Around the World in 80 Books discussion
ATW in 80 Books World Challenge
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Anna - Circumnavigator 2022-2025
SOUTH AFRICA - AFRICAThe Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh
2 stars
My review
First the things I did like. The setting was gorgeous. I have never read anything set in South Africa, so it was unique. I loved the diamond mining part of things. I actually wished the author would have gone into that more.
What I didn't like. Too much time in the beginning in England, the parts in South Africa were much better. The title of the book, a fever tree was mentioned once in the book and had no significance to the story. But mostly... The main character. Frances' thoughts and actions were more petulant teenager then grown woman. She could have been written so much better. The ending for me was also mediocre, too little to late.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - NORTH AMERICAHow the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
5 stars
My review:
Wow. All I can say is Wow. Everyone should read this book and sit in the uncomfortable places that it will take you to.
SYRIA - EURASIAThe Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
5 stars
My Review:
This is a beautifully heart-rending tale of 2 Syrian refugees making their way to the UK. The imagry, the story, the character were all outstanding. I lived how the bees played a part throughout the book. The story jumps from place to place and time frame to time frame, but was easy to follow.
I will be recommending this book to everyone I know.
SCOTLAND - UK - EUROPEDeath of a Greedy Woman by M.C. Beaton
3 Stars
My Review: Nothing spectacular, nothing bad. Fairly mediocre.
GERMANY - EUROPEThe Dark Monk by Oliver Pötzsch
3.75 stars
My review: The 2nd of the Hangman's Daughter series. I enjoy these books but are not favorites. I find the setting and time frame interesting.
The author (at least in the first 2 books of the series) includes too many characters. He also has a bad writing habit of saying things like, "when he looked at the manuscript it all made sense." and then jumping to a different character. Once is OK but there were multiple times I saw this in the book.
I will probably read the third book, but I will give it awhile before I pick it up.
FRANCE - EUROPEDearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz
Read specifically for Magic Squares 2022
I debated on where to call the setting of the book as Julia lived east and west coast of the US and several spots in Europe and even Asia. In the end I chose France because that is what I associate with her.
My review: 3.5 stars rounded up
I don't often (or really ever) do biographies, so it stretched me when, as part of a challenge, I had to read one. I love to cook, but knew remarkably little about Julia Child.
I enjoyed the book and learned a lot. As to how it compares to other biographies, I cannot say. But I did learn and it made me want to get one of her cookbooks and try to make some things. It also made me want to see if there are some of her shows on YouTube (there are).
This is a brick of a book and I am glad that I got the audio version, even that was 26 hours.
AFGHANISTAN - EURASIAThe Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
My Review: 4 stars
This story of Parvana, although fiction, is true in so many aspects. Don't know how I first heard of it, but when I saw it in a used book store I had to pick it up.
Yes, it is a children's book, but it covers subject matters that are beyond just children. Written for children but worth the read as an adult.
MOROCCO - AFRICAThe Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
My review: 4 stars
Beautifully interwoven 2 stories of girls making the journey from Syria to Ceuta (a Spanish enclave in Morocco). One a present day refuge, one a map making apprentice from centuries before.
BOLIVIA - LATIN AMERICA/SOUTH AMERICAThe Puma Years by Laura Coleman
3 stars
Decent memoir. Loved the pitures.
COLUMBIA - LATIN AMERICA/SOUTH AMERICAOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
3 stars
Not my favorite, never will be, but I am glad that I read it.
ROMANIA - EUROPEI Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
5 stars
The fall of communism in Romania in 1989 told from a student's perspective, which is fitting since there were student led demonstrations. Well researched and provided a long list of books and magazine articles for further study on the topic.
NEW CALEDONIA - OCEANIANot a country but a French Territory
Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce
4 stars
A beautiful setting, an unusual friendship, an undiscovered beetle all set in the 50's
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO - CARRIBEANThe White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey
3.5 stars
Thanks to this group I have read this book. I am so glad I did. I feel like I know Trinidad a little better now.
CANADA - NORTH AMERICAStation Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
4.5 stars
Set in a not too distant dystopian future where 99% of the population has died related to a pandemic (ironically written before 2020). I enjoyed it a lot.
2023 goals - I am continuing my circumnavigation, no hurry, no rules. My goal is to visit 20 new countries.
