Alexi

I downloaded that one too so shall await your review with interest!

I finished A Life Too Short and have begun The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson, which will be my first book read electronically! Also visited the library to take back two books, swore I wouldn't take any out until I've reduced the stack I already have...and came out with another three. Fail.

I use the Plum novels like that too. I'm on to the 17th in the series now, and they definitely tail off after the tenth or so, but I like the characters and use them very much as filler (I've had some tough, emotional reads recently so am considering reading that next) so I don't expect a Pulitzer novel or anything, but they're fun and easy to read. I first started reading them when I was 16 or something, so they've been spread out over a decade! The Odin Misson sounds really interesting, I've added it to my wish list.

I'm still ploughing through A Life Too Short. Really fascinating and well written but quite painful for me too, because the illness Enke suffered from is close to the bone. I was really good last year and bought NO books, just used my library and freebies from my Mum. Oh how electronic reading has changed that....I can log into iBooks or amazon for the kindle app. I've been reading my current book for 5 days now and during that time have downloaded 15 books. Some free, not all. I also have a stack of real books (!) from the library and my massive TBR pile of books already in the house. I think I blame this place, too many recommendations!

Wow Janet, awesome list! I have a few on my library wish list but nothing this cmprehensive. But then I'm still in the enviable(?!) position of still being able to tick off easy countries, USA, Australia and most of Europe. Then it's going to get tougher!

I only read my first Sherlock last year, but they're all free on iBooks so I'll be joining you in completing the set!

There will be wine and cheesecake for all Book 6: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (Germany) 10/10 Fantastic book. Best of the six I've read for the challenge so far, really moving. I also got a little bit about the author at the end, interesting to read about his experiences under the Nazis having written this about WWI. Now I just need to work out why Janet has 233 countries and I have 224 when I thought we were working from the same list...fail.And also, J, how do you post that pretty map?!

I finished All Quiet on the Western Front last night. Fantastic read, but obviously upsetting content. Was hoping to jump into something lighter-hearted next, but some selfish turd has reserved my other library book so I can't renew it. I've therefore brought A Life too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke to the top of the reading pile. I'm two chapters in, and so far it's a great book, but it's already upsetting. (It's about a German goalkeeper who suffered from depression and committed suicide in 2009 for those unfamilar with the name). I really must look out something that basically ends happily ever after next!

I was tempted into this in October 2011. Definitely going to be a very long term challenge with no finish date in mind, given the length if I finish this at all I will treat myself to a large glass of wine and slab of cheesecake. Countries are where the author was born (obviously apart from Vatican City!). Unless I can't find ANYTHING else, I'm not including memoirs or non-fiction. 1. Afghanistan - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 2. Albania - The Fall of the Stone City by Ismail Kadare 3. Algeria 4. American Samoa 5. Andorra 6. Angola - The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa 7. Anguilla 8. Antigua and Barbuda 9. Argentina - Tequila Blue by Rolo Diez 10. Armenia 11. Aruba 12. Australia - Cloudstreet by Tim Winton 13. Austria 14. Azerbaijan 15. Bahamas 16. Bahrain 17. Bangladesh 18. Barbados 19. Belarus 20. Belgium - Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill by Dimitri Verhulst 21. Belize 22. Benin 23. Bermuda 24. Bhutan 25. Bolivia 26. Bosnia and Herzegovina 27. Bostwana 28. Brazil 29. British Virgin islands 30. Brunei 31. Bulgaria 32. Burkina Faso 33. Burundi 34. Cambodia 35. Cameroon 36. Canada - The Flying Troutmanns by Miriam Toews 37. Cape Verde 38. Cayman Islands 39. Central African Republic 40. Chad 41. Channel Islands 42. Chile - By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolano 43. China - Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke 44. Colombia 45. Comoros 46. Congo Brazzaville 47. Congo Kinshasa 48. Costa Rica 49. Croatia 50. Cuba - Spy's Fate by Arnaldo Correa 51. Cyprus 52. Czech Republic - Gargling With Tar by Jachym Topol 53. Denmark - The Last Good Man by A J Kazinski 54. Djibouti 55. Dominica 56. Dominican Republic - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz 57. East Timor 58. Ecuador 59. Egypt - Diary of a Country Prosecutor by Tawfik Al-Hakim 60. El Salvador 61. Equatorial Guinea 62. Eritrea 63. Estonia 64. Ethiopia - Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 65. Falkland islands 66. Faroe Islands 67. Fiji 68. Finland 69. France - Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 70. French Guiana 71. French Polynesia 72. Gabon 73. Gambia 74. Georgia 75. Germany - All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 76. Ghana 77. Gibraltar 78. Greece 79. Greenland 80. Grenada 81. Guadeloupe 82. Guam 83. Guatemala 84. Guinea-Bissau 85. Guinee Conakry 86. Guyana 87. Haiti 88. Honduras 89. Hungary 90. Iceland - House of Evidence by Victor Arnar Ingolfsson 91. India - Q & A by Vikas Swarup 92. Indonesia 93. Iran - Sky of Red Poppies by Zohreh Ghahremani 94. Iraq 95. Ireland - Room by Emma Donoghue 96. Israel 97. Italy 98. Ivory coast 99. Jamaica 100. Japan - A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro 101. Jordan 102. Kazakhstan 103. Kenya 104. Kiribati 105. Kuwait 106. Kyrgyzstan 107. Laos 108. Latvia 109. Lebanon 110. Lesotho 111. Liberia 112. Libya 113. Liechtenstein 114. Lithuania 115. Luxembourg 116. Macedonia 117. Madagascar 118. Malawi 119. Malaysia 120. Maldives 121. Mali 122. Malta 123. Marshall Islands 124. Martinique 125. Mauritania 126. Mauritius 127. Mexico 128. Micronesia, Federated States of 129. Moldova 130. Monaco 131. Mongolia 132. Monserrat 133. Montenegro 134. Morocco 135. Mozambique 136. Myanmar 137. Namibia 138. Nauru 139. Nepal 140. Netherlands - The Dinner by Herman Koch 141. Netherlands Antilles 142. New Caledonia 143. New Zealand 144. Nicaragua 145. Niger 146. Nigeria - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 147. Niue 148. Norfolk Island 149. North Korea 150. Northern Mariana Islands 151. Norway - The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo 152. Oman 153. Pakistan - The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid 154. Palau 155. Palestinian Authority 156. Panama 157. Papua New Guinea 158. Paraguay 159. Peru - City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende 160. Phillippines - Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco 161. Pitcairn Islands 162. Poland 163. Portugal 164. Puerta Rico 165. Qatar 166. Rarotonga & the Cook Islands 167. Reunion 168. Romania 169. Russia 170. Rwanda 171. Saint Kitts and Nevis 172. Saint Lucia 173. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 174. San Marino 175. Sao Tome and Principe 176. Saudi Arabia 177. Senegal 178. Serbia 179. Seychelles 180. Sierra Leone 181. Singapore 182. Slovakia 183. Slovenia 184. Solomon Islands 185. Somalia 186. South Africa - The Classifier by Wessel Ebersohn 187. South Korea - Please Look After Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin 188. Spain - The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 189. Sri Lanka 190. Sudan 191. Suriname 192. Swaziland 193. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson 194. Switzerland - Heidi by Johanna Spyri 195. Syria 196. Taiwan 197. Tajikistan 198. Tanzania 199. Thailand 200. Togo 201. Tonga 202. Trinidad and Tobago 203. Tunisia 204. Turkey 205. Turkmenistan 206. Turks and Caicos Islands 207. Tuvalu 208. Uganda 209. Ukraine - This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski 210. United Arab Emirates 211. United Kingdom - Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens 212. United States - The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald 213. Uruguay 214. Uzbekistan 215. Vanuatu 216. Vatican City 217. Venezuela 218. Western Sahara 219. Western Samoa 220. Vietnam - Postcards from Nam by Uyen Nicole Duong 221. Virgin Islands 222. Yemen 223. Zambia 224. Zimbabwe - The Voluptous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg 38/224

