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Help Wanted for an Olympic Challenge

abecedarian said:
I've saved all the suggestions I've found so far from here and bookcrossing in a word document. When I get home (I'm at the library now) I can post it. It's a hodgepodge, not in any order at all. I've found some terrific websites that have links for various countries and lists of authors from all over.
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When we've finally got a full list of one book per Olympic country it'd be nice if a friendly Mod could edit them into a one post sticky or something like that. Personally I think It's a good idea to encourage people beyond the limits of the English Writing world...

abecedarian said:
So, I've decided that I'll aim to read one per place, but if something looks too inviting, and I've already got one for that nation, I'll read what I want. For instance, I'm reading this book from an Icelandic author and I really like his style. Who is harmed if I read another by him? The whole point of the exercise is to read "outside the box" anyway.
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That Icelandic author being Halldor Laxness I take it? If so I can also recommend:

The Atom Station
Paradise Reclaimed

I'm half way through Under The Glacier at the moment, and it's not quite as good as his others.

His masterpiece is supposed to be Independant People but I haven't got round to reading that one yet.

Regards,

K-S
 
Iran - Reading Lolita is Tehran
Dominca - Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys
Afghanistan - The Bookseller of Kabul
Czech Republic or France - Milan Kunder, anything by him really.
France - Spy in the House of Love by Anais Nin (okay, maybe not the best representation, but I LOVE Nin)

From amazon:

Algeria: Algerian White or So Vast the Prison: A Novel by Assia Djebar
American Samoa: The Birth and Death of the Miracle Man: And Other Stories by Albert Wendt
Andora: Andorra by Peter Cameron


Just did a few tonight. I'll do some more tomorrow. I'm stuck at home for the next four days after all!
 
Here's what I've read so far:
Canada: Tigana-Guy Gavriel Kay
Albania: Broken April-Ismael Kadare
Chinese Taipai: The Butcher's Wife- Li Ang
Iceland: The Fish Can Sing-Halldor Luxness
New Zealand: Whale Rider-Witi Ihimaera
Nigeria: Things Fall Apart-Chinua Achebe
Sri Lanka: Reef- Ramesh Gunesekera
Ireland: 1. Suffer the Little Children-Mary Raftery
2. Ireland: A Novel-Frank Delaney
Peru: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter-Mario Vargas Llosa( currently reading)

Up soon:
Columbia: 100 Years of Solitude-Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Norway: Woman at the Pump-Knut Hamsun
Mauritania: The Rape of Sita-Lyndsey Collen
Mozambique: Voices of the Night-Mia Couto
Malaysia: The Rice Mother- Rani Manicka


I'm still not happy about the citizenship/permanent resident status rule for these authors. It seems wrong to have to lump Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance under Canada when it has nothing to do with anything Canadian. Salman Rushdie no longer lives in India either..I think I'll just read what I want!
 
I thought I'd post an update. Here's what I've read so far:

Canada: Tigana-Guy Gavriel Kay
Albania: Broken April-Ismael Kadare
Chinese Taipai: The Butcher's Wife- Li Ang
Iceland: The Fish Can Sing-Halldor Luxness
New Zealand: Whale Rider-Witi Ihimaera
Nigeria: Things Fall Apart-Chinua Achebe
Sri Lanka: Reef- Ramesh Gunesekera
Ireland: 1. Suffer the Little Children-Mary Raftery
2. Ireland: A Novel-Frank Delaney
Peru: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter-Mario Vargas Llosa
Malaysia: The Rice Mother-Rani Manicka (highly recommended)
Norway: The Women at the Pump- Knut Hamsun
Bolivia:The Fat Man From La Paz-ed. Rosario Santos
England: Anansi Boys-Neil Gaiman
Argentina: The Wandering Unicorn-Manuel Mujica Lainez
Mozambique-Voices Made Night- Mia Cuoto (not reccomended)
USA- Dan Eldon: Art of Life-Jennifer New


Here's how it looks on the map:

visited countries
http://<img src="http://www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedCountries/worldmap?visited=CAUSARBOPEMZNGALISIENOMYLKTWNZ"><br/>
 
Stewart said:
Why? What was wrong with it?
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It was so morbid. I wasn't expecting sweetness and light, but every story was centered around death. The writing was fine. The author is a poet, and that was evident in his descriptions. I just don't like the overall tone of the collection.
 
Stewart said:
Oh, I like morbid. I'd never heard of the author so I may look this up. :D
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In that case, this dude is right up your alley:D Another writer you might like is William Gay. About a year ago I read a collection of his short stories called I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down.
They were pretty odd and mostly morbid, but his descriptions sparkled. Somebody at Bookcrossing told me about him, and I was interested simply because of his last name and where he's from. My mom's maiden name was Gay, and both were from Georgia, and I wondered how this possible distant kin wrote. If he's related, it's pretty far back, and he's actually a pretty good writer, just not my cuppa.
 
Some suggestions:
Gogol - Dead souls
Turgenev - Diary of a superfluous man
Bulgakov - The master and margarita
Dostoevsky - The idiot
 
Zolipara said:
Some suggestions:
Gogol - Dead souls
Turgenev - Diary of a superfluous man
Bulgakov - The master and margarita
Dostoevsky - The idiot
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Thanks Z~ This gives me some place to start. The options are legion..
 
