Janet

Yup. It's only 175 pages long and is reasonably large print because it's a 'young adult' book.

I finished Engleby this morning - and then I read Forever by Judy Blume this afternoon!

Hello. Are they books you've read this year, or are they ones you're planning to read?

I've read Animal Farm, 1984 and The Road to Wigan Pier, Jo-Bridge and I enjoyed them all. I will post a review when I get round to the others on my 'to read' pile. I've decided to amend this challenge slightly so that I read one book per decade of a children's novel as well as an adult one.

Me too. I also think Cherie and Rachel were best. The two of them plus Tom and Austin are the ones to watch. Although Jessie was awful, I did feel sorry for her as she was so upset.

Sorry - missed this. No, he didn't, but he did at lease recognise him, which is something of a miracle! Spiders.

Oooo - thanks for the link, Ann - it looks great. I've thought about OU but it's so expensive that it's out of the question at the moment. I've had a good look at history on that link and there is some interesting stuff, although there is clearly a Scottish bias so I guess perhaps this started out as a Scottish venture? Not that it matters - I'm happy to study Scottish poets/history - it's all interesting, after all!

Ooooh, matron!

Oh, me too. *swoons*

I like a lot of food that other people hate - e.g (lamb's) liver, sprouts, squid and olives!

Usually (about 99% of the time) I start a book immediately, but as Sara said above, sometimes a book makes me need a gap to digest - this is never more than half a day at most though.

There are a few for sale second-hand on Amazon but they're quite pricey.

Suggestions for future reads Albania -The Siege by Ismail Kadare Algeria - The Attack by Yasmina Khadra / What the Day Owes the Night by Yasmina Khadra Andorra - The teacher of Cheops by Albert Salvadó Angola - The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa Antigua and Barbuda - Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid Argentina - The Paper House by Carlos Maria Dominguez / The Tango Singer by Tomas Eloy Martinez Bangladesh - Brick Lane by Monica Ali completed Belarus - The Shadow of the Sun: My African Life by Ryszard Kapuscinski Barbados - Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord Belgium - Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill by Dimitri Verhulst completed Belize - Mangrove Roots Chronicles by Wanjiru Uhuru Bhutan - The Circle of Karma: A Novel by Kunzang Choden Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bridge Over The Drina by Ivo Andric Bulgaria - The Voices of Marrakesh by Elias Canetti - note to self - book (obviously!) not set in Bulgaria – there are other options for this author so check settings Cambodia - When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge by Chanrithy Him Cameroon - Houseboy by Mr Ferdinand Oyono Congo-Brazzavil​le - Little Boys Come from the Stars by Dongala Emmanuel Boundz Cote d'Ivoire - Allah Is Not Obliged by Ahmadou Kourouma Eritrea - My Fathers' Daughter by Hannah Pool /The Consequences of Loveby Sulaiman Addonia Estonia - Brecht at Night by Mati Unt Ethiopia - Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese Faroe Islands - The Old Man and His Sons by Heðin Brú Finland - Purge by Sofi Oksanen Greece - Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis Greenland - Eskimo Folk Tales by Knud Rasmussen (on Kindle) Guyana - Kiskadee Girl by Maggie Harris / Whole of a Morning Sky by Grace Nichols Guadeloupe -Crossing the Mangrove by Maryse Conde Haiti - Love, Anger, Madness: A Haitian Triptych by Marie Vieux-Chauvet Hungary - The Door by Magda Szabo - completed Iceland - Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir Indonesia - Twilight in Djakarta by Mochtar Lubis Israel - Let it be Morning: A Novel by Sayed Kashua Jamaica - The Same Earth by Kei Miller Jordan - Pillars of Salt by Fadia Faqir Kenya - One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina / The Challenge for Africa by Wangari Maathai Kyrgyzstan - Jamilia by Chingiz Aitmatov / The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko Malaysia - Evening Is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan / Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint Malta - South From Granada (Penguin Modern Classics) by Gerald Brenan - note to self - book (obviously!) not set in Malta – check to see if other options for this author set in Malta Martinique - Return to My Native Land (Bloodaxe Contemporary French Poets) by Aime Cesaire Mexico - Sweet Like Chocolate by Laura Esquivel Mozambique - Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto Nepal - Buddha's Orphans by Samrat Upadhyay Nigeria - A Time For New Dreams by Ben Okri / Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngoli Adichie / I Do Not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani Peru - Eva Luna by Isabel Allende - (think I have The House of the Spirits by same author) Portugal - The Elephant's Journey by Jose Saramago Saudi Arabia – Girls of Riyadh byRajaa Alsanea /The Belt by Ahmed Abodehman Senegal - Murambi, the Book of Bones by Boubacar Boris Diop / God's Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousmane Serbia - The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht completed Sierra Leone - A Long Way Gone: The True Story of a Child Soldier by Ishmael Beah / Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara Singapore - Foreign Bodies by Hwee Hwee Tan Somalia - Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed South Africa - Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor completed South Korea - The Bird by Oh Jung-hee / Our Twisted Hero by Yi Munyol / Fox Girl by Nora Okja Keller Spain - The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon completed Sudan - Minaret by Leila Aboulela / Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih/ Slave by Mende Nazer Syria -A Hand Full of Stars by Rafik Schami Togo - Do They Hear You When You Cry by Layli Miller Bashir United Arab Emirates - From Rags to Riches: A Story of Abu Dhabi by Mohammed A. J. Al-Fahim Various - Best European Fiction by Aleksandar Hemon Vietnam - The Tapestries by Kien Nguyen / Vietnam - Night, Again - Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam Yemen - I Am Nujood, Age10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali Zambia - Eagle in the Sky or Hungry as the Sea by Wilbur Smith / A Cowrie of Hope by Binwell Sinyangwe

