Around the World in 80 Books discussion

I'll start. I am a single mom and nurse educator who lives in the Atlanta area. I love to both read and travel. I don't get to travel quite as much as I would like, so I travel as much as possible through books. I hope you all will enjoy this challenge as much as I have.

hey - i'm Dee - i've been "stalking" Diane's profile since she mentioned that this group would be starting! I'm in the Navy and currently live in DC.

Dee wrote: "hey - i'm Dee - i've been "stalking" Diane's profile since she mentioned that this group would be starting! I'm in the Navy and currently live in DC."

Welcome Dee! You sure did find it fast! I made the site public about 5 minutes ago!

pure luck! I saw you post a congrats on Jayme's profile and thought i'd look

Hi All,

I'm Tammy and I live in Phoenix, Arizona. I love to travel but in the past few years have not done it as much as I would like. I'm hoping to diversify my reading travel a little more in the upcoming challenge and make a better go of it this time. Looking forward to it. Thanks for taking the time to manage this Diane - it's a lot of fun!

Hi everyone,

I'm Connie, and I'm from Connecticut. I love reading about locales all over the world. Since a lot of the books I read are for local reading groups, it does seem like I keep reading about some of the same states and countries. This group will help me branch out.

Diane, you've certainly been busy. The new site looks great.

Thank you! I'm so glad you are all here!

Hello all! I'm DeeDee, and I currently live near Atlanta, Georgia, but consider the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D. C. to be "home". I'm married with children; one by one they are leaving the nest and starting their adult life. My daughter is a nurse in Atlanta; she will be getting married in two weeks.

This will be my first Around the World in 80 Books Challenge. In ReadingWithStyle, one quarter they did "backpacking through Europe" as part of their challenge and I finished that part of the challenge.

I've decided to do "trekker" because that's more fun to me than flyover. I've been making a tentative list of countries and books (and revising it, over and over). I've realized that I need to include more African countries than I planned at first if I want to hit 80 books.

The "Books Set In ..." topics have been very helpful (and I've found a few new books to add to my ever-growing list).

I'm going to wait until some members who are repeating post their lists / threads, and then, blatantly copy their style for mine :0)

Thanks to Diane for creating and moderating this group!!

Her Royal Orangeness wrote: "I am so excited about the new group and very anxious to get started on the 2012 challenge! :)

I live in northeast Ohio and am employed as a freelance writer. I love books and movies that have me..."

I'm so glad you'll be continuing the challenge! You are such a great resource for those hard-to-find places!

Deedee wrote: "Hello all! I'm DeeDee, and I currently live near Atlanta, Georgia, but consider the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D. C. to be "home". I'm married with children; one by one they are leaving the ..."

Welcome Deedee! What part of Atlanta do you live in? I live in Cobb county.

Diane wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Hello all! I'm DeeDee, and I currently live near Atlanta, Georgia, but consider the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D. C. to be "home". I'm married with children; one by one they a..."

I'm in Fayette County; my daughter is in Cobb, so I'm up that way alot.

Hello everyone, I'm Lisa and I live in Scottsdale, Arizona. Not married, no kids, so I have plenty of time to read, read, read. I have nieces and nephews that I love to spoil and spend time with, and then send them on home and get back to a nice quiet book. I also like to do needlepoint, but last year I got a kitten....so there went that hobby. Hopefully he has settled down enough now where I can get back to it without him attacking/chewing up my threads.

I'm so excited to see this challenge as it's own group. It looks fantastic, so much detail, you really did a terrific job setting this up Diane. Kudos to you!!!

Welcome Lisa and Kari! So glad you are both continuing the challenge!

Hi All,

I am Tanya and I live in Australia. I have been doing the challenge from the start and will definitely carry on in some form next year... Just considering my options at the moment. :)

I work in a library and have recently started a second job for a different regional library service that will see me bouncing around any of their library branches as a relief staff member. Despite working in a library I have a ridiculously large book collection which is mostly packed in boxes at the moment as I have recently moved house...

I am very excited to see the challenge branch out into it's own group!!

Tanya wrote: "Hi All,

I am Tanya and I live in Australia. I have been doing the challenge from the start and will definitely carry on in some form next year... Just considering my options at the moment. :)

I w..."

So happy to have you in the group and continuing the challenge!

Hi everyone, I'm Shannon and I live in South Africa. I'm very excited to join this new group and continue my reading around the world! I'm a secretary and work fulltime. I have 4 children (one lives in England), 3 grandchildren, 2 fur-children and 5 fur-grandchildren. Other than reading, I love scrapbooking, knitting, x-word puzzles, a bit of gardening, swimming, being outdoors on the weekend.

