(I think you mean an epiphany.)
I like to read books from and about different cultures. And I like reading themes. I think I should try out a new theme for my reading: A different country each month.
I'm actually particularly interested in France right now; I have several books on my shelves that I've been meaning to read for years--The Three Musketeers, Les Miserables, The Scarlet Pimpernel--and I've heard of a few others recently that I want to check out. I went through my to-read shelf on Goodreads, too, and I already have a pretty good list to start with:
South Africa--This Thing Called the Future; Long Walk to Freedom
Northern Ireland--One by One in the Darkness
India--Sisters of the Sari; The Inheritance of Loss; The God of Small Things; Kim
Jamaica--Dreaming in Color; Pao
Ghana--Pigeon English
Malaysia--Evening is the Whole Day
Cambodia--First They Killed My Father; Spare Them? No Profit. Remove Them? No Loss.
Israel--I Shall Not Hate; To the End of the Land
Brazil--State of Wonder; The Witch of Portobello
Vietnam--Vietnamerica; The Beauty of Humanity Movement; The Lotus Eaters
France--A Woman's Way; A Novel Bookstore; Madame Bovary
Hong Kong--Girl in Translation
Nigeria--Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away; Oil on Water
Liberia--The House at Sugar Beach
China--The Painter from Shanghai; The Bonesetter's Daughter; Shanghai Shadows; Gold Boy, Emerald Girl
Russia--Crime and Punishment; Anna Karenina; War and Peace; Absurdistan; A Mountain of Crumbs
Canada--The Sentimentalists; Alice Munro; Obasan
Bangladesh--An Atlas of Impossible Longing
Japan--Hiroshima in the Morning; Haruki Murakami; The Samurai's Garden
Saudi Arabia--Sharaf
South Korea--Waiting for Appa
Iran--Rooftops of Tehran; Reading Lolita in Tehran; Lipstick Jihad; The Age of Orphans
Mozambique--Under the Frangipani
Philippines--Ilustrado
Germany--The Book Thief; The Hiding Place
Poland--A Blessing on the Moon
I have a few books left in the queue before I get started, but I'm looking forward to it. Anyone have any other good suggestions?
Have you read Reading Lolita in Tehran yet? If you want Afghanistan on your list and have already read Khaled Hosseini's books, it's truly excellent. Also, I just read a book that took place in Scotland called The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - it definitely had some romance elements, but the history of the 1708 Jacobite invasion was also quite fascinating. (And let's be honest - do we really mind a few romantic elements as long as they're in good taste?)
ReplyDeleteI haven't, but it's sitting on one of my shelves just waiting for me to get to it. I haven't read The Kite Runner yet either, but I probably won't for a little while. A Thousand Splendid Suns was excellent though.
ReplyDeleteSounds good, I will check it out! I don't think I have anything in or from Scotland. And the answer to your question is, of course, that we do not.
Alphabet of Dreams by Susan Fletcher. It wasn't a favorite, but it was interesting. Set in the Middle East right before Christ is born. Also, the Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare, set during the life of Christ.
ReplyDelete