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Where in the World Have You Been?!?! (Book Finished and Review Linked)
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Jan 06, 2012 08:34PM
Leaving Guinea-Bissau: Amílcar Cabral: Revolution in Guinea: Selected Texts. Review here.
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Jenny wrote: Baked good comes tomorrow.Soda bread, boxty or barmbrack? Or if you're looking for something less traditional I have a great recipe for a guinness chocolate cake I can share.
Vicky wrote: "Jenny wrote: Baked good comes tomorrow.Soda bread, boxty or barmbrack? Or if you're looking for something less traditional I have a great recipe for a guinness chocolate cake I can share."
Guinness chocolate cake?? I want, I want.
Just laughed my way through Kiribati with J. Maarten Troost in The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific. My reviews are on the blog. Definitely recommend this one as a quick, funny read. Do not read in bed with sleeping partner. You will wake them up with laughter and "EEWWW."If someone wants this one, I'm releasing it via a Bookcrossing Bookray (a book that is sent sequentially to a list of readers and then eventually is set free in the wild), if you want in on the bookray, let me know.
I just completed Cathedral of the Sea, which I am very glad I read because I learned a lot. Here follows my GR review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... And now I am off to Albania witht Chronicle in Stone: A Novel. I have read The Three-Arched Bridgeby this author and liked it, although I did not find it as good as The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric. The two books are both about a bridge and about life that circles around it. This book I will be trying now concerns WW2 in Albania through a child's eye. I believe the writing will be excellent. Although it is historical fiction there are also biographical elements.
I have just been to Czech Republic (Prague). Though I'm not a fan of paranormal, this book came as a pleasant surprise. Daughter of Smoke and BoneMy review is here
I've come back from Norway. And I can say, I'd recommend basically EVERY other Jostein Gaarder book over The Castle in the Pyrenees. (2-star-review here).I'll now do a break to read a bit of fantasy, and after that I'll join Chrissie in Albania with The Concert.
Chrissie wrote: "I just completed Cathedral of the Sea, which I am very glad I read because I learned a lot."
I had that on my list, and I've decided against it. But the year is long, maybe I'll reconsider again ;).
Pragya, I'm glad I'm not the only person with fantasy books on my list ;).
Finished A Window in Copacabana and my trip to Brazil the other day. It was, all right for me. I was expecting a little more from it, and I think it just didn't quite live up to what I thought it should be. It was also the 5th in a series of mysteries, apparently. It wasn't a disappointment, and I don't regret reading it (it only took a day, consisting of almost all dialogue). I had just thought it would be a little more...fun.
Liked Ireland so much, decided to stay long enough to read Dubliners by James Joyce. I had read Ulysses last autumn, so this was a nice follow-up. It would have been nicer BEFORE Ulysses, but I didn't know that then. I will be making a tidbit mentioned in one of the stories later tonight, maybe tomorrow.
I have been to Cuba The Old Man and the Sea and Switzerland Frankenstein http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Gaeta1 wrote: "You are all making me look so bad. Still STUCK on the POlar ice cap.....only 11 hours of reading time to go..."I was just thinking the same thing, Gaeta1, but about myself. I've got one read and about 1/2 way through two others.
Here's my review of
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where I visited France in WWI http://turningthepagesx.blogspot.com/...
SilverRaindrops wrote: "I've come back from Norway. And I can say, I'd recommend basically EVERY other Jostein Gaarder book over The Castle in the Pyrenees. (2-star-review here).I'll now do a break to rea..."
Oh my, you are not only off to Albania but then soon after to China. What you have ahead looks interesting.
Me, I am seeing Albania and absolutely loving my stay. Why? Well, because the descriptions are so imaginative. Imagine yourself a little raindrop jostling other raindrops and then falling into a dark cistern....... One has to read the book to understand the dramatics! This book is hf and disguised biography. I have only just begun.
SilverRaindrops wrote: "I've come back from Norway. And I can say, I'd recommend basically EVERY other Jostein Gaarder book over The Castle in the Pyrenees. (2-star-review here).I'll now do a break to rea..."
I think it as a break between serious books. :)
Judy wrote: "I've been following clues that led to South Africa with Let the Dead Lie. Now I'm hanging out in France with Julia Child and enjoying a [book:Tomato Rhapsody: A Novel of Love, Lust, ..."I'm also in France with Julia Child. :)
Barry wrote: "Aufidersen, Effi Briest, I hate you so much!One down, fifty-one to go!!!"
