abecedarian's Olympic Challenge

[abecedarian]

Here's what I done so far:

1. Broken April-Ismail Kadare(Albania)*

2. The Fish Can Sing-Halldor Laxness(Iceland)*

3. Reef-Ramesh Guneskera (Sri Lanka)

4. Things Fall Apart-Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)-excellent

5. a.Suffer the Children-Mary Rafftery(Ireland)
b. Ireland: A Novel-Frank Delaney (Ireland)
c. The Committments, The Snapper, The Van-Roddy Doyle(Ireland)*

6. Whale Rider-Whiti Ihimera (New Zealand)

7. The Butcher's Wife-Li Ang (Taiwan)

8. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter- Mario Varga Llosa (Peru)

9. The Rice Mother-Rani Manecka (Malaysia)* Excellent

10. The Women at the Pump-Knut Hamsun(Norway)

11. The Fat Man from La Paz-ed. Rosario Santos (Bolivia)-didn't like at all

12. The Wandering Unicorn-Manuel M. Lainez (Argentina)

13. Voices Made Night- Mia Cuoto (Mozambique)

14. Breath, Eyes, Memory-Edgwige Danticat(Haiti)

15. Shalimar the Clown-Salman Rushdie(India)

16. Broken Verses-Kamilla Shamsie (Pakhistan)* Excellent

17.a. Never Let Me Go-Kazuo Ishiguro (England)
b. Anansi Boys-Neil Gaiman (England)-excellent
c. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrelle-Susanna Clarke
d. Transgressions-Sarah Dunant

18. Dirt Music-Tim Winton (Australia) *

19. The Pearl-John Steinbeck (USA) *

20. Reading Lolita in Tehran-Azir Nafisi (Iran) *

21. Barabbas-Par Lagerkvist (Sweden)

22. A Bed of Red Flowers-Nelofer Pazira (Afghanistan)

23. Tears of the Giraffe-Alexander McCall Smith (Botswana)

24.Troll-Johanna Sinisalo (Finland)

25. The Shadow of the Wind-Carlos Ruiz Zafon(Spain)*

26. The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea-Yukio Mishima(Japan)*
Excellent-don't miss this one!

27. Korea Unmasked-Won-bok RHIE(Korea)

28. The Reader-Berhard Schlink (Germany)

29. Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Childhood-Fatima Mernissi
(Morocco)

30. Cry the Beloved Country-Alan Paton (South Africa) Wonderful

31. In the Time of the Butterflies-Julia Alvarez (Dominican Republic)*
Excellent

32. Lolita-Vladimir Nabakov* Excellent

33. Sunset Song-Lewis Grassic Gibbon (Scotland) * Excellent

34. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana-Umberto Eco (Italy) *Excellent

35. Where We Once Belonged-Sia Figiel(Samoa)

36. The Night Of White Chickens-Francisco Goldman(Guatamala)

37. Love and Garbage-Ivan Klima (Czech Republic) * Excellent

38. A Sister of Scheherazade- Assia Djeber (Alegeria) good

39. Daughter of Fortune-Isabel Allebde * Excellent


* Want to read more by this writer

[Garry]

Excellent. Loads of people I've never heard of although with The Pearl I'm already one up.

So, anyone else going to join in this thing? Kell said yes. :wink:

Oh, and are they difficult reads? And which would be a good starter?

I really think this is a great idea and it will mean i'm not as ignorant as I probably am about the world. Here's to learning, I'll drink to that. :alc:

[abecedarian]

Excellent. Loads of people I've never heard of although with The Pearl I'm already one up.

So, anyone else going to join in this thing? Kell said yes. :wink:

Oh, and are they difficult reads? And which would be a good starter?

I really think this is a great idea and it will mean i'm not as ignorant as I probably am about the world. Here's to learning, I'll drink to that. :alc:

Um, define difficult! Some are easier than others, but one or two require a dictionary close at hand..Lolita for one. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana required a lot of concentration since Eco is a detail freak. I didn't care for Voices of the Night, but someone who likes morbid tales might love it. The stories are extremely well written, reminding me of a book of stories by American William Gay..can't think of the title at the moment..but every story was about death..

