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2020 Around the World in Books Challenge

January 1 �� December 31 2020

1. General outline

Anyone accepting the challenge must read their way around the world. The basic level is to be a JETSETTER, which means you get to country hop around the world by flight, so countries need not border each other. If you want to increase your difficulty, see the Increased Difficulty section. There are three ways you can traverse the world:

Author Option: Choose books based on the author's place of origin.

Book Locale Option: Choose books based on where they are set. Note: if a book travels from place to place, it can only county for one place, and that place must feature prominently in the book

Either Or Option:Choose books based on the author's place of origin, OR Choose books based on where they are set. Note: if a book travels from place to place, it can only county for one place, and that place must feature prominently in the book.

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.

2. Increased Difficulty Options

Is the JETSETTER level too easy for you so far? Well, you can increase your level of difficulty by considering your travel route as if flight travel is unavailable.

Medium Level: SEVEN SEAS SAILOR
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.

Difficult Level: ROAD WARRIOR BACKPACKER

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.


3. Joining the challenge

>> Choose an option (Author, Book Locale or Either Or)
>> Choose a difficulty level (Jetsetter, Seven Seas Sailor, Road Warrior Backpacker)
>> Choose the countries you’ll go to. (at least where you want to start)
>> Choose the books you’ll read there. (or you can fill in as you go)

>> Then create a tracking post, Similar to this one::

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Author Option �� Jetsetter
Read so far: 1/5

1. France: The Count of Monte Cristo (READ Jan. 1.)
2. South Africa: The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
3. England: Watership Down
4. Afghanistan: The Kite Runner
5. Japan: Never Let Me Go

And back to France.

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

4. Route changing

You can change your original route along the year, substituting, adding or eliminating countries and/or books. Whatever works best for you! 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.

This challenge is an on your own challenge and not a competition. Feel free to discuss and share as you like!

This spot is for FAQs, as needed.

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!

I want to keep this simple, so I'm only going to commit to

The Either Option / Jetsetter
Read so far: 0/10

1. United States: In the Belly of the Beast: Letters From Prison
2.

Sounds good!

Book Locale Option �� Jetsetter
Read so far: 20/?

1. United States - Robin 1/1
2. United Kingdom- Death at Rottingdean 1/14
3. North Korea - The Hermit King: The Dangerous Game of Kim Jong Un 1/20
4. Germany - Witness to the Storm: A Jewish Journey from Nazi Berlin to the 82nd Airborne, 1920-1945 2/23
5. Slovakia - The Piper on the Mountain 2/15
6. Cuba - The Old Man and the Sea 2/16
7. Poland - The Dentist of Auschwitz: A Memoir 2/25
8. France - The Templars and the Shroud of Christ 2/27
9. Czech Republic - When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains 3/1
10. Russia - Secret Lives of the Tsars: Three Centuries of Autocracy, Debauchery, Betrayal, Murder, and Madness from Romanov Russia 4/22
11. Italy - The Tuscan Child 5/30
12. Sweden - The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared 7/11
13. Tanzania - The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man 7/27
14. Vietnam - Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life 8/11
15. India - Mourning Raga 8/28
16. Spain - The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories 9/19
17. Romania - Dracula 10/17
18. Tibet - Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town 10/31
19. Japan - Memoirs of a Geisha 11/10
20. Netherlands - Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II 12/7
21. China - The Joy Luck Club

Author Option �� Jetsetter
Read so far: 4/5

1. Brazil:The Alchemist 1/3
2. USA A Love So Blue 1/3
3. Russia:War and Peace
4. Australia:The Book Thief 1/20
5. England:Thud! 2/14

Jet setter, since I want to read authors from various places without having to figure out a road route. I'm focusing on the author option, though some books may have to be books about the area, since I'm constrained by my library's options.
Read 2/12

1. India: The Ramayana
2. Cuba: Island Treasures: Growing Up in Cuba
3. Nigeria: We Should All Be Feminists READ
4. Brazil: Never Stop Walking: A Memoir of Finding Home Across the World
5. Armenia: Armenian Golgotha
6. Malaysia: The Night Tiger
7. Wales: The Mabinogion
8. Ireland: Gulliver's Travels or Angela's Ashes
9. Scotland:The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
10. New Zealand: Slave to Sensation
11. Japan: Tokyo Ghoul, Tome 1 READ
12. Canada: Anne of the Island

Author Option - Jetsetter

Read so far: 17/41

I'm starting with the countries/books I had left from last year's challenge and adding more as I go.