I've been toying with it and think I will now - helpful place to keep track of everything and like you say, we can chivvy each other on a bit! I've set a challenge to read 20 books off it this year, which seemed a lot until I realised I have USA and UK to tick off yet (although I'm reading "classics" I feel I should have already read for both!)

I read The Book of Chameleons for Angola, J, and would thoroughly recommend it!

Thanks, J, that sounds really good, as well as harrowing! I shall add it to my wishlist as the book for Botswana. My world challenge is likely to be as long term as yours I suspect! Started in September, 5 books out of 224 ticked off

Finished The Book of Chameleons, which was extremely unusual but I really enjoyed. Ticked off Angola on my challenge list too. Now started The Hound of the Baskervilles, because I felt bad I'd never read any Holmes.

When God Was a Rabbit is on my to read pile, so I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts My trouble is I have a massive to read pile, go to the library to return books, see more I want to read then have to prioritise those because they have to go back. Sigh.

I'm just about to start The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa, who was born in Angola and I have All Quiet on the Western Front about 4 books down the pile, so I'm making decent progress! I've never read any Stephen King, I really ought to add a book of his to my growing library wish list.

Sorry Janet, been away for work. I managed to finish it while travelling over the weekend, and I found exactly the same, hit about page 270 and that was me riveted. Made the mistake of trying to read the horrible bit (!) before bed. I'm such a child at heart still! It's also Sweden ticked off my world challenge list. Only 4 done so far but..!

I've now got to around halfway through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - and it's still a bit slow! I had been warned it takes a while to get into so I'm still hopeful.

Thank you guys! I did a history undergrad a degree (a while ago!) so it destroyed a lot of my reading history for pleasure genes, so I've been getting back into it this year and last year. I mainly enjoy 20th century stuff, particularly social history. But to be honest I'll give anything a go post-1500, anything further back and my brain won't seem to process dates!

Hi guys, I've been lurking for a bit but am now taking the plunge and de-lurking... I'm Alex, 25 from Manchester. I stumbled here after starting doing a World reading challenge, which I took up having discussed it with Janet on another corner of the internet. I was googling for suggestions for more obscure countries and I found this place, quite by chance. Having explored a bit further, I found her too! I read an awful lot of sports books (for work purposes) but I try a bit of everything else in between. I'm horrendously behind on "classics", which I am trying to improve! History and crime also form a large part of my reading material. Also love travel, sleep and wine.