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2019 Around the World in Books Challenge

January 1 �� December 31 2019

1. General outline

Anyone accepting the challenge must set a reading route around the world.

Choose a book to read from an author from each country in your route. One book by country only. And you can’t include your own country.

You may come and go to any of the five continents (America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania) and any island, big or small (say, Cuba, Malta, Australia, etc.).

No need to go to every continent.

Set any quantity of countries / books to read, starting from two.

Example of a simple, easy, two continent / two country route:

From South Africa to Australia and back �� through the Strait of Magellan, reading two books.

2. Setting your route and choosing your difficulty level

Level 1 �� DIFFICULT

Routes must be planned as if you were travelling by car or by ship. No airplane travel routes.

Once you land on a mainland continent, you can only travel by land until you leave that mainland.

So, you can’t go directly from Portugal to Austria, for instance. You must go through Spain, France and Germany �� or any other alternative. Except, of course, for islands, like Ireland, Guernsey, Sicily, etc., to which you may go from any coastal country.

In this level your way is made more difficult. Crossing a continent will require more reading. Beware of regions with the most landlocked countries. This level is “No Country for Old Men��!


Level 2 �� MEDIUM

Travel by car or by ship only.

After you enter a continent, you must go from a country to a contiguous country, if by land, but you can go to another country in the same continent by sea as well.

In this level you can go from Portugal to France by sea, skipping Spain, but from there on, the only way to Austria is by land, so you should have to read a book in France, and then in Germany, for instance, before going to Austria.

Why is that? The purpose of the challenge being reading from different national literatures , if you want to read an author each from Portugal and Austria, you’ll be stimulated to investigate French and German literatures to find great books you might not think of otherwise. Well, not interested in Germany? That’ll make you consider going throgh Italy and read an Italian author instead!

This is “On the Road�� level.


Level 3 �� EASY

You can go from any country to any other one. Travelling by plane allowed, as well as by baloon, flying saucer, magic carpet, Star Trek teleportation etc. Any route, read at will.

“Passenger to Frankfurt�� level.

3. Joining the challenge

>> Choose a level.
>> Choose the countries you’ll go to.
>> Choose the books you’ll read there.

>> Then present your travel / reading plan by posting a message like this:

-----------------------------------------------------

Level 1 �� Difficult
Read so far: 1/6

1. France �� Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (January 20)
2. Angola �� Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret by Ondjaki
3. India �� Selected Short Stories by Rabindranath Tagore
4. New Zealand �� A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh
5. Canada �� Dear Life by Alice Munro
6. US �� Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

And back to France.

----------------------------------------------------

>> As you follow your route, indicate the dates. you finished each book, like in book 1 above.

You can just present a written plan, like above, or additionally draw the route using Google Maps or any other online resource and link to it. (Like in the other example in message 2 below.)
Or just draw it with a pencil, take a photo, post the image, you name it. Any graphic form of presenting your route is optional.

4. Scoring

>>> One book, one point.

Competition will be separate in each of the three levels.

5. Route changing

>> You can change your original route along the year, substituting, adding or eliminating countries and/or books.

As you like it!

If you complete your original route, for instance, and want to go to more countries / read more books.

Or draw a too ambitious plan and decide to downsize it.

Just edit your original post.

>> Each change just has to go by the rules of the level you chose to compete at.

>>> Sample post <<<

(Hopefully will be my own reading plan! :-)

Notice that I used an English edition first, so that anyone can understand what the book is, but also included a link to the edition I'll actually read. This is not necessary, is totally optional.

--------------------------------------------

Level 1 �� Difficult
Read so far: 0/6

1. Argentina - Histórias fantásticas by Adolfo Bioy Casares
2. Chile - Ways of Going Home (Formas de Voltar para Casa) by Alejandro Zambra
3. Japan - 14 Contos de Kenzaburo Oe (14 Short Stories) by Kenzaburō Ōe
4. Russia - Poor Folk (Gente Pobre) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
5. Finland - Copper Heart by Leena Lehtolainen
6. Norway - The Blind Goddess (A Deusa Cega) by Anne Holt
7. Sweden - The Dogs of Riga (Os Cães de Riga) by Henning Mankell
8. Denmark - Anecdotes of Destiny (Anedotas do Destino) by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)

And back to Argentina.

