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June's Around the World Book Challenge


Talisman

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It's a shame the longer anthology has gone out of print but I might have a look for this shorter version. With folktales I particularly like the way you see universal human fears and questions but portrayed uniquely depending on that culture. I suppose that the 'Round the World' challenge does the same thing really, but on a more complex level, with more modern considerations.

 

Do you think you could do the challenge again, picking different books for each country? 

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If I really wanted to I could - and if I didn't mind reading loads more paper as opposed to Kindle books. I think I would struggle to be honest though to find more than one book that I wanted to read from some of the countries. There are always going to be some countries like that. New countries do pop up now and then as well, as borders change and people demand their independence. 

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  • 1 month later...

Another few countries completed at the close of the old year:

 

My Fathers Daughter by Hannah Pool for Eritrea 

Gallivanting on Guam by Dave Slagle for Guam

The Ships by Roberto Quesada for Honduras

 

That brings the total to another 34 countries completed this year: Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, Eritrea, French Polynesia, Guam, Honduras, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Namibia, North Marianna Islands, Panama, Qatar, St Vincent, San Marino, Serbia, Sudan, Switzerland, Venezuela 

 

 

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  • 5 months later...

Countries I have got through this year include a few overseas territories that are not on my original list -

 

So Many Islands by Thomas Laughlin for Fiji, Kiribati and Niue, 

Tropic of Violence by Natasha Appanah for Mayotte

The Old Man and the Mastiff by Patrick Chamoiseau for Martinique

The Svalbard Passage by Thomas Kirkwood for Svalbard

Silent Territory by Fredrik Louren for Western Sahara 

Edited by Talisman
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  • 4 months later...

A few more countries I have completed in recent months:

 

The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan for Cote D'Ivoire

Patchwork by Ellen Banda-Aaku for Zambia

The Blind Fisherman by Mia Couto for Mozambique

The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay for Kashmir

Beyond the Rice Fields by Naivo for Madagascar

Uncertain Light by Marion Molteno for Tajikistan

My Trip to the Central African Republic by Martin Whitacker for Central African Republic

White Sand Blue Sea by Anita Hughes for St Barts

Conquered Hearts by Michael Heath for Jersey

Rivers of Babylon by Peter Pistanek for Slovakia

 

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  • 6 months later...

Countries completed so far this year:

 

The Undesirables by Mark Isaacs for Nauru

To the Lake by Kapka Kassabova for North Macedonia

Zeina by Nawal El Sadaawi for Egypt

Walpurgis Tide by Jogvan Isaksen for Faroe Islands

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah for South Africa

Savage Island by Basil Thomson for Nieu and Tonga

Seven Graves by Christoffer Petersen for Greenland

A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum for Palestine

Under a Maltese Sky by Nicola Kearns for Malta

I am Nujood, Aged Ten and Divorced by Nujood Ali for Yemen

Colony by Hugo Wilcken for French Guiana

French Sand by Catherine Broughton for New Caledonia

Getting Stoned with the Saves by J Maarten Troost for Vanuatu

Out of Africa by Karen Blixen for Kenya

The Fish and Rice Chronicles by PG Bryan for Micronesia and Palau

 

I think I've only got a dozen or so countries left now.

 

 

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  • 6 months later...

A few more additions as the year is about to come to a close:

 

Lost in the Jungle by Yossi Ghinsberg for Bolivia

Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan for Taiwan

Why the Dutch are Different by Ben Coates for The Netherlands

In The Castle of My Skin by George Lamming for Barbados

Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo for Nigeria

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina for Japan

The Dry by Jane Harper for Australia

Kim Jiyouong, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo for South Korea

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd for Palestine 

A Single Swallow by Zhang Ling for China

Asking For It by Louise O'Neill for Ireland

Mythos by Stephen Fry for Greece

I Am an Island by Tamsin Calidas for Scotland

The Bee Keeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefreri for Syria

 

and loads more from Iceland - as always!

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  • 3 months later...

I am nearing completion of this challenge now with just a few countries left and must admit that I will miss it.

 

There have been a few more books to add though this year:

 

The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manal for Tunisia

Gerta: A Novel by Katerina Tuckova for Czech Republic

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor for Mexico

Back to Moscow by Guillermo Erades for Russia

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey for Trinidad and Tobago

Monkeys are made of Chocolate by Jack Ewing for Costa Rica

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On 24/03/2021 at 5:10 PM, Talisman said:

I am nearing completion of this challenge now with just a few countries left and must admit that I will miss it.

