Jump to content

Brian's Around the World Marathon


Brian.

Recommended Posts

Ive been reading some of the 'Around the World' threads and have decided to give it a go myself. I am using the same list as Alex because I am a little lazy :D

As I tick more books off the list I will make comments etc along the way. For the moment I will just update with what I can remember. I am going to aim for all works of fiction unless I am really struggling at any point.

1. Afghanistan - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
2. Albania - Broken April by Ismail Kadare
3. Algeria - The Stranger by Albert Camus
4. American Samoa
5. Andorra
6. Angola
7. Anguilla
8. Antigua and Barbuda
9. Argentina - The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato
10. Armenia
11. Aruba
12. Australia - All That I Am by Anna Funder
13. Austria
14. Azerbaijan
15. Bahamas
16. Bahrain
17. Bangladesh
18. Barbados
19. Belarus
20. Belgium - Fear & Trembling by Amelie Nothomb
21. Belize
22. Benin
23. Bermuda
24. Bhutan
25. Bolivia
26. Bosnia and Herzegovina
27. Bostwana
28. Brazil - Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho
29. British Virgin islands
30. Brunei
31. Bulgaria
32. Burkina Faso
33. Burundi
34. Cambodia
35. Cameroon
36. Canada - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
37. Cape Verde
38. Cayman Islands
39. Central African Republic
40. Chad
41. Channel Islands
42. Chile - Last Evenings on Earth - Roberto Bolano
43. China
44. Colombia - 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45. Comoros
46. Congo Brazzaville
47. Congo Kinshasa
48. Costa Rica
49. Croatia
50. Cuba
51. Cyprus
52. Czech Republic - The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
53. Denmark - Three Dog Night by Elsebeth Egholm
54. Djibouti
55. Dominica
56. Dominican Repbulic
57. East Timor
58. Ecuador
59. Egypt
60. El Salvador
61. Equatorial Guinea
62. Eritrea
63. Estonia
64. Ethiopia
65. Falkland islands
66. Faroe Islands
67. Fiji
68. Finland - The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
69. France - Justine by Marquis de Sade
70. French Guiana
71. French Polynesia
72. Gabon
73. Gambia
74. Georgia
75. Germany - The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
76. Ghana
77. Gibraltar
78. Greece
79. Greenland
80. Grenada
81. Guadeloupe
82. Guam
83. Guatemala
84. Guinea-Bissau
85. Guinee Conakry
86. Guyana
87. Haiti
88. Honduras
89. Hungary
90. Iceland - The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson
91. India - White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
92. Indonesia
93. Iran - What We Owe by Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde
94. Iraq
95. Ireland - The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
96. Israel - A Long Night in Paris by Dov Alfon
97. Italy - The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
98. Ivory coast
99. Jamaica - Pao by Kerry Young
100. Japan - Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
101. Jordan
102. Kazakhstan
103. Kenya
104. Kiribati
105. Kuwait
106. Kyrgyzstan
107. Laos
108. Latvia
109. Lebanon
110. Lesotho
111. Liberia
112. Libya
113. LiechtensteinMongoli
114. Lithuania
115. Luxembourg
116. Macedona
117. Madagascar
118. Malawi
119. Malaysia
120. Maldives
121. Mali
122. Malta
123. Marshall Islands
124. Martinique
125. Mauritania
126. Mauritius
127. Mexico
128. Micronesia, Federated States of
129. Moldova
130. Monaco
131. Mongolia
132. Monserrat
133. Montenegro
134. Morocco
135. Mozambique
136. Myanmar
137. Namibia
138. Nauru
139. Nepal
140. Netherlands - The Following Story by Cees Nooteboom
141. Netherlands Antilles
142. New Caledonia
143. New Zealand - Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
144. Nicaragua
145. Niger
146. Nigeria - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
147. Niue
148. Norfolk Island
149. North Korea
150. Northern Mariana Islands
151. Norway - The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo
152. Oman
153. Pakistan - The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
154. Palau
155. Palestinian Authority
156. Panama
157. Papua New Guinea
158. Paraguay
159. Peru
160. Phillippines
161. Pitcairn Islands
162. Poland
163. Portugal
164. Puerta Rico
165. Qatar
166. Rarotonga & the Cook Islands
167. Reunion
168. Romania - Night by Elie Wiesel
169. Russia - Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
170. Rwanda
171. Saint Kitts and Nevis
172. Saint Lucia
173. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
174. San Marino
175. Sao Tome and Principe
176. Saudi Arabia
177. Senegal
178. Serbia
179. Seychelles
180. Sierra Leone
181. Singapore - The Suicide Club by Rachel Heng
182. Slovakia
183. Slovenia
184. Solomon Islands
185. Somalia
186. South Africa - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
187. South Korea - I Have the Right to Destroy Myself by Young-Ha Kim
188. Spain - The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
189. Sri Lanka - The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
190. Sudan
191. Suriname
192. Swaziland
193. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
194. Switzerland
195. Syria
196. Taiwan
197. Tajikistan
198. Tanzania
199. Thailand
200. Togo
201. Tonga
202. Trinidad and Tobago
203. Tunisia
204. Turkey - Snow by Orhan Pamuk
205. Turkmenistan
206. Turks and Caicos Islands
207. Tuvalu
208. Uganda
209. Ukraine - Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
210. United Arab Emirates
211. United Kingdom - Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
212. United States of America - Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson
213. Uruguay
214. Uzbekistan
215. Vanuatu
216. Vatican City
217. Venezuela
218. Western Sahara
219. Western Samoa
220. Vietnam
221. Virgin Islands
222. Yemen
223. Zambia
224. Zimbabwe

