Around the World discussion

EUROPE

Andorra
Andorra Read 3/2012


Austria
Badenheim 1939
Pale Blue Ink in a Lady's Hand
* The Post-Office Girl read 1/2012
The Jump Artist


Belgium
*Maigret at the Gai-Moulin, Georges Simenon1/2012
By a Slow River, Philippe Claudel

Bosnia
* How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone, Saša Stanišić
The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway

Czech Republic
Far to Go, Alison Pick
*The Visible World, Mark Slouka

Denmark
Doghead, Morten Ramsland
* The Boy in the Suitcase, Lene Kaaberbøl Read 2/2012


England
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, G.B. Edwards
Angel, Elizabeth Taylor
A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement, Anthony Powell
The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes1/2012

Estonia
Purge, Sofi Oksanen

France
Nancy Wake Read 3/2012
In Pale Battalions, Robert Goddard
L'assommoir, Émile Zola
You Deserve Nothing, Alexander Maksik
Promise at DawnRomain Gary


Germany
Jakob the Liar
Half Blood Blues
The German Woman

Greece
Everything Beautiful Began After, Simon Van Booy
Eleni, Nicholas Gage
My Family and Other Animals, Gerald Durrell
The Jasmine Isle, Ioanna Karystiani
The Magus, John Fowles
Friends and Heroes

Hungary
Extraordinary Renditions, Andrew Ervin
They Were Counted, Miklós Bánffy, Bela Zsolt
More Was Lost, Eleanor Perenyi
Scum of the Earth, Arthur Koestler
The Door, Magda Szabo

Iceland
Independent People, Halldór Laxness

Ireland
Dance Lessons: A Novel, Áine Greaney
The Sea , John Banville
The Visitor
* On Canaan's Side read 1/2012

Italy
Casa Rossa, Francesca Marciano
The Betrothed: I Promessi Sposi, Alessandro Manzoni
Cooking with Fernet Branca, James Hamilton-Paterson
The Periodic Table, Primo Levi
If This Is a Man / The Truce,

Lithuania
*Light One Candle: A Survivor's Tale from Lithuania to Jerusalem,Solly Ganor

Netherlands
The Assault, Harry Mulisch
The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece, Edward Dolnick
*The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century, Edward Dolnick
I Was Vermeer: The Rise and Fall of the Twentieth Century's Greatest Forger

Norway
Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie, O.E. Rølvaag
Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson
The Ice Palace, Paul Collins
We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance

Poland
The Street of Crocodiles, Bruno Schulz
The Pianist

Romania
The Great Fortune Read 2/2012

Russia
*Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak Read 1/07/12
The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine Alina
Bronsky
The Betrayal, Helen Dunmore
Sashenka, Simon Sebag Montefiore
Russka: The Novel of Russia, Edward Rutherfurd

Scotland
*The Ginger Tree, Oswald Wynd 1/2012

Sweden
The Emperor of Lies: A Novel, Steve Sem-Sandberg
Astrid and Veronika, Linda Olsson
The Book about Blanche and Marie, Per Olov Enquist
The Royal Physician's Visit, Per Olov Enquist
The Laughing Policeman, Maj Sjöwall


Ukraine
All Our Worldly Goods, Irène Némirovsky
* Fire in the Blood, Irène Némirovsky


Wales
* How Green Was My Valley, Richard Llewellyn
Sixpence House: Lost in A Town Of Books, Paul Collins

DOWN UNDER

Australia
The Tree of Man, Patrick White
The Transit of Venus, Shirley Hazzard
The Thorn Bird3412, Colleen McCulloughs| Read 2/2012

NORTH AMERICA
Canada
*The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession, Allison Hoover Bartlett Read 1/2012
Unless, Carol Shields


Mexico
*The Hummingbird's Daughter, Luis Alberto Urrea
The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene

MIDDLE EAST
Egypt
* The Harafish, Naguib Mahfouz
Sipping from the Nile: My Exodus from Egypt, Jean Naggar
Murder on the Leviathan, Boris Akunin
The Alexandria Quartet, Lawrence Durrell

Iran
*The Septembers of Shiraz,Dalia Sofer
*My Uncle Napoleon: A Novel, ایرج پزشک‌زاد / Iraĝ Pézéŝk-zâd

Israel
My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Family Memoir, Meir Shalev
The Blue Mountain, Meir Shalev
To the End of the Land, David Grossman
Adjusting Sights, Haim Sabato
Arabesques: A Novel, Anton ShammasShulamit Lapid


Palestinian Territories:
Picnic Grounds: A Novel in Fragments, Oz Shelach
Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life, Sari Nusseibeh
It's Easier to Reach Heaven Than the End of the Street: A Jerusalem Memoir

