2023 - Where in the World Are You? (Currently Reading)

[Lilisa]

I’m in Spain with Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado translated from Spanish. It’s a thriller and the first in the trilogy published in English.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Lilisa wrote: "I’m in Spain with Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado translated from Spanish. It’s a thriller and the first in the trilogy published in English."

Oh wow, I literally just added that to my TBR about an hour ago! It sounds really good.

[Lilisa]

Lol, in the first 20 or so pages and intrigued to see how it goes!

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I'm in Paris with Mastering the Art of French Murder. It's a great idea - a fictional mystery set in the world of Julia Child's post-war Paris. At this early stage it's very engaging, with lots of Parisian atmosphere (and food!).

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I’ve resumed my Long Walk and have crossed the border into Georgia with The Eighth Life. I’ll be here for a while… There should be a word for that feeling you get when you begin a new book on your Kindle, and you’re getting into it, then you accidentally find out how long it is 😂 But if it continues the way it began, that shouldn’t matter. I’ll get there eventually.

[Lilisa]

Andrea wrote: "I’ve resumed my Long Walk and have crossed the border into Georgia with The Eighth Life. I’ll be here for a while… There should be a word for that feeling you get when you begin a n..."

It was a massive tome but a good one. Hope you are enjoying it!

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I’m in England and Ghana with Rootless, which I’m reading in Audiobook format. So far, so good.

[Rusalka]

I'm currently in late 1930s Berlin with a whole heap of jazz players with Half Blood Blues. But it's getting pretty dicey here with the Nazi's opinion on jazz music being degenerate, and half the band are either Jewish or Black Americans. They are thinking of heading to Paris, but WWII history tells me that may not be the best choice...

I'm not disappointed so far with Esi Edugyan's writing after loving Washington Black a few years ago.

[Lilisa]

Rusalka wrote: "I'm currently in late 1930s Berlin with a whole heap of jazz players with Half Blood Blues. But it's getting pretty dicey here with the Nazi's opinion on jazz music being degenerate..."

It sounds interesting Rusalka. I loved Washington Black too - it’s the only book I’ve read of hers. Would love to see how you rate Half Blood Blues.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I might have to start adding Iceland to my short list of comfort-reading locations, as I’m back there again with Fed to Red Birds. A half Australian/Icelandic young woman has moved to Reykjavik from Melbourne, leaving her father behind but living closer to her grandfather. She seems to be concurrently fascinated with and scared by fairytales. She’s also learning taxidermy!



PS Is taxidermy on trend at the moment?

[Rusalka]

I was listening to the Radio National Bookshelf show about this today with Hannah Kent as a guest. Is that where you heard about it?

I loved that it apparently reminded Hannah Kent of details of Iceland she had completely forgotten about :) That's a location book.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Rusalka wrote: "I was listening to the Radio National Bookshelf show about this today with Hannah Kent as a guest. Is that where you heard about it? I loved that it apparently reminded Hannah Ken..."

No, but I will listen to that one soon! Thanks for mentioning it. I loved following Kent’s recent return to Iceland on Instagram. Having re-read Burial Rites just a couple of months ago, I was delighted for her to have been made part of the memorial site.

[Rusalka]

It was the Weather Book Club episode at the beginning of April.

I missed that on her insta. Will go have a look!

[Carol]

Iceland is definitely on my comfort read list, as is Finland.

I'm all over the world right now, nudging several reads toward the finish line at once.

in the late 50s US with Jonathan Eig's new bio, King: A Life and the audiobook is great.

in between-the-wars England with Post After Post-Mortem: An Oxfordshire Mystery, that rare E.C.R. Lorac which I've found to be a struggle. I'll make it to the end but she's typically so good at pacing, there's a reason why this is the 15th or so novel they reissued.

in South Korea, with The Magistrate, the third installment (first to me) of Brian Klingborg's Lu Fei mystery series. I am still in the first 30 pages, but hopeful, and a couple of friends who aren't generous raters have given it 5 stars. (on a side note, I'm a bit mystified that a genre author in the publishing business wouldn't bother to even set up a GoodReads profile ...)

in contemporary England with a nonfiction work focused on the effects of WWI on both Lewis and Tolkien, with A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-18 by Joseph Loconte and I strongly recommend all of you stay away from it. Quite the slog, but I'm reading it with a Zoom bookclub with fellow church members so I must suck it up and complete it, but you don't have to.

[Lilisa]

You are definitely traveling all over Carol - what a great range of books. Happy reading!

[Antra]

I just finished Another Now by Yanis Varoufakis, my Greece read. It was an interesting thought experiment, I must say.

I'm in the middle of a lot of books right now, relevant to our interests are A Stranger in the Citadel by Tobias S Buckell (Grenada), Congo Inc.: Bismarck's Testament by In Koli Jean Bofane (Democratic Republic of the Congo), The Sleepless by Victor Manibo (Philippines) and The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka (Sri Lanka).

So that's a lot of ping-pong-ing around the world, and I promise I will, once I'm done with library loans, get back to the Caribbean and finish The Island of Eternal Love by Daína Chaviano (Cuba)!

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Guess what?! I've decided to stay in Georgia a bit longer with Stalin's Wine Cellar. This one is non-fiction about an Australian wine merchant who, in the late 1990s, had the opportunity to work with an enormous, mysterious cellar of wine attributed to Tsar Nicholas II and later to Stalin himself.

