Around the World discussion

Little trip to Vermeer's Holland in Girl with a Pearl Earring. My review is here.

Was in India with Glimpses of Bengal by Rabindranath Tagore - amazing. For those who may not have heard of him - he was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. My review here:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Judy wrote: "Vizara wrote: "After visiting Chechnya with A Constellation of Vital Phenomena which I liked very much I went to Shanghai in the 20's with White Shanghai. A Novel of the Roaring Twenties in China, ..."

Grief of My Heart: Memoirs of a Chechen Surgeon is the memoir of a Chechen surgeon who now lives in the US.

Finished Einstein: His Life and Universe, and I highly recommend it. Why? To meet the man, not necessarily to better understand physics. Sure, I did learn a bit about physics, but it is the man that is the most remarkable ingredient. Was he German or Swiss or American in spirit?
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Starting Townie: A Memoir now. Set in the US.

Ooops, I forgot my review of Einstein: His Life and Universe. Here it is: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15...

The Bone Man

This is so Austrian. Number 2 in a series. First I read number 9, now this one. Even out of order, they are good.

Daisy, I just had to ask you, what makes it so "Austrian"?! What characterizes Austrians?

Chrissie wrote: "Daisy, I just had to ask you, what makes it so "Austrian"?! What characterizes Austrians?"

I know, Chrissie, it's such a nebulous thing to say. I will think about how to answer that better, but for now I can only say that since I used to live there, the characters seem familiar to me. Also the setting, the small towns, the Autobahn, the food--they are vivid to me too.

I understand. It is hard to put your finger on what characterizes a group of people. I do the same thing with Swedes, French (and Parisians and those from Brittany are certainly not the same), Belgians.... This is not so simple, but it is a reality. Please tell me if you figure it out. Isn't it kind of like a mixture of how people react to a given situation and the food, landscape, clothing, way of talking with each other, that puts you in a particular place. I am incessantly thinking of this. I don't know Austrians. Is there a large difference from Germans? This is one thing that makes living in Europe wonderful.

I just left Denmark with The Keeper of Lost Causes. I will definitely be going back for a visit with the other books in the series.

My Review.

OK, I never thought I could possibly enjoy this book: Townie: A Memoir, but I am game to try. Guess what? I really thought it was good.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Now I move on to When The Stars Fall To Earth. Because I like reading about different places and cultures AND because the book description enticed me! This one is set in Sudan.

Janice wrote: "I just left Denmark with The Keeper of Lost Causes. I will definitely be going back for a visit with the other books in the series.

My Review."

Janice -good to hear you enjoyed it. I have it on my TBR list but didn't realize it's part of a series so added the others in as well, though it looks like the 4th one may not be out in English yet?

I'm not sure if it's available in English or not. Hopefully it will be by the time I get to the 4th book in the series. :)

I've just finished reading The Forty Rules of Love, mainly set in 13th century Anatolia. I'm not being any good at posting reviews, but I think the book was worth reading.

Btw, I'm enjoying being part of this group!

The next group of countries I visited were:
Honduras: The Mosquito Coast
Israel: Friendly Fire: A Duet
Bulgaria: Auto Da Fe
Tajikstan: The Sands of Oxus: Boyhood Reminiscences of Sadriddin Aini
Papua New Guinea: Mister Pip
I have linked reviews for three of them:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...


http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...


http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Janice wrote: "I'm not sure if it's available in English or not. Hopefully it will be by the time I get to the 4th book in the series. :)"

Janice wrote: "I'm not sure if it's available in English or not. Hopefully it will be by the time I get to the 4th book in the series. :)"

Me too :-)

I finished 1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion and highly recommend it to those of you who want to understand the road toward Irish Independence and enjoy historical fiction.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
What I particularly liked were all the footnotes. You knew you were being given the real facts. You know exactly what is fiction and what isn't.

Now I have begun The Legacy Of Ladysmith: A Novel, another book of historical fiction. It is about an author hired by a Scottish family to write a biography about a deceased member of the family, and his role in the Siege of Ladysmith, i.e. part of the Second Boer War. What intrigues me is if what he writes is honest or glorifies the character. I mean, he is being paid to do it! And you know at the beginning the author has to kill someone. Who? Why?

Val wrote: "The next group of countries I visited were:
Honduras: The Mosquito Coast
Israel: Friendly Fire: A Duet
Bulgaria: Auto Da Fe
Tajikstan: The Sands of Oxus: Boyhood Reminiscences of Sadriddin Aini
Pap..."

Glad you enjoyed Mister Pip, Val. I read Hand Me Down World by him, and have been debating picking up Mister Pip. He doesn't write about home though (being a Kiwi). Let me know if you find anything else from PNG. I can't find anything besides this book either set, or an author from there.

