Saturday, March 17, 2018

The European Reading Challenge 2018

In the European Reading Challenge hosted by Rose City Reader, participants tour Europe through books. The books can be read anytime between January 1, 2018 to January 31, 2019.

The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country.

I am joining at the FIVE STAR (DELUXE ENTOURAGE): Read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries. (And aiming for more. Maybe ten?)


Here is the list of countries:
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 plan to read mainly crime fiction set in the European countries. I have participated in this challenge before but not in recent years. So far this year I have already read books set in Poland, Russia, Germany, Portugal, and the UK of course, but I have not reviewed most of them.

16 comments:

col2910 said...

Tempting challenge, but I might try and make progress on existing ones first - or at least try and update them! Not sure I have books from many of them, so it would require additional purchases.

Jo said...

I like this Challenge but am not sure I could do it!!
https://justmeandmyblogreviews.blogspot.com/2018/03/stacking-shelves_16.html

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a very interesting challenge, Tracy. I'm not a 'challenge' type person myself, but I'll be very interested in what you choose and read for it.

TracyK said...

I know, Col, I am having problems keeping up with my 50 States challenge, both in updating the list and adding more. Every book set in the US seems to be set in California, Florida, or New York. But this one just seems to fit for this year's reading.

TracyK said...

Joann, I have a lot of books in my TBR and many are set in European countries, so I thought this would work for me. Thanks for commenting.

TracyK said...

I am trying not to overload myself with challenges this year, Margot. This one fits pretty well with my reading and will encourage me to find others on my TBR piles that fit.

Katrina said...

I wasn't going to sign up for any challenges but I must admit this one seems tempting. I'm going to look through my TBR pile to see where they're all set.

Cath said...

This is such a fun challenge. I'm sure you can count the ones you've read so far this year too. I've read four so far, Italy, France, Iceland and Spain. I plan to read more than the required five. Enjoy!

TracyK said...

It definitely tempted me, Katrina, and finding five books in a year seems easy. Plus I just seem to be interested in reading more about Europe this year.

TracyK said...

I agree, Cath. And I will count most of the ones I have read so far, once I do a post on them, although a couple of them are split between two or three countries and and I may find a book I like better to count. I do want to read more than five also, but we will see.

Anonymous said...

This sounds good Tracy and good luck and happy reading! I look forward to reading your reviews.....--Keishon

Rick Robinson said...

You would have good luck with this reading Edward S. Aarons’ Assignment Series. The protagonist is Sam Durell, who works for a top secret Cia General, They are set all over Europe and beyond. Here's an overview I came across just now:
http://www.mysteryfile.com/Aarons/Durell.html

Regardless, the challenge sounds interesting. Also, by the way, I finally put up my reading stats on the blog. I'm going to start blogging again.

TracyK said...

Thanks, Keishon. I have enjoyed the books I have read for the challenge so far.

TracyK said...

Thanks for that link to the article on the Edward S. Aarons series, Rick. It was very interesting and I will look for some of those. I think I have seen some at the annual book sale that I go to, but I will look around online before then.

I am so glad you will be blogging again. Looking forward to your posts.

Gilion at Rose City Reader said...

Thanks for participating in the 2018 Challenge! How did you do?

The 2019 Challenge page is up now. I hope to see you back again! https://www.rosecityreader.com/p/2019-european-reading-challenge.html

TracyK said...

I will definitely be joining in for 2019, Gilion. I enjoyed my reading (and reviewing) for the European Reading Challenge this year.