39/224

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean you are going to be using the same list as Alex? Do you mean you'll be reading the same books, or you've copy+pasted their list of countries?

 

If you have difficulties coming up with Finnish titles, I would strongly recommend Purge by Sofi Oksanen. An excellent novel, in my opinion, and one that has gone international over the last few years, it's been quite successful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean you are going to be using the same list as Alex? Do you mean you'll be reading the same books, or you've copy+pasted their list of countries?

 

If you have difficulties coming up with Finnish titles, I would strongly recommend Purge by Sofi Oksanen. An excellent novel, in my opinion, and one that has gone international over the last few years, it's been quite successful.

 

Im using the same country list, there are a few different lists around but to make it simple I decided just to C&P his list. There will probably be some repetition with book titles but it won't be intentional.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, I shall see if I can find a copy in my library.

Edited by Brian.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you mean me, I'm a female Alex :P

 

I'm sure there will be some repetition (I'm currently reading a Jo Nesbo for Norway, although not the same title, and we've read the same for Afghanistan and Pakistan) but it's not something I overly consider. Unless someone reads a 5/5 book for a country I've not yet done and then I feel I must investigate!!

 

I'm sure as we get to the harder* countries, there will be a limited choice of options anyway.

 

*By harder, I mean countries with few authors translated into English

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im using the same country list, there are a few different lists around but to make it simple I decided just to C&P his list. There will probably be some repetition with book titles but it won't be intentional.

 

Ah, I didn't know there were different lists, that's what got me confused :)

 

If you mean me, I'm a female Alex :P

 

I did wonder if Brian meant you, and I thought it was odd because I'd always thought you were female, and so I had a hard time composing my previous post because I didn't want to use personal pronouns s/he out of uncertainty :D

 

Alexistar, I would also recommend Purge to you if you have problems finding a Finnish novel :) Oh I should probably buy a copy and send it to UK for one of you guys, I'm recommending the book to everyone who's interested in Finnish literature (or has to read it for some reason), that way you would have a copy and could do a book ring :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you mean me, I'm a female Alex :P

 

I'm sure there will be some repetition (I'm currently reading a Jo Nesbo for Norway, although not the same title, and we've read the same for Afghanistan and Pakistan) but it's not something I overly consider. Unless someone reads a 5/5 book for a country I've not yet done and then I feel I must investigate!!

 

I'm sure as we get to the harder* countries, there will be a limited choice of options anyway.

 

*By harder, I mean countries with few authors translated into English

 

I do apologise, it did cross my mind that I may have got your sex wrong but I didn't think to check. :blush2:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Ticked off another country, Spain this time with The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

 

I will do a full review on my book log in due course but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It's the first YA novel I have read and although it read very easily I didn't feel it was dumbed down at any point. Towards the end I really started to feel the tension wanting to know how it would all end and the ended was superb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to say, YA novels have an unfair bad rep among some adults. There are some really amazing YA novels out there. For example The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I think that's meant as a YA novel but it's brilliant, I would whole heartedly recommend it. And there are others but that's just off the top of my head.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to say, YA novels have an unfair bad rep among some adults. There are some really amazing YA novels out there. For example The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I think that's meant as a YA novel but it's brilliant, I would whole heartedly recommend it. And there are others but that's just off the top of my head.

 

The Book Thief

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Midnight Palace (another Zafon)

The Hunger Games

Divergent and following books in trilogy by Veronica Roth

 

I'm sure there are lots more... :smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I have managed to tick off 2 more countries from my list. Today I finished reading Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee for South Africa and I think most people would enjoy it. It is a book that will keep me mulling over the content for a while and it is also an easy book to read. I also remembered that I have read Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho for Brazil, it was a book I hated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have managed to tick off 2 more countries from my list. Today I finished reading Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee for South Africa and I think most people would enjoy it. It is a book that will keep me mulling over the content for a while and it is also an easy book to read. I also remembered that I have read Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho for Brazil, it was a book I hated.

 

Have you read The Alchemist by PC? This is just my humble opinion but compared to that VDtD is jolly good :D (Not that I still particularly liked it..,.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...