Good job, Barry! :)
Barry wrote: "Aufidersen, Effi Briest, I hate you so much!One down, fifty-one to go!!!"
Phew, we're all saved and the project can continue! Way to go Barry. Travel somewhere with light colored sand and a lot of sun next.
Barry wrote: "Aufidersen, Effi Briest, I hate you so much!One down, fifty-one to go!!!"
Don't say I didn't warn you ;).
I prefer Theodor Fontanes poems to whatever else he did, but I guess you also need the right translation for that. I don't like Effi Briest that much either; mostly because I felt the female characters were all either daft or shrewed.
Hope your next book is better ;).
Btw, it's "Auf Wiedersehen" ;). And you probably would rather say "Tschüß!", since "Auf Wiedersehen" implies you'd like to meet again ;).
Come over for tea and you'll get a slice of caraway seed cake... yeah, still in Ireland. I'll go to the airport eventually.
I have just returned from Ireland a second time and therefore it doesn't count for this challenge. Probably the reason I didn't encounter Jenny was because I was time traveling to the 18th century. At the same time, I was doing time traveling jaunts to 21st century Cairo. Fortunately, I did not experience time displacement.
^ two little tabbies talking amongst themselves!
Judy wrote: "Mikki wrote: "^ two little tabbies talking amongst themselves!"In all this traveling our 9 lives may be useful! :-)"
True! We've a few kitties here so we'll see how they fare. We also have some flowers so hopefully they won't begin to wilt.
Mikki wrote: We've a few kitties here so we'll see how they fare. We ..."Hahaha. That's so cute. 2 cute kitties chatting. I don't see the flower now, but I know where she is. And, you, little girl, you're a very good traveler for your age. Did you need the booster seat on your flights?
Shomeret wrote: "I have just returned from Ireland a second time and therefore it doesn't count for this challenge. Probably the reason I didn't encounter Jenny was because I was time traveling to the 18th century..."You might have come across caraway seed cake though, it dates way back. Hehe! What is it about Ireland that causes us to linger so?
Ireland is a beautiful country and the Irish have made many contributions to the world.
Just visited early twentieth century Kenya through Dinesen's Out of Africa--and by and large it was quite a ride. At times Dinesen's views of the "Natives" did make my inner PC squirm, but the prose is absolutely stunningly gorgeous, especially in describing the landscape and wildlife. You can tell the woman was a poet. Review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Anne wrote: "Mikki wrote: We've a few kitties here so we'll see how they fare. We ..."Hahaha. That's so cute. 2 cute kitties chatting. I don't see the flower now, but I know where she is. And, you, li..."
Yes and the nice flight attendants help too.
I'm enjoying this armchair travelling. It doesn't have as much jet lag unless you read into the wee hours of the morning. I finished my visit to Kigali, Rwanda with Baking Cakes in Kigali. It was a sweet and sour visit with the descriptions of the cakes, the feelings of hope, and the rebuilding set amonst the memories of the genocide. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time.
My review is here.
I did it. Finally. Far North was such a disappointment for me - I'd been waiting two years to read this book :( http://theaussiezombie.blogspot.com/2...
Kat wrote: "I did it. Finally. Far North was such a disappointment for me - I'd been waiting two years to read this book :( http://theaussiezombie.blogspot.com/2......"
Kat, it's not the book that goes with the movie is it? (The one with Sean Bean and Michelle Yeoh).
Hope your next book is better. Maybe your expectations were really high after wanting to read it for so long.
No Silver, it was a different story. It wasn't a terrible book, just not for me. Oh well, onto the next one :)
I have just finished Pitcairn's Island and my review is here. It was a beautiful but tragic trip. I have decided to stay here until Bounty Day on 1/23, but will be lying about eating good food and reading books not on my Around the World list (1001 selections from England/US, Pulitzers, etc) and hopefully finally finishing The Satanic Verses, which I've been listening to on audio since sometime last year--not a Salman Rushdie I've enjoyed so much, and I usually LOVE Rushdie. I'll be posting my reviews of those books on the blog and posting their locations on my side trip map.
Judy wrote: "So glad to hear this as it is on my list, too."With
you have to be a person who can make allowances for the time it was written--but I do think it worth the payoff. It has a lot of arresting passages you'd want to dogear or underline or quote to someone else.