I've been tempted into this! It will definitely broaden my reading, although it'll probably take me years to complete+. If books are in colour then I've read them, if they're in black then they're 'intended' reads and subject to change. I'd already considered this a month or so ago and started a tentative list in word, due to the fact that I'd read one from Afghanistan and one from Germany. UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED, the books are from the country the author was born in. 1 Afghanistan - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 10/10 2 Albania 3 Algeria 4 American Samoa 5 Andorra 6 Angola 7 Anguilla 8 Antigua and Barbuda 9 Argentina 10 Armenia 11 Aruba 12 Australia - The Book Thief by Markus Zusac 10/10 13 Austria - The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson 7/10 14 Azerbaijan 15 Bahamas 16 Bahrain 17 Bangladesh - Brick Lane by Monica Ali - 5/5 18 Barbados 19 Belarus 20 Belgium - Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill by Dimitri Verhulst - 4/5 21 Belize 22 Benin 23 Bermuda 24 Bhutan 25 Bolivia 26 Bosnia and Herzegovina 27 Botswana - The Screaming of the Innocent by Unity Dow - 10/10 - finished 04.09.11 28 Brazil - The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho - 8/10 29 British Virgin Islands 30 Brunei 31 Bulgaria 32 Burkina Faso 33 Burundi 34 Cambodia 35 Cameroon 36 Canada - No Time for Goodbye - Linwood Barclay - 8/10 37 Cape Verde 38 Cayman Islands 39 Central African Republic 40 Chad 41 Channel Islands - A Child's War by Molly Bihet - 2½/5 - finished 08.08.13 42 Chile - By Night in Chile - Roberto Bolaño - 5/10 - finished 01.08.11 43 China - Waiting by Ha Jin - 9/10 - finished 10.11.11 44 Colombia 45 Comoros 46 Congo Brazzaville 47 Congo Kinshasa 48 Costa Rica 49 Croatia 50 Cuba 51 Cyprus 52 Czech republic - Lovely Green Eyes by Arnošt Lustig - 6½/10 53 Denmark - Hitler's Canary by Sandi Toksvik - 8/10 54 Djibouti 55 Dominica - Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys - 4/5 - finished 28.03.18 56 Dominican Republic 57 East Timor 58 Ecuador 59 Egypt - Stones of Bobello by Edwar Al-Kharrat - 4/10 - finished 03.10.11 60 El Salvador 61 Equatorial Guinea 62 Eritrea 63 Estonia 64 Ethiopia - Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese - 4/5 - finished -01.12.14 65 Falkland Islands 66 Faroe Islands 67 Fiji 68 Finland 69 France - Candide or Optimism - Voltaire - 7/10 70 French Guiana 71 French Polynesia 72 Gabon 73 Gambia 74 Georgia 75 Germany - All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque - 9/10 76 Ghana - In a Free State - V S Naipaul - 4½/10 77 Gibraltar 78 Greece 79 Greenland - Greenland – Eskimo Folk-Tales - Knud Rasmussen – 3/5 - finished 16.08.13 80 Grenada 81 Guadeloupe 82 Guam 83 Guatemala 84 Guinea-Bissau 85 Guinee Conakry 86 Guyana - Kiskadee Girl - Maggie Harris - 3½/5 - finished 22.04.13 87 Haiti 88 Honduras 89 Hungary - The Door - Magda Szabó - 4/5 0 finished 13.08.12 90 Iceland - The House of Evidence by Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson - 4/5 - finished 29.03.13 91 India - A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry - 10/10 92 Indonesia 93 Iran - The Beginner's Guide to Acting English by Shappi Khorsandi - 10/10 - finished 12.09.11 94 Iraq 95 Ireland - The Sea - John Banville - 3/10 96 Israel - Scenes from Village Life - Amos Oz - 3½/5 97 Italy - I'm Not Scared by - Niccolò Ammaniti - 8/10 98 Ivory Coast 99 Jamaica 100 Japan - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami - 7/10 101 Jordan 102 Kazakhstan 103 Kenya 104 Kiribati 105 Kuwait 106 Kyrgyzstan 107 Laos 108 Latvia 109 Lebanon - Somewhere, Home - Nada Awar Jarrar - 8/10 - finished 10.04.11 110 Lesotho - Green Mountain Doctor - Colin Smith - 4/5 - finished 06.04.14 111 Liberia 112 Libya 113 Liechtenstein 114 Lithuania 115 Luxembourg 116 Macedonia 117 Madagascar 118 Malawi - The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind - A Memoir - William Kamkwamba - 4/5 - finished 08.06.12 119 Malaysia 120 Maldives 121 Mali 122 Malta 123 Marshall Islands 124 Martinique 125 Mauritania 126 Mauritius 127 Mexico - Down the Rabbit Hole - Juan Pablo Villalobos - 3/5 - finished 12.08.13 128 Micronesia, Federated States of 129 Moldova 130 Monaco 131 Mongolia 132 Monserrat 133 Morocco 134 Mozambique 135 Myanmar 136 Namibia 137 Nauru 138 Nepal 139 Netherlands - The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps by Michel Faber - 10/10 140 Netherlands Antilles 141 New Caledonia 142 New Zealand - Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones - 9½/10 143 Nicaragua 144 Niger 145 Nigeria - The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin - 3/5 - finished 01.09.16 146 Niue 147 Norfolk Island 148 North Korea 149 Northern Mariana Islands 150 Norway - The Christmas Mystery - Jostein Gaarder - 7½/10 151 Oman 152 Pakistan - The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid - 8/10 153 Palau 154 Palestinian Authority 155 Panama 156 Papua New Guinea - Killer Twist (Ghostwriter Mystery #1) by C A Larmer - 2/5 - 25.03.13 157 Paraguay 158 Peru 159 Philippines 160 Pitcairn Islands 161 Poland 162 Portugal - The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago - 3/5 - 10.04.13 163 Puerto Rico 164 Qatar 165 Rarotonga & the Cook Islands 166 Reunion 167 Romania 168 Russia - Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - 8/10 - 14.08.11 169 Rwanda 170 Saint Kitts and Nevis 171 Saint Lucia 172 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 173 San Marino 174 Sao Tome and Principe 175 Saudi Arabia 176 Senegal 177 Serbia and Montenegro - The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht - 4/5 - 28.03.12 178 Seychelles 179 Sierra Leone 180 Singapore 181 Slovakia 182 Slovenia 183 Solomon Islands 184 Somalia 185 South Africa - Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor - 3/5 - 22.03.12 186 South Korea - Please Look After Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin - 2½/5 - 06.07.17 187 Spain - The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - 4½/5 - 19.06.12 188 Sri Lanka - The Flower Boy - Karen Roberts - 8/10 189 Sudan 190 Suriname 191 Swaziland 192 Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson - 10/10 193 Switzerland - Heidi - Johanna Spyri - 7/10 194 Syria 195 Taiwan 196 Tajikistan 197 Tanzania 198 Thailand 199 Togo 200 Tonga 201 Trinidad and Tobago - In a Free State - V S Naipaul - 4½/10 202 Tunisia 203 Turkey 204 Turkmenistan 205 Turks and Caicos Islands 206 Tuvalu 207 Uganda 208 Ukraine 209 United Arab Emirates 210 United Kingdom - A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - 10/10 211 United States - The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks - 7/10 212 Uruguay 213 Uzbekistan 214 Vanuatu 215 Vatican City 216 Venezuela 217 Western Sahara 218 Western Samoa 219 Vietnam 220 Virgin Islands 221 Yemen 222 Zambia - Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin - finished 07.08.13 - 4/5 223 Zimbabwe - The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg - 10/10 53 Countries - 22.75% +Assuming I finish it at all! Purple = book read

16/233 = 6.87%

Oh, go on then - why not!

I'd forgotten about this thread. When I read it (July 2007) I said I felt ambivalent about it and gave it 5/10, but having studied it a bit closer for A level (I didn't get round to parts 2 or 3 but still intend to read them at some stage) I decided that it was actually quite good! Good luck with your A level, Suzanne. For the WW1 poetry, I bought this CD of poetry from the Great War. I don't know whether you are an auditory learner, but it certainly helped me so I'd definitely recommend it. What other texts are you doing?

Oh, me too. In fact, I vaguely remember my Mum changing my pocket money into the new decimal coinage - I was 5!