2024: Around the World in 12 Months

So let's play a little game in 2024 - pick a country and start moving away from it until you end up back where you started. There are only 3 rules:
- You need a border or a big body of water (sea or ocean) to move from one country to another.
- You cannot pass through the same country twice except the one you start from (which you end up in at the end as well). You CAN cross the same body of water multiple times.
- You need to cross both the Atlantic and the Pacific (and not just circle around Europe for example).

PS: And rule 3.5: We are in Read Globally so the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and UK are off limits - you cannot use them to step through them.

You can backtrack as much as you want (so if you are moving east, moving west is allowed - as long as you do not go via a country you already visited) and you can go north and south as much as you want. Make your trip as long as you want: you can pick one of the shortest ones (see below) or you can make a point of hitting as many countries as you want. Skip continents or make it a point to go to all of them - your traveling plan, your decision - as long as you hit the Americas and at least one other continent, you are good.

Short trip example: Mexico -> Atlantic Ocean -> South Africa -> Indian Ocean -> India -> China -> Pacific Ocean -> Mexico.

Another short trip: Mexico -> Atlantic Ocean -> Spain -> Mediterranean -> Turkey -> Black Sea -> Russia -> Pacific Ocean -> Mexico.

Time it properly and spend some time going down (or up) the Danube or along the islands in one of the oceans/seas when the quarterly topics get there or hit as many inland countries as you can in its quarter.

Some resources:
A world map: https://geology.com/world/world-map.shtml
Create your own travel map: There are a lot of them out there. I like https://www.joaoleitao.com/visited-countries-map/

For example my short trip 1 above looks like this:

I visited 4 countries of the United Nations (2.07%) out of 193.
Create your own travel map .
(which is not very impressive - but the longer you make the trip, the better these look).
The second trip looks like this:

I visited 4 countries of the United Nations (2.07%) out of 193.
Create your own travel map .

So pick up your atlas (or an online map) and let's go circle the world. And just because it may be fun - let's see what is the longest trip (in number of countries) that someone can read through this year :)

Sitting down with my atlas and my TBR pile to make an itinerary!

Rule 3.5 If a book is translated from Gaelic, would it count even though it is from that place called the UK?!

>2 SassyLassy: Up to you. I think more in geographical terms than linguistic ones for this one so I plan to just blank out the British islands, North America north from Mexico and Australia/New Zealand and pretend they are just walls I need to work around (plus I have a challenge over in RGII to count things from there). But if you want to use that as an entry point into Europe (or an exit point), go ahead. :)

oh my goodness this will be fun. can we count books we already read for the African and Asian challenges or is this a blank slate? I was hoping there was a south american challlenge this year, so maybe Ill start there

can islands count as we are hopping about the waters?

>4 cindydavid4: Yes for the islands - you can hop through as many as you want while you are crossing an ocean/sea. That’s my plan for the island quarterly topic when we get there. :)

My idea and plan is to go through the countries in order like a real trip so no old books counting for me but if you decide to go out of order and just connect all at the end and form the trip that way and want to fill-in with already read books, it is your challenge so that works as well.

cool, thanks

How should we do this? Each set up a post with a map and keep updating it, or keep adding overlapping new posts to the thread?

>7 thorold: I've been thinking about that. Having a single post per traveler that one updates when they add a new book makes it easier to see but reduces the conversations - it is harder to see what everyone was doing. It may depend on how many people decide to join.

Another option may be to leave this thread for discussions and start a new one for maps/lists (and I will link it from the top).

I'd say to see how that goes for awhile with everyone doing what they find appealing/easy for them (1 post or multiple) and we can correct course later in the year?

At the end of the year I plan to build the maps for every "traveler" and post them all together (or in a new post as a result) - even the ones that do not work with maps usually. But there is a lot of time until then. :)

>8 AnnieMod: I think your first option is the best. I think I’ll wait and see
>7 thorold: Yes I need to know this too.

So... I spend a quality time with a big set of maps last time and ended up with a list of 139 countries I can hit (not counting some extra island nations) that I can string together. I will be looking again through my path to make sure I did not jump weirdly somewhere and there are places where I can remove whole chains to shorten it but seems like I have my path scheduled. Now to find books for all of them.