Here's my list of OC reads to date:

Canada: Tigana-Guy Gavriel Kay
Albania: Broken April-Ismael Kadare
Chinese Taipai: The Butcher's Wife- Li Ang
Iceland: The Fish Can Sing-Halldor Luxness
New Zealand: Whale Rider-Witi Ihimaera
Nigeria: Things Fall Apart-Chinua Achebe
Sri Lanka: Reef- Ramesh Gunesekera
Ireland: 1. Suffer the Little Children-Mary Raftery
2. Ireland: A Novel-Frank Delaney
Peru: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter-Mario Vargas Llosa
Malaysia: The Rice Mother-Rani Manicka (highly recommended)
Norway: The Women at the Pump- Knut Hamsun
Bolivia:The Fat Man From La Paz-ed. Rosario Santos
England: Anansi Boys-Neil Gaiman
Argentina: The Wandering Unicorn-Manuel Mujica Lainez
Mozambique-Voices Made Night-Mia Cuoto
USA-Dan Eldon: The Art of Life-Jennifer New
Haiti-Breath,Eyes, Memory-Edwidge Danticat
India- Shalimar the Clown-Salman Rushie
Pakhistan- Broken Verses- Kamila Shamsie ( highly recommended)
Australia- Dirt Music-Tim Winton
USA-The Pearl-John Steinbeck
Iran- Reading Lolita in Tehran-Azar Nafisi (highly recommended)
Sweden- Barabbas-Par Lagerkvist
Afghanistan- A Bed of Red Flowers-Nelofer Pazira
Botswanna-Tears of the Giraffe-Alexander McCall Smith
Finland- Troll- Johanna Sinisalo
Spain-The Shadow of the Wind-Carlos Ruiz Zafron (highly recommended)
Japan-The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea-Yukio Mishima (excellent)
Korea-Korea Unmasked-Wonbok RHIE
Germany- The Reader-Bernhard Schlink


Some countries have already been covered at least twice, such as Ireland and England. Actually, I've read at least three from those countries-more if you count the individual titles in Roddy Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy.
 
Wowsers! I'm impressed!!

What'd you think of Winton's 'Dirt Music'? I'm really looking forward to reading that.
 
Very impressive! Don't know if you're still looking for suggestions, but here are a couple from non-represented countries:

Andrei Volos - Hurramabad (Tadjikistan)
José Carlos Somoza - The Athenian Murders (Cuba)
Miljenko Jergovic - Buick Rivera (Bosnia) (Ooops, looks like this one isn't available in English yet? Not on Amazon, anyway... pity.)
Mohsin Hamid - Moth Smoke (Pakistan) (And oooops, you already had a book from Pakistan. Oh well. It's great nonetheless.)

Oh, and "Troll" is a great read, even if the English title is incredibly dull. Glad to see it's been translated.
 
Kookamoor said:
Wowsers! I'm impressed!!

What'd you think of Winton's 'Dirt Music'? I'm really looking forward to reading that.
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I liked Dirt Music very much. The characters were believable and the author did a wonderful job of creating the setting. I will probably be looking for more of Winton's books one of these days.
 
beer good said:
Very impressive! Don't know if you're still looking for suggestions, but here are a couple from non-represented countries:

Andrei Volos - Hurramabad (Tadjikistan)
José Carlos Somoza - The Athenian Murders (Cuba)
Miljenko Jergovic - Buick Rivera (Bosnia)
Mohsin Hamid - Moth Smoke (Pakistan)

Oh, and "Troll" is a great read, even if the English title is incredibly dull. Glad to see it's been translated.
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Thanks! I AM still taking suggestions..you should see my notebook:rolleyes:
I thought Troll was great too, even if it IS a wierd book!
 
abecedarian said:
I liked Dirt Music very much. The characters were believable and the author did a wonderful job of creating the setting. I will probably be looking for more of Winton's books one of these days.
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Try 'Cloud Street' or 'The Riders'. The former is closer to what I think 'Dirt Music' is about, from memory. 'The Riders' is a little more... odd. I read this about 10 years ago for a literature class, and still remember many of the themes we discussed. Interesting symbolism and a wonderful read!
 
Just thought of another recommendation for a country not listed.

Greenland: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow. Lovely book, but be sure to read it on a warm day... otherwise you might feel a bit chilly.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Zlata's Diary. Okay so it's an easy read, but I really enjoyed it. It was 1995 when I read this, so it was very topical at the time. I think your kids will enjoy this one too.
 
Kookamoor said:
Just thought of another recommendation for a country not listed.

Greenland: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow. Lovely book, but be sure to read it on a warm day... otherwise you might feel a bit chilly.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Zlata's Diary. Okay so it's an easy read, but I really enjoyed it. It was 1995 when I read this, so it was very topical at the time. I think your kids will enjoy this one too.
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Thanks Kook. I know at least one othe bookcrossers doing this challenge uses some kids' books to meet the goals. I can't see that as a problem. Actually, it might be MORE of a challenge to find children's books for each country. So few have been translated, and even fewer find their way into our library system.
But, that's been part of the fun of this whole challenge thingy anyway..the hunt!
 
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