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Oh the places I'd go!


dtrpath27

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I have a bit of a wanderlust, but won't be able to satisfy it for awhile, so I thought this would be the next best thing!  My challenge is to visit my "top ten places to see" by reading a book either set in that place or written by an author from that place. 

 

If you want to do your own places challenge, please feel free to post your own list and progress on this thread.  The more, the merrier!  If you have suggestions for books that would fit my list, I'd love to hear them. :)

 

So in no particular order, here are the top ten places I'd go:

1.  Spain

2.  Turkey

3.  Ireland

4.  Portugal

5.  The Desert Southwest of the U.S. (Especially the Grand Canyon & the Pueblo cliff dwellings) 

6.  Nova Scotia

7.  India

8.  Peru

9.  Czech Republic

10.  Moscow

 

Many other lovely places I'd go in the world, but alas, I wanted to keep the list size reasonable so only ten!  Keep in mind that I only included places I've never visited. 

 

********

Below is the final list in order of countries visited. As I make my selections, I will update the list with a little blurb here.

 

1.  Ireland - The Dubliners by James Joyce

Originally published in 1914, it is often called one of the greatest short story collections in the English language.

A candid portrait of life in Dublin at the turn of the century, perhaps too candid it was argued at the time, Joyce had to resort to 18 publishers over nine years finally to bring the collection to life.  

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My knowledge of books related to these places is rather non-existent, I'm afraid, so I can't help you (although The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway came to mind, but the story is partly set in France, and only some of it is set in Spain), but I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of book recommendations you will receive and what you make of your armchair journey! I think this is a great idea for a thread :)

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This is an interesting idea :)! I don't know that many books either that take place in these places on top off my head that I've read, but I hope you find some nice books to go along with this challenge. I don't want to do a reading challenge at the moment, but on my list of places I'd like to visit (again?) would definitely be Greece, Italy, Austria, the United States and Japan.

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Thanks, ladies!  Truthfully I don't have any books in mind either.  I can think of one or two that I've read that fit the bill, but I want them to be fresh reads.  Last night I started looking around to compile a list, and it was so much fun!  I found books and authors that I'd never even heard of.  I downloaded a few samples but still have a ways to go.  I am hoping to narrow it to two or three books per country, then get input from the marvelously well-read people on here to help make the final choice.

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All recommendations welcome! :D I'm hoping to get a few recommendations/choices for each then narrow it down from there.  Eta:  I'm especially interested in recommendations that people have read before or that have been recommended to them.

 

Little W, I thought it'd be fun, too. That way, if I ever get there for real, I'll know a little something extra.

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Could I suggest some titles? For instance:

Spain: Blood Wedding, Federico Garcia Lorca. It's a play, not a novel but it does a great portrait on the spanish rural life of the early '900. I loved it.

Ireland: Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt or Paddy Clarke ha ha ha!, Roddy Doyle. Both novels, both face the tragedy of life with a sarcastic view.

 

Well, they're just ideas. I can't wait to see where your challenge will take you.

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Blast!  I should have reserved a spot at the top to organize the list.  That's alright.  I'll just add posts as I find them just like those who recommend things then update/compile it all later.  Problem solved.  :/

 

Okay, here are some that I've found so far:

 

Spain - The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Luiz Zaffon

Peru - The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

 

Desert Southwest is going to be a toughy...I'm excited for Nova Scotia.  Any Nova Scotians on here?

 

Edited to add:

Speaking of Nova Scotia...

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill

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Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingslover its YA but an older YA read about Arizona and deals with some Native American legends.  Check out the sample, you might like it. 

Edited by Anna Begins
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Nice idea! :)

 

I'm doing a Round the World challenge (which is going to take me years to complete the 224 books!) so I shall be following this with interest to see if you unearth some gems.

 

I do it by where the author was born, although obviously I try to get it set in that country too!

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Dtr

Good idea. I've also wanted to do this , so will be watching with interest . In regards to your above post about not remembering to reserve a slot to post your lists, just go into post 1 and you can edit it as you get ideas from others about what books to read for each country . That'd work ok, I think .

 

There are 2 I can think of that take place in the Newfoundland area, but not sure you'd want to count them for Nova Scotia. They are CLOSE to Nova Scotia :

The Shipping News- Anne Proulx

Colony of Unrequited Dreams - Wayne Johnston

 

Then : Fall on Your Knees - Anne Marie MacDonald  (Cape Breton Island-- Not sure on the map where that is in relation to Nova Scotia ...

 

 

India

 

The main ones I've read that come to mind are Rohinton Mistry's books :

A Fine Balance

Family Matters

 

Good luck !

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Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingslover its YA but an older YA read about Arizona and deals with some Native American legends.  Check out the sample, you might like it. 

Thanks! :)

 

Nice idea! :)

 

I'm doing a Round the World challenge (which is going to take me years to complete the 224 books!) so I shall be following this with interest to see if you unearth some gems.

 

I do it by where the author was born, although obviously I try to get it set in that country too!

224 books?  Wow! I'll have to check out your post; I'm sure you have some good ones.

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Dtr

Good idea. I've also wanted to do this , so will be watching with interest . In regards to your above post about not remembering to reserve a slot to post your lists, just go into post 1 and you can edit it as you get ideas from others about what books to read for each country . That'd work ok, I think .