I will post my proposed path after I re-verify it but it is essentially a double loop through Asia - starting in Japan, east via most of Asia and the Middle East, cross into Africa and zig-zag through it leaving the Mediterranean countries alone, jump into Brazil (the Atlantic crossing), zigzag around South America and Central America, optionally hit the Caribbean island countries, use Mexico to jump the Pacific, cross into Russia, zigzag the rest of Asia and Europe, cross from Portugal into Morocco, follow the Mediterranean back to the Middle East, then Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Philippines get you back into the Pacific to go back to Japan or you can spend some quality time in the Pacific before you get back to Japan.

The shortcuts are obvious - I can skip the whole of Europe and just stop in Japan when I come back from Mexico. And most of the zigzagging can be replaced with straight lines.

The real question is how many books I can realistically get into the year :) Although a few anthologies of stories and/or plays may help a lot by getting me through countries with a short story or a play :)

Anyone else having fun planning?

>10 AnnieMod: I chanced to start the year in Belgium, with Christ’s entry into Brussels, so I’m sketching out a path through Germany (Der Butt, currently reading) then heading vaguely east.

I’ve got books from Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Hungary, Romania and Russia on the TBR, as well as France, Spain, the Netherlands and several South American countries.

In the short term it looks as though I’ll need something Czech or Slovak to create a connected path through Central Europe. Longer term I’ll obviously have to reinforce Africa (only Algeria and South Africa on the pile at the moment) and East Asia.

I'm starting in Norway, and my travels will involve as many ferry rides as possible. That won't be possible in Atlantic and Pacific crossings, but elsewhere I think it can be done. There are some surprising routes out there! Vladivostok to Donghae is just one.

>11 thorold: You can always even skip Africa or just use South Africa to move between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. I suspect that some (a lot?) of people who did the African challenge last year may do something like that... :)

>12 SassyLassy: Ha, ferries. That is an interesting idea. It will be fun to see what you can actually do with ferries. Too bad that UK is out of bounds - there will be a lot of possibilities in there. :)

I am starting in the far East - Japan -> South Korea -> China and then points south from there and will see how that will go. My current tentative plan is Asia -> Africa minus the Mediterranean -> the Atlantic -> the Americas -> Pacific (by way of Russia) -> Europe and the rest of Africa, with a last leg of Turkey - (Cyprus - Lebanon - Israel) - Egypt - Yemen - (Sri Lanka) - Indonesia - (Philippines and other Pacific nations maybe) - Japan to get me back into Japan late in December.

The ones in brackets above are the ones that can be skipped while still having a continuous path.

Do the books have to be read in order, or can I read other things in between?

>14 labfs39: You can read other things in between of course. The trip itself is supposed to be in order through the year but if you read a book that does not count for it, it just does not count. :)

Progress of my tour:
- 2 January: Belgium — Christ's entry into Brussels (train from Brussels to Berlin via Aachen and Köln)
- 16 January: Germany — Der Butt/The flounder (train from Berlin to Nowa Ruda via Rzepin and Wroclaw)…

Updated progress of my tour:
- 2 January: Belgium — Christ's entry into Brussels (train from Brussels to Berlin via Aachen and Köln)
- 16 January: Germany — Der Butt/The flounder (train from Berlin to Nowa Ruda via Rzepin and Wroclaw)
- 31 January: Poland — House of day, house of night (on foot over a smuggler's path into the Czech Republic, then train to Prague)
- 1 February: Czech Republic — R. U. R. (Prague - Vienna express)...

My tour so far:

7-Jan-24: Ghana -- Changes: A Love Story
--- across the Atlantic Ocean --- to
15-Jan-25: Belize -- Beka Lamb (where a neighboring country was much discussed so I'm off to Guatemala).

Very unimaginatively, I took around the world in twelve months to mean twelve countries in twelve months, going around the world. I guess I can speed up my pace a bit now that I've realised my error, although that may take some time, as I've just made it to Denmark from Norway, and am working my way through the 599 pages of Lucky Per, thanks to thorold's review.

January saw me start off on an island off an island off the coast of Norway White Shadow
I then read another book by a Norwegian author, which won't really count for this, as it had nothing to do with Norway The History of Bees.
I managed to make it to the mainland of Norway thanks to Knut Hansum's Pan.
From Oslo I took the ferry to Copenhagen.

