Around the World discussion

Welcome to our 2025 travels!

Where are you currently traveling - a country/region you’ve never been to before, one that you keep returning to, or as I’m currently doing - crisscrossing a few countries in my journey. Let us know!

I’m traveling across a few countries - Russia, France, Poland in The Postcard by Anne Berest.

I’m starting the year off in Antarctica, with Thaw. Not my first time here, but I’m keen to learn more about the Scott expedition in this dual timeline story.

I’m in Iceland with Ivory Bones: The Lewis Chessman Murders and I’m conflicted. The story is great, but the writing is hard to swallow. It’s like the author (US, I think) has researched Iceland and Scandinavia and is desperate to share every little thing she has learned. It’s exhausting 😩

I'm in Iceland with Butterflies in November by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

I'm restarting African read. Just a few stories left in my Seychelles read.

I’m in Scotland again, with The Wolf Tree. Set on a small island in the Outer Hebrides, two Glasgow detectives have arrived to investigate a suspicious ‘suicide’ 2-3 weeks earlier. Only a few chapters in, I’m completely hooked already! Reading the audiobook edition.

I am literally going around the world this week, sixteen times a day in fact, with Orbital 😄 I wouldn’t normally pick it for my kind of book, but only a short way in I’m already surprised by how many different directions my thoughts are taking. (Reading it for an in-person book club.)

I’m in Tunisia with A Calamity of Noble Houses by Amira Ghenim. There are eleven narrators - all recounting from their individual perspectives a terrible mysterious family incident that has shattered two families over the years against the backdrop of the country’s turmoil. I’m enjoying it and interested to find out what really happened.

I’m back in the Czech Republic with Death On Duty, which is #3 in a series I haven’t revisited for a while.

I’m in Ireland and Italy with a new release from Sarah Moss, called Ripeness. I’ve enjoyed several of her shorter novels as audiobooks in recent years, as well as her Icelandic memoir last year. This one seems to be a more average length at around 300 pages, which is welcomed because this dual timeline story is one that you can really sink your teeth into! In terms of the locations, there is a delicious contrast between the languorous northern Italian summer and a wild, windswept western Ireland many years later.

I’m in the Netherlands this week, with The Winter Dress. It’s a dual timeline story about the recovery of a silk gown, hundreds of years old and in remarkable condition, from a shipwreck. The modern day timeline is set on Texel Island, off the Dutch mainland. Really enjoying it so far.

Andrea wrote: "I’m in the Netherlands this week, with The Winter Dress. It’s a dual timeline story about the recovery of a silk gown, hundreds of years old ..."

That sounds great! I loved the Antiques Roadshow episode which featured a 18thc painted silk gown. It was magnificent.

Yrinsyde wrote: "That sounds great! I loved the Antiques Roadshow episode which featured a 18thc painted silk gown. It was magnificent ..."

I’m not sure I’ve seen that one. Even though I’m not in the least fashionable, I have always been a real sucker for textiles! This same author wrote another novel about the lace shawl makers of the Balkans. That was a good read, too.

I’m in Zimbabwe with Little Stones - a book I’ve been meaning to pick up for the past few years. I’m enjoying it so far! Written from the point of view of a relatively wealthy white girl, turning 11 years old, I suspect it is autobiographical to an extent. I’m not sure exactly what year I’m in, but Mugabe is in power and Harry Potter is a thing.

I’m back in Iceland again 😜 This time I’m doing a double read - audio and print - of Always Home, Always Homesick, the new memoir by Hannah Kent. I’ll read anything she writes, and even better if she reads it to me!

I’m in Taiwan with a new release, The Fourth Daughter. It’s growing on me. Initially I found the writing a bit clunky, but now the MC has arrived in Taiwan and there’s lots of food content, so I can ignore the writing 😝 Gorgeous cover.

Andrea wrote: "I’m in Taiwan with a new release, The Fourth Daughter. It’s growing on me. Initially I found the writing a bit clunky, but now the MC has arrived in Taiwan and there’s lots of food..."

🤣 on the food reference! Hopefully you’re enjoying the book more.

I’m in Nicaragua at last! I’ve been meaning to read The Ladies of Managua for a couple of years, and after a false start some time ago I’ve come back to it. Enjoying it so far.