First country in 2023!RUSSIA - EUROPE
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
5 stars
What an amazing book! If anyone is doing the bingo board and needs a book set in a hotel this is a great one for that.
PAKISTAN - EURASIAThe Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
4 stars
I will be thinking about this book for awhile
2023 stats
2 countries visited/2 new
CANADA - NORTH AMERICAAyesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
3.75 stars
A modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Fun
2023 stats
3 countries visited/ 2 new
ITALY - EUROPEThe Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venice Wilkie Collins
3.5 stars
Victorian novel/mystery
2023 stats
4 countries visited/ 3 new
VATICAN CITY - EUROPEAngels & Demons by Dan Brown
4.5 stars
Set in Vatican City and Rome. It made me want to go back and see things again.
2023 stats
5 countries visited/4 new
NORWAY - EUROPENorth of Dawn by Nuruddin Farah
4 stars
This is a slow but moving story of Somalis living in Oslo. Deals with assimilation, culture, extremism, and family. Not a view point I have read before.
2023 stats
6 countries visited/ 5 new
SYRIA - MIDDLE EASTThe Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
4.5 stars
Set in Syria, but about the Armenian genocide in 1915, a subject I knew little about.
2023 stats
7 countries visited/5 new
ENGLAND (UK) - EUROPEMaame by Jessica George
3.5 stars
Set in London, featuring a Ghanaian main character. Interesting look at multi-cultural London
2023 stats
8 countries visited/5 new
ITALY - EUROPEAll the Lies They Did Not Tell by Pablo Trincia
3 stars
Set in Italy in the 90s. A journalist researches the abuse and demonic ritual of groups of children and the trials of their parents. When he investigates 20 years later, not everything makes sense. What really happened? He talks to the children, the parents, the teachers, the psychiatrists, looks through court documents, and other documents to find out what went on.
2023 stats
8 countries visited/5 new
GUATEMALA - LATIN AND SOUTH AMERICAIn the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende
3 stars
3 people come together because of a car crash on a snowy Brooklyn night. They share their stories. It takes place in several places I am choosing Guatemala for this challenge.
2023 stats
9 countries visited/6 new
UK - ENGLAND - EUROPErevisiting England
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
4 stars
A time-loop or in this case a life-loop book.
2023 stats
9 countries visited/6 new
NORTH AMERICA - UNITED STATESLittle Women by Louisa May Alcott
4 stars
A good classic that I had not read until now. Better than the movies.
2023 stats
10 countries visited/6 new
EUROPE - FRANCEThe Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
5 stars
I have been meaning to read this for years, finally I read it. Kristin Hannah always makes me cry.
2023 stats
11 countries visited/6 new
AFRICA - NIGERIAThings Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
3 stars
An interesting look at pre-colonial sub-Saharan African life and culture.
2023 stats
12 countries visited/7 new
EUROPE - UK - NORTHERN IRELANDI Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell
3.5 stars
A memoir told through the author's brushes with death. Slow start but enjoying it by the end. The author was born in Northern Ireland and several stories take place during her childhood, but the book itself takes place around the world.
2023 stats
12 countries visited/7 new
ASIA - BANGLEDESH Bengali Folk Tales by Lal Behari Day
2 stars
While several of the short story folktales were fun many were not. I did enjoy the cultural things that were in the book.
2023 stats
13 countries visited/ 8 new
EUROPE - IRELANDHaven by Emma Donoghue
4 stars
This is a slow character driven novel about 3 7th century monks from Ireland leaving to find an island to retreat from the world and to draw closer to God. They must survive the island that they land on and each other. While this book is never going to be a favorite, it will live in my head for a long time.
2023 stats
14 countries visited/ 9 new
EUROPE - FRANCEMadame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
3 stars
AFRICA - SOUTH AFRICA
Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais
4.5 stars
2023 stats
15 countries visited/9 new
MIDDLE EAST - ISRAELWhere the Desert Meets the Sea by Werner Sonne
3 stars
I wanted to like this more then I did, too many characters, none that I connected with.
2023 stats
16 countries visited/10 new
CARIBBEAN - TRINIDAD AND TOBAGOrevisiting Trinidad
When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
3 stars
Beautiful but I never felt connected to any of the characters
CARIBBEAN - CUBA
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
4 stars
Much more enjoyable that a story about a man trying to catch a fish should be.
