Olympic Challenge general thread

[abecedarian]

The Olympic Challenge is about reading around the world. The person who thought of it is a Bookcrossing member, and she first issued the challenge in December 2005. The idea is to read one author per nation participating in the Olympic Games by the end of the 2008 Summer games. http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/6/3057734/174

The list of participating nations is something like 180 or so, I think, but there are 202 world nations in all. Scotland is not included in the Olympic list because they go with Great Britain, and I personally wanted to include this country, so I have. I would say that those starting at a later date can just extend their timeframe. The point is to enjoy finding new authors and new viewpoints.

[Kell]

For anyone trying to find out all the countries involved, I had a look on Wikipedia & found this entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Participants

[Garry]

So, do we start with the letter A and work our through? A is for Afghanistan. How the hell do you find books from there?

[Kell]

Garry, I nipped along to Amazon & typed "Afghan authors" in the search box. Only one came up:Sayd Bahodine Majrouh with a book of poetry, but I'm pretty sure that if you popped something along those lines in for each of the countries, there'd be suggestions listed.

[abecedarian]

I wouldn't want to do it alphabetically personally, but I suppose one could :wink: Google search is a wonder too.."Afghan authors" might net a couple of websites with suggestions.

[Sugar]

I am reading The Kite Runner at the moment, and as it is set in Afghanistan, I googled the author.

From www.khaledhosseini.com - "Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1965."

Sorted!

[Kell]

OK, I haven't done very many yet, & I backtracked to cover the last month or so, but here goes:

Finished:
Life of Pi by Yann Martel - Spain
Broken by Kelley Armstrong - Canada
Q&A by Vikas Swarup - India
Geisha of Gion by Mineko Iwasaki - Japan
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - Russia
The Five People You meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom - USA

On the list:
Empress Orchid by Anchee Min - China
The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith - Zimbabwe
Beneath the Pyramid by Christian Jacq - France
The Magicians Guild by Trudi Canavan - Australia
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - I'm not sure - she was born in Germany to Ukrainian parents, so what would she be?

Currently reading:
Emma by Jane Austen - Great Britain

So, a long way to go, then - LOL!

[Lilywhite]

I might try and give this one a go and see how far I get :)

[MonkeyCatcher]

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - I'm not sure - she was born in Germany to Ukrainian parents, so what would she be?

I think that you can choose that for either Germany (because of the author) or the Ukraine (because of the setting). ABC will be able to verify that, though :D

[Freewheeling Andy]

I'm interested. Is non-fiction included? Are short-story collections? Or is it just novels?

[Michelle]

I think later today I'll open a special forum for this, and move the threads into it. I hope that's ok with everyone?

[Kell]

Fine with me. :)

[Michelle]

I think I've moved all the threads so far.. if I've missed any, please let me know. :)