Around the World discussion

Chrissie wrote: "Now I will start The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I am very skeptical that I will enjoy this. I am afraid I will find it preachy, and I hate books about illnesses. I am reading this for a friend b/c she still believes I will love it. I hope so! The narration of the audiobook is said to be excellent, so that is what I have chosen. "
I was very bored by this novel, but I seem to be in the minority.

Jenny wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Now I will start The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I am very skeptical that I will enjoy this. I am afraid I will find it preachy, and I hate books about illnesses. I am readi..."

I am having a terrible time with it. I like it less and less. The worst is that a friend loves it, and being who I am I have to say the truth. I am reading it for her. It is not fun when your friends really think differently about a book. Sigh. I just want the book to end and be over with. It is so predictable. I am guessing that the next depressing part will be that their son is in fact dead. THAT is my guess.

Chrissie wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Now I will start The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I am very skeptical that I will enjoy this. I am afraid I will find it preachy, and I hate books about illness..."

Ok, so this is rather evil of me, but I am rather amused by Chrissie's angst (in an empathetic kind of way though) ploughing through the book because her friend liked it. I know exactly what you mean - been there before - but your friend would probably let you off the hook if she knew you were torturing yourself although I'm loving the running reactions on the book. It is interesting how some books hit the spot with two people and others elicit two diametrically opposite reactions - the joys of books!

Lilisa wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Now I will start The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I am very skeptical that I will enjoy this. I am afraid I will find it preachy, and I hate bo..."

She has told me I don't have to read it if I hate it. The friend I am reading it for is totally silent. I wish I could like it.

Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Now I will start The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I am very skeptical that I will enjoy this. I am afraid I will find it preachy..."

:-(

Lilisa wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Now I will start The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I am very skeptical that I will enjoy this. I am afraid I wil..."

What a mess. :0(

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

Sofia, Bulgaria just before the fall of communism
a rebellious young piano prodigy
a gorgeous read

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was a failure for me. There is nothing wrong with the narration by Jim Broadbent, in fact it was superb. I particularly adored the voice of Rex, Maureen's neighbor! I listened to 23 of 38 chapters. Having listened to such a large portion, I still had to stop. If you care to know my personal thoughts please send me a PM. I am writing no review.

I have begun listening to The Grapes of Wrath and enjoy it very much. I can guess from the very start that it will not appeal to all. Some may call it slow and too descriptive. Many minutes are spent on a land turtle's passage from a ditch and then over the road. I have already laughed, and I have seen how meticulously accurate Steinbeck's depictions of landscapes and a character's personality can be. The story will be interspersed with chapters of historical content. That is fine by me. I imagine a slow wonderful read.

Last month I returned to Scotland with On a Foreign Field: A Story of Loyalty and Brotherhoodby Hazel West which is a historical novel about an Englishman captured by William Wallace. I liked it very much.

My review is at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I've been to Malaysia with The Gift of Rain which I thought was well written and it also appealed to me because I was born in the same part of the world, Sumatra, just across the Strait of Malacca. But I could not identify at all with the protagonist, and that is putting it mildly.

Then I was in Romania and Hungary during WW2 with The Seamstress: A Memoir Of Survival a well written holocaust memoir.

Then I was off to Africa with Lost Lion of Empire: The Life of 'Cape-to-Cairo' Grogan the biography of Grogan, of Cape to Cairo fame. As he lived most of his life in Kenya I have attached it to that country.

Then moved north to Abessynia with The Barefoot Emperor: An Ethiopian Tragedy to the biography of emperor Tewodoros and the Napier expedition of 1868. Well written and reseached.

Rusalka wrote: "I read Captain Corelli's then started Don Emmanuel. I could not get in to it at all. I felt like I was reading a completely different author. Maybe I should pick it up again, now I have realised it..."

I had exactly the same experience, but after Birds Without Wings I'm going to give Don Emmanuel another (third)try.

Vizara wrote: "Rusalka wrote: "I read Captain Corelli's then started Don Emmanuel. I could not get in to it at all. I felt like I was reading a completely different author. Maybe I should pick it up again, now I ..."

I cannot get Don Emmanuel :0(

Ok, just finished visiting Ireland with Ulysses. I had mixed success with audio--switched to a second narrator and liked it more, but also did it on Kindle, sometimes simultaneously, since I found looking at the formatting of the text sometimes helped. I still haven't got much of a clue, but enjoyed the second half enough to invest in a Great Courses course on it so that I can go back through it with some sort of clue! Here's the preliminary review, which I will update when I reread it! http://bethslistlove.wordpress.com/20...