My route can be viewed in My Maps by Google Maps here:



Zoom in or out for more details.
Click on the book icon in each country in the map to see book cover and details.
Or click on each country on the list on the left.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions


1. Do I have to have a round trip?

Yes! Because it is the ... AROUND the World ... challenge!

Could I start in Ireland and end in Afghanistan?

No.


2. About the round trip concept. If I start in say, England, do I need to read a book by an English author both at the beginning and the end?

No, you do not need to read a last book from the same country in the end.

But your last book read must be in a country from where you can travel back to England (in your example) according to the rules of your chosen level of difficulty.

If you have a look at the sample travel / reading plan under "4. Joining the challenge", you'll see that one starts in France, the last book is from the US and there is a last travel back to France, but not a last book in France.


3. Do we have to read the books in the order that I have them listed?

What if in the future I read an extra book that would fit in between two others, could I go back and put it in there?

No, we don't. Because, remember, we can add or eliminate books / countries anytime, as we like. That would change the reading order anyway,

So, we can read in any order. And make changes, inclusions, etc.


4. I don't want to plan the entire reading list. I want to choose as I progress. I want to pick up what I want to read when I reach the country.

That’s totally possible.

Remember, we can change the route any time. So, if we can trace a route and then change it, why not trace it step by step?

We should, of course, still follow the rules of our choice of level.


5. I don’t know, this challenge seems to be difficult for me.

Don’t be scared! The difficult level is just the first one. Have you had a look at levels 2 and 3?

There are many factors that can make the challenge a very easy one.

The idea was of offering different levels of difficulty.

If you like the idea of planning, go to level 1, where you can still plan an easier or more difficult route, depending on how many books / countries you choose, or where the countries are.

If you want an even more challenging plan, you can apply your own further restrictions, like choosing all the books from one genre (maybe Fiction? Non-fiction? Theatre?), or choosing only Classics!

But if, on the contrary, you like this level and want it easy, plan a route with a few countries only.

No planning at all for you? There's level 3, where you can read as easy as two books anywhere in the world. Say, from Canada to France and back, and that's it! Nothing can be easier.

Therefore, we have a wide range of difficulty, easily adaptable to anyone! :-)

Reserved

Places to look for Book/Author Suggestions:

Wikipedia list of authors from different countries:

49 Books From 49 Countries:

A Year of Reading the World (196 Countries list):

This list will be a work in progress, so if you have a suggested resource, post a comment and I will add!

Reserved for participant list

Hi all! This challenge is now open! The credit for the idea and design of this challenge all goes to Marcos. We held off starting this one to give him time to come back, but have decided it’s time to get this going so participants have a place post and keep track and a place to discuss what they’re choosing, etc.

The rules and Frequently Asked Questions are outlined in posts above this one, and if have any questions, please let me know!

Happy Reading All!

Level 3 - Easy
6/?

1. Australia - Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers - January 9th
2. Canada - In Real Life by Cory Doctorow - January 13th
3. Britain - The End We Start From by Megan Hunter - January 21
4. Croatia - The Night at the Museum by Milan Trenc - January 27
5. Nigeria - My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite - February 6
6. Germany - The Reader by Bernhard Schlink - Mar 19

Level 1 �� Difficult
Read so far: 9/13

1. Ireland - Hide the Elephant by Jonathan Dunne February 8
2. United Kingdom - The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware January 6
3. Netherlands - Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal April 30
4. Germany - The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
5. Poland - Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
6. Ukraine - The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
7. Russia - Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov September 22
8. China - Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love by Xinran October 19
9. India - The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni April 29
10. Pakistan -I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai August 16
11. Indonesia - Paper Boats by Dee Lestari March 27
12. Japan - I Am a Cat by Sōseki Natsume
13. Canada - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery January 24

Difficulty 3: Easy
Completed: 11/11

This is going to be pretty fluid as I select books/routes to read throughout the year. I am also going to start and end in my home country (more fun that way), but not include it in the count so as to appease the rules. The goal is to hit every part of the world, but eastern Europe, Africa, and South/Central America are difficult to traverse on hard difficulty. I look forward to seeing other routes for inspiration.