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1. Guatemala: El Vaso de Miel by Rigoberta Menchú
2. El Salvador: The She-Devil in the Mirror by Horacio Castellanos Moya - February 17
3. Perú: Travesuras de la niña mala by Mario Vargas Llosa
4. Chile: Hija de la fortuna by Isabel Allende
5. New Zealand: El proyecto esposa by Graeme Simsion - October 25
6. Australia: Liane Moriarty
7. Japan: Battle Angel Alita, Volume 2 by Yukito Kishiro - May 13
8. North Korea: The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story by Hyeonseo Lee
9. South Korea: El Buen Hijo by You-Jeong Jeong
10. China: The Art of War by Sun Tzu
11. Singapore: Historias eróticas para viudas del Punjab by Balli Kaur Jaswal - Feb 13
12. India: Arundhati Roy or Kalpana Swaminathan
13. Pakistan: I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
14. Afghanistan: Cartas a mis Hijas by Fawzia Koofi
15. Iran: Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
16. Israel: Todos Los Rios del Mundo / All the Rivers by Dorit Rabinyan - Oct 15
17. Turkey: My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
18. Russia:
19. Sweden: Los hombres que no amaban a las mujeres by Stieg Larsson - May 12
20. Norway: Jo Nesbø
21. Denmark: El doctor cadáver by Lene Kaaberbøl - February 27
22. Ireland: La Importancia de Llamarse Ernesto by Oscar Wilde - February 29
23. United Kingdom: Emma by Jane Austen
24. France: El Conde de Montecristo by Alexandre Dumas - April 23
25. Germany: Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
26. Hungary: The Pendragon Legend by Antal Szerb
27. Italy: Umberto Eco
28. Portugal: José Saramago or José Luís Peixoto
29. Spain: El Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
30. Morocco: Diario de un cuerpo by Daniel Pennac
31. Sierra Leone: Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah
32. Nigeria: Kehinde by Buchi Emecheta - January 9
33. Egypt: Blue Lorries by Radwa Ashour
34. Somalia: Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
35. Malawi: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba - May 24
36. Zimbabwe: Código De Conducta Para Chicas Guapas by Alexander McCall Smith - November 27
37. South Africa: Trevor Noah
38. Argentina: Quinoterapia by Quino - May 14
39. Brazil: Aprendizaje o El libro de los placeres by Clarice Lispector - November 5
40. Canada: A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny - June 2
41. USA: Beloved by Toni Morrison - January 26
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That's it for now although I might add other countries later.

Perhaps:
New Zealand: Once Were Warriors
Poland: El Arte de Desgranar Alubias
Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Bridge on the Drina
Kenya: Unbowed
St. Johns, Antigua and Barbuda: Jamaica Kincaid
Moldavia: El verano en que mi madre tuvo los ojos verdes

Either Or Option - Jetsetter
Read so far: 0/5

1. China - The Rape of Nanking
2. Japan - In a Grove
3. South Korea - Pachinko
4. Malawi - The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
5. Nothern Ireland - Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

Author option - Jetsetter

Will add books as I read them.

1. Netherlands - The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old by Hendrik Groen
2. UK - Lord of the Flies by William Golding
3. USA - Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
4. Italy/Slovenia - Nekropola by Boris Pahor
5. South Korea - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
6. Croatia - Izabrana djela by Vesna Parun
7. Israel - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
8. Hungary/UK - The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy

Either Or Option - Jetsetter
Read so far: 0/5

Jetsetter
Author Option: Choose books based on the author's place of origin

Read so far: 4/5

1. England- The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women- read Jan 14 2020
2. United States- The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon- read Feb 17 2020
3. Cambodia- The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine- read Mar 5 2020
4. Ethiopia- Cutting for Stone- read Jun 9 2020

This sounds like fun!

I chose these options:

1. Book location
2. Seven Seas Sailor - because I love the Age of Sail. My ship will be a three masted frigate, sailing from the historic harbor of Portsmouth England. I'll borrow the HMS Providence. 😀 Free cookies 🍪 if you know where she's from.
Read 1/?

Starting location: England
1. White is for Witching
Finished Jan 4, 2020!

2. The Sargasso Sea
The Collected Fiction, Vol. 1: The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" and Other Nautical Adventures
I'm heading to the West Indies!
READ!! Jan 31, 2020

3.

I hope to make it a long voyage to Fiji and back, making many ports of call.

The Either Option.

Reading

1. A Man Called Ove - SWEDEN

Love this Challenge!!