Turkey
Greenmantle, John Buchan
Birds Without Wings, Louis de Bernières
The Oracle of Stamboul, Michael David Lukas


SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina
The Honorary Consul, Graham Greene

Brazil
*The Seamstress, Frances de Pontes Peebles
Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector, Benjamin Moser
Dom Casmurro, Machado de Assis

Chile
The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende

Peru
The Bad Girl , Mario Vargas Llosa Read 2/2012


AFRICA

Gabon
Tropic Moon, Georges Simenon

Ghana
The Seasons of Beento Blackbird, Akosua Busia
* An Ice-Cream War: A Novel, William Boyd

Morocco
Spider's House, Paul Bowles


South Africa
Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton

Zimbabwe
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight Read 1/2012
When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa
Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa

ASIA

Afghanistan
* The Bookseller of Kabul, Åsne Seierstad
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

Azerbaijan
Ali and Nino: A Love Story, Kurban Said

China
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers , Xiaolu Guo
Ten Green Bottles: The True Story of One Family's Journey from War-torn Austria to the Ghettos of Shanghai, Vivian Jeanette Kaplan
*Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, Jung Chang Read 3/2012

India
The Space Between Us, Thrity Umrigar
* A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
The Far Pavillions 7026723, M.M.Kaye

Japan
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David
Mitchell
The Housekeeper and the Professor, Yoko Ogawa
Empire of the Sun, J.G. Ballard

Malaysia
Amok, Stefan Zweig

Mauritius
Wandering Star,Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio


Philippines
My Faraway Home: An American Family's WWII Tale of Adventure and Survival in the Jungles of the Philippines, Mary McKay Maynard Read 2/2012


Thailand
*Fieldwork, Mischa Berlinski

Vietnam
*The Lotus Eaters, Tatjana Soli
The Things They Carried


Alternative Countries:


Botswana
Twenty Chickens For A Saddle, Robyn Scott

Cuba
Field Gray, Philip Kerr


Finland
The True Deceiver, Tove Jansson

Liberia
The House at Sugar Beach


Malawi
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, William Kamkwamba

New Zealand
Faces in the Water

Nigeria
Oil on Water: A Novel, Helon Habila
I Do Not Come to You by Chance, Adaobi TriciaNwaubani
Someone Knows My Name, Lawrence Hill


Rwanda
Baking Cakes in Kigali

Slovakia
Zoli


Sri Lanka:
Running in the Family, Michael Ondaatje
Anil's Ghost, Michael Ondaatje
*Divisadero,Michae Spain book:By Fire By Water

Switzerland
A Jew Must Die, Jacques Chessex
The Bells, Richard Harvell

Wow, Anne, admirable list, if I may say so!

Thank you, Asmah. I had fun working on it. It's a bit of a mess still, but I'm working on it.

Thank you, Barry.

Excellent list Anne. Of course I have a few of the same but also many countries not filled yet. Still a work very much in progress.

Thanks Sue. I'm still working on it. I'm very curious to see your list.

Maybe I'll add what I've started with (knowing I may change some of them out during the process). So far I've looked at my bookshelves and started with them. Then I'll move to my TBR/wishlist probably.

Judy wrote: "Ditto, Sue. Its feast or famine with some countries. I'm having a hard time with Madagascar. Its a lot of fun looking for books and I was able to use a bunch of tbr's."

Any luck with Madagascar? Any reason you want to read a book from there?

My bf says it's now called Malagasy Republic.

Might. How are you looking?

that's a tough way to go. Maybe check some different groups and their shelves,if you can. A lot of around the world groups have shelved all kinds of books from all over the world.

thanks for that lead Anne--I may well use it.

I'm checking out listopia under foreign lands, etc. just to see what they have.

good idea

Nina Berberova (Russia) is on my GR bookshelf for the biography Moura: The Dangerous Life of the Baroness Budberg, perhaps destined for The Imprinted Life (a long time away).

I've been waiting a while to read Berberova. I think I'll like her. Moura looks terrific. I've added it to my TBR. I fell in love with Berberova when I read this quote:

"So we stood on the corner by the stationery shop and were deeply insincere with each other.
--The Tattered Cloak"
— Nina Berberova (The Tattered Cloak and Other Stories)

Judy wrote: "Hey, this working out pretty nice. We read our 52 here and all the others at Imprinted Life..... :-)"

You should join Imprinted Life. I'm already a member.

I forgot about A Book From Every Country. I'm going to check it out.

Judy wrote: "Hey, this working out pretty nice. We read our 52 here and all the others at Imprinted Life..... :-)"

Thank you for your comment, Judy. Yes, there are so many choices. What you say might be possible for biographies (fact or fiction) as some members belong to both! The Imprinted Life is at http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/4... .