I'll pretend these yellow crittersa are drinking bottles water and return your toast: :alc:

[Freewheeling Andy]

What a good and interesting list.

Broken April is a woinderful book by one of my favourite authors. It's so dark and nasty and unredeemed, though, and some people I know have had problems with it. If you want to read more I'd most recommend The File On H, followed by the spectacularly dark General Of The Dead Army.

A few of Kadare's books end up as being rather simple, and might frustrate. The second most recent - Spring Flowers, Spring Frost, for example, is nothing like as good as some of the earlier stuff.

-

A quick big up to Dirt Music by Tim Winton, too, which I loved. The only other of his I read "The Riders" is very weird and disturbing, but nothing like as enjoyable

[abecedarian]

[quote="Freewheeling Andy"]What a good and interesting list.

Broken April is a woinderful book by one of my favourite authors. It's so dark and nasty and unredeemed, though, and some people I know have had problems with it. If you want to read more I'd most recommend The File On H, followed by the spectacularly dark General Of The Dead Army.

A few of Kadare's books end up as being rather simple, and might frustrate. The second most recent - Spring Flowers, Spring Frost, for example, is nothing like as good as some of the earlier stuff.

-
My dh and I both had problems with Broken April. But after I reread a couple of passages and thought about the book some more, I started thinking differently about the whole thing. I could easily see how Kadare might have had difficulties with the Albanian government and establishment. Nothing light and airy about this book; Kadare deals with the harsh realities of life and death and speaks out against the 'system.'

[MonkeyCatcher]

I've noticed that you have read quite a few obscure books for this challenge - how did you manage to get books that weren't available from the library? (I can see that I'm going to have a bit of trouble with that)

[abecedarian]

I think obscure is a really loose term MC..its only obscure if it ain't in Kansas :angel: I've been pleasantly suprised at the international liiterature available here. Just yesterday while googling for Caribbean authors, I found a terrific site that had a link to a library collection..turns out its one of the larger libraries in Kansas..and they had a very long list of Caribbean titles to choose from. But they're the ones who usually have everything else too.

[abecedarian]

I thought I'd better update my Olympic Challenge list since it has been a long time since I last did so. As of today, here's the lineup:

1.Canada: Tigana-Guy Gavriel Kay
Lines on the Water-David Adams Richards
Widdershins-Charles deLint
Country of Unrequited Dreams-Wayne Johnston
2.Algeria: Broken April-Ismael Kadare
3.Chinese Taipai: The Butcher's Wife- Li Ang
4.Iceland: The Fish Can Sing-Halldor Luxness
5.New Zealand: Whale Rider-Witi Ihimaera
6.Nigeria: Things Fall Apart-Chinua Achebe
No Longer At Ease-Chinua Achebe
7.Sri Lanka: Reef- Ramesh Gunesekera
8.Peru: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter-Mario Vargas Llosa
9.Malaysia: The Rice Mother-Rani Manicka (highly recommended)
10.Norway: The Women at the Pump- Knut Hamsun
The Half Brother- Lars Christensen
11.Bolivia:The Fat Man From La Paz-ed. Rosario Santos

12.Argentina: The Wandering Unicorn-Manuel Mujica Lainez
13.Mozambique-Voices Made Night-Mia Cuoto (not reccomended)
14.USA-Dan Eldon: The Art of Life-Jennifer New
Travels With Charley-John Steinbeck
The Pearl-J. Steinbeck
15.Haiti-Breath,Eyes, Memory-Edwidge Danticat
16.India-Shalimar the Clown- Salman Rushdie
A Fine Balance-Rohinton Mistry (excellent)
17.Pakhistan- Broken Verses- Kamila Shamsie
18.England- Never Let Me Go- Kazio Ishiguro
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell-Susanna Clark
Trangsressions-Sarah Dunant ; Anansi Boys-Neil Gaiman
Heavy Water and Other Stories-Martin Amis
19.Australia-Dirt Music-Tim Winton, The Book Thief-Marek Zusak