USA
Canada: Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames January 19
Korea: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee February 20
Singapore: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan May 8
New Zealand: The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris June 12
Germany: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind December 15
Switzerland: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse August 30
Ireland: Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer July 26
United Kingdom: Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien January 18
France: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry November 12
Nigeria: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe December 26
South Africa: Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah February 25
USA

Difficulty Level 3 (May up this later)

TBD

Level 3 �� Easy
Read so far: 15/36

I'm starting with ��é�澱���� because I hardly ever read anything by writers from my own country and I think I should change that.
I also noticed I have few Asian and African books so I need to focus on those continents.

��é�澱����: La Torre de los Sueños by Agustín Fest - ✔️ February 5
1. Guatemala: Limin - Una Nina de Chimel by Rigoberta Menchú
2. El Salvador: La diabla en el espejo by Horacio Castellanos Moya
3. Nicaragua: El taller de las mariposas by Gioconda Belli - ✔️ May 6
4. �ʱ��ú: Travesuras de la niña mala by Mario Vargas Llosa
5. Chile: Hija de la fortuna by Isabel Allende
6. New Zealand: Māori Boy: A Memoir of Childhood by Witi Ihimaera - ✔️ Oct 7
7. Australia: Vault of Verona by Marissa Price - ✔️ July 26
8. Japan: Battle Angel Alita Vol. 1 by Yukito Kishiro - ✔️ February 14
9. China: The Art of War by Sun Tzu
10. Singapore: Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
11. India: Arundhati Roy
12. Pakistan: I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
13. Iran: Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
14. Cyprus: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides - ✔️ June 14
15. Turkey: My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
16. Russia:
17. Sweden:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
18. Norway: Jo Nesbø
19. Ireland: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
20. United Kingdom: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - ✔️ July 18
21. France: Las amistades peligrosas by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos - ✔️ April 17
22. Germany: Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
23. Switzerland: El tigre by Joël Dicker - ✔️ June 12
24. Italy: Umberto Eco
25. Portugal: José Saramago or José Luís Peixoto
26. Spain: Yerma by Federico García Lorca - ✔️ June 18
27. Algeria: Las noches de Estrasburgo by Assia Djebar - ✔️ June 6
28. Nigeria: Kehinde by Buchi Emecheta
29. Kenya: El diablo en la cruz by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o - ✔️ September 4
30. Malawi: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba
31. Zimbabwe: La 1a Agencia de Mujeres Detectives by Alexander McCall Smith - ✔️ July 15
32. South Africa:
33. Argentina: Sí, cariño / Yes, �� Dear. by Quino - ✔️ April 7
34. Brazil: La vida íntima de Laura by Clarice Lispector
35. Canada: Still Life by Louise Penny - ✔️ April 5
36. USA: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel - ✔️ March 13
��é�澱���� Escorpión de sangre by Agustín Fest - ✔️ December 10

That's it for now although I might add other countries later.

Level 1-Difficult

Completed 11/11 FINISHED 4/15/19

1.England-The Far Pavilions 1/26

2.Mexico-Faces in the Crowd 2/9

3,South Korea-The Vegetarian 2/28

4.Vietnam-Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam 2/24

5.Australia-The Dry 2/3

6.India-Queen of Dreams 3/19

7.Nigeria-Things Fall Apart 3/29

8, France-Sarah's Key 3/8

9.Germany-The Little French Bistro 2/19

10.Sweden-Us Against You 4/15

11.Norway-I Curse the River of Time 3/4
BACK TO ENGLAND

I like Brian's system very much! Like Satrina, I also read books from other places more commonly than those from my own country, so I'll include them at the beginning and the end, but I won't count them as per rules. I don't want to make any firm plans, will add books as I read them.

