Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Around the World in 80 Books

If you are a book lover and/or reader of this blog, you must know the "Show Us Your Books" link-up.  (If not, ask me, because it's the best link-up everrrrr!)

On last week's link-up, I stumbled upon a blogger who is participating in a book challenge called "Around the World in 80 Books".

I do love myself a book challenge.  And, I love to travel.  And, if I read a book set in another country, it's kinda, sorta like I'm traveling and exploring another culture without the travel costs.  Win.  I like goodreads.  I like lists.  And, I like finding new books.  This is totally a challenge for me.



I'm playing around with a goal/bucket list of "50 Before 50" (except, I'm hating the thought that I'm rolling towards 50).  This is going to be one of those goals...to "travel" around the world in 80 books before the 17th of June 2023.  I've got plenty of time to do this.

So, I joined this group on goodreads.  I looked at my "to read" list; based on that list, I had a pretty good list going.  I'd already selected many books set in various countries.  Go me!  I already own 7 of the books I've selected that I've picked up at secondhand bookstores along the way.  Finally, I'll get around to reading them.

 

The group has a wonderful catalogue of suggestions for books by country.  I'm going to have fun with this...
  1. AFGHANISTAN - When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi
  2. ARGENTINA - Perla by Carolina De Robertis
  3. AUSTRALIA - Hades by Candice Fox
  4. AUSTRIA - A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler
  5. BOLIVIA - Lost in the Jungle by Yossi Ghinsberg
  6. BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA - People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
  7. BOTSWANA - Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  8. BRAZIL - Blood-Drenched Beard by Daniel Galera
  9. BURMA - The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly
  10. CAMBODIA - Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick
  11. CANADA - The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
  12. CHILE - The Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  13. CHINA - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
  14. COLOMBIA - Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  15. CONGO - The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
  16. CROATIA - Girl at War by Sara Novic
  17. CUBA - The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
  18. CZECH REPUBLIC - The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
  19. DENMARK - The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
  20. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
  21. ECUADOR - The Queen of Water by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango
  22. EGYPT - The Woman Who Would Be King by Kara Cooney
  23. ENGLAND - The Red House by Mark Haddon
  24. ESTONIA - Purge by Sofi Oksanen
  25. ETHIOPIA - Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
  26. FALKLANDS - Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton
  27. FIJI - Wreckage by Emily Bleeker
  28. FINLAND - Snow Angels by James Thompson
  29. FRANCE - The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
  30. GEORGIA - A Time of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux
  31. GERMANY - The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow
  32. GREECE - The Island by Victoria Hislop
  33. GUERNSEY - Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter
  34. HAITI - An Untamed State by Roxanne Gay
  35. HUNGARY - The Door by Madga Szabo
  36. ICELAND - Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason
  37. INDIA - A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
  38. IRAN - A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea by Dina Nayeri
  39. IRAQ - Home Front by Kristin Hannah
  40. IRELAND - In the Woods by Tana French
  41. ISRAEL - Devil in Jerusalem by Naomi Ragen
  42. ITALY - The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi
  43. JAMAICA - A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
  44. JAPAN - Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino
  45. KENYA - Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
  46. LIBERIA - Beyond the Mango Tree by Amy Bronwen Zemser
  47. LUXEMBOURG - The Expats by Chris Pavone
  48. MALAYSIA - Stranded by Emily Barr
  49. MEXICO - The Cartel by Don Winslow
  50. MONACO - Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
  51. NEPAL - Sold by Patricia McCormick
  52. NETHERLANDS - Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch
  53. NEW ZEALAND - The Cleaner by Paul Cleave
  54. NIGERIA - Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  55. NORTHERN IRELAND - I Hear the Sirens in the Street by Adrian McKinty
  56. NORWAY - Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbo
  57. PAKISTAN - Secrets of the Henna Girl by Sufiya Ahmed
  58. PALESTINE - The Almond Tree by Michelle Cohn Corasanti
  59. PAPUA NEW GUINEA - New Guinea Moon by Kate Constable
  60. POLAND - The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
  61. ROMANIA - The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness
  62. RUSSIA - The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
  63. RWANDA - The Flower Plantation by Nora Anne Brown
  64. SCOTLAND - Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride
  65. SIERRA LEONE - A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
  66. SINGAPORE - A Different Sky by Meira Chand
  67. SOMALIA - A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett
  68. SOUTH AFRICA - A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn
  69. SPAIN - For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
  70. SRI LANKA - Island of a Thousand Mirrors by Nayomi Munaweera
  71. SWEDEN - The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell
  72. SYRIA - The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
  73. THAILAND - The Day of the Wave by Becky Wicks
  74. TURKEY - River of the Dead by Barbara Nadel
  75. UKRAINE - Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
  76. USA - Cross Justice by James Patterson
  77. VIETNAM - Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
  78. WALES - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
  79. ZAMBIA - Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller
  80. ZIMBABWE - We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
I will keep my progress updated on this page.  Wish me luck in my travels!
Are there any books from other countries that you think are "must reads"?

12 comments:

  1. This is a totally awesome challenge! I would love to participate but judging on how I am feeling at your other challenge I'm thinking maybe I should just focus on finishing that one first! Still I might put this on the bucket list for reading and attempted at one point!

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  2. Ahh, thanks for inviting me to the Goodreads group!! I've been trying to read more international (i.e. non-American) authors this year, so this challenge just takes it one step further! :)

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  3. dude, you know how i love making lists, but this one looks pretty herculean... i admire your gumption, girl.

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  4. I love this idea, but I think I need to finish the BBC Big Read before I set myself any new challenges ;-)

    I really enjoyed Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Good choice :-)

    A book set on the Falklands? MUST read that! My dad fought in the Falklands War, so I'm fascinated with the place.

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  5. I have another blogger friend who's working her way through the challenge. Here's the link to her most recent post about it: http://femmefrugality.com/category/around-the-world-in-80-books/

    I love the idea of this challenge but as we've noticed, I suck at doing reading challenges. I did bookmark this list for ideas, though. I know you're going to kick ass reading all the books because that's what you do.

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  6. This is the coolest list and challenge! What an awesome idea! Good luck!

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  7. I was looking at the books on IG this morning & love this idea... I dont travel so doing it via books is perfect for me :)

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  8. Holy cow and good luck, I don't think I could do this challenge. I thought about trying out the Popsugar 2016 challenge but I'm just not sure, I should probably decide before 2017 rolls around.

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  9. This is such a fun idea for a book challenge, and who doesn't love a good book challenge, right? It's an even better score that you had several books on your TBR list, and that you already owned several of them!

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  10. oh my gosh this is amazing! i will definitely have to have a look at this challenge and see if i can add another to my list :)

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  11. Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley for Kenya- hands down!

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