20.Iran: Reading Lolita in Tehran- Azar Nafisi
21.Sweden: Barabbas- Par Lagerkvist
22.Ireland: The Committments; The Snapper; The Van(the Barrytown Trilogy) by Roddy Doyle
Suffer the Children- Mary Rafftery
Ireland: A Novel-Frank Delaney
Angela's Ashes-Frank McCourt
'Tis- Frank McCourt
23.Afghanistan: A Bed Of Red Flowers-Nelofer Pazira
24.Botswanna: Tears of the Giraffe- Alexander McCall Smith
25.Spain: The Shadow of the Wind- Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Club Dumas- Arturo Perez Reverte
26.Finland: Troll-Johanna Sinisalo
27.Japan: The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea-Yukio Mishima
Silence-Shusako Endo;
A Grain of Wheat-Toyohiko Kagawa
28.Korea: Korea Unmasked- Won-bok RHIE
29.Germany: The Reader- Bernhart Schlink
Perfume-Patrick Suskind
30.Morocco: Dreams of Trespass- Fatima Mernissi
31.South Africa: Cry, the Beloved Country-Alan Paton
32.Dominican Republic: In the Time of Butterflies-Julia Alvarez
33.Russia: Lolita- Vladamir Nabakov; First Circle;
One Day in the Life Of Ivan Denisovich- Alexsander
Solzhenitsen
Soul-Andrei Platonov
A Dream of Polar Fog-Yuri Rytkheu
Anna Karenina-Leo Tolstoy
34.Scotland: Sunset Song-Lewis Grassic Gibbons
35.Italy: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana,Foucault's Pendulum- Umberto Eco
If On a Winter's Night a Traveller-Italo Calvino
36.Samoa: Where We Once Belonged- Sia Figiel
37.Guatemala: The Long Night of White Chickens-Francisco Goldman
38.Czech Republic: Love and Garbage- Ivan Klima
Metamorphosis and Other Stories-Franz Kafka
39.Algeria: A Sister of Scherazade-Assia Djibar
40.Chile: Daughter of Fortune-Isabel Allende
41.Angola-Return of the Water Spirit-Perpetula
42.Cape Verde: The Last Will and Testament of Senhor de LaSilva Araunjo- Germano Almedia
43.Mexico: Like Water For Chocolate- Laura Esquivel
44.Serbia: Time Gifts- Zoran Zivkovic
45.Estonia: The Compromise- Sergei Dovlatov
46.Vietnam: The Stars, The Earth, The River-Le Minh Khue
47.Trinidad: Stories from Blue Latitudes-ed. Elizabeth Nunez
48.Uruguay: The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories- Horacio Quiroa
49.China: Bound Feet and Western Dress-Pan Mei Natasha Chang
50.Somalia: From a Crooked Rib-Nuruddin Farah
51.Andorra-Views from the Bridge of Europe
52.Latvia: Views from the Bridge of Europe
53.Luxembourg: Views from the Bridge of Europe
54.Antigua-Annie John-Jamaica Kincaid
55..Tajikstan: Hurramabad- Andrei Volos
56.Bangledesh: Janini-Sharkat Osman
57.Egypt: Miramar- Naguib Mahfouz
58.Bahamas: The 99 Cent Breakfast-Patricia Glinton Meicholas
59.Cook Islands: The Book of Puka-Puka- Robert Dean Frisbie
60.Bosnia: Zlata's Diary- Zlata Filipovic
61.Kiribiti: Sex Lives of Cannibals- J. Maarten Troost
62.Georgia: The Winter Queen-Boris Akunin (readily available in English and very good!)
63.Lebanon: The Stone of Laughter- Hoda Barakat
64.Bulgaria: Natural Novel- Georgi Gospodinov
65.Sudan: The Wedding of Zeine- Tayeb Salih
66.Singapore: The Bondmaid- Catherine Lim
67.Belgium: Marcel- Erwin Mortier (Dutch)In the Shadow of the Ark-Anne Provoost
68.Philipines: Comfort Woman-Maria Rosa Henson
69.Laos: Mother's Beloved-Outhine Bounyavong
70.Portugal: The Relic-Eca De Quieroz