Difficulty 1: Hard
Completed: 15

SLOVENIA - I Saw Her That Night
Austria �� Angel of Oblivion
Italy - Seta
France - Et après ...
Germany - Engels Federn
Poland - In Desert and Wilderness
Lithuania - Whitehorn's windmill
England �� And Then There Were None
Wales �� One Night for Love
Ireland �� Children's Stories by Oscar Wilde
Scotland - A Study in Scarlet
Canada �� Anne of Green Gables
USA �� I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
China �� To Live
Singapore - Crazy Rich Asians
South Africa - Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
SLOVENIA - Slovenology: Living and Traveling in the World's Best Country

Level 2 - Medium

1. United Kingdom - The Mysterious Affair at Styles
3. Germany - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
4. France - Around the World in Eighty Days
5. Greece - The Seventh Garment
6. Egypt - Sunset Oasis
7. Australia - Year of Wonders
8. New Zealand - The Luminaries
9. Columbia - Love in the Time of Cholera
10. Brazil - The Alchemist
11. Morocco - Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood
12. Spain The Shadow of the Wind
13. Ireland - The Importance of Being Earnest



Also, how did you guys mark out the countries that you've already read?

Level 1 �� DIFFICULT
My home country is Canada
completed - 12/15
☑️1. Australia - The Last Anniversary Jan 26
☑️2. Korea The Vegetarian Sept 24
☑️3. Russia Anna Karenina June 14
4. Ukraine - The Master and Margarita
5. Turkey The Bastard of Istanbul
☑️6. Portugal Blindness Oct 31/19
☑️7. France - The Breakdown Jan 11/19
☑️8. Germany Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Aug 23/19
☑️9. Denmark - The Keeper of Lost Causes Aug 27/19
☑️10. Sweden - Us Against You Jan 4/19
☑️11. UK - Just What Kind of Mother Are You? March 12/19
☑️12. Ireland - In the Woods Dec 31/19
13. Haiti - Breath, Eyes, Memory
☑️14. USA - The Fix Jan 6/19
☑️15. New Zealand - The Tattooist of Auschwitz Apr 20/19

Also, how did you guys mark out the countries that you've already read?

Hi Kyra!

< s > (without spaces) the writing you want to score through goes here < / s > (once again without spaces)

Hopefully that makes sense. you can also click on the (some html is ok) link in the upper right corner when you are editing your post if you need clarification.

Level 2 - Medium (On the Road!)
Completed: 10/13

�� 1. Germany: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (January 9)
�� 2. Sweden: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman (Apr 30)
�� 3. Russia: Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin (April 9)
�� 3a. Japan:On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl on One Beautiful April Morning by Haruki Murakami (Oct 31)
�� 3b. South Korea: The Fruit of My Woman by Han Kang (Nov. 15)
�� 3c. Australia: Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak (Oct 13)
4. Tanzania: Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah
�� 5. Malawi: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba (Oct 31)
�� 6. Mozambique: The First Wife: A Tale of Polygamy by Paulina Chiziane (Mar. 23)
7. Canada: X in Flight by Karen Rivers
�� 8. Ireland: Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy
�� 9. England: Watership Down by Richard Adams (Apr 2)
10. France: The Red and the Black by Stendhal

And back to Germany!

