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Came across this NF for Angola: Another Day of Life

It is by a Polish journalist covering the colonial/civil war in Angola in the mid-70s. I haven't read it, but it sounds interesting.

The Return of the Water Spirit, Jaime Bunda, Secret Agent: Story of Various Mysteries or The Book of Chameleons for Angolan fiction, perhaps?

Theo wrote: "Came across this NF for Angola: Another Day of Life

It is by a Polish journalist covering the colonial/civil war in Angola in the mid-70s. I haven't read it, but it sounds interesting."

Oh, yeah - excellent book! I second this. I've read most of Kapuscinski's books and I'd recommend all of them.

Whitney wrote: "Elise wrote: "The more I try to find translated works actually by authors from the countries on the list, the more I realise that I have always underestimated just how little interest English-speak..."

I'm with you. I follow a few people who read books in other languages and I'm often unable to find English translations. Even a lot of the authors that are well known to English-speaking readers don't have all of their works translated to English. Still, it could be worse. It must be harder getting translations of books originally in English in other languages.

Elise wrote: "I lean towards the first in the list, but reviews aren't great.
..."

Since you're leaning towards the first one, I've put that on the list. I don't think we need multiple entries for every category, particularly if people don't feel all that strongly about them.

Both nominated books (fiction and non-fiction) from Antigua & Barbuda are by the same author, Jamaica Kincaid, so I think I'll have a trawl for others...

Can I just ask people to be aware that what we are looking for here is a real flavour of each country. So while the books about civil wars/wars of independence for the non-fiction section are great if we can't find anything else, if you know books that illuminate more about the civilian population/history that would be even better.

Please don't stop suggesting war books just because I said that, though. I'm happy with those when I can't get the other sort, but I'm just not so keen that anyone who reads our eventual bookshelf will only see war, death and destruction - that's not representative of the people of any country.

Ruby is that how you see this bookshelf too?

Elise wrote: "The Return of the Water Spirit, Jaime Bunda, Secret Agent: Story of Various Mysteries or The Book of Chameleons for Angolan fiction, perhaps?"

These look great. Sigh, more tbr's.

I am happy to see "The Thing" under Antarctic fiction. The title of the novella is actually Who Goes There?. (The picture I posted is from the novelization of the movie.)

I'll nominate The Golem for Austria, cool and atmospheric and very much set in a particular time and place.

Whitney wrote: "Elise wrote: "The Return of the Water Spirit, Jaime Bunda, Secret Agent: Story of Various Mysteries or The Book of Chameleons for Angolan fiction, perhaps?"

These look great. Sigh, more tbr's.

I ..."

Who Goes There? seems like a better proposition than The Thing - I've never understood why the publishing industry feels the need to novelise films that had their origins in the book in the first place - why not just publicise the original?

Should The Golem be for Austria or The Czech Republic, given its set there?

Margaret wrote: "is an outstanding Australian book. May I suggest it? ."

Given that it's an unknown book, and the author is one of your friends, no. There won't be any more warnings.

Elise wrote: "Should The Golem be for Austria or The Czech Republic, given its set there?..."

Doh! Of course it's set in Prague! Total brain fade. I withdraw The Golem. I like the current Austrian fiction nomination anyway.

For non-fiction, though, I suggest The World of Yesterday. Haven't read it, but have really liked the other things I've read by Zweig. And he's Austrian. And he writes stuff about Austria. I don't know if he writes about Czechoslovakia.

Whitney wrote: "Elise wrote: "Should The Golem be for Austria or The Czech Republic, given its set there?..."

Doh! Of course it's set in Prague! Total brain fade. I withdraw The Golem. I like the current Austrian..."

I like the look of the Austrian one too. We'll come back to The Golem hopefully.

Okay, time for a refresher on the parameters of the activity:
- We're looking for ONE fiction and ONE non-fiction book per country.

- It's possible that we'll get more than one nomination for each category as different people suggest things, but only one per person will be put on the list.

- Both should be as representative of that country as possible, preferably written by a local author.