I'm starting out easy with Book Locale and Jetsetter, but we'll see how this goes, maybe I'll change it later ;)

Starting out on home turf:

1. Komisch, alles chemisch! - GERMANY
(read 06.01.20)
2. Fast & Konfuzius - CHINA
(read: 15.01.20)
3. Almost Adults - ENGLAND
(read: 23.01.20)
4. Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds - USA (various places)
(read: 24.01.20)
5. On the Front Line with the Women Who Fight Back - HONDURAS (and other countries, just chose this one)
(read: 03.02.20)
6. The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz - AUSTRIA
(read: 13.03.20)

This is such a fun challenge!

Options:
Either Or / Seven Seas Sailor

Completed so far:
1 / ?

Books:
1. Moon of the Crusted Snow - Northern Canada First Nation reserve (Finished 1/19/20)
2. City of Night - New Orleans, USA
3. Mexico?

Book Locale Option �� Roadwarrior Backpacker
Read so far: 11/11
FINISHED
Books:
1. CANADA:The Other Side of the Bridge 1/12
2. FRANCE:The Count of Monte Cristo 1/19
3. ENGLANDLongbourn 2/2
4. SCOTLAND:The Bookshop on the Corner 2/11
5. NORWAY:The Woman in Cabin 10 3/12
6. SWEDEN:Bear Town 8/25
7. RUSSIA:The Girl Who Fought Napoleon: A Novel of the Russian Empire 2/8
8. CHINA:Letter from Peking 2/22
9. KOREA:The Island of Sea Women 3/27
10. MEXICO:Under the Volcano 3/18
11.Back to Canada(P.E. Is.) Marilla of Green Gables 1/25

Doing a second, using Author location!

Author Option �� Jetsetter
Read so far: 16/?

1. United States - Dave Itzkoff 1/1
2. Canada - Amal El-Mohtar 1/12
3. New Zealand - Hamish McKenzie 1/16
4. South Korea - Chung Min Lee 1/20
5. Israel - Leigh Bardugo 2/4
6. United Kingdom - Ellis Peters 2/15
7. Germany - Werner T. Angress 2/23
8. Poland - Benjamin Jacobs 2/25
9. Italy - Barbara Frale 2/27
10. Venezuela - Ariana Neumann 3/2
11. Ukraine - Svetlana Alexievich 5/9
12. Colombia - Gabriel García Márquez 6/19
13. Sweden - Jonas Jonasson 7/11
14. Vietnam - Phuc Tran 10/6
15. Croatia - Kristina Kuzmic 10/10
16. Ireland - Bram Stoker 10/17

Jetsetter - Author

1. United States - Stoner 1/17
2. Chile - 2666
3. Japan - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
4. Ireland - Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
5. France - Swann's Way
6. Germany - The Diary of a Young Girl
7. England - Macbeth
8. Italy - The Aeneid

Jetsetter
Book locale

1. Kenya: Circling the Sun
2. Italy: The Thief Lord
3. France: As Old As Time
4. England: Carry On
5. America: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
6. Canada: White Fang
7. Ireland: Morrgan's Cross
8. Scotland: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child
9. Germany: All The Light We Can Not See
10. Romania: Hunting Prince Dracula
11. Greece: Sisterhood of the traveling pants
12. Egypt: Fury From The Tomb

Going to try this challenge too.
Author option + seven seas sailor.
3/5
1. Unites Kingdom: Bridget Collins (March 28th)
2. Sweden: Camilla Läckberg (April 27th)
3. Germany: Detlef Bluhm (June 24th)
4. Netherlands: Esther Gerritsen (August 21th)
5. Great - Britain: James Herbert (October 21th)

FINISHED!

I'm already off to good start with the three books I've read this year so I might as well take part in the challenge. I'll challenge myself to read books set in 12 different countries.

Book Locale Option - Jetsetter
Books read: 3/12

1. Finland: Sotaleski (Jan 8th)
2. United States: Salaisuuksien galleria (March 3rd)
3. Sweden: A Nearly Normal Family (March 14th)
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

This looks like a fun challenge!
Seven Seas Sailor- Either Or

1. United States: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (3/26)
2. China: Little Gods (3/28)
3. Netherlands (author): Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (4/9)
- England (author): The Priory of the Orange Tree

Seven Seas
Book Locale

Germany: The German Heiress 4/5
France: Code Name Verity 4/19
England:
Italy:
Austria:

no longer taking part in this but it was fun while i was

(view spoiler)[ ima probs doing this differently to others/ doing this wrong but this is my take on the challenge
to avoid going back and forth ill only list 1 book from each of these authors regardless if i read more from them; because of this there will probably be long gaps between entries

Author; Jetsetter (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[
First stop; Daresbury, Cheshire, England, The United Kingdom to visit Lewis Carroll - read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - 4th January