I promise I'm not stalking you but this sounds so amazing. Even just making the list would be such a blast!

So this starts in 2012?

Jenny,
Stalk away if it means joining this group. Making the list was lots of fun. I'm still working on it here and there and probably will never stop. Yes, it starts next year, but I just joined with two other friends. Why don't you join as well?

I'm one of the friends, Jenny--it is fun working on the list. The only negative is taking me away from reading time.

Sue wrote: "I'm one of the friends, Jenny--it is fun working on the list. The only negative is taking me away from reading time."

Well said!

I followed Asmah into the group, but you don't know that do you Asmah?

Not at all, Anne, but thank you for the compliment. You might say I followed Barry, Ana, and Lauren, but I know what you mean, Anne.

We're all sheep.

That's funny coming out of a cat. D)

Now that you mention it....

Judy wrote: "It will probably go viral. Watch out."

Am I dense? I don't get it.

Judy wrote: "Oh, the little D). Its so cute it could become a fad and go viral on the internet."

Did you discover a new emoticon?

Ha Ha. It's not a little d, it's a big D.

I think we're making a very bad first impression in this group. They will think we are mental midgets

Asmah wrote: "Judy wrote: "Oh, the little D). Its so cute it could become a fad and go viral on the internet."

Did you come discover a new emoticon?"


No new discoveries, Asmah. Just plain silliness, unless you think "D)" would be useful in internet-speak, meaning "you have a double chin."

Anne wrote: "No new discoveries, Asmah. Just plain silliness, unless you think "D)" would be useful in internet-speak, meaning "you have a double chin." ..."

I've never found D) in any list of emoticons on the internet. You're right, Anne, that it would be useful only when indicative of an emotion. A double chin might end an invitation or acceptance to dine out--indicating I'm willing to chow down even if its a double banana split.

Hahahahaha. You mean especially if it's a double banana split. Yum, that sounds good.

LOL. D) is going to take on new meaning for this group. See what you started, Judy?

After reading this thread I definitely think I'm in the right group. As a friend once said to me, the best people in the world are a bit weird (don't worry I mean that totally as a compliment!) We certainly wouldn't want to be ordinary or lack a good sense of humor.

Oh and I joined Literary Imprint too Asmah, so we can plan some group reads.

I take that as a compliment.

Sue wrote: "Oh and I joined Literary Imprint too Asmah, so we can plan some group reads."

Great.

Judy wrote: "This group now has a mascot --- its own emoticon D)

I think I will use it when I write food memoir reviews."

People will think you are very happy when you use this: D)

Anne, thank God you have used book links! I have been copying and pasting so much all day that my fingers are stuck together at this point...... (((HUGS))) I knew I could count on you. I used them too. And I know you prefer Kindle over DTB so are you saying that all these books are for Kindle, or maybe a large portion?! My fingers are crosssed, no actually they are glued crossed.

Now I am going to go check you list book by book. Some I will be familiar with :0)

glad to be of help. they are on kindle for me.....

Anne, I have downloaded quite a few Kindle smples. Thanks for the tips. I was worried about having so few Kindle alternatives on my list.

Why are you putting Primo Levi's If This Is a Man/The Truce under Romania? I have pl

Anne, I have downloaded quite a few Kindle smples. Thanks for the tips. I was worried about having so few Kindle alternatives on my list.

Why are you putting Primo Levi's If This Is a Man/The Truce under Romania? I have placed this under Poland, by setting. He is Italian. I think.

I don't know why I did that. It's been looking funny to me. I must have had a good reason to put it there (ha!), but you are right, it should be under either Italy or Poland. Thank you for pointing that out.

I've been wondering a bit about where to put Primo Levi myself, but he seems to be up against competition wherever he's put.

Sue wrote: "I've been wondering a bit about where to put Primo Levi myself, but he seems to be up against competition wherever he's put."

Exactly. Italy and Poland have a lot of great books.

So Romania looks good!!!

Sue wrote: "So Romania looks good!!!"

What do you mean?

Anne, this book is about his leaving Auschwitz and traveling home to Italy. I shelved this in Italy and Poland and all the countries he travelled through, on of which is Slovakia. However that is certainly not the central setting for the book! There are other countries too.

Do you see my point here!!! That book list sorted by countries is going to become a total mess. And Barry - should I remind you about the discussion of Camus and France versus Algeria? Should I continue with more examples that have already come up?

Sue wrote: "So Romania looks good!!!"

Anne, I just meant that listing the book as Romania gives more opportunity to read it by having less competition (my weak attempt at humor).

Chrissie, I think Barry has said we could make our own internal rules for our own lists. It looks like we're each really doing that. I'm picking some books by setting/country and others by author and it's working fine.