 

There are 2 I can think of that take place in the Newfoundland area, but not sure you'd want to count them for Nova Scotia. They are CLOSE to Nova Scotia :

The Shipping News- Anne Proulx

Colony of Unrequited Dreams - Wayne Johnston

 

Then : Fall on Your Knees - Anne Marie MacDonald  (Cape Breton Island-- Not sure on the map where that is in relation to Nova Scotia ...

 

 

India

 

The main ones I've read that come to mind are Rohinton Mistry's books :

A Fine Balance

Family Matters

 

Good luck !

Wow!  Thank you for all l the great ideas.  I was looking for books set in Nova Scotia last night; there really weren't that many. :(  Searching for books by people from Nova Scotia opened up quite a few more options.

 

I've read quite a few books from India, but I haven't heard of this author.  I'll have to check it out.

 

I will ultimately edit the first post.  I am just a big visual/organizational nerd and like the tidiness of a separate post to organize my list.  :doh:

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The central section of Willa Cather's The Professor's House is a fictional account of the discovery and exploration of a ancient cliff dwelling in New Mexico set in the early part of the 20th century. It has some great descriptions and can be read as a stand alone.

 

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Edited by ethan
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For Spain, I'd recommend Jason Webster's non-fiction, and I can't decide which is my favourite between Duende all about his attempt to learn flamenco guitar and the journey that takes him on, or Sacred Sierra where he and his partner restore a farmhouse in the Sierra mountains, but he writes about the countryside, the people and some of the folklore of the region too.
 
One which fits in with both Spain and Portugal is The Stone Raft by José Saramago, and although his style of writing doesn't go down well with everyone and requires you to really focus on the book, I thought it was an outstanding read. 
 
For India, julie has already mentioned A Fine Balance which would have been one of my choices, but also in the fiction vein, I'd recommend A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth and Eclipse of the Sun by Phil Whitaker, plus anything by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
 
For a bit of lighthearted fun, you could vicariously take a trip to Ireland with Tony Hawks Round Ireland With A Fridge - great fun!
 
Hope that helps.  Enjoy your travels!  :)

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Also a different sort of book for India would be Behind the Beautiful Forevers, about the slums around Mumbai and life in them.  Fascinating.  By Katherine Boo.  One of my favorite books- or at least one that has made a major impression.

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The central section of Willa Cather's The Professor's House is a fictional account of the discovery and exploration of a ancient cliff dwelling in New Mexico set in the early part of the 20th century. It has some great descriptions and can be read as a stand alone.

 

.

Oooh!  Thank you so much.  I never would have come across that in my search.

 

For Spain, I'd recommend Jason Webster's non-fiction, and I can't decide which is my favourite between Duende all about his attempt to learn flamenco guitar and the journey that takes him on, or Sacred Sierra where he and his partner restore a farmhouse in the Sierra mountains, but he writes about the countryside, the people and some of the folklore of the region too.

 

One which fits in with both Spain and Portugal is The Stone Raft by José Saramago, and although his style of writing doesn't go down well with everyone and requires you to really focus on the book, I thought it was an outstanding read. 

 

For India, julie has already mentioned A Fine Balance which would have been one of my choices, but also in the fiction vein, I'd recommend A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth and Eclipse of the Sun by Phil Whitaker, plus anything by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

 

For a bit of lighthearted fun, you could vicariously take a trip to Ireland with Tony Hawks Round Ireland With A Fridge - great fun!

 

Hope that helps.  Enjoy your travels!  :)

The Ireland one sounds funny!  Thanks so much for all the suggestions.

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Also a different sort of book for India would be Behind the Beautiful Forevers, about the slums around Mumbai and life in them.  Fascinating.  By Katherine Boo.  One of my favorite books- or at least one that has made a major impression.

Sounds intriguing. Decisions, decisions.

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Okay, end of Day One, and here's what's been thrown in the ring:

 

1.  Spain

The Sun Also Rises by Hemmingway

Duende by Jason Webster

Sacred Sierra by Jason Webster

The Stone Raft by José Saramago

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Luiz Zaffon

Bloodletting by Federico Garcia Lorca

 

 

2. Turkey

 

3.  Ireland

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Paddy Clarke, ha, ha, ha! by Roddy Doyle

 

4.  Portugal

The Stone Raft by José Saramago

 

5.  Desert Southwest

The Professor's House by Willa Cather

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingslover

 

 

6.  Nova Scotia

Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slokum

The Shipping News by Anne Proulx

Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston

Fall on Your Knees by Anne Marie MacDonald

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill

 

7. India

A Fine Balance

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Eclipse of the Sun by Phil Whitaker

Author Ruth Prawler Jhabvala

Behind the Beautiful Flowers by Katherine Boo

 

8. Peru

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

 

9. Czech Republic

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera

 

10.  Moscow

Edited by dtrpath27
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I hope I didn't forget anyone's suggestions.  I was flipping back & forth trying to get them all. :/

 

So I still need something for Turkey and Moscow...could probably do with a couple more options in some of the others.  It looks like there are a lot of great suggestions for Spain, Nova Scotia and India, though!

 

Eta:  Just found one set in Turkey that looks interesting:  Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières.

Edited by dtrpath27
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