Some countries seem to be almost impossible to find authors from. Mister Pip is set in PNG and very good, so I would recommend to anyone not setting themselves too strict criteria for the tour. There must be plenty of books about the birds, wildlife, habitat etc. if you are into that sort of thing. From a quick search:
Birds of Paradise: Revealing the World's Most Extraordinary Birds
Birds in Paradise
Drawn from Paradise: The Natural History, Art and Discovery of the Birds of Paradise with Rare Archival Art
The Birds of Paradise: Paradisaeidae

I usually managed to cover both author and setting last year, all but two authors were from the country and all the books were set there for at least part of the time. I'm having to be a bit more relaxed about that this year and settling for one or the other.

PS Hand Me Down World looks good too. I will have to read it some time (although not for the tour).

PSS I'm still trying to decide what to say about Auto Da Fé, it is a strange book.

I'm reading Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea for PNG. Not a local, and not a novel.

When I was in grad school for ethnomusicology, I read Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expression. It is about the Kaluli people specifically.

Jenny wrote: "I'm reading Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea for PNG. Not a local, and not a novel.

I considered reading Kira Salak's Cruelest Journey: Six Hundred Miles To Timbuktu for Mali, but then decided to read So Long a Letter instead as the author is from Mali.

BOOK 32: Sudan, Completed 28/7 4 stars
When The Stars Fall To Earth
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

As a person of the world and of the 21st Century this is a must read.

From one genocide to another. Now I will start Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness. I have heard such great things about this author. I spoke with a woman in my French class who was a Tutsi. She was buried alive, buried under the dead, by the people in her village, her "friends". She sat there next to me and said not a word about these experiences, until finally she started telling me.

This is set in Burundi and Rwanda too.

I have completed Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... Set in Burundi, Rwanda and the US.

I picked up One Man's Initiation: 1917 free from Audible. It is about WW1, but very, very short.

The first is a biography, the latter historical fiction.

Finished One Man's Initiation: 1917
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
This was a freebie at Audible.

Moved on to A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts: Journeys in Kurdistan. I want to know more about the Kurds, and I want to test the author.

Regrettably finished And the Mountains Echoed- sigh! My review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I very much enjoyed: A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts: Journeys in Kurdistan
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Now I will start To the End of the Land, set in Israel.

I finished The Legacy Of Ladysmith: A Novel
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
It has South African history in it, but is primarily a a mystery with a bit of philosophical content too. Set in South Africa at the beginning of the Second Boer War and in Scotland.

Now I will start The Enchanted April.

I left Australia after finisheing A Town Like Alice and have started a new shelf called "Snoozefest". I haven't written a review, but rated it as 3 stars.

Janice, snort! Or zzzz.....

Janice wrote: "I left Australia after finisheing A Town Like Alice and have started a new shelf called "Snoozefest". I haven't written a review, but rated it as 3 stars."

Oh bugger. Well, thanks for taking one for the team. I've had a friend on at me to read that one, but I may be side stepping it a bit more vigorously after that review.

Rusalka wrote: "Oh bugger. Well, thanks ..."

There's a whole section of conversations on the 2 way radio. It went something like this... "This is Whiskey Queen Tango calling Whiskey Queen Charley. Do you read me Whiskey Queen Charley?"

"This is Whiskey Queen Charley. I read you clear Whiskey Queen Tango. Roger. Over to you Whiskey Queen Tango."

"This is Whiskey Queen Tango. I have a telegram for you Whiskey Queen Charlie. Do you have a pencil ready? Over to you."

It wasn't all horrendous like that. There were some sections that were quite interesting but by the time Charlie was Tangoing with the Queen, I had lost interest in the main characters.

Ah. See my Dad was a Communications Officer in the Navy for 35 years. I knew the phonetic alphabet (Quebec by the way :P), morse code and semaphore by the time I was 5. Lexx was learning the morse code for "Turn your TV down you deaf old man" at one stage to tap through the wall (we had a granny flat he lived in).

But yes, I could understand how that would be very annoying to read.

Left Spain with The Shadow of the Wind, which I enjoyed for the most part. Read my review to see what took off one star.

The only real baked good mentioned is cinnamon cake, so I'm looking for an appropriate recipe. This orange-almond cake is quite Spanish in flavor, but more summery than this book ever feels.

Finished The Enchanted April, which is free at Gutenberg. Setting Italy.
My reivew: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Moving on to The Surrendered. I have wanted to read this for ages. Setting Korea.

I was in Sierra Leone through Aminatta Forna's The Memory of Love. Unfortunately the book just didn't hook me. Full review and my attempts to pin down why at the link below:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I would like to recommend To the End of the Land to everyone. It is the best book of fiction I have read this year. Why? Because it is so close to real life, that's why.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I listened to the audiobook, and will now continue on with Speak, Memory, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. It is autobiographical, speaks of synesthesia already in the second chapter and the writing by Nabokov is "Nabokovian" of course!