Level 3 - Easy
Read: 7/27

🔹��1. Canada - Anne of Green Gables (February 27)
2. Ireland - The Last Storyteller
3. England - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
4. Wales - Simply Unforgettable
5. Scotland - The Bookshop on the Corner
6. Norway - Sophie's World
🔹��7. Sweden - A Man Called Ove (February 25)
8. Finland -
🔹��9. Germany - The Thief Lord (March 26)
10. Switzerland - Night Train to Lisbon
11. France - The Three Musketeers
12. Portugal - Death with Interruptions
13. Spain - The Shadow of the Wind
14. Italy - Italian Folktales or Mr. Palomar
15. Greece - Zorba the Greek
16. Ukraine - The Master and Margarita
17. Russia - The Real Life of Sebastian Knight or The Big Green Tent
18. China - Tao Te Ching or Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
19. South Korea - Pachinko
🔹��20. Japan - Hidden Messages in Water (March 6)
🔹��21. New Zealand- The Whale Rider (April 7)
22. Australia - The Book Thief
🔹��23. Singapore - Crazy Rich Asians (March 23)
24. India - The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
25. Afghanistan - A Thousand Splendid Suns
26. Turkey - Last Train to Istanbul
🔹��27. Egypt - Call Me By Your Name (March 11)

Level 2 �� MEDIUM

1. Greece - Circe 07/01

Boat

2. France - The Mystery of the Yellow Room 16/02

Boat

3. England - A Twist in Time 01/03

Drive

4. Scotland - Dalila 09/03

Boat

5. USA - Did You Ever Have a Family 03/04

Boat

6. Russia - Rasputin: A Short Life 10/04

Boat

7. England - Caught in Time 10/04

Boat

9. Ireland - The Wych Elm 24/04

Boat

10. England - Crooked House 26/04

Boat

11. USA - The Monsters of Templeton 26/05

Boat

12. Nigeria - Blackass 01/06/19

Boat.

13. USA - The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood 14/06/19

Boat

14. Russia - Enchantment 19/06/19

Boat

15. France - The Perfume of the Lady in Black 02/07/19

Level 3: Easy

1. France - Best of Guy de Maupassant
2. United Kingdom - A Christmas Carol
3. Canada - Anne of Green Gables
4. United States -
5. Mexico

I'm doing level one, travel by car or boat. so:
Difficulty 1: Hard
Completed: 16 of 16 (deleted Ireland)

1. Australia : The Rosie Project READ July 11th
2. New Zealand The Whale Rider READ Dec 30th
3. Malaysia: The Ghost Bride READ June 19th
4. Korea:Pachinko , by Min Jin Lee, READ February 7th
5. Japan: Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, Megan Backus (Translator), READ March 20th
6. Russia: Anna Karenina by Tolstoy READ 8/20
(Mongolia: the only option my library has that's not a reference book and/or written by an American or European, is a book written by a Chinese author about a Chinese intellectual experiencing Mongol culture in the 1960s,Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong, Howard Goldblatt (Translator),so it might just be an extra read. I watched the excellent documentary The Eagle Huntress, which gives a great feel for contemporary Mongolian culture and is very inspiring.)
7. China: Tao Te Ching READ May 11th
8. India:Aru Shah and the Song of Death READ OCT 31
9. Iran: Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi, Anjali Singh (Translator) READ NOV 19th
10. Armenia: Rooster Brother READ OCT 10
11. Turkey: Black Milk: On Writing, Motherhood, and the Harem Withinsomething by Elif Sharak READ Dec 31
12. Greece: an excellent opportunity to re-experience The Iliad, as an audiobook narrated by Dan Stevens. I read it over 20 years ago, for a Classics Literature class, so that should be fun. READ Dec 27
13. Italy: My Brilliant Friend READ July 20th
13. France: The Little Prince READ Aug 14th
14. Germany: The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate �� Discoveries from a Secret World READ July 3rd
15. Britain: Wuthering Heights READ April 8th
16. Canada: Life of Pi READ July 26th

back to Australia on an ocean liner ; )

