Around the World in 80 Books discussion

I am still trying to throw together a itinerary for my 2014 challenge. All I know so far is that I will be trekking again and hope to make it to about 100 countries.

Have you made any plans for your 2014 challenge?

do better than i did this year ;) my total was woeful - i think I only made it to like 10 new places

I going to do the FF challenge again, continue with the Circumnavigator challenge and then try to do the 50 states one in 2014.

I've already lined up reads.

I will do the Tourist challenge again this year, trying for as many new countries as possible while still making sure I cover all the continents. I completed that challenge in 2013 despite starting in June (thank goodness for short books!), so since I have twice as much as time to do this as last year my TBR list has much longer books on it .... We'll see if I am overly ambitious or if I can get this done! Hubby got these books for me for Christmas, so I am chomping at the bit to get started!

Hi! I'm planning to do a frequent flyer challenge over the next two years - 80 books in one year is just not realistic given the job I have. I guess it will be a circumnavigator in 2015, then?

Will be starting in Oslo, Norway with a book I haven't seen on the forum so far, it doesn't seem to have been translated. Then I'll be joining the rest of you in England with Harold Fry! I'm also hoping to be able to join you in China in August.

Part One of the reading list will be ready soon!

I'm debating whether to continue the trek I began awhile ago or to start over as a frequent flier. I'm very slow. I'm not sure how you do that, Diane.

I am "circumnavigating" and about 30 books in since Oct. 2013. My focus is books set in the country and written by a resident - although someone who is writing as an emigrant about his or her birthland qualifies. I also hope to include 50% women. A booklist, with links to Goodreads, and my reflections are posted to International Reads. And I am learning how to cross-post to Goodreads. Thank you for checking it out!

Susan wrote: "I'm debating whether to continue the trek I began awhile ago or to start over as a frequent flier. I'm very slow. I'm not sure how you do that, Diane."

Trekking is hard. It is easy to get "stuck" in a region. I also found myself adding countries that I didn't plan on since I just hate to pass by a country without "visiting". I am going to try it again this year since it helped me learn so much about geography and regional themes and cultures. Another benefit for me is that this helps me to tackle those larger books. When I skipped around, I found myself gravitating toward the shorter books and avoiding the bigger ones. That may not apply to the average reader, but it is definitely an issue with me.

Okay. Here are the tentative plans. I will have one previously unvisited location (Faroe Islands) bringing my total to 243 destinations. Here is a list of where I have been and what I have read so far: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Here is where I plan to go in 2014 (very subject to change):


(TBD = To be determined at a later date based on group reads on this site and in other groups I belong to. The alternative choice will be read if I have already read the book chosen by the group.)

