Around the World discussion
Personal Lists 2011-2013
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Lesley's list
Excellent start, Lesley.
Nice list, Lesley. Have fun reading your book choices!
Another one for Dr. Z.
You're reading The Happiest Refugee: A Memoir too! I'm not normally a fan of memoirs, but Anh Do is seriously funny, so I'm hoping it will be a good one.
Tanya wrote: "You're reading The Happiest Refugee: A Memoir too! I'm not normally a fan of memoirs, but Anh Do is seriously funny, so I'm hoping it will be a good one."Hi Tanya, I have only heard good things about it. I also heard a couple of really good interviews with him a few months ago. He is funny and seems like a nice kind of bloke.
Barry wrote: "hi Lesley! I am chaning my Russia pick to Zhivago also, let's have a group read!!!"Group read sounds good to me.. anytime suits as not doing any other group reads so far.
Ooooh, I saw you have Black Lamb and Grey Falcon on your list. That is so good. You can put it under Macedonia, but it really covers all the former Yugoslavian states. You can stick it under Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Kossovo or Montenegro too. The important thing is to read the book. I haven't read any of West's fiction but I have one on my list, simply because I so enjoyed this book on Yugoslavia! History and cultures are engagingly taught. You have some other nice books too, but I had to root for this one.
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Thanks Chelsea. I have edited my post.
#2 South Africa The Way of the Women. Read 12 Jan. 3 stars. I enjoyed it, good detail in setting, but it goes on and on.
#3 Austria 'Avalanche' by Joseph Wechsberg. Read 14 Jan. 4 stars. An informative account of the 1954 avalanche that hit the village of Blons in the Austrian Alps.
#4 Uganda The Last King of Scotland. Read 19 Jan. 3 stars. I expected more detail about Uganda at the time, and less about the doctor's feelings.
Lesley wrote: "Uganda The Last King of Scotland. Read 19 Jan. 3 stars. I expected more detail about Uganda at the time, and less about the doctor's feelings."This is my pick for Uganda too. Have you seen the film? I thought it excellent, and I'm quite looking forward to the book. The character of Amin could easily have been a monsterous characature, but he was so charismatic and compelling (great acting from Forrest Whittaker), and that made the atrocities that he committed so much more chilling.
I haven't seen the movie, Vicki, but would like to now having finished the book. The Dr does find Amin charismatic and crazy and is confused by this. But the Dr was also troubled before he arrived in Uganda IMO.
The movie was terrific. I loved Forest Whittaker's portrayal and agree he was not a caricature of evil in it.
#5 Vietnam The Happiest Refugee: A Memoir. Read 22 Jan. 4 stars. Interesting account of comedian's journey from poverty in Vietnam to success in Australia, including the hazardous boat trip.
#6 Italy Finding Valentino read 24 Jan. 5 stars. A great travel tale from an open-minded traveller, looking to understand her father's Italian heritage. Elizabeth Gilbert could learn from this one.
Hi Lesley - how are you going with the floods? are you keeping dry?
All is fine at my place Tanya, but others have not been so lucky. Lots of stock lost by the sounds of it, as well as 75% Mitchell houses with water through them. I am isolated from town of course, so just see the images on youtube, and all looks sooo bad. It was incredibly fast flowing, and came to 60cm from my floorboards. The only way from me to get out was up,as my road access was cut with the first storms on Monday. I think everyone was expecting some level of flooding this Summer with all the river systems full, but not this extreme!
I guess you have family or friends still in Augathella - are they OK? I haven't heard of any evacuations there but no doubt there will be some degree of destruction/loss.
Lesley wrote: "All is fine at my place Tanya, but others have not been so lucky. ..."That's great that you're fine. I've been looking at the pictures of the clean up in Roma and Mitchell and it looks pretty horrible, not to mention the evacuation of St George! Augathella came out reasonably well - it was cut off and a few of the low lying houses were hit, but luckily my family is all on high ground. A friends mothers place went under in Charleville, but it always does so they're well practiced.
Here's hoping that we've seen the last of the rains for the season (even if wet weather is a great excuse to stay inside and read ...)
#12 Tibet A Year in Tibet: A Voyage of Discovery read 18 Feb. 4 stars. Interesting read which was made into a BBC doco. Youtube trailers are fascinating viewing.
#13 France Wild Boy read 20 Feb. 4 stars. An interesting and quick read, based on events occurring in post-revolutionary France.
#14 Antartica The Home Of The Blizzard: A True Story Of Antarctic Survival read 29 Feb. 3-4 stars. There is much mention of technical/scientific recordings which I skipped in places, but I really enjoyed the rest of this incredible account.