71.Tunisia: Behind Closed Doors-Monia Hejaie
72.Slovakia: Incipient Feminists-Norma Rudinsky
73.Solomon Islands: Two Hill Diggers-Geralda Kauhuroasiva
74.Barbados: In the Country Of My Skin- George Lamming
75.Cameroon: Houseboy-Fernando Oyono
76.Kazakstan: Night Watch-Sergei Lukyanenko
77.Palestine: Arab Women: Between Defiance and Restraint-ed. Suha Sabbagh
78.Swaziland: Nest in A Cage-Fohik Ogunleye
79. Jordan: Pillars of Salt-Fadia Faqir
80.Uzbekestan: The Railway-Hamid Ismailov
81.Cote d'Ivoire: As the Crow Flies-Veronique Tadjo
82.Armenia: Efronia: An Armenian Love Story-Stina Katchadorian
83.Ecuador: Bruna and Her Sisters in the Sleeping City-
84.St. Kitts: Crossing the River-Caryl Phillips
85.Bahrain: QuixotiQ- Ali Al Saeed
86.Israel: Israel, Palestine and Peace-Amos Oz
87.Djibouti-Fools, Thieves and other Dreamers-Abdourham Ali Waberi
88.Benin: Fools, Thieves and other Dreamers-Florent Couoa-Zotti
89.Senegal:Fools, Thieves and Other Dreamers-Seydi Sow
90.Kenya: Land Without Thunder:Short Stories-Grace Ogot
91.Burma/Mynamar: Freedom From Fear-Aung San Suukyi
92.Thailand: Sightseeing- Rattawut Lapcharoensap
93.Hungary: Fateless-Imre Kertesz
94.Brazil-Esau and Jacob-Joachim Machado
95.Central African Rep.-African Tales: Folklore of the CAR
96. American Samoa-The Birth and Death of the Miracle Man-Albert
Wendt
97. Zimbabwe-House of Hunger-Damb udzo Marechera
98. Cambodia-First They Killed My Father-Loung Ung
99.Croatia-Night-Verdana Rudan
100.Guyana-The Ventriloquist's Tale-Pauline Melville
101.Libya-In the Country of Men-Hisham Matar
102. Ethioia- From the Hyena's Belly-Nega Mezlekia
103. Cuba-Dreaming in Cuban-Christina Garcia
104. Honduras-The Big Banana-Robert Quesada
105. Guinea-The Dark Child- Camara Laye
106. Costa Rica-Years Life Brief Days-Fabian Dobles
107. Uganda-The Abyssinian Chronicles-Moses Isegawa

[Kell]

WOW! You've been doing a lot of reading! I might have to check some of those out myself for my own OC...

[abecedarian]

WOW! You've been doing a lot of reading! I might have to check some of those out myself for my own OC...

Addictive, isn't it?:readingtwo: ;) :readingtwo:

[Kell]

I haven't read nearly as many as you have, but I'm trying to read at least one foreign author each month, just to keep myself on track. I'm reading a Philippa Gregory novel at the moment, but I confess I've already read several of hers for my Kenyan entry - I just like her so much I had to read a few more! Some i've been going over old ground a little bit, but I have more waiting on my shelves for other countries. I've promised myself that my next foreign one will be from a country I haven't yet covered...

It's definitely making me more aware of where authors come from because each time I hear of a new author, I'm checking up on where they were born to see if they'll qualify for my OC! :lol:

[Nici76]

I'm reading a Philippa Gregory novel at the moment, but I confess I've already read several of hers for my Kenyan entry - I just like her so much I had to read a few more!

I really like Phillippa Gregory as well, I think she writes very well and I have a couple of her books on my TBR pile! :D - Didn't know she was from Kenya though - talk about learn something new every day!!!