1. Afghanistan: And the Mountains Echoed

2. Albania: Broken April

3. Algeria: The Last Summer of Reason or Fantasia

4. Antarctica: Alone: The Classic Polar Adventure

5. Argentina: Money to Burn

6. Australia: A Town Like Alice

7. Austria: The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss

8. Bahamas: TBD or Morning Girl

9. Belarus: Pack of Wolves

10. Belgium: Cheese

11. Bosnia and Herzegovina: S.

12. Botswana: A Question of Power

13. Brazil: Dom Casmurro

14. Bulgaria: Under the Yoke

15. Burma/Myanmar: Burmese Days

16. Cameroon: The Poor Christ of Bomba

17. Canada: The Robber Bride

18. Central African Republic: They Called Me Mama

19. Chile: Of Love and Shadows

20. China: TBD or Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

21. Colombia: No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories

22. Croatia: On the Edge of Reason

23. Cuba: Monkey Hunting

24. Czech Republic: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

25. Denmark: The Boy in the Suitcase

26. Ecuador: Bruna and Her Sisters in the Sleeping City

27. Egypt: Miramar

28. El Salvador: TBD or Little Red Riding Hood in the Red Light District

29. England: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

30. Estonia: Purge

31. Ethiopia: TBD or Beneath the Lion's Gaze

32. Faroe Islands: Barbara

33. France: The Elegance of the Hedgehog

34. Germany: Steppenwolf

35. Greece: Zorba the Greek

36. Guam (Northern Mariana Islands): Attitude 13

37. Guatemala: Among the Volcanoes

38. Guinea: The Radiance of the King

39. Guinea-Bissau: Revolution in Guinea: Selected Texts

40. Guyana: Disappearance

41. Haiti: The Kingdom of This World

42. Hungary: The Case Worker

43. India: A Suitable Boy

44. Indonesia: This Earth of Mankind

45. Iran: TBD or The Blind Owl

46. Iraq: Barefoot in Baghdad

47. Ireland: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

48. Ireland, Northern: The Yellow House

49. Israel: Black Box

50. Italy: Foucault's Pendulum

51. Japan: Kafka on the Shore

52. Jordan: Cain

53. Kenya: Matigari

54. Laos: The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir

55. Lithuania: Thanks to My Mother

56. Luxembourg: Writing from a Small Country: Anthology of the Creative Writing Club, Luxembourg

57. Macedonia: Contemporary Macedonian Poetry

58. Malaysia: Evening Is the Whole Day

59. Mauritius: TBD or Dodo Destiny: An American Eye on Mauritius

60. Mexico: The Underdogs

61. Monaco: Palace: My Life in the Royal Family of Monaco

62. Mongolia: The Blue Sky

63. Morocco: TBD or The Sheltering Sky

64. Mozambique: TBD or The Last Flight of The Flamingo

65. Namibia: TBD or The Learners of Owamboland, the Children of Twaalulilwa School

66. Nepal: The Royal Ghosts

67. Netherlands: Girl With a Pearl Earring

68. New Zealand: Faces in the Water

69. Niger: TBD or Gallery Bundu: A Story about an African Past

70. Nigeria: TBD or Arrow of God

71. Norway: Growth of the Soil

72. Pakistan: Shame or In Other Rooms, Other Wonders or The Wish Maker

73. Panama: Delia's Way

74. Peru: Deep Rivers

75. Poland: Schindler's List

76. Portugal: The Book of Disquiet

77. Romania: TBD or The Appointment

78. Russia: The Master and Margarita

79. Rwanda: TBD or A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It

80. Scotland: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

81. Senegal: God's Bits of Wood

82. Serbia: Garden, Ashes

83. Sierra Leone: Tarzan of the Apes

84. Slovakia: Embers

85. Slovenia: The Cartier Project

86. Solomon Islands: Solomon Time: Adventures In The South Pacific

87. South Africa: Burger's Daughter

88. Spain: Soldiers of Salamis

89. Sudan: War Child: A Child Soldier's Story

90. Sweden: The Saga of Gösta Berling

91. Switzerland: Hotel du Lac

92. Tanzania: Admiring Silence

93. Thailand: Platform

94. Uganda: TBD or In a Free State

95. Ukraine: Cataract

96. USA: The Color Purple

97. Vanuatu: TBD or Fishing for Stars

98. Vietnam: The Lover

99. Wales: Monica

100. Zimbabwe: Nervous Conditions

Those are some VERY cool books! "Nervous Conditions" repays patience to get used to the narrative style. "Embers" is one of my personal all-time favorites. "Growth of the Soil" makes me cry every time. "This Earth of Mankind" is a classic, and the beginning of a quartet, for those who trek. For those doing this challenge, enjoy! I can't switch horses, as the saying goes, but I'm envious. Melissa

I am going to read series this year. Some are 200 pages some are 500+ pages. I am sure It will take me places around the world and I will post my books and thoughts when I travel.

Thanks for keeping us so well cared for while we meander.

Adjustment to my 2014 reading goal and question for the group: my husband and I are going on a Northern European cruise later this year, and I think it would be neat to read a book from each of the ports of call before we go. We will go to Amsterdam, Berlin, Talinn (Estonia), St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. I plan to re-read Anne Frank for Amsterdam and Crime and Punishment for St. Petersburg, but does anyone have suggestions for good books set in the other cities? Thanks in advance!

Amy wrote: "Adjustment to my 2014 reading goal and question for the group: my husband and I are going on a Northern European cruise later this year, and I think it would be neat to read a book from each of th..."

OMG I am so jealous! What an incredible itinerary! Where do you embark?

Diane, we begin and end in Amsterdam. Since posting my question, I've been researching potential candidates for my reading list - Purge looks interesting from your list but doesn't seem technically to be based in Talinn. If the book is really good I am probably ok with that, since I know nothing of Estonia. I'm a bit stumped on Stockholm still - I was thinking of one of the Wallander books but I don't think they are set there. I have read the Millennium Trilogy twice already so I was looking for something new.

Amy: You are quite right - the Wallander series is set in Southern Sweden and will not give you much insight into Stockholm. If you prefer crime, the series about Martin Beck (written by Sjöwall and Wahlöö) is a crime classic set in Stockholm. There is also a quite good tv-series based on these books. If you do not know the books already, I would read/read about Astrid Lindgren's books. They are an essential part of most Scandinavian's childhood.

I love this challenge because I love reading books set all around the world. Here are my plans:

1. Continue the Circumnavigator challenge: I have read 79 books so far for this one
2. Start the Frequent Flyer one for 2014 and see if I can get closer to 80 countries in a year. This year I did 36, which was better than the year before, which had only 34. I am inching up there - lol!
3. Do the Rogue Traveler one again. This year I did 70 books set in other countries, but only 36 of them were in differing countries. For some reason I seem to read a lot set in England - maybe because that's where a lot of my favorite authors are writing!
4. Do the Tourist one again and see if I can get to 24 different countries faster than I did this year.
5. Do the States one again in the new year. I completed it but just managed to finish #51 yesterday - and it was one of the best ones I read all year!