Chrissie wrote: "I would like to recommend To the End of the Land to everyone. It is the best book of fiction I have read this year. Why? Because it is so close to real life, that's why.
My review: http://www.goodr..."

Chrissie - That sure is a resounding recommendation - must have been a great read. It's definitely going on my my TBR list.Thanks.

Chrissie wrote: "I would like to recommend To the End of the Land to everyone. It is the best book of fiction I have read this year. Why? Because it is so close to real life, that's why.
My review: http://www.goodr..."

Chrissie, I would like to highly recommend listening to Rimsky-Korsakov and Scriabin in between listening to this audiobook. Why? Both composers were synaesthetes, in fact they would argue with Rachmaninov about the relationship between color and music.

Nabokov would have been Scriabin's comrade, although Nabokov lived a much longer life (Scriabin died of an infected pimple right as he was working on the masterpiece he thought would enlighten all of humanity.)

Chrissie wrote: "I would like to recommend To the End of the Land to everyone. It is the best book of fiction I have read this year. Why? Because it is so close to real life, that's why.
My review: http://www.goodr..."

I also thought this was an incredible book and probably the best he has written.

Jenny wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "I would like to recommend To the End of the Land to everyone. It is the best book of fiction I have read this year. Why? Because it is so close to real life, that's why.
My review:..."

Jenny, I did not know that about Rimsky-Korsakov and Scriabin. I will have to listen, just as you recommend. How does synesthesia really work? Nabokov says that when he looks at the outline of a letter and orally pronounces it he sees a specific color for each different letter. The "sh" sound doesn't have a special color, except that there is a letter in the Russian language that has this same sound and for this reason that color influences what he sees when the English letters sh are pronounced. But then he says music does not affect him with colors at all. It is kind of confusing.

I have changed the above after re-listening to the text several times.

The special thing is how Nabokov expresses himself. He uses so many "special" words, but you do understand. It is almost like poetry.

Vizara wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "I would like to recommend To the End of the Land to everyone. It is the best book of fiction I have read this year. Why? Because it is so close to real life, that's why.
My review:..."

SO nice to know you loved it too. His other books do not attract me at all as much, and just b/c you write one great book that doesn't mean you can write many good ones.

Lisa (Harmonybites) wrote: "I was in Sierra Leone through Aminatta Forna's The Memory of Love. Unfortunately the book just didn't hook me. Full review and my attempts to pin down why at the link below:

http://www.goodreads.c..."

Everybody is different but I LOVED this book. It has no pat answers. The ending is diffuse. It has a weird triangle relationship, except that by the end I didn't think it was weird at all.

But I always worry when others add books that I love. I don't know, my likes and dislikes can be rather weird. Others say they do not like Ora, and I think she is great.

Lisa, thanks for your review, I had been considering that book! I will not go grab it immediately, that is for sure.

Gaeta, this with what is a spoiler is very hard to define. This book is long, a few details are not gong to "spoil the book", well at least I don't think so. If you think some remark should be spoiler marked drop me a line and tell me which. I will add spoiler html. So very hard to judge!

Gaeta, What I think the discussion shows is how a given event can be interpreted in different ways. In this way it is not a spoiler since only by reading the book yourself can you determine how you will think/react. My guess is that YOU will see the humor in the book.

And the ending.... I liked it but others may find it too fluid. Oh, it is so hard to determine who will like a given book. I do know that I can swallow grit much easier than most.

Well, I hope you like it a lot, Gaeta.

Chrissie wrote: "But I always worry when others add books that I love. I don't know, my likes and dislikes can be rather weird. "

Reading is so personal--I worry too when someone adds a book on my recommendation. And having reviewed as many books as I do--believe me I've gotten trolls commenting on my reviews... I was once told I wasn't intellectually honest for disliking a book and explaining why!

I had seen reviews saying the pace did pick up in the last half.

Lisa (Harmonybites) wrote: "I was once told I wasn't intellectually honest for disliking a book and explaining why!"

THAT is really too much. Isn't the whole point of GR to see a smattering of all different points of view. The reviewer simply must explain their thoughts, otherwise the review has no value.

Chrissie wrote: "THAT is really too much. Isn't the whole point of GR to see a smattering of all..."

Yup--but this *is* the internet after all. It was a long comment--I deleted it as soon as I saw that first line accusing me of the dishonesty. But it can be surprising what gets the most heated comments. The nastiest I've gotten were for negative reviews of a Clive Barker anthology and a Jack Reacher novel. Reading is personal, and some feel insulted if you say something bad about a favorite book.

But like you, I'm more concerned that someone taking my recommendation won't like the book. I try in giving a negative review to pin down why I don't like it so someone who potentially could, might think, "well, that wouldn't bother me" or someone reading my positive review might think, "not for me." Not easy.

Wound up my excursion to Papua-New Guinea with The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? by Jared Diamond and here's the link: http://www.epinions.com/review/Jared_...