#16 Australia The Lieutenant read 17 Mar. 3 stars. Based on notebooks from 1790, this is the story of a First Fleet astronomer/navigator's friendship with an Aboriginal girl as they learn to communicate. The Secret River also by Kate Grenville is one of my favourites.
#17 Bolivia Marching Powder read 18 Mar. 2 stars. I finished listening to after starting it some time ago. An interesting enough account of an English drugdealers time in La Paz's crazy San Pedro jail, but I think there is a great deal of embellishment.
I've strayed from my original list, no that it matters though.
Your reading list looks pretty nice. I see you enjoyed Zobra the Greek. I am gonna read that for the challenge too :)
Yes I liked Zorba, Paras. I did listen to it on CD, but would prefer to have actually read it as some great quotes. A fair bit of Alexis' drunken ramblings at times, quite funny.
#21 Mauretania Mauretania read 9 May. 3 stars. Author travels from Morocco, through Tunisia to Libya in 1939.
# 26 Pakistan The Reluctant Fundamentalist read 29 May. 2 stars. I listened to this one, but think the written version may be easy to connect with.
Around the World
Books mentioned in this topic
My Name Is Red (other topics)The Power and the Glory (other topics)
The Pillars of the Earth (other topics)
Breath, Eyes, Memory (other topics)
A Painted House (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Elizabeth Gilbert (other topics)Anh Do (other topics)
Antarctica The Home of the Blizzard: A True Story of Antarctic Survivalread 29 Feb,4 stars
Austria Avalanche by Joseph Wechsberg read 14 Jan, 4 stars
Canada Three Day Road read 21 Nov, 3 stars
Colombia Love in the Time of Cholera read 13 Oct, 4 stars
Ethiopia Cutting for Stone read 26 Oct, 3 stars
Germany All Quiet on the Western Front read 25 Jun, 4 stars
Haiti Breath, Eyes, Memory read 9 Mar, 1 star
India City of Joy read 15 Feb, 5 stars
Japan Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter read 4 Apr, 2 stars
Mexico The Power and the Glory read 24 Nov, 3 stars
Mongolia Genghis: Lords of the Bow read 30 Nov, 4 stars
Nigeria Purple Hibiscus read 15 May, 4 stars
South Africa Agaatread 12 Jan, 3 stars
Uganda The Last King of Scotland read 19 Jan, 3 stars
United States A Painted House read 31 Jan, 4 stars
Vietnam The Happiest Refugee: A Memoir read 22 Jan, 4 stars
Tibet A Year in Tibet: A Voyage of Discovery read 18 Feb, 4 stars
Mauretania Mauretania read 9 May, 3 stars
Italy Finding Valentino read 24 Jan, 5 stars
Hong Kong The Last Sky read 25 Jan, 4 stars
Israel Unto Death read 26 Jan, 2 stars
Russia My Name Is Asya read 28 Jan, 1 star
France Wild Boy read 20 Feb, 4 stars
Australia The Lieutenant read 17 Mar, 3 stars
Bolivia Marching Powder read 18 Mar, 2 stars
Greece Zorba the Greek read 18 April, 4 stars
UK The Pillars of the Earth read 26 April, 3 stars
Portugal Alentejo Blue read 13 May, 2 stars
Ireland Are You Somebody?: The Life And Times Of Nuala O'faolain read 19 May, 4 stars
Bangladesh Brick Lane read 26 May, 3 stars
Pakistan The Reluctant Fundamentalist read 29 May, 2 stars
Cote D'Ivoire Allah Is Not Obliged read 31 May, 4 stars
Panama Panama: An Historical Novel read 10 June, 4 stars
Malaysia Handpicked read 27 June, 3 stars
Kenya A Guide to the Birds of East Africa read 5 July, 4 stars
Algeria The Stranger read 9 July, 2 stars
Iraq The Marsh Birds read 18 July, 3 stars
Bosnia & Herzegovina Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo read 24 july, 4 stars
Korea The Red Queen read 13 August, 2 stars
Namibia The Other Side of Silence read 29 August, 4 stars
Turkey Snowread 20 August, 2 stars
Morocco The Sheltering Sky read 10 September, 2 stars
Afghanistan The Patience Stone read 27 Oct, 4 stars
Sierra Leone A Long Way Gone read 4 Oct, 3 stars
Bulgaria Solo read 5 Sep, 2 stars
Kashmir Curfewed Night read 14 Dec, 2 stars
Chile 33 Men Inside the Miraculous Survival and Dramatic Rescue of the Chilean Miners read 1 Sep, 4 stars
China Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress read 1 Nov, 2 stars
Tahiti Mutiny on the Bounty read 10 Dec, 5 stars
Poland The Messenger read 19 Dec, 2 stars
Netherlands Tulip Fever read 16 Dec, 4 stars