I finished with A Case of Exploding Mangoes for Pakistan. If anyone is into military fiction, this is a very well written one. http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

Just completed Cairo: My City, Our Revolution. My review is http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Sue wrote: "Just completed Cairo: My City, Our Revolution. My review is http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/..."

Excellent insider description of the days of revolution in Cairo in 2011.

Just finished Of Mice and Men and here's my review

I cannot recommend The Grapes of Wrath more highly. Engaging fiction that teaches about life during the Depression.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I didn't read this for the challenge b/c I have already read several set in the States

I will begin In This Hospitable Land. While I am still living here, I thought I would read another book set in Belgium.... and France too. I have already read a book for France, and I am unsure how much of this is set in Belgium, so I will see if I count it for the challenge.

Marwa, isn't Steinbeck FABULOUS?!

I just took a guided tour through Mao's China through Jung Chung's Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. I loved it! Full review linked below:

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

I have visited a few more places.
Haiti: Breath, Eyes, Memory
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Bolivia: Andean Express
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Hungary: Journey by Moonlight
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Serbia and Montenegro: The Tiger's Wife
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Sweden: Little Star
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I enjoyed all of them for different reasons, but thought none of them were truly amazing.

I do recommend River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, if you are at all curious about what it might be like to live in a remote Chinese town at the very end of the 20th Century. Not as a foreigner, but as a Chinese. Good book!

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

Another book that I am not counting for the challenge b/c I have read one for China.

Chrissie wrote: "Marwa, isn't Steinbeck FABULOUS?!"

Definitely so. Moreover, his humane approach towards the characters he portrays (even in such a short read) is tantalizing. He doesn't need narrative descriptions of the character, he just employs his dialogue to its utmost potential.

Marwa wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Marwa, isn't Steinbeck FABULOUS?!"

Definitely so. Moreover, his humane approach towards the characters he portrays (even in such a short read) is tantalizing. He doesn't need narr..."

I think there are quite a few here in this group that are Steinbeck lovers!

I finished In This Hospitable Land.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... Yeah, it was good. Somehow it feels like a YA book. It is written simplistically. You follow one event after another, and I did learn funny little things! Magnificent writing? No. It takes place predominantly in France, not Belgium.

So now I have started another audiobook by Colum McCann: Everything in This Country Must. I listened to the sample and loved the Irish brogue of the first narrator. It has two novellas and a short story. I need to listen to something short, so I can stop very quickly b/c Simran, a GR friend, will be visiting me here in Belgium. This is the second GR friend I have met. YAY for GR. I don't think I will have much time to read! I am terribly excited!!!!! Oh, this is going to be fun.

I do love McCann, and I have to read everything this guy has written. I think he is coming out with a new book soon! I will be reading this for the challenge; it is set in Ireland.

I have been in Germany with The Woman Who Heard Colorby Kelly Jones. My reaction was ambivalent.

See my review at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Shomeret, when this came out I was SO intrigued but the more I learned about it the less interested I became. Synesthesia is what drew me, but it is not really the main theme of the story! The title just grabs people's attention. So I have not read the book.

I already finished Everything in This Country Must! Why couldn't it just last for one more day at least. As all of Colum McCann's writing is, this too was excellent. Four stars, and I don't like short stories! You get two short stories and a short novella. The setting is Ireland.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
This was my fourteenth book for the challenge.

I will start Birds, Beasts, and Relatives. I would have preferred to start with My Family and Other Animals, the first in the Corfu Trilogy, but I couldn't get it. I am not sure I will like it, but everyone raves about it so I must give it a go.

I just left Russia with the the wonderful The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great. After a couple of stinkers, it's such a joy to read a book like this!

I left Congo (Brazzaville) and Alain Mabanckou's BLUE WHITE RED. Brilliant. My review is here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I have been in Brazil with Jubiababy Jorge Amado. I have some good things to say about it in my review at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I completed the audiobook Birds, Beasts, and Relatives. Yep, I am smiling and chuckling.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... This one is et in Corfu, Greece and I did count it toward the challenge. You definitely learn about the fauna, flora and diverse "characters" on the island! Some are not Greek though.

