We have a vague notion of the best place we should go, or the beautiful places we should like to see, or the kinds of places that would make us grow as a person. We yearn for a good life. We have real hopes and ambitions. We feel impatient for an unshakable faith that we [...]
Posts under ‘Reading The World – A Personal Challenge’
Solitaria – Book Review
Revisiting my childhood is like standing on the shores of a turbulent sea: achingly beautiful and dangerous – the thunderclap of breakers, the foamlicks of crests, the way swells undulate, graceful as pregnant women, the boil of froth through sand in a rip tide. And I, who never learned to swim, long to submerge myself [...]
The Marriage Artist – Book Review (and Giveaway)
When he thought of Wind, when he thought of Aleksandra, when he thought of his father – when Daniel thought of anyone he had known who was now dead – what survived of them was not only love. What survived also were the echoes of all the resistance they had thrown up to life (and [...]
State of Wonder – Book Review
She knew the story of Orpheus, but it wasn’t until the singing began that she realized it was the story of her life. She was Orfeo, and there was no question that Anders was Euridice, dead from a snake bite. Marina had been sent to hell to bring him back. – from State of Wonder, [...]
The True Memoirs of Little K – Book Review
We girls at the Imperial Theater Schools were no exception. From our ranks, the emperors and the grand dukes, the counts and the officers of guards, chose their mistresses, kept an eye out for a shapely leg or a pretty face. Why, one of them described the ballet as an exhibit of beautiful women, a [...]
Maybe This Time – Book Review
Outwardly normal events slip into drama before they tip into horror. These oblique tales exert a fascinating hold over the reader. – Meike Ziervogel, Peirene Press – Maybe This Time is a translated collection of short stories by Alois Hotschnig, who is considered to be one of Austria’s most talented writers. The collection includes nine [...]
The Paperbark Shoe – Book Review
The sky over Wyalkatchem is hotter and bluer than any other place, and the winds are stronger, the thermals rising tens of thousands of feet straight up, lifting the litter of the desert in its embrace: shards of quartz and shale and flakes of limestone, spinifex, the lost tails of geckoes, scraps of paperbark, the [...]
Lost in Translation Challenge – 2009
January 1 – December 31, 2009 I am very carefully choosing my time-limited challenges for 2009. Frances from Nonsuch Book is hosting Lost in Translation – a challenge designed for participants to read six (6) books in translation. Frances has created a dedicated page for this challenge here. I found a couple of interesting articles [...]
SOUTH AMERICA – Reading The World
SOUTH AMERICAN Countries
(Bolded Blue Indicates Books Read)
Potential books to be read for each country are identified in red script.
Asterisk (*) indicates books I already own, but have yet to read.
2. Bolivia (Sucre)
3. Brazil (Brasilia)
Asterisk (*) indicates books I already own, but have yet to read.
1. Argentina (
Buenos Aires)2. Bolivia (Sucre)
3. Brazil (Brasilia)
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coehlo (finished 15 June 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
War of the End of the World, by Mario Vargas Llosa
War of the End of the World, by Mario Vargas Llosa
4. Chile (Santiago)
Memoirs, by Pablo Neruda
5. Colombia (Bogota)
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez*
6. Ecuador (Quito)
The Amnesia Clinic, by James Scudamore
7. Guyana (Georgetown)
8. Parguay (Asuncion)
9. Peru (Lima)
Conversation in the Cathedral, by Mario Vargas Llosa
The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder (finished 23 December 2007; rated 3/5; read my review)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder (finished 23 December 2007; rated 3/5; read my review)
10. Suriname (Paramaribo)
11. Uruguay (Montevideo)
12. Venezuela (Caracas)
The Lady, The Chef and The Courtesan, by Marisol
NORTH AMERICA – Reading The World
NORTH AMERICAN Countries
(Bolded Blue Indicates Books Read)
1. Antigua and Barbuda (St. Johns)
2. Bahamas (Nassau)
3. Barbados (Bridgetown)
4. Belize (Belmopan)
5. Canada (Ottawa)
2. Bahamas (Nassau)
3. Barbados (Bridgetown)
4. Belize (Belmopan)
5. Canada (Ottawa)
Fall On Your Knees, by Ann-Marie MacDonald (finished 26 April 2007; rated 4/5; read my review)
Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood (finished 13 May 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
The Outlander, by Gil Adamson (finished 27 December 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
The Way The Crow Flies, by Ann-Marie MacDonald*
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, by Wayne Johnston (Newfoundland)
Mercy Among the Children, by David Adams Richards (New Brunswick)
Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood (finished 13 May 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
The Outlander, by Gil Adamson (finished 27 December 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
The Way The Crow Flies, by Ann-Marie MacDonald*
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, by Wayne Johnston (Newfoundland)
Mercy Among the Children, by David Adams Richards (New Brunswick)
6. Costa Rica (San Jose)
7. Cuba (Havana)
Dreaming in Cuba, by Christina Garcia
8. Dominica (Roseau)
9. Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo)
Feast of the Goat, by Mario Vargas Llosa*
10. El Salvador (San Salvador)
11. Grenada (St. George’s)
12. Guatemala (Guatemala City)
13. Haiti (Port-au-Prince)
The Dew Breaker, by Edwidge Danticat
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat
14. Honduras (Tegucigaipa)
15. Jamaica (Kingston)
16. Mexico (Mexico City)
Mexico, by James Michener*
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, by Hayden Herrera
Consider This, Senora, by Harriet Doerr
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, by Hayden Herrera
Consider This, Senora, by Harriet Doerr
17. Nicaragua (Managua)
18. Panama (Panama City)
19. Saint Kitts and Nevis (Basseterre)
20. Saint Lucia (Castries)
21. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Kingstown)
22. Trinidad and Tobago (Port-of-Spain)
Chutney Power, by Willi Chen
The Lonely Londoners, by Sam Selvon
The Lonely Londoners, by Sam Selvon
23. United States (Washington D.C.)
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck (finished 18 January 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (finished 21 March 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
Travels With Charley in Search of America, by John Steinbeck (finished 29 March 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
Summer Crossing, by Truman Capote (finished 21 July 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (finished 21 March 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
Travels With Charley in Search of America, by John Steinbeck (finished 29 March 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
Summer Crossing, by Truman Capote (finished 21 July 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
= Excellent
= Good/Very Good
= Okay read
= Not recommended
= Ugh! Don't waste your time.
