UK Book Club discussion

Well I'm going to have a go, though it will take me a long time to reach book 80 (if I ever do!)… a lot longer than Phileas Fogg, that's for certain! I'm declaring my start as the New Year, to include a couple of books I've read in the last week or so.

The list:

1. Corfu/Greece - Birds, Beasts, and Relatives by Gerald Durrell
2. England - Capital by John Lanchester
3. United States - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
4. Poland - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
5. Yemen - Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
6. Germany - My Year With The Woodpeckers by Heinz Sielmann
7. Sweden - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
8. Jersey (Channel Islands) - The Ark's Anniversary by Gerald Durrell
9. France - A Year In The Merde by Stephen Clarke
10. Turkey - The Hittites by Oliver Robert Gurney
11. Tunisia - 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert by Spike Milligan
12. Japan - The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami
13. Scotland - The Life and Death of St Kilda by Tom Steel
14. Algeria - Monty: His Part in My Victory. by Spike Milligan
15. China - The First Emperor
16. Cameroon - A Zoo in my Luggage by Gerald Durrell
17. Rwanda - Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey
18. South Africa - Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
19. Guyana - Zoo Quest to Guiana by David Attenborough
20. French Guiana - Papillon by Henri Charrière
21. Indonesia - Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History by Giles Milton
22. Iraq - Assyrian Sculpture by Julian Reade
23. Egypt - Private Lives of the Pharaohs: Unlocking the Secrets of Egyptian Royalty by Joyce A. Tyldesley

Enjoy your trip Paul. It does become addictive!

Thanks Kate. How I'll fare with this I don't know but it will be interesting I think.

Good luck Paul, its good fun and as kate says very addictive, whether in bookshops or the library i am now looking at books based on where next!

I hope it doesn't lead to buying more books… I hadn't considered that! I reckon I've got a fair few to read that will apply though, a quick look suggests maybe 15-20 countries in my to read pile, which will keep me going for quite some time. A lot of my books are UK though, particularly nature books (I have a lot of those).

edit: a more thorough look through my to-read books suggests I have the potential to cover at least forty countries there, possibly as many as 50 possible with the books I already own. Plus I have some books I've already read that would cover others, such as Wales.

Good luck - your tbr pile sounds like mine. Will be interested to see what you find for the challenge.

Thanks Sue. Will be trawling the internet for inspiration at some point I should imagine!

Have read another:

4. Poland - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

5. Yemen - Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday

The challenge seems to be off to a good start. :-)

Paulfozz wrote: "5. Yemen - Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday

The challenge seems to be off to a good start. :-)"
This is a great book so sad Paul Torday died recentley

Yes, very sad. It was a good book, I'll certainly try other books of his.

6. Germany - My Year With The Woodpeckers by Heinz Sielmann

Great start Paul.

Thanks Ian. Got Sweden on the go at the moment (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest), but will take a little longer than the last few as it's a rather chunky book!

Paulfozz wrote: "Thanks Ian. Got Sweden on the go at the moment (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest), but will take a little longer than the last few as it's a rather chunky book!"

If like me could not put down any of the three. Great books and the subtitled films as well
Really tempted to 're read them

Isn't there a fourth one in a briefcase somewhere the subject of a legal battle, apparently he had planned to do 10 Salander books originally?!

Andrew wrote: "Isn't there a fourth one in a briefcase somewhere the subject of a legal battle, apparently he had planned to do 10 Salander books originally?!"

Apparently so. But been going on for couple years.

Andrew wrote: "Isn't there a fourth one in a briefcase somewhere the subject of a legal battle, apparently he had planned to do 10 Salander books originally?!"

Robert wrote: "Apparently so. But been going on for..."

What's the betting someone will end up writing more, like with Robert Ludlum's Bourne books…

I think that's already the case with no 4, someone else is writing it up from scrappy notes......just cashing in.

That awful Sebastian Faulks James Bond book springs to mind

Paul you though of for Jersey

I like wildlife not as much as you. But Jersey zoo best zoo in the world. Sure you would like this. Read all Durrell books as teenager

Ian wrote: "I think that's already the case with no 4, someone else is writing it up from scrappy notes......just cashing in."

Oh dear. I won't read that… I've not read the Bourne one and saw the faulks bond one yesterday in a charity shop and felt a little depressed (though I've never read the Fleming ones, and don't really intend to).

Robert wrote: "Paul you though of for Jersey

I like wildlife not as much as you. But Jersey zoo best zoo in the world. Sure you would like this. Read all Durrell books as teenager"

I thought about Gerry for Jersey, I already have some of his books lined up for other countries (Madagascar for one). I have a couple that may feature Jersey enough to qualify, though I need to read them first to find out… which is not really a hardship. :-) I'm slowly collecting Gerry's books so that one may end up on my shelf at some point.

