Around the World in 80 Books discussion

Here are the twelve countries randomly assigned to me for 2022:

Uganda ☑
Montenegro ☑
Micronesia ☑
South Africa ☑
Burkina Faso ☑
North Macedonia ☑
Nigeria ☑
Mauritius ☑
Bangladesh ☑
Palau ☑
Honduras ☑
Malaysia ☑

As usual, I will plan to read one a month throughout this year.

Since the Amazing Race starts up again this week for a new season, for January I'll start with the country from this list visited most recently by the US version of the Amazing Race (prior to this upcoming season): Uganda

And... GO!

January

Travel to Uganda, and read a book on that country:
Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

Welcome to Uganda, a land of mountains and plains on the north shore of Lake Victoria! This country of over 40 million people has a rich history predating colonialism. And in the heart of Uganda is the starting leg for this stretch of our journey: the ancient kingdom of Buganda.

DETOUR: Choose a Twin or Lose a Twin

-- In Choose a Twin, you must marry the twin of your dreams and have a happy marriage and family without her twin getting jealous.
(view spoiler)[It will not work, and unhappiness will follow. (hide spoiler)]

-- In Lose a Twin, you must escort the adopted twin of your favored son across the desert to serve in the royal court, without accidentally killing said adoptee and inviting a curse upon your whole family.
(view spoiler)[It will not work, and unhappiness will follow. (hide spoiler)]

ROADBLOCK: You must successfully remove a curse upon your family that has driven family members mad or killed them prematurely over the course of generations.
(view spoiler)[This is more easily said than done, and is actually rather chaotic and dangerous and disturbing for all involved. (hide spoiler)]

PIT STOP: The pit stop for this leg of the journey is the market in Bwaise, on the outskirts of modern-day Kampala. The last team to arrive may be branded a thief and subjected to mob justice, or may instead just be driven mad...
(view spoiler)[Yeah -- that's a bit dark. So was this book at times... (hide spoiler)]

February

Rips open envelope: Travel to Nigeria and read a book on that country.

Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

Welcome to Lagos, Nigeria, the largest city in the country, and the second largest on the African continent. This port city originated on a series of islands separating the Lagos Lagoon from the Atlantic Island, and it is here that an extraterrestial visit has just taken place in the waters near Bar Beach.

DETOUR: Just Cause or Just 'Cuz

-- In Just Cause, you must choose a cause and recruit twenty followers to march to Victoria Island to win the approval of the visiting alien ambassador.

-- In Just 'Cuz, during the citywide chaos, you must join a group of Area Boys and choose an abandoned house on Victoria Island to loot in under fifteen minutes.

ROADBLOCK: You must choose a boat and make your way from Bar Beach across the open water to gain an audience with the elders on their spaceship.
(view spoiler)[Every newly enlightened denizen of the deep is out to take revenge on humans, so good luck! (hide spoiler)]

PIT STOP: The pit stop for this leg of the journey is the cavern of Udide the spider, underneath the city of Lagos. The last team to arrive may find their storyline cut short.

March

Rips open envelope: Travel to Burkina Faso and read a book on that country.

The Parachute Drop by Norbert Zongo

Welcome to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso. This city in the center of the country has one of the largest markets in West Africa. Ouagadougou also serves as the basis for the capital city of the fictional country of Watinbow, where the dictator has just been overthrown in a coup.

ROADBLOCK: Playing the role of the dictator, you must survive a coup and escape the capital city for the countryside, and then make it across the border to the fictional allied country of Zakro.

DETOUR: Money Talks or Money Walks

-- In Money Talks, you must take all your ill-gotten gains from your Swiss bank account and try to curry favor from your favorite dictator next door to return to power in Watinbow.
(view spoiler)[It may just be that your favorite dictator next door is not your most loyal friend. (hide spoiler)]

-- In Money Walks, you must take all your ill-gotten gains from your Swiss bank account and give it back to people in Watinbow, investing in schools and medical facilities, and promise never to return to Watinbow.
(view spoiler)[Who are you kidding? A dictator with a conscience? (hide spoiler)]

PIT STOP: The pit stop for this leg of the journey is a prison cell in the capital of Watinbow (view spoiler)[Yup, it would have been better to have just cut and run (hide spoiler)]. The last team to arrive may have an early morning appointment with a firing squad.

April

Rips open envelope: Travel to Montenegro and read a book on that country.

