Jump to content

Alex's Around the World Challenge


Alexi

Recommended Posts

Awww, well maybe you're just enjoying your normal reading?

 

Btw, I giggled when I read "WC challenge", as in Dutch, WC is the abbreviation of the old fashioned word watercloset, we all say WC (in Dutch pronounciation 'weecee') and it means the toilet. So a toilet challenge :giggle:.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 85
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I've enjoyed most of what I've read.  I tend to put books I'm not enjoying to one side now, rather than persevering, as I have too many books to read to waste time on one that's not working for me!  :)

 

WC means Water Closet for toilet in the UK too - although it's an old-fashioned name for it now and isn't really used much!  :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Now completed my tenth World Challenge book of 2013 :D 

 

*awards self small glass of wine* 

 

The Last Good Man by AJ Kazinski (Denmark) 

 

Full review in my book log but another enjoyable read. I'm on a bit of a roll at the moment! (Vietnam apart obviously). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I have rather neglected this challenge recently! But I have now completed The Fall of the Stone City by Ismail Kadare (Albania). Review to allow, but I enjoyed it and thought it gave a good (brief) insight into Albanian culture and history. 

 

33/224 now completed and my map now looks like this: 

 

ScreenShot2014-03-21at135740_zps0cebae5f

Edited by Alexi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I have now completed Gargling with Tar by Jachym Topol (Czech Republic) and Please Look After Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin (South Korea). Reviews are in my book log, but while I enjoyed the former I think a lot of it was lost on me as a person with little knowledge of Czech culture (it read like it should be satire). 

 

The South Korean one is  a plodder, but it's really wonderfully written and thought-provoking. 

 

I am now up to 35/224 books. My map now looks like this:

 

8814_zps3f7d40d6.jpg

Edited by Alexi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I started this in October 2011, which means I'm three years in. I've recently finished Sky of Red Poppies for Iran, which I loved. Set in the 1960s, it centres on two best friends, one who comes from a wealthy family and is encouraged to ignore the increasing signs of revolution, and the other who gets seriously involved in the opposition.

 

I really enjoyed it and thought it was perfect fort challenge.

 

That brings me to 36/224 books completed, which means an average of 12 books per year which isn't too bad. However, I know most of that was at the start and I'm slowing down. I have another 11 on my TBR which count for this challenge so I must make an effort to get all of those read in the next 12 months.

 

I am enjoying this challenge, I've read some great books I wouldn't have picked up otherwise - although I've also read some I would advise others not to go near! (My choices for Phillippines and Vietnam spring to mind!)

 

Favourites so far definitely Iran, Ethiopia (Cutting for Stone), Germany (All Quiet on the Western Front), India (Slumdog Millionaire Q & A) and Iceland (House of Evidence). Honourable mention for Cuba (A Spy's Fate).

Edited by Alexi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

*blows dust off thread *

 

Slow progress with this challenge having just read my first one in 2015! Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria). 

 

I rated it as 3/5 and the review is in my log, but from the point of view of the challenge I thought it was a great one to choose. It really gave me a sense of the struggle faced by Igbo people during the Nigeria/Biafra civil war. 

 

I also forgot to log one book at the end of last year - Diary of a Country Prosecutor by Tawfik Al-Hakim. Given I remember zero about it, perhaps not one to consider :D

 

That brings me to a grand total of 38 out of 224 books completed. Good job I still have a lot of years ahead of me, eh? ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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...