Rusalka's Revamped List

[Rusalka]

Edited for Jan 2013 and to break up the lump of text for you all. Still the same list.

Read in 2012
Algeria – What the Day Owes the Night
Brazil - The Zahir
Burma - Saving Fish from Drowning
Canada – The Blind Assassin
Chile - Zorro
China - Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Congo - Heart of Darkness
Czech Republic – The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Denmark – Smilla's Sense of Snow
Dominican Republic – In the Time of the Butterflies
Estonia – Purge
Ethiopia – Cutting for Stone
France – The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Greenland – An African in Greenland - Togo. Not sure exactly which country it will count for yet until I read it. edit: Both
India – The Inheritance of Loss
Iran – The Cypress Tree. by Kamin Mohammadi
Japan - Norwegian Wood
Kazakhstan - Night Watch
Lithuania – Between Shades of Gray
New Zealand - Pounamu Pounamu
Mexico - The Lacuna
Romania – The Appointment
Russia – Anna Karenina
Solomon Islands - Devil-Devil
Thailand – The Windup Girl


2013
Afghanistan - The Kite Runner
Botswana - The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Burma (take 2) - From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey
Columbia - Love in the Time of Cholera
Egypt - Respected Sir, Wedding Song, The Search
El Salvador – The She-Devil in the Mirror
Faroe Islands - The Old Man and His Sons
Finland – The Summer Book
Germany – Steppenwolf I tried twice. Once at 1.30am on a plane, and once in normality. Just... no.
Hawaii - Mahu
Iceland – From the Mouth of the Whale
Italy – The Name of the Rose
Jamaica – Midnight Robber
Kyrgyzstan - The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years after all this time, the bookshop finally cancelled the order on me :(
Laos - Bamboo Palace: Discovering the Lost Dynasty of Laos
Lebanon – Women of Sand and Myrrh: A Novel
Nigeria - The Famished Road
Norway – Out Stealing Horses
Malaysia – The Garden of Evening Mists
Pakistan – A Case of Exploding Mangoes
Poland – Solaris
Saudi Arabia - Wolves of the Crescent Moon
Samoa - Telesa - The Covenant Keeper
Spain - The Shadow of the Wind
South Africa – A State of Symmetry replacing with Zoo City instead.
Sri Lanka - Anil's Ghost
Sweden - Popular Music from Vittula: A Novel
Trinidad and Tobago - Valmiki's Daughter
Turkey - Seven Houses : A Novel

Italics means I have finished the book.

My poor excuse for a blog is here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/ so I will put my long winded and usually rambling reviews there.

I am happy for thoughts and suggestions. I feel like parts of this list is a little weak.

[Rusalka]

Congo - review here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
For the record, Joseph Conrad and I are not friends.

[Rusalka]

Missing book located, and New Zealand's title added. Incidentally, as my South African and my New Zealand books are not on Goodreads, does anyone know how I add them?

[Rusalka]

The Lacuna - Mexico http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...

[Diane]

Rusalka, I found the link for Pounamu Pounamu and I added A State of Symmetry.

[Rusalka]

Thanks Diane and Judy!
You're right Judy, and I was going to do a proper hunt when I started reading them. I tend to think out loud...
However thanks to Diane, all done while I was sleeping. The power of the internets!

[Rusalka]

Right! Holiday sound off!
France: http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
Japan: http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
Solomon Islands: http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...

[Rusalka]

Denmark (and Greenland) finished and reviewed here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
Going to Chile next to warm up. Brrr.

[Rusalka]

"Chile" review and Charles Dickens dressed as Zorro can be found here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...

[Rusalka]

http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
Burma and Saving Fish from Drowning abandoned after 100pp. Annoyed about the whole thing.

[Rusalka]

Romania - The Appointment - http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...

[Rusalka]

Wat wat wat wat wat... I may have issues.
http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/... is my Ethiopian review of Cutting for Stone

[Rusalka]

Yay more reads done.