Second stop; Pittsburgh, PA, The United States to visit Stephen Chbosky - read The Perks of Being a Wallflower - 5th January

Third stop; Bath, UK to visit Jacqueline Wilson- read Green Glass Beads: Poems for Girls - 5th January

Forth Stop; Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil to visit Yuu Kamiya - read No Game No Life, Vol. 1 - 10th January

Firth Stop; Yate, South Gloucestershire, England, The United Kingdom to visit J.K. Rowling - read Quidditch Through the Ages 24th February

Sixth Stop; Nagano, Japan to visit Makoto Shinkai - read your name. Another Side:Earthbound, Vol. 1 - 15th April

Seventh Stop; Chiba, Japan to visit Isuna Hasekura - read Spice and Wolf, Vol. 1 - 18th april

Eight Stop; Arcadia, California, The United States to visit Jay Asher - read Thirteen Reasons Why - 24th April

Ninth Stop; Cheetham Hill, Manchester, England, The United Kingdom to visit Frances Hodgson Burnett - read The Secret Garden - 16th may

Tenth Stop; Edinburgh, The United Kingdom to visit Kate Braithwaite - read The Girl Puzzle: A Story of Nellie Bly - 15th june (hide spoiler)]

Either Author or Locale
Jetsetter

Starting in the USA: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Jetsetter - Either, Or

11/13

1. Germany The Water Mirror
2. England Oliver Twist
3. Poland The Tattooist of Auschwitz
4. Canada The Handmaid's Tale
5. United States of America Watchmen #1: At Midnight, All The Agents....
6. New Zealand Red Rocks
7. France All the Light We Cannot See
8. Italy Catch-22
9. Greece Circe
10. Switzerland Frankenstein
11. Japan Never Let Me Go
12.
13.

Author Option: Jetsetter
Read so far: 1/5
Either/Or Option

1. England: Pretty Face (READ, May 7)
2. France: The Little Paris Bookshop
3. Scotland: 44 Scotland Street
4. Rome: Rome in Love
5. Singapore: Ponti
6. Thailand: Spirit House
7. Australia: Questions of Travel

Book locate option jet setter

1. Sweden in To Cook a Bear by Mikael Niemi

2. Australia in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland


3. England in The Silent Patient by Alex Micaelides

4. The island of Guernsey in The Guernsey Literature and Potato-peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

5. Kenya in The Sun Sister by Lucinda Riley

Book Locale Option �� Jetsetter
Read so far: 2/10

1. Netherlands - On the Edge of Gone Sep 7
2. Ireland - Darkfever Sep 10

Book Locale option - Jetsetter
I'll probably read books that don't pertain to the challenge in between these books.
1. Switzerland - Frankenstein Oct 29
2. South Africa - The Man in the Brown Suit Nov 9th
3. USA - Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre Nov 13th
4. Romania - Dracula Nov 14th
5. France - All the Light We Cannot See Nov 16th
6. Honduras - The Lost City of the Monkey God Nov 19th
7. Australia - Tomorrow, When the War Began Nov 19th
8. Croatia - Girl at War Nov 23rd
9. Botswana - The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Nov 24th
10. Bosnia and Herzegovina - The Cellist of Sarajevo Nov 26th
11. Costa Rica - Jurassic Park Nov 26th
-The Lost World Dec 31st
12. Mali - The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu Nov 30th
13. Italy - A Room with a View Dec 2nd
14. China - The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane Dec 2nd
15. Oman - Celestial Bodies Dec 6th
16. Poland - The Librarian of Auschwitz Dec 7th
17. Malawi - The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Dec 10th
18. UK (England) - Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s Dec 10th
- Shadows of the Workhouse Dec 15th
- Farewell to the East End: The Last Days of the East End Midwives Dec 16th
19. Dominican Republic - Clap When You Land Dec 13th
20. Vatican City - Angels & Demons Dec 14th
21. Cuba - The Old Man and the Sea Dec 24th
22. Serbia - Murder on the Orient Express Dec 26th
23. Morocco - The Alchemist Jan 3rd 2021
24. Norway - The Mercies
25. Japan - Memoirs of a Geisha and Geisha, A Life
26. UK (Scotland) - The End of the World Running Club
27. UK (Wales) - Here Be Dragons
28. Sweden - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
29. South Korea - The Island of Sea Women
30. Colombia - Love in the Time of Cholera
31. Rwanda - We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families
32. North Korea - A River in Darkness
33. Mexico - Mexican Gothic
34. Russia - Anna Karenina
35. Singapore - Crazy Rich Asians
36. Spain - The Shadow of the Wind