Reading with Style discussion

20.4 Go for the Gold!
The top three gold producing countries in the world are China, Australia, and Russia. Read a book that takes place entirely in one of these countries.

Please ask any questions about 20.4 in this thread.

Amanda, they're not all bricks! Have you read Ivan Turgenev? Fathers and Sons is on the 1001 list, I think.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Amanda, they're not all bricks! Have you read Ivan Turgenev? Fathers and Sons is on the 1001 list, I think."

Haha! No, I suppose they wouldn't be ( I did read Notes from Underground which was far from a brick, but it did feel like one!), but all the ones I can remember being on my bookshelves are!

Hopefully I have a weekend at home this next one coming up, and can do some work re-arranging the books and see what else is there. In checking Fathers and Sons IS on one of the shelves, I suspect it is a black Penguin, so will be pretty easy to find ;)

Are dystopian/future and/or fantasy worlds ok here if they are clearly in the location, or just realistic books?

My two in question right now are:

A Tangle of Gold by Jaclyn Moriarty fantasy world called Cello and Sydney Australia
Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden dystopian Australia

I have plenty of realistic books if these don't work;)

Tomorrow, When the War Began works as it is entirely set in Australia.

A Tangle of Gold has settings outside Australia, so doesn't work.

Has anyone read The Light Between Oceans? It's not clear from the description if it's 100% set in Australia.

I read it. I don't remember being set in Australia.

Sam wrote: "Has anyone read The Light Between Oceans? It's not clear from the description if it's 100% set in Australia."

Yes, it was set in Western Australia or on a lighthouse off the coast of Western Australia.

Hmm...seems like it's set on a fictional island off of Australia. Mods, would that count?

Sam wrote: "Hmm...seems like it's set on a fictional island off of Australia. Mods, would that count?"

Yes, we will count that. When we've had tasks like this before, even though the setting itself might be fictional, the place in which it is set must be real. (My test is always Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawhpa County in the real state of Mississippi.)

Sounds good! Thanks for clarifying :)

I may use The Four Chinese Classics: Tao Te Ching, Analects, Chuang Tzu, Mencius as my one book carried over with less than 50% read. If I do, does it fit here or is it a square peg? Since these are primarily philosophlcal works they are not really SET anywhere.

Beth wrote: "I may use The Four Chinese Classics: Tao Te Ching, Analects, Chuang Tzu, Mencius as my one book carried over with less than 50% read. If I do, does it fit here or is it a square peg..."

This seems to fit the spirit/intent of this task, rather than the Square Peg.

Awesome.. 10 more points

So I am going to be reading the Romance of the Three Kingdoms but this presents a difficulty with MPE.

If I search for three kingdoms I get this as an mpe
Three Kingdoms: Classic Novel in Four Volumes which is them all together.

But I am reading a translation in three parts that are all separate books according to goodreads.

Should I claim the single volume title for simplicity because it comes up first for the content? Or the three books I am actually reading?

The Three Kingdoms: The Sacred Oath
The Three Kingdoms: The Sleeping Dragon
The Three Kingdoms: Welcome The Tiger

Beth wrote: "So I am going to be reading the Romance of the Three Kingdoms but this presents a difficulty with MPE."

You can claim this either way. You are entitled to employ the method that is most strategic for you.

While I haven't read your Chinese title, I did claim A Dance to the Music of Time: 1st Movement as three separate titles, but which I have as one volume. This is just the opposite of your scenario. I suspect the original Chinese was in at least 3 volumes if not more.

Does the group read Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster work for this task?

Rebekah wrote: "Does the group read Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster work for this task?"

No, that is located in Ukraine.