>19 SassyLassy: Whatever works for you -- if you want to do it in 12 hops in 12 months, you can. :)

Meanwhile, I am still stuck in Japan (where I started) because my library wants some books back so I need to read these first - my South Korean book is staring at me from the table asking to be read though...:)

>17 thorold: >18 ELiz_M: - sounds like you are having fun! :)

Updated progress of my tour:
- 2 January: Belgium — Christ's entry into Brussels (train from Brussels to Berlin via Aachen and Köln)
- 16 January: Germany — Der Butt/The flounder (train from Berlin to Nowa Ruda via Rzepin and Wroclaw)
- 31 January: Poland — House of day, house of night (on foot over a smuggler's path into the Czech Republic, then train to Prague)
- 1 February: Czech Republic — R. U. R. (I was heading for the Prague - Vienna express, but there was a Bratislava train due...)
- 8 February: Slovakia — Mütter und Fernfahrer/Matky a kamionisti (down river to Budapest next, I think, probably by bike as I don't know enough aristocrats to be able to count on borrowing horses...)

Updated again:
- 2 January: Belgium — Christ's entry into Brussels (train from Brussels to Berlin via Aachen and Köln)
- 16 January: Germany — Der Butt/The flounder (train from Berlin to Nowa Ruda via Rzepin and Wroclaw)
- 31 January: Poland — House of day, house of night (on foot over a smuggler's path into the Czech Republic, then train to Prague)
- 1 February: Czech Republic — R. U. R. (I was heading for the Prague - Vienna express, but there was a Bratislava train due...)
- 8 February: Slovakia — Mütter und Fernfahrer/Matky a kamionisti (down the river to Budapest)
- 9 February: Hungary — Via Bodenbach
- 9 February: Austria — Jugend ohne Gott

- It's a good thing we aren't playing by snakes and ladders rules: Via Bodenbach turned out to be set on a train from Budapest to Berlin, so it would have taken me back four stages!

Reviews of these books are in my Q1 Club Read thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356199

Ok, here goes:

1. Canada: Study for Obedience -although the book takes place in Eastern Europe...
2. Japan: The Old Capital
3. Russia: Chekhov

and then can I take a ferry to Vietnam from Sakhalin Island, or do I need to stay on land?

4. Vietnam: Man

>23 labfs39: I'm travelling by ferry as much as possible, although I will have to cross the oceans in other vessels.

>23 labfs39: That last jump works. :) Although Canada does not count technically - Read Globally and all that. :)

Updated again:
- 2 January: Belgium — Christ's entry into Brussels (train from Brussels to Berlin via Aachen and Köln)
- 16 January: Germany — Der Butt/The flounder (train from Berlin to Nowa Ruda via Rzepin and Wroclaw)
- 31 January: Poland — House of day, house of night (on foot over a smuggler's path into the Czech Republic, then train to Prague)
- 1 February: Czech Republic — R. U. R. (I was heading for the Prague - Vienna express, but there was a Bratislava train due...)
- 8 February: Slovakia — Mütter und Fernfahrer/Matky a kamionisti (down the river to Budapest)
- 9 February: Hungary — Via Bodenbach (Budapest to Vienna express via Györ, not Bratislava)
- 9 February: Austria — Jugend ohne Gott (Vienna to Zürich Hbf)
- 12 February: Switzerland — Les amis de Bernhard

Reviews of these books are in my Q1 Club Read thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356199

I seem to be heading West at the moment, which is more Phineas Finn than Phileas Fogg, but I've got a plan to return to heading East soon. Watch this space...

Updated again:
- 2 January: Belgium — Christ's entry into Brussels (train from Brussels to Berlin via Aachen and Köln)
- 16 January: Germany — Der Butt/The flounder (train from Berlin to Nowa Ruda via Rzepin and Wroclaw)
- 31 January: Poland — House of day, house of night (on foot over a smuggler's path into the Czech Republic, then train to Prague)
- 1 February: Czech Republic — R. U. R. (I was heading for the Prague - Vienna express, but there was a Bratislava train due...)
- 8 February: Slovakia — Mütter und Fernfahrer/Matky a kamionisti (down the river to Budapest)
- 9 February: Hungary — Via Bodenbach (Budapest to Vienna express via Györ, not Bratislava)
- 9 February: Austria — Jugend ohne Gott (Vienna to Zürich Hbf)
- 12 February: Switzerland — Les amis de Bernhard (Over the Gotthard Pass)
- 13 February: Italy — De mooiste van Salvatore Quasimodo

Reviews of these books are in my Q1 Club Read thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356199

Country no.9, actually big enough to show up on the little map. Even though Switzerland is drawn a little oddly and doesn't quite join it as it should. A good jumping off point for boats heading east...