Aww, how many left to go?

 

Any particular favourites from your more recent ones?

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On 26/03/2021 at 7:21 PM, Hayley said:

Aww, how many left to go?

 

Any particular favourites from your more recent ones?

 

The Trinidad book I would say, which like the other book I read from there was quite an unusual read.

 

As to how many countries - I can count them now on one hand. I will almost definately complete it this year, but there's still so many good books from different countries to read, that I think I'll unofficially carry on regardless. :D

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6 minutes ago, Talisman said:

The Trinidad book I would say, which like the other book I read from there was quite an unusual read.

Weirdly, this was the one I thought sounded really interesting on your list! Maybe it's a sign that I should get it :lol:.

 

8 minutes ago, Talisman said:

As to how many countries - I can count them now on one hand.

That few!? 

 

9 minutes ago, Talisman said:

but there's still so many good books from different countries to read, that I think I'll unofficially carry on regardless. :D

Good idea! Maybe you could keep updating on here anyway though? Anybody else doing the round the world challenge can use it to help them pick the books then. Plus I've found some books I'd never otherwise have heard of from this thread! 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 29/03/2021 at 8:22 PM, Hayley said:

Weirdly, this was the one I thought sounded really interesting on your list! Maybe it's a sign that I should get it :lol:.

 

That few!? 

 

Good idea! Maybe you could keep updating on here anyway though? Anybody else doing the round the world challenge can use it to help them pick the books then. Plus I've found some books I'd never otherwise have heard of from this thread! 

 

I'm more than happy to do that are there are just so many great books from different parts of the world out there. You could literally never run out of them. 

 

It's been a really great thing for me to do I must admit. I have always been interested in world affairs and of course love to travel (something I am missing so much during Covid) and this has taught me so much about the world - other cultures, the way that refugees are treated and what it's like to be a woman in different parts of the world. Stuff that you can't read about to the same degree in any other way, not really. Some of the books about poverty in the US have been a real eye opener - I knew things wwere tough out there for many but not that bad. They have it much worse than we do here in every conceivable way - no free healthcare for one and hardly any workers rights.

 

On 30/03/2021 at 3:14 AM, poppy said:

You're doing amazingly well, Talisman!

Books on your list I've particularly enjoyed are Mr Pip, The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Out of Africa, and anything non-fictional by Lillian Beckwith.

 

They were all great books - especially the 100 Year old Man which made me just laugh an laugh - a brilliantly funny book and complete and utter wee take.

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On 09/04/2021 at 4:17 PM, Talisman said:

this has taught me so much about the world - other cultures, the way that refugees are treated and what it's like to be a woman in different parts of the world. Stuff that you can't read about to the same degree in any other way, not really.

If we had a like button I would be liking this repeatedly :lol:. A huge part of the importance of reading, beautifully summarised. 

 

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5 hours ago, Hayley said:

If we had a like button I would be liking this repeatedly :lol:. A huge part of the importance of reading, beautifully summarised. 

 

 

5 hours ago, Hayley said:

If we had a like button I would be liking this repeatedly :lol:. A huge part of the importance of reading, beautifully summarised. 

 

 

Or you could always double post to show your enthusiasm! 

 

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  • 7 months later...

I have finished - I completed the last country on my list last night!

 

When I get round to it I'll fill in all the books I read but the ones I have done since the last post are as follows:

 

An Evening in Guanima by Patricia Glinton-Meichalas for The Bahamas

The Tale of Aypi by Ak Welsapar for Turkmenistan

Yasmeena's Choice by Jean Sasson for Kuwait

At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig by Jim Gimlette for Paraguay

An Island Away by Daniel Putkowski for Aruba

 

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On 16/12/2021 at 9:00 PM, Talisman said:

 

I have finished - I completed the last country on my list last night!

 

Yay! Well done! 
 

On 16/12/2021 at 9:00 PM, Talisman said:

At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig by Jim Gimlette for Paraguay

This sounded so crazy a title I had to look it up - didn’t expect it to be travel writing! (It sounds very good though, was it?)

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On 24/12/2021 at 9:10 AM, Hayley said:

Yay! Well done! 
 

This sounded so crazy a title I had to look it up - didn’t expect it to be travel writing! (It sounds very good though, was it?)

 

It was a bit boring to be honest - but the only book I could find from that country alas.

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