Around the World in 12 Books Challenge 2014

Around the World in 12 Books Challenge 2014

I have found another interesting challenge for me for the next year. "Around the World in 12 Books", initiated by the blog "Giraffe Days".

Granted, they have set various different levels - Level 1: "The Happy Camper" requires only two books, Level 2: "The Wayfarer" two more, so four, Level 3: "The Casual Tourist" wants six books - but the one I will be going for is Level 4: The Seasoned Traveller. The requirements for this level are as follows:

"The Seasoned Traveller doesn’t do anything by half-measures: they go the whole hog and the more obscure the better!
•    Read 12 books over the course of the year, each set in a DIFFERENT country
•    Books selected should include ones set in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia+New Zealand, North America and South America. The Middle East is a bonus.
•    You do not need to plan ahead but it might help you keep on track.
•    No re-reads
•    Any genre is okay (including non-fiction) BUT books MUST be set in a specific country or region with a noticeable attention to the location or environment; some genre books won’t be much use for this challenge."

This sounds very much like my cup of tea.

I will record the list of the books that fall under this category on this post as I read them. I look forward to finding some new ones from the various continents, hopefully also from countries I didn't read anything from before.

Africa
Namibia

Mankell, Henning "Daniel" (also Sweden)

Asia
China
See, Lisa "Peony in Love"  
India
Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Midnight Palace"  
Seth, Vikram "Two Lives" (also Germany and UK)
Iran
Nafisi, Azar "Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books"
Israel
Wolff, Uwe "Wo war Jesus zwischen Karfreitag und Ostersonntag? Das Leben Jesu für unsere Zeit erzählt" [Where was Jesus between Good Friday and Easter Sunday? The Life of Jesus told for our time]
Myanmar/Burma
Sendker, Jan-Philipp "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats" (Das Herzenhören)

Europe
Finland
Lander, Leena "The Order" (Käsky) - Die Unbeugsame 
France
Harris, Joanne "Blackberry Wine"  
Ionesco, Eugène "Rhinocéros" (Rhinoceros)  
Germany
Borrmann, Mechtild "Der Geiger" [The Violinist]
Döblin, Alfred "Berlin Alexanderplatz" (Berlin Alexanderplatz)
Korschunow, Irina "Von Juni zu Juni" [From June to June]
Münk, Katharina "Die Eisläuferin" [The Ice Skater]
Nietzsche, Friedrich "Also sprach Zarathustra. Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen" (Thus spoke Zarathustra. A Book for All and None) 
Pamuk, Orhan "Snow" (also Turkey)
Roth, Charlotte "Als wir unsterblich waren" [When We Were Immortal]
Seth, Vikram "Two Lives" (also India and UK)  
Stratmann, Cordula "Sie da oben, er da unten" [She up there, he down there]
Vermes, Timur "Er ist wieder da" (Look who's back) 
Greece
Hislop, Victoria "The Last Dance and Other Stories" 
Karystiani, Ionna "The Jasmine Isle" 
Woodhouse, C.M. "Modern Greece"
Ireland
Joyce, James "Ulysses""
Italy
Fo, Dario "My first seven years (plus a few more)"
Heller, Joseph "Catch-22"
Mann, Thomas "Death in Venice" (Der Tod in Venedig)
Sienkiewicz, Henryk "Quo Vadis"  
The Netherlands
Green, John "The Fault in Our Stars" (also US)
Linthout, Dik "Onbekende buren" [Unknown Neighbours]
Tartt, Donna "The Goldfinch" (also US)
Norway
Gaarder, Jostein "Sophie's World" (Sofies verden)
Portugal
Brizuela, Leopoldo "Lisboa. Un melodrama" [Night over Lisbon]
Russia
Borrmann, Mechtild "Der Geiger" [The Violinist] 
Münk, Katharina "Die Eisläuferin" [The Ice Skater] 
Scandinavia 
Byatt, A.S. "Ragnarok. The End of the Gods" 
Spain
Montagu, Ewen "The Man Who Never Was"
Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "El principe de parnaso" [The Prince of Parnass]
Sweden  
Lindgren, Astrid "Seacrow Island"   
Mankell, Henning "Daniel" (also Namibia)
Switzerland:
Frisch, Max "Homo Faber" (Homo Faber)
Turkey
Pamuk, Orhan "My Father's Suitcase"
- "Snow" (also Germany)
- "The White Castle"
Tanpınar, Ahmet Hamdi "The Time Regulation Institute"
United Kingdom
Aaronovitch, Ben "Moon over Soho"
Bryson, Bill "Shakespeare: The World as a Stage"
Christie, Agatha "Poirot Investigates"
Dickens, Charles "The Pickwick Papers""
George, Margaret "Elizabeth I"
Harris, Joanne  "Blackberry Wine" (also France)
Palma, Félix J. "The Map of the Sky"
Seth, Vikram "Two Lives" (also Germany and India)
Thackeray, William Makepeace "Vanity Fair, or, A Novel without a Hero"

Australia+New Zealand
Australia
Herbert, Xavier "Capricornia"
McCulloch, Colleen "The Thorn Birds"

North America
Canada
Montgomery, L.M. "Anne of Green Gables"
Shields, Carol "The Stone Diaries"  
Guadeloupe
NDiaye, Marie "Rosie Carpe" 
USA
Baxter, Charles "The Soul Thief"
Berry, Wendell "Hannah Coulter"
Bryson, Bill  "One Summer: America, 1927"
Burgess, Anthony "A Clockwork Orange"
Collins, Suzanne "The Hunger Games"
Eggers, Dave "The Circle"
Faulkner, William "Light in August"
Green, John "The Fault in Our Stars" (also The Netherlands)
Hunter, Stephen "Night of Thunder" 
Mathis, Ayana "The Twelve Tribes of Hattie"
Nabokov, Vladimir "Lolita"  
Roth, Philip "Zuckerman Unbound"
Tartt, Donna "The Goldfinch" (also The Netherlands)

South America

The Middle East

Extra-Terrestrial
Bradbury, Ray "The Martian Chronicles"

You can find more of the challenges I participate(d) in here.