-Non-fiction books should preferably give a sense of the social history, and particularly the cultures of the Indigenous people.

If we can focus our efforts on filling in the gaps, that'd be great. :)

Elise wrote: "The Return of the Water Spirit, Jaime Bunda, Secret Agent: Story of Various Mysteries or The Book of Chameleons for Angolan fiction, perhaps?"

I'd go for the second one, as I like that it's contemporary. But what do others think? I'll put one up when we've decided.

Drawing a complete blank on American Samoa (so impressed with Ruby for finding Tutuila). When it comes to non-fiction - HELP!

Edit: Course, it would also help if I was spelling it right in search engines DOH!

Elise wrote: "Drawing a complete blank on American Samoa (so impressed with Ruby for finding Tutuila)...."

There are a lot of (American and Western) Samoan people where I'm going. I want to do the right thing by them!

Theo wrote: "Saw this one for Samoan NF: My Samoan Chief

Don't know about this one. It's written by an American who married a Samoan and moved there with him. It's about her struggles with the cultural differe..."

That will probably be great when we get to Samoa, but that is about the nation of Samoa, whereas I'm currently looking for books in/about American Samoa, the unincorporated territory of the USA.

Sorry I know on "paper" it sounds like nit-picking, but it isn't in this context.

Elise wrote: "Theo wrote: "Elise wrote: "Can I just ask people to be aware that what we are looking for here is a real flavour of each country. So while the books about civil wars/wars of independence for the n..."

I ended up deleting my post because I felt that it probably wasn't necessary. I completely get what you are saying.

Okay, I have been searching and searching on the internet. Best I found was an American Samoan Poet, Alchemies Of Distance. Advantage - with poetry, you can put it under fiction AND non-fiction!

Whitney wrote: "Samoan Fiction: Wendt: Flying-Fox Ina Freedom Tree looks cool!

Non-Fiction. NOT Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation, please."

Wendt: Flying-Fox Ina Freedom Tree is another one that will be great when we get to Samoa itself. (It's about Samoa, not American Samoa, right? I thought I had understood from my research that Wendt's books were.)

The only way I'm having anything to do with
Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation in my "quest" for books about a nation is if I read it in conjunction with one of the books that debunks it!

Elise wrote: "another one that will be great when we get to Samoa itself. (It's about Samoa, not American Samoa, right?..."

Yes, sorry. I already deleted my original post, it was more in response to Ruby's comment about a lot of Samoans being in the place she's going, then I remembered what this thread is supposed to be. I also wanted to head off the Mead before someone suggested it, glad to see my efforts were unnecessary.

But, drum role please, I give you Think Of A Garden And Other Plays. American Samoan all the way!

Whitney wrote: "Elise wrote: "another one that will be great when we get to Samoa itself. (It's about Samoa, not American Samoa, right?..."

Yes, sorry. I already deleted my original post, it was more in response ..."

Cool, 2 American Samoan fiction choices now! Now just for non-fiction! *sigh*. Or we just call the poetry "non-fiction" (in desperation?)

Theo wrote: "Elise wrote: "Theo wrote: "Elise wrote: "Can I just ask people to be aware that what we are looking for here is a real flavour of each country. So while the books about civil wars/wars of independ..."

Best delete mine too then, or it just becomes a very odd unnecessary non-sequitur!

Elise wrote: "Whitney wrote: "Samoan Fiction: Wendt: Flying-Fox Ina Freedom Tree looks cool!

Non-Fiction. NOT Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation, please."
..."

If you're looking for a response to the whole situation, The Trashing of Margaret Mead: Anatomy of an Anthropological Controversy is a look at the entire controversy. It seems to be more of a look at the US reaction to it all than to American Samoa itself, but one of the questions the summary I read lists is "What did Samoans themselves think?" Which, if actually covered, would be an interesting perspective.

I'm giving American Samoa a rest for a while I think - on to Andorra - hopefully I can find some non-fiction that isn't about ski resorts! First place on the list I've visited (though not to ski and it was 20 years ago, so I don't remember all that much except beautiful scenery).

