered a nonfiction book that seems like it might intrigue.

Effie in Venice: Mrs. John Ruskin's Letters Home, 1849-52, discovered and edited by biographer Mary Lutyens.

In 1849, and again in 1852, the celebrated art critic John Ruskin took his young wife Effie to Venice. While he was busy writing books that were to define the Victorian ideal, Effie explored Venice with growing freedom and independence of thought. Her letters home, discovered and edited by biographer Mary Lutyens, are an enchanting evocation of a special moment in the history of Venice as well as the history of art. Effie Gray was born in 1828 and married John Ruskin when she was nineteen. Their brief marriage was to end in divorce for non–consummation, but not before they had twice traveled to Venice. Effie absconded in 1850, jumping off a train, eventually marrying artist John Everett Millais. She died in 1897.

https://www.amazon.com/Effie-Venice-R...

[Ines]

Thank you all so much! The two books you recommended instantly made it to the shortlist, they sound awesome. I will definitely check them out. 'Effie in Venice' sounds like something my partner and I could enjoy reading together when we are in Venice later this year.

I checked out the 'around the world' groups and found a few more books, I'll go through them as well.

[Carol]

Ines wrote: "Thank you all so much! The two books you recommended instantly made it to the shortlist, they sound awesome. I will definitely check them out. 'Effie in Venice' sounds like something my partner and..."

Good luck!

[Ines]

I just came across this helpful 'Women around the World' list:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...

It also links to more specific lists for certain regions.

[Mj]

Ines wrote: "Dear group members,

I am currently looking for books about/set in Venice

Donna Leon writes a a police procedural series with Commissaario Brunetti set in Venice. I read her debut nove, the first book in the seires called Death at La Fenice. I enjoyed it and plan to read more - just haven't gotten around to them yet. I know several readers who swear by this series. There's 31 books in all.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also read The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich, her debut novel, and enjoyed it as well. Takes place in the 1500's in Venice and you get a real sense for what life was like there at that time.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Alwynne]

You might try Sarah Dunant's In the Company of the Courtesan another historical novel set in Venice, despite the potentially sensationalist title it's actually a very well-researched, well-crafted novel, although my favourite of hers is probably Sacred Hearts.

[Mj]

MJ's Women Read - Around the World Challenge

Am on the challenge site as well.
Am only choosing 1 book for country in the order read that I read them and am basing the country on "the locale of the book's setting."

2015

1. Italy - Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
2. Canada - All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
3. USA - Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
4. Australia - The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth
5. France - The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
6. Ireland - The Green Road by Anne Enright
7. United Kindgom - The Dress Shop of Dreams by Menna van Praag
8. Greece - Outline by Rachel Cusk
9. Mexico - Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement

2016

10. Sierra Leonne - Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna
11. Jamaica - The Heart Does Not Bend by Makeda Silvera
12. Rwanda - Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga
13. China - Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
14. Senegal - So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
15. Channel Island of Guernsey - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
16. Spain - Hot Milk by Deborah Levy

2017

17. Holland - Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
18. Somalia - A Tree for Poverty by Margaret Laurence
19. Germany - The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
20. Vietnam - The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb

2018
21. Iceland - Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
22. Scotland - The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan
23. Ghana - Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
24. Malaysia - Certainty by Madeleine Thien

2019
25. Syria - Homes: A Refugee Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah and Caroline Yeung
26. Iran - Aria by Nazanine Hozar
27. Sweden - The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg
28. Japan - The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa

2020

2021
29. All Over the World - Flight and Freedom: Stories of Escape to Canada by Ratna Omidvar and Dana Wagner
30. Taiwan - Two Trees Make a Forest: Travels Among Taiwan's Mountains & Coasts in Search of My Family's Past by Jessica J. Lee
31. South Africa - Dancing in the Dust by Kagiso Lesego Molope
32. Nigeria - The Son of the House by Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia

[Story]

Nice list, Mj!

[Story]

10 Books by Malaysian Women Writers

https://electricliterature.com/10-boo...

[Alwynne]

Thanks Story!