Around the World discussion

Maybe it was the preachy tone of the book that I found at cross purposes to what I was wanting from the book. I can get that at home. ;) Maybe I needed a book that was set in the early 1800's to get a better feel of Korean culture.

I haven't read The Surrendered. I see that Connie has given it 5 stars!

"Surrendered" is only available to me on Kindle, no audiobook, so I will not ask you who the bad narrator was, Gaeta.

Here's my review of Beautiful Ruins
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Also just finished journeying to an unnamed Asian country figuring How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. Review here:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

It was certainly a different and interesting read.

re: The Calligrapher's Daughter

I too felt the content was overly religious, and at the same time there is still no interesting discussion of religious beliefs. The character portrayals are either black or white. The writing is simplistic, and the history covered feels as though it is meant for young adults. The summary at the end was ridiculous. Since the author states this is a book of fiction, it was possible to reinvent facts and make the story and characters compelling.

I am going to have to read "Surrendered" soon!

I do recommend listening to the audiobook version of The Children's Book narrated by Rosalyn Landor. Best narration I have ever listened to. What a book. Stuffed with information. It does drag in the middle, but do stick it out to the end. It is worth it.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Tomorrow I will start Life After Life

I've just posted my review of The Golden Lynx by C.P. Lesley which takes place in 16th century Russia. It's at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I liked it very much, but I had a problem with the way the author describes it.

Judy, nice review! I have that book waiting to be read. I wish I could buy some time.I just bought Truman and The Hopkins Touch: Harry Hopkins and the Forging of the Alliance to Defeat Hitler. The Children's Book is short compared to Truman, but I love how McCullough writes.

I loved loved loved my visit to China with Lost in Translation! You really get a sense of place, learn about history, and the story had me mesmerized. My review is here: http://coldread.wordpress.com/2013/04...

Judy, me? Who are you talking about?! Jeez. I am blushing, and I certainly don't see myself that way.

I've been in Asia in a guided tour through several of the countries of the continent in the mid 80 in Pico Iyer's Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East. Overall, I liked it--Iyer can be witty, funny, even heartbreaking at times. Each chapter was an essay on his impressions of a single country. I'm counting it for Nepal, but there are also essays covering Bali (Indonesia), Tibet, China, Burma (now Myanmar), Thailand, India, Japan, and the Philippines. Review linked below:

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

Just finished China:
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan -- and here's the link: http://www.epinions.com/review/The_Bo...

I completed: Life After Life
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Set predominantly in England.

I have started Truman. I always appreciate books written by David McCullough! :0)

Neither counted for the challenge.

Weathered the storm of controversy with Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Finally I've finished For Whom The Bell Tolls - The Snows Of Kilimanjaro - Fiesta - The Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber - Across The River And Into The Trees - The Old Man And The Sea but only For Whom the Bell Tolls which was a buddy read with Chrissie, but she reads faster than I do.
I had written a review of the book, but when pressing the save button GR went beserk and hadn't save it. I was so annoyed that I postpone my review until later.

Oh, Sylvia, you must have been annoyed!!!! that has happened to me umpteenth times too! One feels like kicking the computer....

Chrissie wrote: "Oh, Sylvia, you have have been annoyed!!!! that has happened to me umpteenth times too! One feels like kicking the computer...."

It sure did. I said: I obscenity in the milk of GR :) and repeated that several times.

Sylvia, oh that is so appropriate!

Sylvia - this has happened to me a few times for GR and other things, but it was my computer doing an auto upgrade and shutting itself down. Very frustrating. So now I do my reviews in draft email or a Word doc so I can continuously save what I've written. Then I copy and paste into GR so I haven't lost any more reviews!

I've finished The Julius Romeros Extravaganza, Part 1, the Bearded Girl, a circus novel that I thought took place in Victorian England, but the characters call circus barkers "spruikers" which is Australian slang for barkers. Barkers or spruikers promote the sideshow acts. You know it's odd that "spruikers" is Australian slang when it looks like it should be Dutch. Did a circus from Holland arrive in Australia at one point?

In any case, my review is at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I finished The Places in Between set in Afghanistan. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Finished A House for Mr Biswas
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
This is fiction, but is partially based on the author's father. A Nobel Prize winner not to my liking! It is set in Trinidad and Tobago.

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Now reading Resistance: A French Woman's Journal of the War

STILL listening to Truman. This is long but very, very interesting.

The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon http://tometravelling.blogspot.co.uk/

I was in the Islamic Republic of Iran with Nafesi's Reading Lolita in Tehran. It's subtitled "a memoir in books" and that's what it is--part portrait of her life in the Islamic Republic, part literary criticism and how one illuminates the other. Full review linked below:

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

I really , really do think you should check outResistance: A French Woman's Journal of the War!
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

OK, now do not laugh. I am reading Forever Amber. I know it is a love story, but heck I like trying different genres. I bought the book so now I have to read it. Also it is about the Restoration period in England the big fire in London, so hopefully I will learn something too. I have read a bit, and it is so blatantly a love story that I in fact like it. Amber is so plucky. There is no hiding what is important to this gal. I also like the wonderful description of the surroundings, be it cute English villages filled with flowers and shrubs, birds and starlit skies or London in the 1600s. So far I find it fun.

I have already read books for England and France so neither will be counted for the challenge.

Ali and Nino: A Love Story for Azerbaijan http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

The Running Man for Burundi http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Chess for Austria http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

A Jew Must Die for Switzerland http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Val, I loved Ali and Nino!!!! Now you have to follow with The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life, a book about the author.

