Around the World discussion

I am following on from the 2012 list with these:
Chad: Told by Starlight in Chad
Rwanda: Baking Cakes in Kigali: A Novel
Guinea: The Radiance of the King
South Sudan: From Bush to Bush. Journey to Liberty in South Sudan (not finished)
Cuba: Dirty Havana Trilogy
Greece: Barbarossa The Pirate
Belgium: The Legend of the Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel in the Land of Flanders & Elsewhere
Tunisia: Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord
Czech Republic: Mendelssohn is on the Roof
Bolivia: Andean Express
Portugal: The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
Somalia: From A Crooked Rib
Dominican Republic: In the Time of the Butterflies
Benin: The Art of Benin
Haiti: Breath, Eyes, Memory
Burundi: The Running Man
Hungary: Journey by Moonlight
Sweden: Little Star
Serbia & Kosovo: The Tiger's Wife
Azerbaijan: Ali and Nino: A Love Story
Belarus: Paranoia: A Novel
United Arab Emirates: The Diesel
Austria: The World of Yesterday
Tajikstan: Hurramabad
Honduras: The Mosquito Coast
Switzerland: A Jew Must Die
Israel: Friendly Fire: A Duet
Papua New Guinea: Mister Pip
Jordan: Snow in Amman: An Anthology of Short Stories from Jordan
Bulgaria: Auto Da Fe
Hong Kong (territory): The Piano Teacher
Togo: The Village of Waiting (ordered, never arrived)
Paraguay: I, the Supreme
Laos: ແພງແມ່ Mother's Beloved: Stories from Laos
El Salvador: Senselessness
Eritrea: My Fathers' Daughter
Libya: The Bleeding of the Stone
Sierra Leone: The Memory of Love
Nicaragua: To Bury Our Fathers
Denmark: We, the Drowned
Kyrgyzstan: When The Edelweiss Flowers Flourish
Slovakia: Embers
Finland: The Year of the Hare
Singapore: People Of The Pear Tree
Turkmenistan: Rukhnama: Reflections on the Spiritual Values of the Turkmen
Norway: Hunger
Costa Rica: Costa Rica: A Traveler's Literary Companion
Lebanon: The Rock of Tanios
Ireland: The Spinning Heart
Central African Republic: Les randonnées de Daba : De Ouadda à Bangui
New Zealand: The Uncle's Story
Congo, Republic of the: Little Boys Come from the Stars
Georgia: The Knight in the Panther's Skin
Palestine: Gate of the Sun
Liberia: This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President
Croatia: Baba Yaga Laid an Egg
Mauretania: Barzakh
Panama: The Secret History of Costaguana
Bosnia and Herzegovnia: How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone
Puerto Rico (territory): Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood
Oman: Sultan In Oman
Moldova: Playing The Moldovans At Tennis
Uruguay: The Rest Is Jungle and Other Stories
Kuwait: Fiction from Kuwait (Banipal Magazine of Modern Arab Literature)
Albania: The Siege
Lithuania: Whitehorn's Windmill: Or, the Unusual Events Once Upon a Time in the Land of Paudruve
Armenia: Passage to Ararat
Mongolia: The Blue Sky
Jamaica: The Same Earth
Namibia: Namibia Safari Companion: Photo Safari Companion
Qatar: Al-jazeera: The Story Of The Network That Is Rattling Governments And Redefining Modern Journalism Updated With A New Prologue And Epilogue
Macedonia: Freud's Sister
That completes the 2013 list.

www.goodreads.com/review/list/5271574...

I read a non-fiction book for Tunisia: Aïcha Ben Abed: Tunisian Mosaics: Treasures from Roman Africa

For Bolivia, Ronald Haladyna (Ed.): Andean Journeys: A Bilingual Anthology of Contemporary Bolivian Poetry is available as an ebook, though the parallel page formatting can be a problem on an ereader. I'd probably read it on the computer, with the font size set to correctly align the facing page translations.

I will take a look at those Osho, thanks.