I am definitely ready to start these new challenges!

Hi Diane, for 2013 I managed to earn my Tourist badge, I not only enjoyed it but find it influences my choices now. I'm inclined to search further and look harder for authors or settings foreign to me, this has been an unexpected yet welcome bonus. For 2014 I'll start the circumnavigation challenge with my list from last year and continue as a Tourist with a fresh list.

Donna R wrote: "Hi Diane, for 2013 I managed to earn my Tourist badge, I not only enjoyed it but find it influences my choices now. I'm inclined to search further and look harder for authors or settings foreign t..."

Wonderful! So glad you are continuing this year!

I've got 15 more countries to finish off the 80 in 2014. I also want to complete the USA, Canada, and Australia challenges. The UK challenge will be a multi-year project. All these challenges have introduced me to some wonderful new authors.

Connie wrote: "I've got 15 more countries to finish off the 80 in 2014. I also want to complete the USA, Canada, and Australia challenges. The UK challenge will be a multi-year project. All these challenges ha..."

Glad to hear you are continuing in 2014, Connie!

Anne FREQUENT FLYER 2014

1. Finish reading AFRICA...36 countries left
2. Work on never-Ending Circumnavigation of the world.....I have 70 countries from 2013.....
3. Reducing my annual goal to 50 books for this program as i missed some best sellers this year and need to catch up.

I am planning on switching from Frequent Flyer to Tourist in 2014 and doing another USA Roadtrip. I've enjoyed reading more extensively in Canada and Australia this past year and want to complete those mini-challenges. With a move to a new home in the offing, I'm trying to lessen my commitments, but the new Irish Roving and Journeys in Germany mini-challenges are very tempting!

I only got a fourth of the way through the 80 books challenge last year, but I'm definitely looking forward to doing it again this year.

I'm also planning on doing the USA Roadtrip this year because most of the books already on my to-read list are from the US, and I'd like to catch up on those. We'll see how it goes! Probably making an itinerary later :)

I don't know if I will continue my circumnavigator or start another challenge. I am always in the same countries with the books I read.

I will continue only my "passage through India" and my personal challenge with books about cats.

Im new in this group (found through Seasonal Challenge group) and Im planing to do "tourist" one. At the moment I read Dangerous Curves Ahead set in USA and then move to Europe.
good luck to everyone :)

I'm doing the Rogue Traveller one again this year but trying to visit different places than in 2013.
I'm also doing the UK Counties Challenge. May try the 50 USA States again too. Would like to read around France too as I live there but think I have probably bitten off more than enough for 2014 !

Hi everyone !it's really great idea i think im going to do turist challenge ,i'm going to set the list of the books soon!

Happy reading !

I'm joining the ATW challenge again, but as a Rogue Traveler this year. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't quite make it to 80 countries in 2013 (although 61 isn't too shabby), but I'm thrilled to have learned about so many new cultures, authors and books.

First I just wanted to copy your fabulous list, Diane. :-) But I’m hoping to mix it up a bit in 2014 with many new countries, some old ones, recent novels, classics, 1001 literature, non-fiction, etc. I'm looking forward to the freedom of the Rogue category - and maybe I'll still make it to 80 this year. ;-)

Kiara wrote: "Hi everyone !it's really great idea i think im going to do turist challenge ,i'm going to set the list of the books soon!

Happy reading !"

Welcome to the challenge, Kiara!

Annie wrote: "I'm joining the ATW challenge again, but as a Rogue Traveler this year. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't quite make it to 80 countries in 2013 (although 61 isn't too shabby), but I'm thrilled..."

Annie, 61 countries is still quite awesome. I hope you will enjoy the freedom of going rogue. Good luck in 2014!

Thanks Diane !
I'm new , soon I'll decide some books that I'm going to read .. I think I should check the list :)

Recently authored the Am-Nord Noir Novel: Faded Gray. It takes readers from Northern Wisconsin (USA) to the Former Soviet Republics or Latvia and Estonia, and characters deep in the world of Eurasian crime.

Thanks, Diane! I'm looking forward to getting this year's challenge!

Jeffrey, although your book sounds interesting, I think you might be posting in the wrong thread. :-)

What about Trinidad and Tobago? Oh Maria was set in Trinidad and Tobago.

Oh Maria

This is another book set in Trinidad and Tobago.

wow. I have just joined your group and am feeling so illiterate! as it is august I think I will focus on finishing Africa tour and start European tour. but 2015 will be the year of my challenge. I want to do at least 40 new countries!