2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This is where I'll be keeping track of the challenges I'm participating in for 2014.

Around the World in Books

I’ve finally chosen the 12 books I will be reading this year for the Around the World in Books challenge. For this challenge, your task is to read books from different regions of the world. The book must take place in that region, be written in a language of that region, OR be written by an author from that region. I took a long time to decide what I wanted to read, and I’m excited about my decisions.

My choices:

*North America
The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood (Canadian author)

*Central America
Selected Poems by Rubén Darío (Nicaraguan poet)

*Caribbean
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (set in Cuba)

*South America
Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings by Jorge Luis Borges (Argentinian author)

*West Europe
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson (British author)

*East Europe and Former Soviet Union
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (Russian author)

*Africa
A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout (set in Somalia)

*Middle East
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Iranian author and illustrator)

*East Asia
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami (Japanese author)

*South Asia
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (set in Afghanistan)

*Southeast Asia
Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick (set in Cambodia)

*Australia & South Pacific
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Australian author)

Hi I read your comment on introduce yourself. I wanted to see what a literature major picked to read so I looked at your profile. I liked the idea of reading around the world. I haven't joined this group yet but I might. I am reading Master and Margarita right now. Would love to hear what you think about it. I wish I had a little more understanding of what life was like under Stalin. But I can still relate to some of the satire even outside that context.

I just wanted to say hi,
Cosmic

Cosmic wrote: "Hi I read your comment on introduce yourself. I wanted to see what a literature major picked to read so I looked at your profile. I liked the idea of reading around the world. I haven't joined t..."

Hi Cosmic,

Very nice to meet you. The challenge is very fun. You don't have to do all 12 regions, either... you could just pick how many you want to do. The group is full of great people.

How are you enjoying Master and Margarita? I am very excited to read it. I love that is has Faustian undertones. I've heard a lot of good things about it.

Thanks for swinging by!
Take care,
Leah

Hi Leah,
I am about half way through Master and Margarita. Next chapter is the second part. I am reading it because my daughter (17) is reading it in Russian. A freind from the Ukraine sent it to her. She is also about in the middle of the book. It has taken her about 9 months to get this far however. This is her first real adult classic. I don't recommend it for your first classic. But Catherine is very determined. She is self taught, unschooled. So I am reading this book for her. It is not really something I think I would have pushed myself to read if not for her and other reports on it. When I started it I told her it was like playing pin the tail on the donkey. It just seemed the story was going in all directions at once. Gave you the idea that nothng was certain and what used to be reality is not a mirage.

Have you read the Book Thief yet? I read that one and made a beaded art work in honor of the book. It was a challenge. I was doing beaded barrettes for different books that I picked during the year, one a month. The last month I let the women that were following me pick a book. I decided of the books they picked this one might lend it self to an artwork and be interesting at the same time.

I am looking through my book list that I have picked for 2014 and seeing how many of those are from around the world...maybe pick a few more and I would have it. Do you plan to eat food from these different places too? Or any other way of celebrating their culture?

Have fun!
Cosmic

Hi Cosmic,
It is very cool that you are reading the book while your daughter reads it in Russian. That's amazing. What a beautiful thing to do with your child.

I am almost finished the Book Thief. I have about 50 pages to go. It is breathtaking and almost impossible to put down.

Your artwork sounds very interesting! Do you use the names of the books in your bead work, or do you do something else to show that they are inspired by the book?

It is a neat challenge. It sounds like some of the books you plan to read are already from around the world - you could always start with those and change the challenge if you wanted to do more. :)

I do plan on eating the food, but I always have eaten food from different cultures. I studied literature and culture in school, and was lucky enough to learn a little bit about the different corners of the world. I love all sorts of different food from Western Europe, the Central America, India, Thailand and Japan, to name a few. I could do a whole other challenge just about eating the foods, lol!

Have fun, let me know how the book is!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

1/12
One down, 12 to go for my Around the World in Books challenge

It may take me awhile to finish the challenge because I read outside of the challenge as well