I looked up his books this morning g to get correct title. Bought back memories Rosy Is My Relative was great read. May get it again

7. Sweden - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

Robert wrote: "I looked up his books this morning g to get correct title. Bought back memories Rosy Is My Relative was great read. May get it again"

I have a copy of that on my shelf… another one on the to-read list. Have started reading The Ark's Anniversary, which is about his zoo on Jersey. Have also started looking at a book by Oliver Robert Gurney, The Hittites, which will cover Turkey. It's part of a Folio Society set on ancient civilisations I bought last autumn, it also included books on the Babylonians, Persians and Egyptians.

8. Jersey (Channel Islands) - The Ark's Anniversary by Gerald Durrell

Quite a bit about projects around the world but the mainstay of the book was the zoo in Jersey. Extremely good book!

9. France - A Year In The Merde by Stephen Clarke

10. Turkey - The Hittites by Oliver Robert Gurney

Edit: I've put them on a map in the first post and other than the US all my countries are in a narrow band! Though the largest quantity of countries are in a band through Europe and Africa.

11. Tunisia - 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert by Spike Milligan

12. Japan - The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami

Paulfozz wrote: "8. Jersey (Channel Islands) - The Ark's Anniversary by Gerald Durrell

Quite a bit about projects around the world but the mainstay of the book was the zoo in Jersey. Ex..."

I think there's a Durrell one about Cameroon for a good African country.

Ian wrote: "I think there's a Durrell one about Cameroon for a good African country. "

A quick search shows that one is A Zoo in My Luggage, which I do actually have a copy of! Thanks Ian. :-)

Paul. Your going round world with wildlife like I'm using running.
Thought long and hard about Mo Farah autobiography for Somalia. But just not enough there.

It's difficult sometimes to determine the primary country… authors should write more carefully with this in mind and there should be declarations on the cover; "Fiction, Mauritius 75%, Angola 24%, Cameroon 1%". ;-)

Authors are so inconsiderate lol. I'm having the same probs with my current read. A boggling number of stans - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan & Turmenistan plus Iran(stan), Azerbaijan(stan) and the USA(stan). All very confusing for this world traveller.

So inconsiderate of them.

lol I love the percentage idea! I've had that problem too.

:-)

13. Scotland - The Life and Death of St Kilda by Tom Steel

14. Algeria - Monty: His Part in My Victory. by Spike Milligan

Took a little hunting around to be sure as the place names don't really seem to match up with the place names I could find, possibly where they were misunderstood by the troops as they passed through these places (or for comic effect). He starts in Tunisia, moves into Algeria and at the end returns to Tunisia for the embarkation to Italy.

15. China - The First Emperor

Very interesting, though some information was repeated a number of times (at least three descriptions of the assembly of the terracotta warriors). Was really worth reading though.

16. Cameroon - A Zoo in my Luggage by Gerald Durrell

Not as good as the others I've read, I was a little uncomfortable with the writing about the 'natives' but there were some sparks of life to it too.

I haven't read Gerald durrell since school Paul when read 'my family...' although there was an interesting Radio 4 great lives programme about him a year or so ago i think which you may be able to access on their website, I'm just wondering whether to do him for channel islands then brave Lawrence in Egypt with Alexandria quartet part 1 which i have always fancied, would be an interesting double bill!

I must admit I've never felt inclined to read Larry's books!

Another book finished:

17. Rwanda - Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey

In some ways a rather odd mix of scientific information and travelogue with some really heart-breaking segments as Dian recalls the poacher attacks and their aftermath, but also some really touching moments as she gains acceptance from the Gorillas. The book has extensive appendices on parasitology and details of autopsies - not what I was expecting from a book that a film was based upon! I've yet to see the film actually, will be interesting to see how it relates to the book.

Paul
I am sure I have read another book after her murder. It painted her in far worse light. Domineering aggressive woman. Can't remember title will keep thinking
Jayne Goodall book in some ways very similar

In that situation I think she probably would have needed to be as she was fighting battles on all sides to try to protect the Gorillas. There was incredibly intense pressure on the park from official circles (it had been drastically reduced in size - by 40% I think), the park conservator was doing deals with poachers to catch young Gorillas (usually entailing the slaughter of much of their group) for foreign zoos in exchange for money and goods, there were great incursions by locals into the park for illegal farming and extremely heavy poacher activity; all of this was causing a heavy decline in the small remaining population of Mountain Gorillas and it needed someone very forceful if they were to constantly fight these and live for decades in very difficult conditions.

18. South Africa - Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

First one for a while:

19. Guyana - Zoo Quest to Guiana

very good!

20. Iran - My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeskhzad

I think you've picked the wrong thread Gisela!

Getting others to do your travelling is cheating lol.

He just got stuck waiting for his new passport to come