This year for the first time I participated in several reading challenges. The European Reading Challenge was one of the first I joined and it was a breeze to complete because I was eager to read each novel. One of my favorite topics in reading is World War II and I am primarily interested in Europe as a setting. Four of the books I read were related to World War II.
The goal of this challenge is: To read books by European authors or books set in European countries. The books can be fiction or non-fiction. Two further stipulations: Each book had to be by a different author, and for a different country.
I enjoyed reading about each country. All the books were not equally good (or perhaps I should say, enjoyable for me), but I learned something from each one. I think the one that was set in an area I am least familiar with is The Information Officer, set on the island of Malta. Norway and its history in World War II was also new to me; I have so much to learn about World War II history.
With the exception of Winter by Len Deighton, all of these books were in the mystery genre. Several were police procedurals; one was espionage fiction. Four of them were by authors new to me (Robert Wilson, Jo Nesbo, Ken Bruen, and Mark Mills).
Initially I had a goal of reading five books for this challenge. I ended up reading nine books.
The books I read and reviewed:
Winter by Len Deighton (Germany)
The Company of Strangers by Robert Wilson (Portugal)
The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo (Norway)
Dying Light by Stuart MacBride (Scotland, UK)
The Guards by Ken Bruen (Ireland)
The Light of Day by Eric Ambler (Turkey)
The Information Officer by Mark Mills (Malta)
Death of a Russian Priest by Stuart Kaminsky (Russia)
The Sleeping-Car Murders by Sebastien Japrisot (France)
Visit this post at Rose City Reader to see other wrap up posts for this challenge.
1 comment:
I am planning to join this challenge next year. There are many countries I've never 'visited' via a book.
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