Lithuania - Between Shades of Gray http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...

Czech Republic - The Unbearable Lightness of Being http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...

[Janice]

Two more books crossed off your list!! Good job, Rusalka!

[Barbarac]

Good progress. I really liked your review of Between Shades of Gray. I have just recently read that and Purge and I had similar feelings to those you express when I read them. Western countries really managed to turn a blind eye on these eastern countries after WWII.

[Rusalka]

Janice wrote: "Two more books crossed off your list!! Good job, Rusalka!"

Yay! Thanks :) I felt like I was stagnating a bit, so feeling a lot better now.

[Rusalka]

Barbarac wrote: "Good progress. I really liked your review of Between Shades of Gray. I have just recently read that and Purge and I had similar feelings to those you express when I read them. Western countries ..."

Thanks Barbarac. I am glad we had the same kinda thoughts (and how good was Purge!).

I think that is the thing i have noticed the most while doing this Challenge. The amount we think we know about the rest of the world is actually incredibly little. And the amount we think we intervene in or impact the rest of the world is also very little.

Makes me feel a little insignificant, and somewhat embarrassed, but makes the world seem so much more interesting!

[Rusalka]

Brazil: The Zahir. It was set in France turns out, but it was on my shelf before I started this challenge. It is now going to the bookshop.

http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/... Warning: the review involves me calling the author a heap of names and loosing my cool at the end. If you do not like overworked, tired Australian women swearing at horrible Brazilian authors, this may not be the review for you... It's actually not that bad, but I find I have a different tolerance than others... this is going to be so incredibly anti-climactic...
*confiscates the ellipses from Rusalka and makes her go to bed*

[Janice]

Without reading your review, I would wager a guess that it wasn't your favorite book? LOL!

[Rusalka]

*blinks innocently* What on earth gave you that idea Janice?

No, stay away, like the plague! I've started swearing out loud again, definitely bed time.

[Janice]

LOL! I've only read The Alchemist by him and didn't think it was as amazing as everyone else. I was thinking of reading The Pilgrimage, but since he's a wanker (isn't that what you called him), maybe I should look for another person's experiences on the Camino.

[Barbarac]

Wow Rusalka I just read your review. Tell us how you really feel :)
I was about to start a Coelho book, mmmm, I'm rethinking it now. I did like The Alchemist but I was really young and at the time I didn't see it as the "self-help" book that it's supposed to be. I saw it more like a fable. But this one you read doesn't seem likeable at all.

[Rusalka]

I believe that is one of the many things I called him Janice ;)

And Barbarac, heh I know. I'm sorry. I'm outspoken at the best of times, but this book had me yelling expletives at it for a lot of it. So I only feel it is fair to be honest to all of you too. And trust me, that is a toned back version. I edited it a lot.

I have found that some people really like him though, so maybe he is worth the try. But where I felt that his other books were just a bit airy-fairy spiritual journey for me personally, this one was just offensive.

[Rusalka]

China - Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China and review is here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
Still plodding along!

[Rusalka]

Mass update!
Togo & Greenland: An African in Greenland http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
Kazakhstan: Night Watch http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
Algeria:What the Day Owes the Night http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
Dominican Republic: In the Time of the Butterflies http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...

[Rusalka]

Finished The Cypress Tree: A Love Letter to Iran last night for Iran. Review is here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/... and warning, the book is not a novel.

[Rusalka]

Russia with Anna Karenina is finally done. I've very glad to get this off my "Classics I Have Negelected" list, but hasn't quite lived up to the hype http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...

[Rusalka]

Very late on this blog post with Christmas and weird sickness getting me this week. But here we are with Thailand and The Windup Girl
http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...

Wooo!

[Rusalka]

Thanks Judy. Was a weird bug... all good now though. It was a hurting one, not a actually being sick one. Which meant lots of reading as I was not feeling sick, but wasn't well. So in the scheme of things, almost a win?

[Pragya]

Anna Karenina, yay! Sad you didn't like it that much since it is one of my faves. LOL about the chicken jumping into your lap part, that's kind of new!

