MobileRead Book Challenges discussion

Well, I don't really have one this year. I had some plans and things changed so we'll read some books, hopefully, and list them here and keep track of points from the 2017 group challenge.

The List of Reads
1. Russia (7) - The Symmetry Teacher by Andrei Bitov
2. Canada (58) - And the Birds Rained Down by Jocelyne Saucier
3. United Arab Emirates (1) - That Other Me by by Maha Gargash
4. China (6) - The Vagrants by Yiyun Li
5. Cambodia (2) - The Stones Cry Out: A Cambodian Childhood, 1975-1980 by Molyda Szymusiak
6. France (9) - The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
7. Mexico (3) - Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
8. Iceland (5) - The Ambassador by Bragi Ólafsson
9. Iran (3) - The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
10. Zimbabwe (2) - We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
11. United States (235) - The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
12. United Kingdom (138) - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
13. Somalia (1) - Hiding in Plain Sight by Nuruddin Farah
14. Bangladesh (2) - Brick Lane by Monica Ali
15. Denmark (3) - Winter's Tales by Isak Dinesen
16. Iran (4) - Iran (4) Tehran at Twilight by Salar Abdoh
17. United Kingdom (138) James and the Giant Peach by Roiald Dahl
18. Libya (2) Anubis: A Desert Novel by Ibrahim al-Koni
19. Federated States of Micronesia (1) My Urohs by Emelihter Kihleng
20. Colombia (1) Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
21. Iran (5) Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran by Roya Hakakian
22. United States (236) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
23. Argentina (3) Kiss of the Spiderwoman by Manuel Puig
24. United Kingdom (138) The Witches by Roald Dahl
25. Peru (2) Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa
26. Yemen (1) A Land without Jasmine by Wajdi Al-Ahdal
27. Syria (3) The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria by Samar Jazbek
28. United States (237) The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier
29. Chile (2) Zorro by Isabel Allende
30. Nigeria (2) The Famished Road by Ben Okri
31. Canada (60) Running the Riders: My Decade as Ceo of Canada's Team by Jim Hopson
32. United States (239) You are Here: From the Compass to GPS, the History and Future of How We Find Ourselves by Hiawatha Bray
33. Canada (61) Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
34. Canada's Own: A Celebration of 100 Grey Cups by Stephen Brunt
35. United States (240) Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
36. United States (241) Usher's Passing by Robert McCammon
37. Mexico (5) Warren the 13th and The All-Seeing Eye by Tania del Rio
38. Dominica (1) Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
39. Canada (62) Down to the dirt by Joel Thomas Hynes
40. United States (242) A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
41. Mexico (5) Xtabentum: A Novel of Yucatan by Rosy Hugener
42. Argentina (4) How I Became a Nun by César Aira
43. United States (243) Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
44. Germany (5) All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
45. United States (244) The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones by Will Mabbitt
46. South Korea (2) Human Acts by Han Kang
47. United States (245) North Dallas Forty by Peter Gent
48. Iran (6) The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
49. Chile (3) Ways of Going Home by by Alejandro Zambra
50. Canada (63) The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir by Joseph Auguste Merasty
51. Iceland (6) Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason
52. United States (246) Kill Now, Pay Later by Robert Terrall
53. Russia (8) There Once Lived a Mother Who Loved Her Children, Until They Moved Back In: Three Novellas About Family by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
54. Canada (64) Deadly Appearances by Gail Bowen
55. United States (247) Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again by Donald J. Trump
56. South Korea (3) The Dog Who Dared to Dream by Sun-mi Hwang
57. United States (248) Murder Packs a Suitcase by Cynthia Baxter

Currently Reading or Upcoming Books
58. United States () What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World by Henry Clark

Country and number of books read for that country in parentheses.

First!!

Also: Reading is fun without challenges too, as long as you're enjoying it! :D

DoodlePanda wrote: "First!!"


pffffft!

lol

I don't need a challenge to make reading fun; I need a challenge to make finding books fun. I haven't been in book-search mode for a while. So, what is my challenge this year? Probably just more books from non-big-three countries. Unless it is Fforde, Pratchett or Holt.

My challenge is for 20 books. That should be lots given how busy life is. Hoping to read a bunch of different countries again and get a few new countries into the mix and keep the map up to date.

I have a problem reading books I own.

Thats a major failing.

Woohoo.

One. The Symmetry Teacher by Andrei Bitov. Quite dull for the most part. The last bit saved it but it's a rousing 2-star start to the year. But it's a book down.

A Book
Miscellaneous - Library Fishing
Category Started - Miscellaneous
Writing - About a Book
Category Started - Writing

For 5 points.

Russia (7) for those that follow the never-ending world journey.

Well done. First casualty of the year.

Two. And the Birds Rained Down by Jocelyne Saucier.

A Book
Alphabet - B
Category Started - Alphabet
Character - Retired
Category Started - Character

Another 5 pionts for 10.

Canada (57). Quite a few reads from my home country now.

Three. That Other Me by Maha Gargash.

A Book
Time Traveller - 2016
Category Started - Time Traveller
Alphabet - O

4 points for 14.

United Arab Emirates (1). Woohoo! Another country checked off the list.

Nice! Well done! :D

It's still early in the year, but the way things are shaping up for my upcoming reads, I might have the highest percentage of eBooks read since 2011 this year.

Good progress! How many countries in total have you read books from?

A hundred and three, sir.

I was going for a kind of Monty Python voice in my head. If you remember the skit where they are soldiers in the trenches..

Four. The Vagrants by Yiyun Li. Three stars.

A Book
Easy - Any Book
Category Started - Easy
Alphabet V

4 points. 18 in total.

I'll call it China (6). Yiyun Li is technically a Chinese-American writer, but was born in China and lived there until her mid twenties. That counts for me.

