Time for the final wrap-up post of 2019 challenges. This time it's the 2019 European Reading challenge which was hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader.
I signed up to do the FIVE STAR (DELUXE ENTOURAGE) which was to read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries.
In all, I read 10 books and these are they:
1. BELGIUM: The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin - Georges Simenon
2. FRANCE: The Riviera Set - Mary S. Lovell
3. ITALY: A Small Place in Italy - Eric Newby
4. ICELAND: The Darkness - Ragnar Jónasson
5. AUSTRIA: Schlepping Through the Alps - Sam Apple
6. SPAIN: Bitten by Spain - Deborah Fletcher
7. GERMANY: Black Roses - Jane Thynne
8. The CZECH REPUBLIC: Melmoth - Sarah Perry
9. The UK: Sir John Magill's Last Journey - Freeman Wills Crofts
10. DENMARK: The Year of Living Danishly - Helen Russell
Well that was quite a pleasant jaunt around Europe. Several countries that I haven't previously been to on this challenge, Austria, The Czech Republic, Denmark, Belgium. Countries I never seem to have a problem finding something for, France, Italy, Germany, Iceland, (and such will be the case for 2020 too). What I need to do is find books for some of the more unusual places. The list is quite large:
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.
I do often read about them in multi-country books (see my Europe shelf on Goodreads) but those don't count of course. I need to find books that are only about these specific countries. All recommendations welcome!
Anyway, good fun, I love this challenge to bits. As always, many thanks to Gilion for hosting.
6 comments:
Well done! Oooh, I'm tempted to do this one again this year ...
Did you ever read the Mrs Pollifax books? A lovely series with a woman in her sixties who becomes a spy. One of them is in Albania, I think. I would like to read more about several of those countries. I love your list!
You did well, and this really looks like a challenge that would be a lot of fun.
I remember seeing a challenge two or three years ago, a long-term one, where the challenge was to read a book from every country in the world. Someone blogged about it, and I remember how hard she had to search for translated books from a couple of dozen of the countries. I lost track of her progress at some point, but I remember that she was getting pretty close. I think that the most commonly accepted number of countries in the world is 195 or 196, but that the U.N. for whatever reason recognizes something like 240, so this would be a Super-Challenge.
I like that you have read some non-fiction for this challenge. I keep meaning to do that but haven't yet. I would like to read something by Eric Newby. I want to read Black Roses by Jane Thynne. (But that would break my "rule" of not starting a new author this year.) And I already have my copy of The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin and hope to read it in the next month or so.
Hi Cath,
Well Done! on completing your 2019 challenge and Good Luck! in 2020.
I can recommend my last book if you need a story set in Berlin 'Angel Avenger' by Tim Wickenden. 5 stars from me and my review will be posted next week.
If you need inspiration for some of your remaining country challenges, try visiting Trip Fiction. You don't need to sign up, but you can search their database for some great ideas!
https://www.tripfiction.com/
Happy Reading :)
Yvonne
xx
Margaret: Thank you. Well, you may remember that I decided not to do this last year and then couldn't resist and signed up about a month later. I haven't even bothered to try and resist this year: it would be futile. LOL!
Nan: No, I haven't read or even heard of the the Mrs. Pollifax books, I'll look into those, thanks for the recommendation. Currently reading book 2 of another of your series recs, Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry.
Sam: Thanks! Being an avid armchair traveller this challenge is right up my alley.
Yes, I saw someone doing a whole world challenge too. It's huge undertaking. I tried to do Africa once and failed miserably. Also have an ongoing American states one too, luckily I didn't give myself a time limit and am enjoying a very slow meander around the USA.
Tracy: I've read three or four books by Eric Newby and all were good. My favourite is Love and War in the Apennines, where he's an escaped prisoner of war and has to survive an Italian winter in the mountains. A very, very good book.
Yvonne: Thank you. I have 'Munich' by Robert Harris for Germany but will look out for your review of Angel Avenger and may change my mind.
And I'll look into Trip Fiction for some ideas about other European books, thank you. Thanks for dropping by and enjoy your weekend. xxx
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