Difficulty level 1 Hard
Edited Nov 17
60+ books, 27 different countries

Drive to Mexico ..
��Like Water for Chocolate - Mexico
Sail to South America ..
��The Air You Breathe - Brazil
��The Caregiver - Brazil
��The Shape of Water- Amazon River (and US)
Sail to Australia ...
��The Lost Man - Australia
Sail to South Asia: ...
��White Chrysanthemum - Korea and Mongolia
��Pachinko - Korea andJapan
��On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Vietnam (and USA)
��Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity - India
��The Widows of Malabar Hill - India
[Pending: [book:An Orchestra of Minorities|35003282] Nigeria, and Cyprus]
��Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"- Benin (and US)
Sail through the Strait of Gibralta to the Med. Sea ..
��Revolution for Dummies: Laughing through the Arab Spring - Egypt
��We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria - Syria
drive to Iraq
��A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal - Iraq
��The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq - Iraq and Syria
The kidnappers drove the girls from Iraq to Syria
Sail around Greece ...
��The Song of Achilles - Greece
��Circe - Greece
��The Penelopiad -Greece
��Till We Have Faces - Greece
Sail to Italy
��Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling - Italy
��The Passion of Artemisia - Italy
��I, Claudius -Italy
��A Thread of Grace - Italy
��Beethoven's Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved - Austria, also Denmark and USA)
��Man's Search for Meaning - Austria, Germany, Poland
��A Ladder to the Sky - Germany, Copenhagen, Great Britain, New York
��The Count of Monte Cristo - France (translated), also Italy
��The Most Beautiful Book in the World: Eight Novellas - France (translated)
��The Nightingale - France (and Spain)
��The Shadow of the Wind - Spain
��Origin - Spain
��The Sun Also Rises - Spain and France
��The Pillars of the Earth - England (also Spain, France)
��The Heart's Invisible Furies - Ireland, Netherlands
��Beartown - Sweden
��Us Against You - Sweden
��In the Woods - Ireland
��What the Wind Knows - Ireland
��When All Is Said - Ireland
pending Outlander - Scotland

��22 booksEngland : The Silent Patient, A Study in Scarlet, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Neverwhere, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, plus many many more

Sail or fly to Canada
��A Great Reckoning - Canada
��Glass Houses - Canada

------------
Miscellaneous/mixed/immigration
��Home Life Around the World Buenos Aires Argentina, Capetown South Africa, Mexico, Hong Kong, others
��Exit West - fantasy doors between countries, starting in middle east Greece, London, others
��The Tenth Muse - Chinese immigrant in us, partially set in Germany
��A Place for Us - India (immigration to US)}

International books read so far:
/review/list...

EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club
2019 Around the World in Books Challenge
Duration: May 1 �� December 31 2019

Progress: 3 out of +

Anyone accepting the challenge must set a reading route around the world.

Choose a book to read from an author from each country in your route. One book by country only. And you can’t include your own country.

You may come and go to any of the five continents (America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania) and any island, big or small (say, Cuba, Malta, Australia, etc.).

No need to go to every continent.

Set any quantity of countries / books to read, starting from two.

Example of a simple, easy, two continent / two country route:

From South Africa to Australia and back �� through the Strait of Magellan, reading two books.

Level 3 �� EASY

You can go from any country to any other one. Travelling by plane allowed, as well as by balloon, flying saucer, magic carpet, Star Trek teleportation etc. Any route, read at will.

Europe:

1. England: Never Trust a Pirate by Anne Stuart - - 5/8/2019 - 304 Pages
2. England: Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed by Anna Campbell - *** - 6/18/2019 - 385 Pages
3. Crete, Greece: Circe by Madeline Miller - - 6/25/2019 - 393 Pages
4. England: Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas - - 6/28/2019 - 416 Pages

5. France:

6. Germany:

I'm also gonna let count author from my native country, as I don’t read too much literature from there.