The Son by Andrej Nikolaidis

Welcome to Ulcinj, Montenegro, a town that has lived through many empires and remains a prime tourist destination on the Adriatic coast. Ulcinj is the center of the Albanian population in Montenegro, and is the birthplace of the newest prime minister of Montenegro.

DETOUR: Feel the Burn or Feed the Barn

-- In Feel the Burn, you must join your neighbors in fighting off all the fires rampaging the hillsides on your father's property.

-- In Feed the Barn, you must feed all of your father's ravenous goats that have been left in your front yard until none of the goats is left hungry.

ROADBLOCK: In this roadblock, you must face up to the issues you have with your estranged father; issues that resonate through all your relationships and encounters with your fellow townspeople.

PIT STOP: The pit stop for this leg of the journey is your father's house, which you can no longer avoid. The last team to arrive may have to finally clean the house.

May

Rips open envelope: Travel to North Macedonia and read a book on that country.

My Father's Books by Luan Starova

Welcome to Skopje, North Macedonia, the largest city and the cultural hub of North Macedonia. This city has passed hands from Roman to Byzantine to Ottoman rule, and spent almost half of the 20th century behind the Iron Curtain within the former Yugoslovia before North Macedonia gained independence in 1991.

ROADBLOCK: Collect as many stamps as possible within 15 minutes from papers and documents in your father's cabinet. Then, encourage your mother as she attempts to place the stamps and papers back in their places before your father returns home.

DETOUR: Stallin' for Time or Time for Stalin

-- In Stallin' for Time, you must learn enough Italian over the radio to successfully convince the Italian army that shows up on your doorstep that you are an Italian family and that they should not take over your house.

-- In Time for Stalin, you must successfully guess when the appropriate time to take down the portrait of Stalin in your house; too early, and you will be denounced, while too late, an angry mob may take over your house and send you to prison.

PIT STOP: The pit stop for this leg of your journey is your father's library, replete with memories of a life lived at the intersection of civilizations. The last team to arrive may get stuck with overused metaphors.

June

Rips open envelope: Travel to South Africa and read a book on that country.

A Dry White Season by André Brink

Welcome to Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa, established after the discovery of gold in the late 19th century. In one corner of the city lie the Southwestern Townships, known as Soweto, where the anti-apartheid movement gained traction in the 1970's before apartheid finally ended in the early 1990's.

ROADBLOCK: Gather evidence that the deaths of the son of a black janitor at your school, and then the janitor himself, were at the hands of your country's repressive security police, then find a secure hiding place to store your evidence from said police.

DETOUR: Pride or Prejudice

-- In Pride you must discover how much ostracization from family, friends, and society you can take for a just cause, while successfully identifying whether your cause is for the benefit of yourself or for others.

-- In Prejudice you must answer to your clergy, your coworkers at school, your spouse, your children, and the family and friends of the black janitor who you choose to help out as to why you are taking on this just cause to find answers.

PIT STOP: There is no pit stop in the pursuit of justice; in fact, you may never win. The key is to never lose by giving up, because then you may rightly be eliminated.

July

Rips open envelope: Travel to Mauritius and read a book on that country.

The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah

Welcome to Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar that was colonized by the Dutch, French, and British, before gaining independence. And in the small town of Beau Bassin is the reminder of a prison where Jewish refugees turned away from Palestine were interred during the Second World War.

ROADBLOCK: Find a way to make a friend your age with one of the prisoners in the camp, but be sure not to be seen by the guards.

DETOUR: Look Forward or Look Back

-- In Look Forward you must successfully escape with your new friend to the old town where your family used to live so that you can start a new life and gain a new brother.

-- In Look Back you must face the consequences of the decisions you made as a child and never stop trying to learn about the life of your childhood friend and what brought him to Mauritius,

PIT STOP: The pit stop in this leg of the race is the Saint-Martin cemetery, where perhaps some peace can finally be gained through revisiting the past.

August

Rips open envelope: Travel to Bangladesh and read a book on that country.

I Remember Abbu by Humayun Azad

Welcome to Bangladesh, one of the world's most populous countries, and in the heart of the country is the city of Dhaka, once the center of the world's muslin trade. Dhaka was central to the movement for independence from Pakistan in 1971, and it is now the capital city of Bangladesh.

