Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Africa -
Asia - Finding Katarina M. Siberia Russia
Asian author - Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line India
Australia -Rabbit-Proof Fence: The True Story of One of the Greatest Escapes of All Time
Europe -
North America -American Dirt Mexico
South America -

I read ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ by Hergé

I read

Australia - The Rosie Project

South America - The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey

Just finished this multi-week prompt. I read:


Africa: South Africa — Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

South America: Ecuador/
Galapagos Islands — Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

Asia: Afghanistan — A House Without Windows
by Nadia Hashimi

I liked them all for various reasons.

I learned the most about the region in which the book was set from Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood and A House Without Windows. This is the second book by Nadia Hashimi that I've read this year, the first being Sparks Like Stars, which was also set in Afghanistan. I used this one for "A book without a person on the cover". I would happily read more by her. Another excellent author of fiction who happens also to be a physician.

Wish You Were Here was interesting because it is the first book I've read that involves the Covid epidemic, and was written pretty much in real time. I happened to have friends who were traveling in Ecuador and the Galapagos at the time I was reading it, having had to postpone this trip because of Covid...

So far, I have completed two out of the three challenges.


✔ Challenge #8: [Europe]

Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

✔ Challenge #9: [North America]

Tinkers by Paul Harding

Challenge #10: {Asia]

I read
1.Antartica

2. Europe

3. North America

Sarah wrote: "Pamela wrote: "What I would love to do is read books that take place on 3 different continents. The Great Circle would have worked but I already read it! So need to find books that cover much geogr..."

I did the same book with that in mind, though I didn't like it. One book out of Maja Lunde's trilogy should do as well, the part with the bees is set in China, UK, and the USA.

I still thought I might find some mystery/thriller with a similar setting - I have some very dated James Bond, but nope so far.

I read: Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (North America/Europe)
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Africa)
Frangipani by Célestine Hitiura Vaite (takes place on Tahiti, which is in the island continent of Oceania (closest to Australia)

A globe-trotting vampire triple feature.

Dracula set in Europe.
'Salem's Lot set in North America.
KIZUMONOGATARI: Wound Tale set in Asia.

It was harder than you'd think to find books with vampires that weren't all set in the same place.

I read for this prompt:

AFRICA:
Orange for the Sunsets by Tina Athaide is a powerful a middle grade children’s book, set in 1972 in Entebbe, Uganda. It alternates point-of-view between best friends Asha and Yesofu. The two have been inseparable for as long as they can remember, the only problem is she is Indian and he is African. When President Idi Amin announces that all of Uganda’s 80 thousand Indians have 90 days to leave, the country is thrust into chaos. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Here is my review

EUROPE:
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson describes a summer spent on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. Six-year-old Sophie has recently lost her mother and the book follows the sweet relationship between Sophie and her grandmother. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Here is my review

ASIA:
The Missing Sister by Dinah Jefferies is a dual timeline historical mystery set in Myanmar (Burma at the time) in the 1920s and 1930s about singer Belle Hatton, who is searching to piece together the mysterious story of a sister she never knew, who disappeared from their family home in Rangoon more than twenty years earlier. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Here is my review

Just finished my third book!

I started with Salt Houses by Hala Alyan, a multi-generational family saga set in the Middle East. The family it follows are Palestinian, but due to the violence and instability in the region, they become refugees who settle in several different cities in Jordan, Kuwait, and Lebanon. This is the only one of my three books that wasn't translated, which I regret a little bit but not too much. Alyan is Palestinian-American and this book was perfect for this prompt, as she did a beautiful job describing the setting and exploring the complicated relationship between refugees and the new cities they call home.

My next book was Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro, set in South America. Piñeiro is an Argentinian crime novelist and this book was shortlisted this year for the International Booker Prize. It's a very clever, unique story: it is a crime novel, as it follows a woman who is determined to investigate the mysterious death of her daughter. But it spends much more of its time focused on the main character's struggle with Parkinson's disease, what it's like to lose control of your bodily autonomy, and the difficult job of being a caretaker for a person with a terminal illness. The story is all told over the course of one day, as the protagonist stubbornly attempts to make her way across the city of Buenos Aires in pursuit of answers about her daughter's death, hindered by her illness.