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "A hundred and three, sir.

I was going for a kind of Monty Python voice in my head. If you remember the skit where they are soldiers in the trenches.."

Wow!

I'm already hearing voices - no need to explain.

Some days it seems like little progress since there's still 92 +/- to go. I just remind myself that a little over three years ago I was at 23.

53% of the countries.
91% of the population.

That summarizes the problem now.

You aren't including Taiwan in the total country count?

I think I should. It's also why I've got a +/- on that number. It changes all the time. I've gone back and forth on it. The list I had been using was the list of UN Member States which leaves Taiwan out. But even that gets weird with Palestine and Vatican City which are Observer States and not Member States. It seems luudicrous for me to include Israel and not Palestine too.

There's a really cute youtube video on what makes a country a country and the summary is "if all the other countries say you are a country then you're a country. Kosovo is left out there.

I've got a book identified for Taiwan so its not even a hard one to check off the list.

Actually looking at my country list spreadsheet, I do have Tawian. It's Vatican City that I've removed, but I've left Palestine as well.

The inconsistencies are shocking. :P

And I had to go check my map to see if it was right. Yep, my map has Taiwan as a 0 right now, but I forgot to put in that I had read a book from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All my numbers seem to match between a few spreadsheets and the map now.

I've always considered it a bit weird that Vatican City could be considered a country. I do think Taiwan is one, though.

Five. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Four stars. I really enjoyed this.

Four points for the challenge. L, TBR started, TBR - meaning to read for a long time.

France (9).

Six. The Stones Cry Out: A Cambodian Childhood, 1975-1980 by Molyda Szymusiak. Three stars.

Three points for the challenge. S, and another check in the Easy category.

25 points in total.

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "Five. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Four stars. I really enjoyed this.

Four points for the challenge. L, TBR started, TBR - meaning to read for a long time.

France ..."


I love it, too. but it makes me cry

Crying is good. Anyone telling you otherwise is wrong.

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "Crying is good. Anyone telling you otherwise is wrong."

:-D

You're catching up! :D

It's early. Ask me how its going in May which is when my reading usually starts to fall off.

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "It's early. Ask me how its going in May which is when my reading usually starts to fall off."

Mine too!

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "It's early. Ask me how its going in May which is when my reading usually starts to fall off."

Yeah...I've read nothing in Jan.

January has been salvaged for me. Thankfully. I probably won't finish another title but hopefully a couple by the end of the week.

I need to read something. This is very odd for me. I'm assuming I've hit burnout or something.

I pretty much took six months off from reading. I think there was one book in that time, so I'm fresh and ready to go.

Something short, something sweet? I just finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with my older son this week (it doesn't get counted in this stuff though.)

Good old Veruca Salt.

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "Good old Veruca Salt. "

I was just thinking about her after reading Shaun's latest response in the Way to Indicate Reread thread. lol

Seven. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.

A Book.
World - A Place you Want to Visit
Category Started - World
Alphabet - W

4 points. For 29.

Mexico (3).

Hard to beleve I've only read 3 from Mexico. I should fix that, but first it's off to Iceland and Iran.

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "Hard to beleve I've only read 3 from Mexico. I should fix that, but first it's off to Iceland and Iran."

Safe journey :)

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "I pretty much took six months off from reading. I think there was one book in that time, so I'm fresh and ready to go.

Something short, something sweet? I just finished reading [book:Charlie and t..."

I think I might do a re-read.

>.>

<.<

Or watch someone play video games on YouTube. Either or.

O_O

I'm just going to ignore that last statement. :)

Library day!!!

Almost done my one paper book and I've got a couple on order that don't appear to be showing up so it's time to go looking for books. My penciled in available list has Sierra Leone, Somalia, Trinidad and Tobago, Albania, Pakistan and India on it. A couple of haven't read countries in the list so that's probably what I'll end up with. Unless of course the Trinidad and Tobago one looks great.

Maybe I'll grab two knowing it will lead to chaos when the requests come immediately.

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "I'm just going to ignore that last statement. :)

Library day!!!

Almost done my one paper book and I've got a couple on order that don't appear to be showing up so it's time to go looking for book..."


lol

Not nearly as fruitful as I was hoping. Most of the books I had scoped out as being available were actually findable. I did come back with a book for Somalia and Zimbabwe. Which is good for really underrepresented Africa.

Eight. The Ambassador by Bragi Ólafsson.

A Book
Crayons: Blue
Category Started: Crayons
World: Iceland

4 points for 33.

Iceland (5). That's a ridiculous amount for such an unpopulated country. I'd have to have read more than five thousand books to put the US in the same per capita range.

Anyone got ideas for books on boats or hurricanes? Finding something non-US, non-UK is a bit of a disaster so far.

Trying to squeeze out starting all of the categories and Florida seems to be the hard one to find something.

Do all categories need to be non-US and UK? You can get both boats and Florida from Carl Hiaasan. And maybe even hurricanes,

^Carl is the obvious choice, but I've been trying to ignore all US authors these days. It's not that I won't, but I'll definitely cross off other categories before caving into that.

Technically the in-land Florida one is almost guaranteed to be a US author unless I can find a Spanish account of the search for the fountain of youth or something. Haha. I think I have a lead for thiis category now.

Mucho gracias for the conversation.

the one I read from Iceland had half the setting on a boat if that helps? The Silence of the Sea

Thanks for that tip. Im sure ill gind something eventually.

The books are really glying by these days. Im having a hard time finding books from thd library for my phone. Such little availability.

Nine. The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani. Loved this book.

Book
Crayons: Red
Recs: Goodreads
Category Started: Recs

4 points for 37.

Iran (3).

Really motoring!