ROADBLOCK: Find a new home for (view spoiler)[or abandon (hide spoiler)] the kittens that are creating potential health issues for your family, even though the kittens are terribly cute.

DETOUR: To the Village or To the City

-- In To the Village you must avoid army clashes as you and your family make your way from the capital to the your family's home village.

-- In To the City you must make it back to your apartment while your father avoids being impressed by the military.

PIT STOP: The pit stop in this leg of the race is outside, where you get to relive memories of your father telling story after story on a perfect afternoon.

September

Rips open envelope: Travel to Malaysia and read a book on that country.

Sandokan: The Tigers of Mompracem by Emilio Salgari

Welcome to Malaysia, one of the most biodiverse countries on Earth, and which is split between the Malay Peninsula and the north coast of the island of Borneo. And off the north coast of Borneo lie the small islands of Labuan and Mompracem.

DETOUR: The Lady or The Tiger

-- In The Lady you must be willing to sacrifice the lives of all your friends and crew just to have the opportunity to glimpse the most beautiful woman in your neck of the woods in Southeast Asia.

-- In The Tiger you must be willing to take on a tiger single-handedly, armed only with a kris, in an attempt to impress the most beautiful woman in your neck of the woods in Southeast Asia.

ROADBLOCK: Hold off the British fleet as long as possible to keep them from taking over your pirate stronghold and taking back your new wife.

PIT STOP: The pit stop in this leg of the race is the high seas, far away from British pursuers, where you can live happily ever after with your new English bride, even as you have to give up your life of piracy and avoid being hunted down again.

October

Rips open envelope: Travel to Micronesia and read a book on that country.

Micronesian Blues by Cynthia Morris

Welcome to Micronesia, a nation consisting of over 600 islands in the South Pacific, and a former Trust Territory administered by the United States. Here on the island of Pohnpei lies the country's capital, Palikir.

ROADBLOCK: As an advisor to the fledgling police force, secure transportation as quickly as possible to round up the prisoners who escaped in a rare jailbreak.

DETOUR: Culture Link or Culture Brink

-- In Culture Link, you must help bridge cultures with the men you are training through drinking homemade sakau, inelegantly described as the consistency of elephant snot.

-- In Culture Brink, you must escape from a class of trainees chasing after you when they don't realize that the surprise memory/reaction exercise you just ran in which you pretended to shoot the instructor was just an exercise.

PIT STOP: The pit stop on this leg of the race is any of the beaches overlooking the Pacific, offering some of the best sunsets on earth.

November

Rips open envelope: Travel to Palau and read a book on that country.

Vanished: The Sixty-Year Search for the Missing Men of World War II by Wil S. Hylton

Welcome to Palau, a small island nation in the South Pacific that was formerly a Trust Territory of the United States. This country was the site of some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific theater during the second World War.

DETOUR: Sight or Sound

-- In Sight, you must pore over hundreds of aerial photographs to find the image showing the trajectory of a US bomber felled by anti-aircraft fire in World War II.

-- In Sound, you must listen to several dozen elders on Palau who were eyewitnesses to fallen planes in order to find the resting place of a US bomber felled by anti-aircraft fire in World War II.

ROADBLOCK: In this roadblock, you must certify for advanced open water diving in order to conduct searches for a US bomber that disappeared underwater after being struck by anti-aircraft in World War II.

PIT STOP: The pit stop on this leg of the race is Koror, the former capital of Palau, where you may contemplate the sacrifice of so many who did not make it home during World War II.

December

Rips open envelope: Head to the finish line in Honduras and read a book on that country.

Don't be afraid, gringo: A Honduran woman speaks from the heart : the story of Elvia Alvarado by Elvia Alvarado

Welcome to Honduras, a Central American country rich in Mayan and other pre-Columbian cultural heritage. This country has suffered through political instability, and remains one of the poorest countries in Central America, but has many natural resources.

ROADBLOCK: In this roadblock you must work with campesinos to successfully petition the government to grant them unused land.

DETOUR: Listen or Learn

-- In Listen, you must spend half a day listening to the needs and concerns of campesinos so that you can be a better advocate on their behalf.

-- In Learn, you must spend half a day studying Honduran law to better understand the legal rights and recourses available to campesinos.

FINAL PIT STOP: The final pit stop on this race is the home of Elvia Alarado, who advocated for opportunites for campesinos to gain land, gain education, and better their lives in Honduras in the 1980s.