My last book for this prompt was The Door by Magda Szabó, set in Europe. This was my second book by Szabó, a very well known Hungarian novelist — last year I read the beautiful Katalin Street and resolved that I absolutely must read more by her. This was also a very unique story, as it centered entirely around the relationship between the main character, a writer, and her housekeeper, an older woman named Emerance. The relationship between the two is unusually intense and Emerance is an unusually intense person, which kept this book extremely compelling, despite the fact that it doesn't have all that much plot at all. But Szabó's writing and how strange and emotional this relationship becomes kept me hooked the whole time.

I really strongly enjoyed all three of these books, what a successful prompt! I'd highly recommend any of them.

Hannah wrote: "Just finished my third book!

I started with Salt Houses by Hala Alyan, a multi-generational family saga set in the Middle East. The family it follows are Palestinian, but due to th..."

All three of these are on my TBR/ considering list. Thanks for your reviews, they sound worth reading!

I also read
SOUTH AMERICA
Venezuela:
Blue Label by Eduardo Sánchez Rugeles is literary fiction set in Venezuela about teenagers on a road trip, trying to find a way to deal with the collapse of a country around them. I found it well-written and engaging. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Here is my review

ASIA
Kurdistan/ Iran
Daughters of Smoke and Fire is a powerful story about the struggles of the Kurdish people in Iran, by Ava Homa the first Kurdish woman to publish a novel in English. This book is an important read in the wake of the tragic death of Mahsa Amini an the protests this sparked as it gives some background and insight. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Here is my review

AFRICA
Eswatini (Swaziland)
When the Ground Is Hard. This was a great read by Aussie author Malla Nunn who grew up in Eswatini (Swaziland). The book is set in a boarding school and tells the story of two girls from different social classes who for, a friendship. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is my review.

1. Australia: Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia by Anita Heiss

2: Europe: The Best Worst Christmas by Kate Forster

3: US: Jessi's Secret Language by Ann M. Martin

After (Europe) my second entry for this prompt is (North America). I absolutely loved it.

I read these books for this set of prompts, and my Seven Continent Challenge.

✔️Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See Book 1 - ASIA
✔️ Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah - Book 2 - AFRICA
✔️ - Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis - Uruguay - Book 3 - SOUTH AMERICA
✔️ -How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior - Book 4 - ANTARCTICA
✔️Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty - Book 5 - AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA
✔️Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood (Canada)- Book 6-NORTH AMERICA
✔️The Notebook by Agota Kristof (Hungary) - Book 7 - EUROPE

Additional suggestions:
Europe -
✔️The Years - by French author Annie Ernaux. If you want a Nobel Prize winner that is NOT about trauma, here you go!
Asia -
✔️The Three-Body Problem - sci-fi
✔️Snow Flower and the Secret Fan -culture, history, intense friendship, great for bookclubs. It was much better than I expected.
✔️Wild Swans: Three Daughters of ChinaJung Chang - Strong history, family saga, cultural revolution.
✔️The Bombay Prince - mystery
South America -
✔️ Cantoras- Carolina De Robertis - Uruguay, strong women, friendships and lovers, history. Would also fit literature city -Montevideo
✔️When We Cease to Understand the World Chilean author. About Einstein and other scientists, fascinating in unexpected (and sometimes weird) ways.
North America-
Native America books by Louise Erdrich. Her characters are amazing, particular the fathers. ✔️The Round House ✔️The Night Watchman

ASIA
India/ Bangladesh:
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri is a beautiful, award-winning collection of short stories set in India or Bangladesh, or involving Bengali immigrants to the US. It is poignant, insightful, full of loss and longing. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ here is my review.

I liked all the books I picked for this prompt.
Europe - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Antarctica -How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior
Asia - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See