Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2013 Global Reading Challenge Wrap-up


This year I participated in the 2013 Global Reading Challenge, which challenges you to expand your reading boundaries, go where you haven't been before, move a little outside your comfort zone. Any genre was acceptable as long as the books are fiction. The challenge is hosted by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise.

I joined at the Medium Challenge level, which required reading two novels from each of these continents in the course of 2013.




These are the books I read for the challenge: 

AFRICA
Dead Before Dying by Deon Meyer  (South Africa)
Instruments of Darkness by Robert Wilson  (Benin)

ASIA
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino    (Japan)
The Man-Eater of Malgudi by R. K. Narayan  (India)

SOUTH AMERICA
Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza (Brazil)
Blood of the Wicked by Leighton Gage (Brazil)

AUSTRALASIA
Frantic by Katherine Howell (Australia)
The Broken Shore by Peter Temple (Australia)

NORTH AMERICA
Amuse Bouche by Anthony Bidulka (Canada, Saskatchewan)
The Ransom Game by Howard Engel (Canada, Ontario)

EUROPE
The Smoke by Tony Broadbent (United Kingdom)
Eye of the Red Tsar by Sam Eastland (Russia)

SEVENTH CONTINENT (Space)
Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein
Old Man's War by John Scalzi


I was glad I participated in this challenge, and it was an effort to get it finished before the year ended. The challenge provided me with the needed motivation to read more books from different continents.

I did try to read books by authors from the area that the book was set in, but that was not true in all cases. Most of the books I read were by authors new to me. I especially enjoyed the two books set in Brazil. I had planned to pick authors two different countries for South America, so for the next Global Reading Challenge I will move outside of Brazil.

12 comments:

Nan said...

What a good idea for a challenge. I noted the Peter Temple book - I just bought the first in the series Bad Debts after seeing a couple of the Jack Irish tv shows.

TracyK said...

Nan, it is a great challenge. I want to read the Jack Irish series also.

Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...

Well done TracyK - some terrific books there (and some I know little about beyond your review but that SOUND really good ...).

TracyK said...

Thanks, Sergio. I look forward to more books from all the continents. And more books by these same authors.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Very inspiring, Tracy. I hope to do something like this in 2014 except in my own time.

TracyK said...

Prashant, If I had not done this challenge, I would not have discovered Narayan, so the challenge has been a benefit in finding new and very interesting authors. I am gradually cutting back on challenges. The upkeep is sometimes too demanding but I do get something out of them. I do have an ongoing challenge to read a mystery or novel from each country in the world.

RebeccaK said...

Congratulations, Tracy! It's a challenging and fun challenge, but I'm dialing back to the easy level next year.

TracyK said...

Thanks, Rebecca. Me too, going easier next year. At least as far as challenges.

Clothes In Books said...

What a nice list and a nice idea, it just reads as such a cosmopolitan list.

TracyK said...

Moira, I am one of those people who travels through books. Don't like to travel at all and definitely not if it includes airplane flights. Trains might be Ok. But I agree, a nice list of books, and many authors I will return to.

col2910 said...

Well done, I think I would struggle with the 7th continent myself.

TracyK said...

Col, This challenge fit into what I wanted to do this year, read books set in more countries. The 7th continent can be whatever you want it to be. Some people did Historical Fiction. Rebecca did books set in more than one country.... which is what I may aim at in 2014.