So now, having learned about the Durrell family, I have to read a book by Gerald's older brother, Lawrence Durrell: Justine, this being the first of the Alexandria Quartet.
I am telling you, the style is completely different, and I am NOT enthused with the narration by Jack Klaff. When the women speak they sound like dreary, sad but masculine beings. Can I stand all four of these books? I don't mind the book being complicated, there are two couples that have sex not only with their partners but numerous others, but the "profound musings" seem to me pure sophistry. I don't give up easily; it does create the exotic, sensual, multicultural atmosphere of Alexandria before Nasser arrived on the scene. Neither is the rendition chronological. Oh my.......

I was in the jungles of Brazil courtesy of Candice Milliard's The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey. It certainly was an great trip and of interest of lovers of nature and history. Full review linked below:

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

Lisa, I really did like "The River of Doubt". I think Theodore is a fascinating person. have you read Mornings on Horseback. GREAT non-fiction. McCullough rarely writes a bad book!

Unsurprisingly behind on reviews again. I read The She-Devil in the Mirror for my El Salvador read. As predicted, the main character nattering at me wore thin. Review here http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/2013/...

Finished the first book of The Alexandria Quartet, ie Justine.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I complained an awful lot while I listened to this book. The audiobook version narrated by Jack Klaff, I would definitely avoid.
This was my sixteenth challenge book.It is set in Egypt.

But now I am hooked. That does say something. I have started Balthazar, the next in the series of four.

I tried to listen to Balthazar, and I cannot do it. The narration by Jack Klaff is even worse in this one than in Justine. I changed my star rating of Justine down to two stars. Terrible narration can really wreck a book.

I will now start East of Eden

Just left Li Cunxin in Mao's Last Dancer - extraordinary success and achievement despite his life circumstances. I enjoyed it! My review here:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Lilisa, nice review. I will have to pick it up soon. Do check out Dancer.

Chrissie wrote: "Lilisa, nice review. I will have to pick it up soon. Do check out Dancer."

Ohh, another ballet dancer - thanks Chrissie. I will have to put it on my list - will be interesting to compare the two.

Chrissie wrote: "I completed the audiobook Birds, Beasts, and Relatives. Yep, I am smiling and chuckling.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... This one is et in Corfu, Greece and I did count it..."
I haven't read the younger brother yet, but if the narration is that bad, toss it. A pity because I remember the language being so gorgeous I forgot about breathing.

Jenny, yes, the narration by Jack Klaff was horrendous, BUT the writing itself was for the most part not to my liking either. It did have good sections, particularly the end. I am surprised at my own reaction because rarely do I need more plot details. In Justine I needed them. Lawrence Durrell's philosophizing didn't work for me! Gerald Durrell writes in a completely different manner.

Finished visiting the Netherlands with The Dinner. I had expected it would be a bit unsettling based on the reviews I read, but I was surprised at how unsettled I was. My review here:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

When I picked up a book by Nalo Hopkinson, an author who grew up in Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana, I have to admit I didn't think it would be set in Canada. It felt very Caribbean with the sisters who were born as conjoined twins, the hoodoo, the magic, the slang.... I enjoyed it very much. This will be the second book this year that I've read set around Lake Ontario - Sister Mine- I enjoyed it! My review is here.

Chrissie wrote: "Lisa, I really did like "The River of Doubt". I think Theodore is a fascinating person. have you read Mornings on Horseback. GREAT non-fiction. McCullough rarely writes a bad book!"

No, I hadn't, but I've read and liked other books by McCullough--and River of Doubt certainly did leave me curious about TR.

Lisa (Harmonybites) wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Lisa, I really did like "The River of Doubt". I think Theodore is a fascinating person. have you read Mornings on Horseback. GREAT non-fiction. McCullough rarely writes a bad book!..."

Lisa, then I highly recommend "Mornings on Horseback". I personally think it is one of the most easily digestible of McCullough's, although I have loved all of his books. It reads like pure fiction, but of course it isn't

Substituting The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories by Bruno Schulz for Poland, since all of it takes place there and he is Polish. Here's my review: http://bethslistlove.wordpress.com/20...

Great very quick read.

I finished East of Eden
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

and will now read another by Steinbeck: Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Even if the first is not one of my favorites, it was OK. I do know few authors write masterpiece after masterpiece, and I do know that I enjoy his writing style. I have begun the latter, and I immediately feel much more comfortable. This is more to my taste!

Neither book am I counting toward the challenge.

Although this was my USA book for Maine, much of this novel took place in Denmark, so I am including for the Around the World Challenge as well. I have to say, it was a pleasure to read Leeway Cottage, I thoroughly enjoyed it! My review is here:
http://coldread.wordpress.com/2013/03...