Theo wrote: "Elise wrote: "Whitney wrote: "Samoan Fiction: Wendt: Flying-Fox Ina Freedom Tree looks cool!

Non-Fiction. NOT Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisat..."

I've seen a few like this. Of course, we could just list Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation under the fiction heading!

Knowing nothing about Ascension Island, I naturally went to Wikipedia. It is part of the larger " British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha". Maybe you could combine them to make life a little easier?

My woeful rusty schoolgirl French allows me to make sense of about half of the only review of Le Goût De La Lecture so I think it would have been really interesting for Andorra if only it had been translated. On with the search!

Not ideal, but All Andorra for non-fiction?

Theo wrote: "Elise wrote: "Theo wrote: "Elise wrote: "Can I just ask people to be aware that what we are looking for here is a real flavour of each country. So while the books about civil wars/wars of independ..."

It's okay, Theo. There's no problem with suggesting books like this. We'll just make sure there's a good mix of non-fiction topics overall, and the ones by non-locals will hopefully only be needed if we can't find any by locals :)

Whitney wrote: "Okay, I have been searching and searching on the internet. Best I found was an American Samoan Poet, Alchemies Of Distance. Advantage - with poetry, you can put it under fiction AND non-fiction!"

Nice find! I'm never really sure what constitutes non-fiction, so I've added this book to N-F if you think that's appropriate.

Whitney wrote: "But, drum role please, I give you Think Of A Garden And Other Plays. American Samoan all the way! ..."

We already had one of each, so what do you suggest?

Ruby wrote: "Whitney wrote: "But, drum role please, I give you Think Of A Garden And Other Plays. American Samoan all the way! ..."

We already had one of each, so what do you suggest?"

I suggest I pay more attention to the categories that need filling when I'm searching for books. Other than that, whatever y'all decide for countries with more than one nominated entry.

Whitney wrote: "Knowing nothing about Ascension Island, I naturally went to Wikipedia. It is part of the larger " British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha". Maybe you could combi..."

I'd like to stick to the list. If we really, truly can't find anything for Ascension island, we can always use a book that covers that region and list it against Ascension Island. When I catch up with this thread, I'll have a little look too.

Of course, what would REALLY help me catch up with this thread is for people to not be deleting posts all the time.....!

I can get a hard copy of Think Of A Garden And Other Plays in the UK, but can just as easily get the kindle copy of Tutuila from amazon.com (All my kindle books come from amazon.co.uk so far, can I download direct to my kindle from an overseas amazon site, does anyone know? Or do I need to download it to my laptop and transfer by cable?) So I'm easy. Put both on for now? Or just leave it as Tutuila?

(As I've said before I may end up reading both).

Whitney wrote: "I suggest I pay more attention to the categories that need filling when I'm searching for books. Other than that, whatever y'all decide for countries with more than one nominated entry. ..."

LOL. What I meant was which is fiction and which is non-fiction out of the three? I'm not good with that distinction!

To clarify, we have:
Alchemies Of Distance - poetry
Think Of A Garden And Other Plays - plays
Tutuila - short story anthology (memoirs)

Whitney wrote: "Knowing nothing about Ascension Island, I naturally went to Wikipedia. It is part of the larger " British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha". Maybe you could combi..."

Ascension was an uninhabited island when discovered by European explorers, so it's really always been more of a military stop-off than anything else. It still has no permanent population. There are only two regular sailings PER YEAR from St Helena and no non-military flights in. Clearly without an indigenous or even a permanent "colonial" population it's a non-starter from the "books written by Ascension Islanders" point of view.

However, it did play a part in the Royal Navy's suppression of the West African slave trade in the nineteenth century, so I might well look into it from that point of view - if there's anything to find. If not, then yes, I guess we'll have to combine them.

**This thread is closed for repairs**

I'll open a new one when I've cleaned up the list and made the guidelines a little clearer. Thanks.