Hi everyone! I'll be 27 next week and live in Amsterdam. Just as most people here I love reading, and reading about travelling and travelling (just spend 4 months in Indonesia). I do most of my reading on my Sony PRS-350 e-reader which I ADORE! but no worries I still by books made from paper as well ;)

I started the around the world in 80 books (trekker style) a while ago, although I soon changed my personal goal to reading a book from every country in the world without 'flying'. Because I came upon a VERY busy period and after that spend 4 months abroad I stopped for a while, but now I'm definitely back!

Great idea to give this challange it's own group, It deserves it!

Hi! I'm excited to join this group. I live in Overland Park, KS and work in the banking industry. My kids are all grown and my husband is a sports nut, which leaves me lots of time for reading. My hobbies are reading (of course) and counted cross stitch.

Welcome back KatieDE and LadyHeather! I'm so glad you are continuing the challenge!

Diane wrote: "Welcome back KatieDE and LadyHeather! I'm so glad you are continuing the challenge!"

Welcome to the challenge Elizabeth!

Hi, I'm Nancy and I live in central Pennsylvania. My husband and I both just retired from careers in teaching. I was a high school librarian and will never stop being a "Book Pusher", as my students call me. The young people still ask for good book recommendations every time they see me, as do many other people, so I guess I will never really retire from "book pushing." I love to read, obviously, but I also enjoying taking walks outside in our beautiful countryside, doing crosswords puzzles, crocheting, being involved in musical groups, and traveling. My husband and I have taken students to many countries around the world and have traveled to even more ourselves. I have two grown children, a son who lives in Savannah, Georgia, and a daughter who has currently returned to the nest until she gets some of her college loans paid off. She is also quite a reader so we recommend books to each other quite often.
I have participated in the 2010-11 challenge,and I am planning to continue. I finished the 50 states portion, but did not do as well with the Around the World books (only 34 countries so far). Since I have more time for reading now, I hope to do much better in the coming year.

Nancy wrote: "Hi, I'm Nancy and I live in central Pennsylvania. My husband and I both just retired from careers in teaching. I was a high school librarian and will never stop being a "Book Pusher", as my student..."

I'm glad you are continuing the challenge! Pennsylvania is a beautiful place. I got to spend the summer in NW PA the last two years. It is nice to get away from the oppressive summer heat of Atlanta.

Hi everybody, I'm Corinna from Berlin, Germany and work in Marketing. I'm happy the challenge is branching out into its own group.
I actually started the challenge last year but did not finish. With my job, moving and life in general I kind of got distracted. But as my partner moved abroad for studies I'll have more time for reading now, especially while traveling ;)
I guess I will continue my travels from last year's challenge, even though I exhausted most of my typical countries, so actually reaching the individual 80 countries for the next year will be tough. Thats the idea though, right?

Hi, I'm Joseph, a public librarian from Illinois. I've been doing this challenge since 2009 and I think it is one of the coolest ever. I've read so many neat books that I probably would never have even looked at if they did not take place in a country I hadn't "been" to yet! lol. I still haven't reached 80 countries, but I'm not giving up, and even when I do hit 80 I'm still going to keep on traveling.

Diane, great idea you had, and also moving it to its own group. Happy trails all!

Corinna and Joseph, I am so happy that you are both continuing with the challenge!

Hi everybody, Im Eve from Estonia. Im new with the challenge, but i have thought about it before :) So now im going to give it a try. Im quite sure i will not manage 80 books a year but i will give it my best and hopefully find some good-good books and authors.
As most of you, i also like to travel and im hoping to find some good ideas as where to go in the future :)

Hello.. I am Rebecca from Bangalore India. I love to travel and don't get to as much as I would like.. Looking fwd to going round the world in 80 books!

Welcome Eve and Rebecca!

I'm doing things a bit backwards. I set up my threads and transferred my records over and NOW I'm introducing myself. I'm Lahni. I live in Utah with my husband and 5 kids. I'm finishing up my first year with this challenge and its been so much fun.

Thanks, Diane, for all the work you have put into this challenge and now the group.

Lahni wrote: "I'm doing things a bit backwards. I set up my threads and transferred my records over and NOW I'm introducing myself. I'm Lahni. I live in Utah with my husband and 5 kids. I'm finishing up my f..."

You're welcome, Lahni. I'm so glad you are continuing the challenge!

Hi my name is Jen. I live in the Boston area. I am a stay at home to an active two year old. I love to read and make it a priority to read an adult book everyday (of course I read lots of toddler books throughout the day :) ). I am going to attempt to do the road trip across America this year. I have been looking for a book challenge and this one looks great! Thanks for starting this group :)

Hi, I'm Amy and I living in Lubbock, TX. I love reading and I wish I could travel more, but I have massive student debt and a crummy paying job. So I'll have to satisfy my travel urges through books.