Leaving Belgium and Maigret at the Gai-Moulin. Not one of Simenon's best works. A bit disappointing.
Janice wrote: "Miss Wednesday wrote: "I've been to Canada and it hasn't been such a good start for me unfortunately.http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/..."
As a Canadian, I'm rather surprised at the ..."
Although I have several books set in Canada, I was actually looking for one dealing with Canadian First Peoples. I looked at I Heard the Owl Call My Namebut I decided that I wanted something intended for an adult audience. I scrolled down to the books that members also enjoyed on that page and found Klee Wyck by the Canadian painter, Emily Carr, who used First Peoples as subjects in her work. I put it on request through interlibrary loan, but this reminded me that I have The Forest Lover, a novel about Emily Carr by Susan Vreeland if I can only find it in my closet.
I have The Forest Lover on my wishlist. Klee Wyck sounds interesting.
I finished Chronicle in Stone: A Novel. I absolutely enjoyed every minute reading it. I could not put this book down. Here follosw my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... It is worth every one of its five stars. If you choose to read something by this Nobel prize-winning author, do yourself a favor, read this! It is a child's eye view of war in the Albanian city Gjirokastër. After WW2, Envor Hoxha took power. His brutal long-lived Stalinist regime fell only in August 1991. Both the author and Hoxha have this city as their home! BTW you do NOT need to be interested in history to enjoy this bookNow I will go to Croatia and read The Tiger's Wife? I have heard such good things about this book, and I enjoyed the Kindle sample. I realize now that what is most important to me, more than plot, is an author's writing style.
Leaving Great Britain and The Sense of an Ending.I liked the first half. Very well-written. But the second half did not deliver, especially the ending. I've given the book a new title: The Nonsense of an Ending.
Anne wrote: "Leaving Great Britain and The Sense of an Ending.I liked the first half. Very well-written. But the second half did not deliver, especially the ending. I've given the book a new..."
I love your suggestion Anne for the alternative title. Very apt!
Anne wrote: "Leaving Great Britain and The Sense of an Ending.I liked the first half. Very well-written. But the second half did not deliver, especially the ending. I've given the book a new title: The Nonsense of an Ending..."
So clever!
Just left South Africa with King Solomon's Mines. It was a cute Victoriana Lost World drama. I rather enjoyed its 19th century oomph.
Vicky wrote: "Jenny wrote: Baked good comes tomorrow.Soda bread, boxty or barmbrack? Or if you're looking for something less traditional I have a great recipe for a guinness chocolate cake I can share."
Oh my goodness I missed this earlier. I would love your recipes! I made caraway seed cake, which is kind of traditional I guess (a version of Madeira cake). I recently used Guiness in a gingerbread and it was amazing!
Just left Saudi Arabia with The Ruins of Us. Really liked the book and its portrayal of life in this country (blog review here).Next up is Nigeria with Little Bee.
Jenny wrote:Oh my goodness I missed this earlier. I would love your recipes! I made caraway seed cake, which is kind of traditional I guess (a version of Madeira cake). I recently used Guiness in a gingerbread and it was amazing! I saw the recipe on your blog and can't wait to try it out for myself. I like the idea of caraway cake, as it's quite an unusuual flavour. Guiness gingerbread sounds lush too, so you'll have to go back to Ireland for more recipes!
Genia wrote: "Just left South Africa with King Solomon's Mines. It was a cute Victoriana Lost World drama. I rather enjoyed its 19th century oomph."I, likewise, enjoyed this Victorian adventure. It was a good romp.
Jenny wrote: "Vicky wrote: "Jenny wrote: Baked good comes tomorrow.Soda bread, boxty or barmbrack? Or if you're looking for something less traditional I have a great recipe for a guinness chocolate cake I can..."
The caraway cake also sounds like a good recipe to try. If I have time I would like to make this and the pepper cookies so there may be a photo of them up at some point.
No caraway cake by Abbotsbury, Dorset, England--rather tea sandwiches and matrimonial cake at luncheon; the English standard roast beef, gravy, and mashed potatoes for supper and for next-morning's breakfast. Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Just left Victorian Era Nigeria with Things Fall Apart. I found it a compelling read--really short in fact, more novella length and in a spare style and unflinching in its view of the pre-colonial culture. It has a reputation as an anti-colonial, even anti-Western book, so I was surprised at how nuanced and evenhanded it turned out to be. Review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
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