I got horribly sidetracked from my trip, but I read the sequel to my Russian/Kazakhstan read, Day Watch. This one goes to the Crimea, and to Ukraine and Prague (Czech Republic) to spice things up.

Chrissie wrote: "Val, I loved Ali and Nino!!!! Now you have to follow with The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life, a book about the author."
I bought a copy of that at the same time, but I haven't started reading it yet. It is this version:
The Orientalist: In Search of a Man caught between East and West but I think it is the same book.

I have listened to all 54 hours of Truman, and loved every minute of it.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

What audiobook should I choose next? I figure I have to pick one that has a chance of competing with McCullough's. A book by Steinbeck is my choice: Cannery Row

Neither are counted for this challenge, since I have read books for the USA!

Val, yup, it is the same book!

Finished Cannery Row. Loved it. The only problem was that it was too short. I guess I should continue with Sweet Thursday, but instead I have started Freeman. This starts immediately after the Civil War and fits with my previous read Truman.

My review of Steinbeck's winner: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Currently stuck in America, with my audiobooks!

Have been travelling (real time) so didn't post for quite a while. Managed to read quite a few books though. Was in Russia withCity of Thieves which I liked very much. Then in Italy with Beautiful Ruins which I found hugely disappointing. I stayed in Italy with Mistress of Rome which was even worse; couldn't finish it.
Then I went to India with Beneath a Marble Sky which wasn't my cup to tea at all.
All was well in Botswana with White Dog Fell from the Sky an outstanding novel about the political situation in the area (South Africa) in 1975.

Forgot to add Het diner which I read in Dutch. Liked it.

I have just completed two audiobooks: The Whale Riderand enjoyed it very much. Good YA literature is even for adults!
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... Set in New Zealand!

and

Freeman
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
This is GOOD historical fiction.

Both were very good, i.e. four stars.

Now I will startWashington: A Life. This is my first by Ron Chernow. I have heard he offers even more depth than McCullough. I don't care what the critics say, I think David McCullough is a really good writer, but now I must try Chernow too.

I was in Uruguay, Argentina and Chili taking in Nando Parrado's harrowing first hand tale of survival in Miracle in the Andes. It was an absorbing, sometimes moving, book. Full review below:

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

I have been to Cambodia.

First it was a distant memory in the mind of a young immigrant girl in America in the 1970s in Children of the River by Linda Crew. The premise was interesting, and I learned some things, but I wish the author would have been a better writer. See my 3-star-review here.

Then I watched a young Canadian woman follow her lover into the aftermath of Pol Pot's regime in The Disappeared by Kim Echlin. It was a difficult read, informative, violent and heart-breaking, and one of the best books I've read so far. 5 stars.

After 267 pages of Forever Amber, I gave up and dumped it.

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

Moved on to: You Have Given Me a Country: A Memoir. It is about a family that lived through the India Pakistan Partition and how it feels to have a mother and father from different cultures. The author's mother is Irish-Catholic and her father is Sindhi-Indian.

I breezed through Dances for Flute and Thunder, poems from the ancient Greek, to pay tribute to National Poetry Month. My review is here.

Paris, 1997 after the accident that kills Princess Diana--this book is about one of the accident's witnesses.
An Accident in August: A Novel
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...

I have learned a lot about Portuguese history in Nachtzug nach Lissabon (Night Train to Lisbon) by Pascal Mercier, even though the philosophical parts were a bit wordy at times. 4/5 stars, and a recommendation for the movie. Review here.

Then I learned much much less about the Way of St James in Spain than I thought I would. German comedian Hape Kerkeling wrote a far less observant and insightful book than I thought he would. Ich bin dann mal weg. Meine Reise auf dem Jakobsweg ("I'm off, then*), 3/5.

It's always bittersweet when you finish a fantastic book by an author you really love, and, I'm sad to say, I've just departed a most wonderful trip to the City of Light in Paris: The Novel. How many years will I have to wait for his next book? Heavy sigh... Here is my review:
http://coldread.wordpress.com/2013/04...

I definitely enjoyed You Have Given Me a Country: A Memoir. It is not your typical autobiography, and it does have some fictional parts. I would suggest it to those curious about bi-racial marriages, multi-cultural themes and philosophical musings.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Have begun: Genghis: Birth of an Empire. This is a book of hf, easy to read and so far better than my expectations. Nice, it is the first of a series!

I've been from Peru across the Pacific to the South Seas, including Tahiti with Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl in Kon-Tiki. I found the anthropological aspect dubious at best, but it still has its merits as an account of adventure at sea. Full review linked below:

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

Finally finishedAnya and sad to say was disappointed. My review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Finished Little Black Book of Stories, A.S. Byatt in Great Britain. I keep thinking I am going to make it to some exotic location, but I end up back in the UK. lol


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

I have completed Washington: A Life and I do recommend it. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Moving on to Eventide, which I have chosen b/c I enjoy the author's writing. Immediately I am sucked in. In the first chapter, someone is leaving. The writing perfectly depicts how one feels when someone dear to you leaves..... Dam, this guy can write! The audiobook narration by George Hearn has instantaneously captured the mood.

Neither will be counted for this challenge since I have already read books set in the USA.

Judy, no, I loved Plainsong. That is how I knew I liked his writing. I am a little leery of the topic central to Benediction....

Judy wrote: "Are you locked up in detention in the UK, Connie? lol."

Must be, Judy. : ) Cannot break away.

I agree with Judy that Haruf is a powerful writer who gets better and better!

I loved this. Absolutely. I can't shake it. I want everyone to read it.
It's Poland, an area of the country that used to belong to Germany.

House Of Day, House Of Night

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18...