I was thinking of reading Albert Memmi for Tunisia, but it is difficult to find any of his books at a reasonable price and the library doesn't have him listed.

Check here: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Searc...

Abebooks do have an unfortunate tendency to charge almost as much for shipping me the book as they do for the book itself. There are one or two sellers in the UK who will ship it for free, but then they are charging more for the book. I might still go for Memmi, but I think I will wait until my January credit card statement arrives, to see if I have any money left to spend on books.
I am going to start my 2013 list with books I already own, can borrow from the library or really, really want to read.

Judy wrote: "Abebooks do have an unfortunate tendency to charge almost as much for shipping me the book as they do for the book itself.

That always cracks me up. Its especially funny to purchase a book for a p..."

Good tip Judy for the books for a penny idea. Shipping though, urgh...

The challenge gets more difficult this year as I 'visit' smaller countries, so I have decided to settle for either author or setting when I can't find a book which fits both.

I am now stuck on books for Togo, Laos, El Salvador and Eritrea to complete this year's challenge but it is only April and I am sure I will find something eventually (Val says optimistically).

I just read The She-Devil in the Mirror for El Salvador. Only a 180 pages. I didn't love it, but that may be my own hang ups (not connecting with the person nattering at you the entire book). He has some other translated works it seems though.

Thanks Rusalka.
I have heard of the author, so perhaps I can find one of his over here.

Val wrote: "I am now stuck on books for Togo, Laos, El Salvador and Eritrea to complete this year's challenge but it is only April and I am sure I will find something eventually (Val says optimistically)."

Val, for Laos I read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. It was a really good read. Although set in California, it goes in to Hmong culture by following a family from Laos as they seek medical treatment for their daughter. The culture clashes are really sad at times so this is not a "feel good" book. My review for it is on my blog at: http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blog...

WanderShopper wrote: "Val wrote: "I am now stuck on books for Togo, Laos, El Salvador and Eritrea to complete this year's challenge but it is only April and I am sure I will find something eventually (Val says optimisti..."

WS - my sister read The Spirit Catches and said it was excellent and she's an even tougher rater than I am, so it's on my TBR list.

Lilisa wrote: "WanderShopper wrote: "Val wrote: "I am now stuck on books for Togo, Laos, El Salvador and Eritrea to complete this year's challenge but it is only April and I am sure I will find something eventual..."

I'm glad to hear you will read it too, Lilisa. I was just in Laos in November and was able to learn weaving and batik from Hmong women so I had a special attachment to this reading I think.

WanderShopper wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "WanderShopper wrote: "Val wrote: "I am now stuck on books for Togo, Laos, El Salvador and Eritrea to complete this year's challenge but it is only April and I am sure I will find som..."

WS - It must have been a great experience! I hear that Laos is among the best south Asian countries to visit - and this from my Vietnamese friends. Did you read the book before or after you visited Laos?

Lilisa wrote: "WanderShopper wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "WanderShopper wrote: "Val wrote: "I am now stuck on books for Togo, Laos, El Salvador and Eritrea to complete this year's challenge but it is only April and I a..."

Guess I really wanted to make that point! Sorry about the multiple posts. I tried to write from my phone but it looks like it doesn't play well with GR. I would delete some if I could figure out how. Anyways - Lilisa, I read the book after my visit. And it filled in some blanks in my experiences. I am really fascinated by the Hill Tribes and have traveled through all of their countries in SE Asia. I seem especially drawn to the Hmong. An elderly woman there said she thought I had been Hmong in a past life! That was a huge compliment!

WanderShopper wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "WanderShopper wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "WanderShopper wrote: "Val wrote: "I am now stuck on books for Togo, Laos, El Salvador and Eritrea to complete this year's challenge but it is onl..."

WS - :-) there should be a delete option below your comment but no worries. That was a huge compliment for sure Ms. Hmong!

I have just discovered that I missed United Arab Emirates off my country list.
United Arab Emirates: The Diesel