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Oh the places I'd go!


dtrpath27

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As soon as I saw Spain I was going to recommend The Shadow of the Wind, I loved that book, but you'd already thought of it :D

 

Although it was a few years ago I read it, I remember liking Cecilia Ahern's The Book of Tomorrow, that was set in Ireland. There was another really good book I read set in Ireland but I really can't remember the name of it now. If it comes to me I'll let you know!

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Yay! More for Ireland. :D. Let me know if you think of another.

That's two for The Shadow of the Wind...

 

Eta:  More random thoughts on this challenge:  I think I'm going to buy physical books of the ones I choose for the challenge instead of e-books or library books.  I'd like to be able to line them all up on my shelf and read over & again. 

 

This is the first reading challenge I've ever done.  The whole concept is rather growing on me.  I actually have some ideas on more to do after I finish this one.

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Day Two updates:

 

1.  Spain

The Sun Also Rises by Hemmingway

For Whom the Bell Tolls 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

Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières

Portrait of a Turkish Family by Irfan Orga

 

3.  Ireland

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

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

The Dubliners by James Joyce

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecilia Ahrens

 

4.  Portugal

The Stone Raft by José Saramago

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemmingway

The Lusiads (Os Lusíadas), by Luís de Camões

The Following Story by Cees Nooteboom

 

5.  Desert Southwest

The Professor's House by Willa Cather

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingslover

The Man Who Walked Through Time by Colin Fletcher

 

6.  Nova Scotia

Sailing Around the World Alone 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

The Twelve Chairs by Ilf and Petrov

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

Doctor Zhivago by Pasternak

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Well, narrowing it down is proving to be more difficult than I thought!   There are so many great options...

 

I was able to cull the longest list, Spain, down to three choices:  For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemmingway, The Stone Raft by José Saramago and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Luiz Zaffon.  

 

With Turkey, I've read samples of both choices and just can't decide. They're very different books, but both look wonderful.  So many decisions.  I did, however, manage to narrow down one of the countries.

 

The first country on my trip around the world will be...Ireland!  I will be reading The Dubliners by James Joyce.  It had a lot of things going for it:  both author and setting from the country in question, classic literature, great characters.  The main reason I chose it, however, is because it's actually a collection of short stories.  I love a good short story and there are no other short story collections on the list.  I thought that it would make a great addition to my journey and bring a little variety to things.  So off I go to Ireland, compliments of Mr. Joyce!

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I'm a bit late but I just remembered the name of that book, it was The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. I had in my head that it was the scarlet something and it was throwing me off :doh: . Oh well maybe it can be an option if you re-visit Ireland later :D

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The Dubliners is well underway and proving to be an interesting read.  It's time to start thinking about the next leg of my journey.  I believe the next stop on my journey will be the city of Moscow.  Elegant and mysterious, it's always been high on my list of places to visit in real life.  Now what to read...

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My journey to Ireland is complete!  Unfortunately, The Dubliners by James Joyce was not quite the tour I was hoping it would be. Although it did provide glimpses of a wide cross-section of people in turn of the century Dublin, the lack of connection to those characters coupled with the abrupt, unresolved endings were unsatisfying to me.  I might revisit Ireland later on and try one of the other books on the list.  Until then, off to Moscow!

 

The book I've chosen for this leg of the journey is the great Russian classic, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.  It's quite a long one, so wish me luck!

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Once again, great minds think alike, Athena!  War and Peace is also on my list but I thought I'd tackle Anna Karenina first as it seemed very slightly less daunting.   So far, it seems to be not as bad as I thought it might be.  Of course, I'm only about ten chapters into the 130 or so in the book.   :giggle2:

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I found The Dubliners a bit disappointing when I read it too. It's a really interesting book to study though, you can find loads of interesting interpretations on the stories. I think because it's little snippets of different lives without any complete story, when you get to the end of the book without having read a story it feels quite strange!

 

I hope you enjoy Anna Karenina more, I've never read anything by Tolstoy so I'll be interested to see what you think :smile:

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I found The Dubliners a bit disappointing when I read it too. It's a really interesting book to study though, you can find loads of interesting interpretations on the stories. I think because it's little snippets of different lives without any complete story, when you get to the end of the book without having read a story it feels quite strange!

 

I hope you enjoy Anna Karenina more, I've never read anything by Tolstoy so I'll be interested to see what you think :smile:

Haley, that's exactly how it felt!  I can see where it would be interesting to analyze, but it is strange not to have read a single complete story in a book of stories.

 

I'm actually really enjoying Anna Karenina so far.  It's a big one, though, so we'll see where it goes. 

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