[Tanya (mom's small victories)]

Lots of great ideas. Zorro! I am gonna have to add that one to my TBR list!

[Rusalka]

Chickens make everything more interesting. I really wanted to like it more Pragya. But it seems to be a book you either love or not.

Zorro was very fun Tanya. But I counted it for Chile onIsabel Allende. And for a Chilean book it spent all it's time in Spain, Mexico, Lousiana and California

[Ava Catherine]

Rusalka wrote: "Congo - review here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
For the record, Joseph Conrad and I are not friends."

HaHa! That is a nice way to put it! "Joseph Conrad and I are not friends." ROFL

[Beth]

Rusalka wrote: "Congo - review here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
For the record, Joseph Conrad and I are not friends."

He and I are not friends either. I think we have similar tastes. Coelho has driven me nuts as well.

[Rusalka]

I don't send Christmas cards, so he won't notice. It's my polite way of saying other things. You can see by the time I hit Coelho, my tolerance was well and truly used up.

Nice to know I'm in good company Beth!

[Rusalka]

So behind with my reviews. This was the last book I read in 2012 but finally reviewed Pounamu Pounamu for New Zealand. Review is here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

[Rusalka]

Catching up! Woot!

The Old Man and His Sons for the Faroe Islands.

http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

[Rusalka]

And Sri Lanka is down with Anil's Ghost. I really enjoyed this one if anyone needs a read. It's reasonably short too.

Review is here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

[Rusalka]

Laos is done. I highly recommend this book even if my stars do not reflect it.

Bamboo Palace: Discovering the Lost Dynasty of Laos and the review is here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

[Rusalka]

Started A State of Symmetry and it was rubbish. Will replace it with Zoo City

http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

[Rusalka]

Finished Saudi Arabia with Wolves of the Crescent Moon. Slightly magical storytelling, which balanced out the not so happy subject material.

http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

[Rusalka]

Mangoes successfully exploded for Pakistan with A Case of Exploding Mangoes. Review here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

[Rusalka]

The whole book is exceedingly clever. But not obnoxiously. I am very much on the fence on this one.

[Rusalka]

El Salvador is done with The She-Devil in the Mirror http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

If you like one sided conversations and murder, this is the book for you.

[Rusalka]

Back with it and finished From the Mouth of the Whale for Iceland. Beautifully written, but the point escapes me. Review here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/... It once again contains language.

[Rusalka]

Jamaica done and dusted with Midnight Robber. It's written in Creole and full of Caribbean culture. A lot of the stories it seems are more Trinidadian, but I assume there is a bit of cross over over all the islands. Although I will ask my resident expert (friend is from Trinidad). Although no island is mentioned, so I am still sticking with the author's birthplace of Jamaica.
Review here: http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

[Rusalka]

Malaysia finished with The Garden of Evening Mists. I really enjoyed the stillness and quiet of this book. Review: http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

[Rusalka]

Knocked Finland off the list as well with The Summer Book. Review here: http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

[Amanda]

Rusalka wrote: "Congo - review here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2012/...
For the record, Joseph Conrad and I are not friends."

Good review. I'm not friends with Joseph Conrad either. I read Lord Jim in high school. I think I threw it a couple times when I was finished! He went off on a lot of tangents in that one too, which made the story very hard to follow. It must be a trait in all of his books, because every time I go to the used book store and look at the classics shelf a good chunk of it is just books by Joseph Conrad.

[Rusalka]

Throwing books is really cathartic. I whole heartedly recommend it.

I noticed the same thing when I sold my copy back to the bookshop I bought it from. Seeing he gave me money for it, I didn't have to look at it again, and I spent more money than what he gave me on new books, I didn't feel like pointing that out to my friendly bookshop owner.

Never heard of Lord Jim, but I am avoiding it now. Thanks for the heads up. And sorry for taking a month to respond. I must have missed this when i was doing my catch up after hols.