I have two dogs, but no children. I started studying Turkish this summer.

This is my first attempt at this challenge, so I'm going to do the frequent flyer version.

Amy - that is cool learning Turkish - any reason why?

Jen and Amy, Welcome to the challenge!

Dee wrote: "Amy - that is cool learning Turkish - any reason why?"

That is cool.

The classes were free!

Hello!

Bonnie here. Going to migrate over from TNBBC. I'm in Winnipeg, MB, Canada. Love travel and reading so I'm really enjoying this!

Amy wrote: "The classes were free!"g

Lol that works :)

Hi all

I've just joined the group as I love the idea of this challenge.
My name is Sam & I am married with 3 children(2 girls aged 16 & 12, 1 boy aged 10)I live just outside London, England & I manage my local library so I am surrounded by books all day. I mainly read a lot of crime but I've been trying to read more of a variety of styles/genres recently as I am always being asked to make book recommendations.
I'm going to do the frequent flyer challenge because as much as I would love to I just don't have the time to plot my Trekker itinerary.
Looking forward to meeting everyone & travelling the world.
Sam

Welcome to the challenge Bonnie and Sam!

Hi Everyone! I am Angela and I live Newport News, VA. I am so glad I found this group. I was just telling my coworker I was going to attempt to read around the world. I just made my list of countries and started to pick my books. I love to travel, but I haven't done much since I moved back to US from Germany many years ago. So I thought books are the next best thing. Look forward to globetrotting with everyone.

Hi! I'm Jean from Idaho. I have 5 children and 18 grandchildren. I am a piano teacher and I like working in my garden and crocheting/knitting in addition to reading.
I joined Good Reads this sumer and have really enjoyed all the great book recommendations.
This sounds like a really fun group. I'm interested in the never-ending tour so I can travel at my own pace. I'll also try to visit as many different states as I can.
It will be fun traveling with you.

Jean wrote: "Hi! I'm Jean from Idaho. I have 5 children and 18 grandchildren. I am a piano teacher and I like working in my garden and crocheting/knitting in addition to reading.
I joined Good Reads this sumer ..."

Hey, don't I know you? I wouldn't have even realized it was you if you hadn't said you're from Idaho. The new piano picture threw me off!

Welcome to the challenge Angela and Jean!

Deedee wrote: "Hello all! I'm DeeDee, and I currently live near Atlanta, Georgia, but consider the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D. C. to be "home". I'm married with children; one by one they are leaving the ..."

hello Deedee! I actually had to go back and include Africa after I realized I skipped it with 85 books scheduled(some countries are hit twice due to backtracking)!!! I just deleted some countries throughout and took a jaunt down from Israel to Egypt and a few other african countries. my map is here http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=...
if you want to look, but it is not finished as I still have to add the books! Any suggestions or favorite book titles are welcome from anyone!!

Hello ATWI80 members! My name is Linda and I live near Philadelphia, Pa in the USA. I love to read! I have one son in college, one cat that likes to interrupt and demand my attention, and a career as a Respiratory Therapist, as well. I did not complete this years challenge, but that will not stop me from trying again. I moved and had several disruptions this year so I hope that next year will be better. I can't wait to see what gets published this year and I also hope to read some books from the 1001 list. My plan is to stick to my maps(trekker and roadtrip USA) but I may wander if the mood strikes. Have a great fall!

Linda wrote: "Hello ATWI80 members! My name is Linda and I live near Philadelphia, Pa in the USA. I love to read! I have one son in college, one cat that likes to interrupt and demand my attention, and a career ..."

Wow, I didn't know that you moved. I thought you were still in Chesapeake! I can't believe you're son is already in college. I still think of him as being a little kid. Where does the time go?

Diane wrote: "Linda wrote: "Hello ATWI80 members! My name is Linda and I live near Philadelphia, Pa in the USA. I love to read! I have one son in college, one cat that likes to interrupt and demand my attention,..."

it flies, Diane! enjoy their youth - it is fleeting. he's also 6'2", can hardly believe he came from me.

Linda wrote: "Diane wrote: "Linda wrote: "Hello ATWI80 members! My name is Linda and I live near Philadelphia, Pa in the USA. I love to read! I have one son in college, one cat that likes to interrupt and demand..."

lol, that is tall!

Hello all!
I'm a student from Germany. This month I have been to England and found a book there at a busstop: Between the Assasinations
I had never read anything about India, but when I started this book it made me wish I could read more about countries I've never been to or know little about.
So here I am!