Level 2: Medium


✔️Ireland: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
✔️Scotland: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
✔️Norway: Flagermusmanden by Jo Nesbø
Sweden: Mænd der hader kvinder by Stieg Larsson
✔️Denmark: Grønt støv by Sara Blædel
Germany: Im Westen nichts Neues by Erich Maria Remarque
✔️Czech Republic: Die Verwandlung by Franz Kafka
Hungary: They Were Counted by Miklós Bánffy
Austria: Gut gegen Nordwind by Daniel Glattauer
Italy: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
✔️Greece: Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
France: 20000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Spain: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zaflon
✔️Nigeria: We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
✔️South Africa: Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
✔️India: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
✔️Afghanistan: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
China:
✔️Russia: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Japan: Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
Canada:
✔️USA: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Brazil: The Zahir by Paulo Coelho
✔️England: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

I'd like to try this challenge, and since I am starting late, I'll do the Easy challenge. I've been wanting to read more books from around the world. Here are my proposals. Please let me know if I have misunderstood the challenge.

Easy
USA to:

✔Norway -- This Life or the Next, by Demian Vitanza
✔Morocco -- The Other Americans, by Laila Lalami
India -- Truth, Love and a Little Malice, by Khushwant Singh
✔China --- A Free Life, by Ha Jin
Philippines --- The Last Time I Saw Mother, by Arlene J. Chai
Mexico -- What You See in the Dark, By Manuel Munoz

Back to USA

Hello participants!

I wanted to let you know that there is challenge feedback thread for next year:

/topic/show/...

Is this a challenge we want for next year? Any changes to it?

Joanna, I read about 68 books so far, from 27 different countries. Many of my books involved characters moving between countries (such as Korea to Japan). Has anyone else mentioned this? I could have fun with one by using the movement in one book to get back to the coast. (Kidnappers took girls from Iraq to Syria.) I have one book that covers 4 different continents!

I plan to continue to read books from different countries next year, with a focus on those that will teach me something about different cultures. I also have a few immigrant stories that take place in the US, but focus on the home culture.)

The travel aspect (having to map out your trip) wasn't meaningful to me, though it may be to others. I find it more valuable and challenging to try to read books written by authors with a strong connection to the country (they lived there, or their family did). I tossed out some books based on reviews complaining about cultural inaccuracies.

I stopped listing books from England because I had too many of them. I didn't list the dates, but I added a link to the shelf I created for this purpose. It shows the dates read.

I'm not sure if it fits the mission of the group, as most of these books wouldn't qualify otherwise (many were very new), but I think it's good to get people to see more of the world.

NancyJ wrote: "Joanna, I read about 68 books so far, from 27 different countries. Many of my books involved characters moving between countries (such as Korea to Japan). Has anyone else mentioned this? I could ha..."

You’ve done awesome! And I ultimately want to do this type of challenge but am more interested in setting than authors origins.

I often try to read across languages and countries. As someone who is non-American and non-English, I was quite triggered when I realized people often count it as 'discovering' a particular culture when they read an English-speaking outsider who wrote about it. Now I don't necessarily consider this literary colonialism any more and I have enjoyed some such books myself, but I still prefer to read genuine voices.
I have enjoyed this challenge but honestly don't think I read more widely than I would have otherwise, I basically just recorded and reshuffled the books as I went on. I believe it might have been stimulating to have some more particular challenges, such as visiting all the continents.

Monique wrote: "I often try to read across languages and countries. As someone who is non-American and non-English, I was quite triggered when I realized people often count it as 'discovering' a particular culture..."

I know what you mean. I try to seek out authentic voices when I can, but each book can only reveal something about the author's perceptions or imagination. (Just as 'fish don't see water,' people don't always have a clear view of their own culture until they compare it to others.) Sometimes I'm just looking for a great book. I like it when reviewers mention the quality of the research as well as the writing.

I like the idea of visiting each continent. Last year I started with a goal to read from 3 continents and 3 centuries (based on publication date).

This year I had a PBT culture challenge. The mod randomly chose one country each month from a long list. We could each choose what to read, and we wrote reviews to share with one another. That made it really interesting. I like to read several books from a culture at a time to get different views. I hope next month will be either India, China, Russia, or Ireland.

Monique, where are you from?

New challenge up for the new year! We put some increased flexibility in how you choose your books. Sign up here: /topic/show/...

I will be closing this thread and archiving.