2023 stats
18 countries/ 11 new
ANTARCTICAMadhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton
4 stars
Early Polar exploration
2023 stats
19 countries/12 new
ASIA - VIETNAMDust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
4.5 stars
A beautiful book about the Vietnam war and the Amerasian children left behind.
2023 stats
20 countries/13 new
ASIA - INDONESIAThe Birdwoman's Palate by Laksmi Pamuntjak
3stars
Good premise but tried to take on too much.
2023 stats
21 countires/14 new
CARIBBEAN - BARBADOSRiver Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
4.5 stars
Beautiful story about a slave woman searching for her children.
2023 stats
22 countries/15 new
EUROPE - SWEDENAnxious People by Fredrik Backman
5 stars
I am such a Backman fan. I love how he writes people.
2023 stats
23 countries/15 new
LATIN AMERICA - ARGENTINAThe Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey by Ernesto Che Guevara
2.5 stars
A diary and it reads like one.
2023 stats
24 countries/16 new
ASIA - CHINAThe Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel
3 stars
Interesting story, but mediocre writing and plot development
2023 stats
25 countries/ 17 new
ASIA - JAPANThe Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
4.5 stars
Japanese police procedural. I was hooked from the beginning.
2023 stats
26 countries/18 new
EUROPE - POLANDDrive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
4 stars - The ending took this rating up by a star. Slow beginning but worth the read.
2023 stats
27 countries/19 new
Around the World in 80 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Moonflower Murders (other topics)American Spy (other topics)
Gods of Jade and Shadow (other topics)
The Lost Bookshop (other topics)
A Madness of Sunshine (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Anthony Horowitz (other topics)Lauren Wilkinson (other topics)
Silvia Moreno-Garcia (other topics)
Evie Woods (other topics)
Nalini Singh (other topics)
More...
AFRICA
*Burkina Faso 2025
*Democratic Republic of Congo 2023, 2024
*Ghana 2024
*Kenya 2023
*Libya 2024
*Morocco 2022
*Nigeria 2023
*Republic of Congo 2023
*Rwanda 2024
*Sierra Leone 2025
*South Africa 2022, 2023
*South Sudan 2024
*Tunisia 2024
ASIA/EURASIA
*Afghanistan 2022, 2025
*Bangladesh 2023
*China 2023
*India 2022, 2024
*Indonesia 2023. 2024
*Japan 2023, 2024, 2025
*Korea, North 2024
*Korea, South 2022
*Myanmar 2024
*Pakistan 2023
*Sri Lanka 2024
*Thailand 2024
*Vietnam 2023, 2024
CARIBBEAN
*Barbados 2023
*Cuba 2023, 2024
*Haiti 2024
*Jamaica 2024
*Trinidad and Tobago 2022, 2023
EUROPE
*Austria 2023
*Azores 2023
*Bosnia and Herzegovina 2023
*Czech Republic 2023
*England (UK) 2022, 2023
*France 2022, 2023, 2024
*Germany 2022
*Greece 2024
*Iceland 2024
*Ireland 2023, 2025
*Italy 2023, 2025
*Netherlands 2023, 2024, 2025
*Northern Ireland (UK) 2023
*Norway 2023
*Poland 2023, 2024
*Romania 2022
*Russia 2023, 2024
*Sweden 2022, 2024, 2025
*Scotland (UK) 2022
*Switzerland 2025
*Ukraine 2024
*Vatican City 2023
LATIN AMERICA
*Argentina 2023
*Bolivia 2022
*Brazil 2024
*Chili 2024
*Columbia 2022
*Guatemala 2023
*Panama 2025
*Venezuela 2024
MIDDLE EAST
*Cyprus 2023
*Iran 2025
*Israel 2023, 2024
*Lebanon 2024
*Syria 2022, 2023
*Yemen 2022
NORTH AMERICA - Canada, Mexico, United States COMPLETED 2025
AUSTRALIA, OCEANIA, ANTARCTICA
*Antarctica 2023
*Australia 2023
*New Caledonia (French Overseas Territory) 2022
*New Zealand 2025
*Papua New Guinea 2023