Around the World discussion

Currently in the U.S. with Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

Try to be in Japan with Lonely Planet Japan.

I have a few books lined up for 2015, but none have inspired me to start reading any of them yet. I am also looking for replacements for some of the 'duff' books from previous years.
In the meantime, I am enjoying several of the short pieces in Best European Fiction 2011.

Happy reading in 2015 to everyone.

I'm in Papua New Guinea with Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea by Kira Salak.

I'm currently in Azerbeijan (reading and still no idea how to properly spell it ;-)) with The Orphan Sky. I just came from Bahrain with Two Old Fools on a Camel: From Spain to Bahrain and Back Again.

Nice start of the year!

I was wondering though if there is somewhere to make a 2015 list? I can't seem to find it..

Yes, Peggy was wondering the same. It would be nice to have a Personal Lists 2015 thread up at the top for us to add our individual lists, as well as other 2015 threads moved to the top, pretty please mods? Thanks! :-)

I didn't realize I was a mod, but I know one of ours just gave birth and I'm not sure of the others so I'm making these changes. I also closed 2014 so they can be read but not added to, to keep us on the right discussion. I'll add a personal thread list too! (ETA: Having a trouble making a new folder for personal lists 2015. Will return to this tomorrow.)

Also I started reading From Modern Production to Imagined Primitive: The Social World of Coffee from Papua New Guinea. I have coffee on the way from a small family farm in PNG, so this will be the perfect time to read about coffee production! It seems like an econo-ethnography.

Thanks a ton Jenny - appreciate it! Great - now we have the 2015 threads at the top! I tried setting up the 2015 Personal Threads but it wouldn't let me - maybe I wasn't doing it right or it might just be something mods can do.

Still poking along, filling in. I have a better book for Sao Tome and Principe to get to.

Thanks Jenny! :)

It's a little slow-going but I'm in Vienna with an author and the memory of his grandmother in A Very Little Woman.

And I just started listening to Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts which takes place in Hungary.

Daisy wrote: "It's a little slow-going but I'm in Vienna with an author and the memory of his grandmother in A Very Little Woman.

And I just started listening to [book:Ballad of the Whiskey Ro..."

That is a great title! :-)

I'm in Catalonia, Spain with Maria Barbal's Stone in a Landslide. Wonderful.

Darn - my TBR list just grew with Stone in a Landslide - thanks Claire!

Lilisa wrote: "Darn - my TBR list just grew with Stone in a Landslide - thanks Claire!"

And it's a wonderful read Lilisa, I just finished it this morning, I could have kept reading it for so much longer and now wondering what else of Maria Barbal is translated into English.

Claire wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Darn - my TBR list just grew with Stone in a Landslide - thanks Claire!"

And it's a wonderful read Lilisa, I just finished it this morning, I could have kept reading ..."

Oh good - great that you enjoyed it that much. Will need to move it up my list!

I just finished Of Marriageable Age which takes place in India, London, Trinidad & Guyana South America.

In the U.S. with The Rosie Effect.

I hopped over to West Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya) and started reading Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art. Phew. Heady stuff, har harrrr.

It's 1950 and I'm in the slums of Naples, Italy with My Brilliant Friend book one of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels. Book two The Story of a New Name is waiting in the wings.

I'm back in the Spanish Pyrenees, having been there recently with Maria Barbal and Stone in a Landslide and now reading it from the perspective of Julio Llamazares in The Yellow Rain.

I'm in Argentina with Roberto Arlt's The Mad Toy - 1920's Buenos Aires.

In Indonesia with a short story collection in Swedish. Indonesien berättar : tusen gevärskulor, tusen fjärilar
It's been (weirdly) hard finding Indonesian books, after all it has the 4th largest population in the world.

Lisa wrote: "It's been (weirdly) hard finding Indonesian books, after all it has the 4th largest population in the world."
Yes, you would expect there to be a lot more books available for Indonesia. Some of Pramoedya Ananta Toer's work has been translated into a few other languages.

I'm in Haiti with Claire of the Sea Light. Good so far. Having fun with the Haitian French (is this technically Pidgin French?) for example msye for monsieur and Limye for Lumiere. It's not difficult or annoying - more like a little riddle.

Yes, you would expect there to be a lot more books available for Indonesia..."
Thanks for the tip (he's even available in swedish)

Thanks for the Indonesia recommendation Val - added some of Pramoedya Ananta Toer's books to my list.

Starting The Narrow Road to the Deep North - not sure just yet which countries it's going to traverse.

Saw this today. Haven't chosen one to download yet, but my first thought was of you lot :D

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015...

Rusalka wrote: "Saw this today. Haven't chosen one to download yet, but my first thought was of you lot :D

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015..."

Sounds intriguing! And if they are as short as the article suggests, I might be able to add a few to my challenge list.

Still in New Guinea, back to the PNG side with Euphoria by Lily King. Nice to read a novel set here!

Needing a lighter and fun read - in the U.K. with Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder: A Mystery

In Portugal with Raised from the Ground by José Saramago.

I'm in South Korea with Please Look After Mother, and at about 1/3 of the way in, I'm surprised by some of the parallels I'm drawing with Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (which I read last year). Although perhaps I shouldn't be that surprised, as they started from the same base not all that long ago.

I'll be in Vienna, Austria if I stick with Five: A Novel which looks like a mystery or a thriller.

I'm in Naples, Italy with My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante.

I'm in Great Britain with The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling

I'm in Budapest in 1990 with Prague, a book I read once when it first came out. I was disappointed then but I'm re-reading and I like it better this time.
So far.

I'm taking a break from Raised from the Ground and reading The Disciple of Las Vegas - Ava Lee is a hoot!

I am in Canada with The Other Side of the Bridge and enjoying it so far.

Now in Australia with Cocaine Blues and enjoying a quick little cozy mystery

I'm trapped! Still in the jungle. This time with Tobias Schneebaum, wandering between New Guinea and NYC in Secret Places: My Life In New York & New Guinea.

Now onto the small country of New Zealand with The Luminaries

In Australia with The Light Between Oceans and in Canada with A Rule Against Murder

Lilisa I enjoyed The Light Between Oceans I love your choices in books :)

I am in South India with The Tusk That Did The Damage.

Melissa wrote: "Lilisa I enjoyed The Light Between Oceans I love your choices in books :)"

:-) thanks Melissa!

It's World War II and I'm in France with The Nightingale

Jayme wrote: "It's World War II and I'm in France with The Nightingale"

I have that one in my 2015 list too, but am saving it for closer to ANZAC Day. I'll look forward to hearing what you think about it Jayme.

Meanwhile I've made a start on Hokkaido Highway Blues. I've only read a couple of chapters so far, but I can already tell that I like the humour and style. BUT the typeface in my paperback copy is so tiny!! I'm not sure if my poor old eyes will cope. I may have to switch to Kindle...