I've previously heard the wine merchant interviewed on a podcast and it's a fascinating story, so I'm looking forward to delving into the detail.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Now I am in Italy with Return to Valetto and absolutely loving it! I’ve been highlighting like there’s no tomorrow - the writing is just beautiful 🤩

[Carol]

Andrea wrote: "Now I am in Italy with Return to Valetto and absolutely loving it! I’ve been highlighting like there’s no tomorrow - the writing is just beautiful 🤩


You’ve lured me into putting this one on hold at my library.

I’m in the US with my first Samantha Irby: Quietly Hostile: Essays. I’m not really the target audience but it’s just the lighthearted palate cleanser I needed.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I’ve landed in 15thC China with Lisa See’s latest, Lady Tan's Circle of Women. Pretty happy with it so far as it’s giving me a real Snow Flower and the Secret Fan vibe (my favourite of hers to date). And it’s about pioneering female doctors 🤩

[Yrinsyde]

Hi all! I haven't posted for a little while. I'm currently reading Voices - a collection of short stories for Seychelles (eboo),, and I am thinking of starting Mena for Gabon this week.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

It's so good I've almost finished, but I thought I'd mention I'm listening to the audiobook edition of The Bandit Queens (India). You don't have to be fully across the true story of Phoolan Devi to get the connection, as the author will bring you up to speed along the way.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I’ve just arrived in Hong Kong in the year of handover, in Ghost Girl, Banana. To get here, there has been an alternating chapter structure, mainly set in London, bringing me up to speed on the stories of Chen Sook-Yin in 1966 and her daughters Chen Li-Li and Chen Mei-Hua (Lily and Maya) in 1997. Engrossing. I have to keep reminding myself it’s a debut, because it doesn’t read like one.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I'm in Russia - Siberia actually - with Tiger. It's a book that's been sitting on my Kindle for a few years now, but I'm enjoying it so far. It's meant to be the last leg on my Long Walk Challenge, although I'll have to wait and see as the first third of the story was set in the south of England. The structure is not quite what I expected.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I’m in the Marlborough Sound region of New Zealand with Marlborough Man, and at halfway I’d have to say this is shaping up to be more than I expected. Although the focus is more on the crimes (it’s a police procedural), there’s enough about the people and the locale to satisfy me.

[Lilisa]

Andrea wrote: "I’m in the Marlborough Sound region of New Zealand with Marlborough Man, and at halfway I’d have to say this is shaping up to be more than I expected. Although the focus is more on ..."

Sounds interesting Andrea. Unfortunately, not available in my library system 🙁.

[Rusalka]

I really liked Marlborough when we visited (the hostel had a spa and free chocolate pudding every night!), so will have to check it out. Thanks Andrea.

I have just finished with Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter (Volume 80) for the Marshall Islands. I don't really like poetry but this was a fantastic collection. I was really moved by some of these, and even had to read them out to Lexx.

Now in Helsinki, Finland with Troll: A Love Story

[Carol]

I’m in Alaska with a true crime book for an IRL book club: American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Maureen Callahan and it’s got just the right combination of pacing, details and objectivity. I’m still in the early stages but feeling confident.

Am also in 7th Century China with my first Judge Dee book: The Phantom of the Temple: A Judge Dee Mystery by Robert van Gulik. It’s a nice break from my usual fare with all the cultural details I like in an historical mystery and unfussy. Bonuses: a character list and a great map up-front.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I’m in Scotland, on what I think is a fictitious inhabited island on the Shetland archipelago with The Gone & the Forgotten. As I’m reading the audiobook I haven’t seen the spelling of the island, so I’m not 100% sure. I just started yesterday and already 2 hours in, so I’d say I’ve been drawn in!

[Lilisa]

Andrea wrote: "I’m in Scotland, on what I think is a fictitious inhabited island on the Shetland archipelago with The Gone & the Forgotten. As I’m reading the audiobook I haven’t seen the spellin..."

Great you’re enjoying it, Andrea! Don’t think I’ve read anything with that setting.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

Lilisa wrote: "Great you’re enjoying it, Andrea! Don’t think I’ve read anything with that setting ..."

Maybe it’s just me, but I seem to be tripping over novels set in remote island communities of the northern hemisphere lately! I’m also currently enjoying ‘Designing the Hebrides’ on TV, so perhaps it really is me seeking them out?

[Lilisa]

Andrea wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Great you’re enjoying it, Andrea! Don’t think I’ve read anything with that setting ..."

Maybe it’s just me, but I seem to be tripping over novels set in remote island communities of..."

Haha, maybe you need an in-person visit to the islands up north? 🙂

[Tory]

Just arrived in Kenya where I'm going to put my feet up and begin reading The River Between. It was written in 1965 by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o and is part of the Heinneman African Writers Series. From here, I have plans to travel to Nigeria where I'll be reading Things Fall Apart, another book in the Heinneman African Writers Series.

[Andrea, Slow but steady]

I'm reading The Canal House for East Timor (Timor Leste), and have been delightfully surprised by it. It's taking a while to get to the destination, but I've spent time in Uganda, England and Italy along the way. Currently I'm in Darwin, preparing to arrive in Dili. It's very nostalgic for me, as I lived in Darwin at the same time - during the UNTAET/Interfet peace-keeping deployments in East Timor.

I've already added the author's other adult novel to my TBR (Africa; not sure exactly where).