Saturday, November 17, 2012

Around the World in 80 Books Reading Challenge

I saw this challenge, hosted by Have Books, Will Travel, at a couple of blogs I check in with frequently (My Reader's Block  and Valli's Book Den). It looked like a challenge I would enjoy and yet not too demanding, so I am joining in also.


The primary goal of the challenge is to read books set in 80 different countries (and/or written by authors from the countries) over a period of five years. Other than that, the blogger sets their own goals. I only say this is not demanding because the challenge covers five years and the blogger sets the time frame. Obviously, toward the end, it may be difficult to come up with books from countries not yet covered. Check here for the rules and the sign-up post.

These are my rules:

  • I have five years to complete my journey. My start date is November 18 , 2012 and my end date will be November 17, 2017.
  • I'm counting books that take place in a particular country. If a book takes place in multiple countries then I will only count it towards the country that it is primarily set in. It does not matter what country the author is from. But, given a choice, I would go with the author and the book from the same country.
  • Where feasible I will do some research on the country, and include some background knowledge that that may interesting in my reviews. That will not be a hard and fast rule.
  • I will donate 80 books to a charity that holds an annual book sale as a fund raiser.

Country List:

  1.  AFGHANISTAN 
  2.  ARGENTINA
  3.  AUSTRALIA
  4.  BANGLADESH
  5.  BELGIUM
  6.  BRAZIL
  7.  CANADA
  8.  CHILE
  9.  CHINA
  10.  COLOMBIA
  11.  CONGO
  12.  COSTA RICA
  13.  CUBA
  14.  CZECH REPUBLIC
  15.  DENMARK
  16.  DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
  17.  ECUADOR
  18.  EGYPT
  19.  EL SALVADOR
  20.  ENGLAND:  The Vault Ruth Rendell (December 2012)
  21.  ETHIOPIA
  22.  FINLAND
  23.  FRANCE
  24.  GERMANY:  A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell (November 2012)
  25.  GREECE
  26.  GUATEMALA
  27.  HAITI
  28.  HUNGARY
  29.  ICELAND
  30.  INDIA 
  31.  INDONESIA
  32.  IRAQ
  33.  IRELAND
  34.  ISRAEL
  35.  ITALY
  36.  IVORY COAST
  37.  JAMAICA 
  38.  JAPAN
  39.  KENYA
  40.  KOREA, NORTH
  41.  KOREA, SOUTH
  42.  LIBYA
  43.  MALTA
  44.  MEXICO
  45.  MONGOLIA
  46.  MOROCCO
  47.  MOZAMBIQUE
  48.  MYANMAR (formally Burma)
  49.  NAMIBIA
  50.  NETHERLANDS
  51.  NEPAL
  52.  NEW ZEALAND 
  53.  NIGERIA
  54.  NORTH IRELAND
  55.  NORWAY
  56.  PAKISTAN
  57.  PANAMA
  58.  PERU
  59.  PHILIPPINES 
  60.  POLAND
  61.  PORTUGAL
  62.  ROMANIA
  63.  RUSSIA
  64.  RWANDA
  65.  SAUDI ARABIA
  66.  SCOTLAND
  67.  SIERRA LEONE
  68.  SPAIN
  69.  SRI LANKA
  70.  SOUTH AFRICA
  71.  SUDAN
  72.  SWEDEN
  73.  SWITZERLAND
  74.  THAILAND
  75.  TURKEY
  76.  UGANDA
  77.  UKRAINE
  78.  VATICAN CITY
  79.  VENEZUELA
  80.  VIETNAM


3 comments:

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

This sounds like an exciting, albeit daunting, challenge to me though I'd be the first to admire anybody who participates and that includes you Tracy, so good luck to you. I haven't read much fiction from countries other than North America and England and a challenge like this is one way to keep up with books from other countries.

TracyK said...

The more I think about it, the more daunting it seems. But having this goal will be fun, nevertheless. I do have plans to read a lot of books in different countries in 2013, so at least the first year should be easy.

Unknown said...

This sounds like a really fun challenge! My reading is so limited to authors from the UK and North America, this would be a good way to broaden my horizons. It's nice to have 5 years to complete as well. I always tend to shy away from blog challenges because I'm not very good at reading on demand or under pressure. Thanks for stopping by my blog the other day! I have a real soft spot for mystery novels too.

Marie
http://www.girlvsbookshelf.blogspot.com