Sunday, November 16, 2014

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge


Hosted by  Mom's Small VictoriesSavvy Working Gal and I'm Lost in Books (Click over to one of these blogs to sign up)

Rules and guidelines, as outlined by the challenge hosts above:

The GoalTravel the world in books, of course! Expand your horizons and read books set in or written by authors from countries other than the one you live in. Visit as many different countries in books as you wish. 
 
The “Rules”And the “rules” are simply this…YOU choose your own adventure! These are your goals but you can change them any time.
1. Determine length of time you will participate in the challenge. Just one month, An entire season, a year or 5 years?
2. Determine how many countries you would like to read about during your adventure. What criteria are you using to determine the number of countries you read about (ex. book setting, author background or both)?
3. How will you track the countries you visited in books? You could create a map in Google Maps, track on your blog or on a Goodreads shelf.
4. Determine your book list or genre if you like. Will you be listing specific books you would like to read? Do you aim to read fiction, nonfiction or a mixture of both?
5. Link up your posts. Linkies will be available for sign up/goals, wrap up, and a linky for each continent for you to add your book reviews whenever you are ready.
6. Please follow each of our 3 hosts by at least one social media or bloglovin, RSS, GFC so you can keep informed of news, updates and events regarding this challenge.

My goals and lists:
  • my goal will be to accomplish this in five years (Deadline: November 16, 2019)
  • number of books will be 60 (I reserve the right to declare 10 of the 60 as alternates)
  • I will be reading fiction and non-fiction
  • mainly books set in the countries, some written BY an author from a certain country
  • I will probably add a map later

Africa
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (Congo, Africa)  Still reading
The Covenant, James Michener (South Africa)
Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese (Ethiopia, Africa)
Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) (Kenya, Africa)
The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles (Africa)
The Plague, Albert Camus (Algeria, Africa)
The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje (Africa)
Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth, Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt, Africa)
Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Peter A. Clayton (Egypt, Africa)
Ancient Egypt, David P. Silverman (Egypt, Africa)
The Lost Tomb, Kent R. Weeks, Ph.D. (Egypt, Africa)

Antarctica
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Edgar Allan Poe
At the Mountains of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft

Asia
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan) 
Snowflower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See (Hunan, China)
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy (KeralaIndia)
A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry (Mumbai, India) 
Genghis: Birth of an Empire, Conn Iggulden (Mongolia)
Empress Orchid, Anchee Min (Beijing, China)
Grotesque, Natsuo Kirino (Japan)
Geisha, a Life, Mineko Iwasaki (Japan)
The Red Scarf, Kate Furnivall (Siberia)

Australia and New Zealand
Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsay
The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding, Robert Hughes 
I Am the Messenger, Markus Zusak
Death of a River Guide, Richard Flanagan

Europe 
Catherine the Great, Robert K. Massie (Russia)
The Gentle Axe, R.N. Morris (Russia)
Land of the Firebird: The Beauty of Old Russia, Suzanne Massie 
Venice: Pure City, Peter Ackroyd
Stone Virgin, Barry Unsworth (Venice, Italy)
The Venetian Mask, Rosalind Laker (Venice, Italy)
Smilla's Sense of Snow, Peter Hoeg (Copenhagen, Denmark)
The Vikings, Robert Ferguson
Sagas of Icelanders
The Last Kingdom, Bernard Cornwell (England)
Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson (Norway)
Harbor, John Ajvide Lindqvist (Sweden)
Under the Snow, Kerstin Ekman (Sweden)
The Greenlanders, Jane Smiley (Greenland)
Poland, James Michener (Poland)
The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story, Diane Ackerman (Poland)
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Spain)
People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks (Bosnia)
Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart (Ireland)

North America
The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey (Alaska)
Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer (Alaska)
The Secret History, Donna Tartt (Vermont)
Fall on Your Knees, Ann-Marie MacDonald (Canada) January 2015
Starvation Heights, Gregg Olsen (Pacific Northwest)  Read February 2015
Aztec, Gary Jennings (Mexico)
The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood (Canada)
Still Missing, Chevy Stevens (Canada)
The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson (Chicago, Illinois)
Mexico, James Michener
Swift as Desire, Laura Esquivel (Mexico)

South America
The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende (Chile)
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez (Colombia)
State of Wonder, Ann Patchett (Amazon Rainforest)
Bel Canto, Ann Patchett (South America)




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