Hi! A great idea this game!
Is it allowed to go north-south in the same country, or is it only one book per country?

My actual book-trip:

1. 31.January: England Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
2. 12. February: Germany Aussicht auf bleibende Helle by Renate Feyl

let's take a look to the european neighbours around... ;)

>28 BuecherDrache: Technically the idea was for 1 per country -- but the rules don't explicitly forbid it so you can stay in the same country for as long as you want. But you cannot use the same country again to cross back through - so once you leave Germany (to use your trip as an example), you cannot go back into it again (unless it is where you started - then you come back at the very end).

PS: England does not count (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and UK all are - because of where the game is - Read Globally). You can keep it there in your trip if you want but you still need to get back to Germany on your way back at the end of the year. I do have another game running over at Reading Globally II for going around these countries though if you read enough books set in them and if you are interested. :)

Have fun and enjoy the trip.

>29 AnnieMod: Ok. Thank you! Since I live in Germany, England is for me part of the world "above" ;). But now I understood. :) Had a glaze to the world map. Was good after a long time...
Reading Globally II sounds good also, Iĺl take a look.

Thank you! Enjoy your trip also!

>29 AnnieMod: I wish I could play this but I don’t have the self-discipline to not divert off when I hear of a really good book to read. I wanted to go from Timor Leste to France as I once went overland from Australia to the UK and eventually back again. Only had two

>31 kjuliff: Noone said you need to ONLY read the books for the trip - you just do not count any side-lines and then you come back to your trip. That is where I am currently - stuck in Japan because I keep reading books that cannot be used here :)

>32 AnnieMod: I knew that. But I have OCD and if I don’t stick to a plan I wander off, never to return.

Back on the road, after a brief side-trip to the UK:
- 2 January: Belgium — Christ's entry into Brussels (train from Brussels to Berlin via Aachen and Köln)
- 16 January: Germany — Der Butt/The flounder (train from Berlin to Nowa Ruda via Rzepin and Wroclaw)
- 31 January: Poland — House of day, house of night (on foot over a smuggler's path into the Czech Republic, then train to Prague)
- 1 February: Czech Republic — R. U. R. (I was heading for the Prague - Vienna express, but there was a Bratislava train due...)
- 8 February: Slovakia — Mütter und Fernfahrer/Matky a kamionisti (down the river to Budapest)
- 9 February: Hungary — Via Bodenbach (Budapest to Vienna express via Györ, not Bratislava)
- 9 February: Austria — Jugend ohne Gott (Vienna to Zürich Hbf)
- 12 February: Switzerland — Les amis de Bernhard (Over the Gotthard Pass)
- 13 February: Italy — De mooiste van Salvatore Quasimodo (Ferry to Patras, bus to Athens, then more ferries to the islands)
- 20 February: Greece — Good will come from the sea

Reviews of these books are in my Q1 Club Read thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356199

Country no.10, and I'm actually heading East again after my zigzag through central Europe

>32 AnnieMod: The same happens to me :) I stuck since two weeks in Switzerland with Sieben Küsse by Peter von Matt. Anyway, with this book I'll be travelling too to Austria and Russia, but very slow. Never mind! It's a great book to enjoy slowly. :)

Peter Andreas, otherwise known as Lucky Per, keeps holding me up in Denmark. I hope to leave the country by the end of the month.

Moving on East:
- 2 January: Belgium — Christ's entry into Brussels (train from Brussels to Berlin via Aachen and Köln)
- 16 January: Germany — Der Butt/The flounder (train from Berlin to Nowa Ruda via Rzepin and Wroclaw)
- 31 January: Poland — House of day, house of night (on foot over a smuggler's path into the Czech Republic, then train to Prague)
- 1 February: Czech Republic — R. U. R. (I was heading for the Prague - Vienna express, but there was a Bratislava train due...)
- 8 February: Slovakia — Mütter und Fernfahrer/Matky a kamionisti (down the river to Budapest)
- 9 February: Hungary — Via Bodenbach (Budapest to Vienna express via Györ, not Bratislava)
- 9 February: Austria — Jugend ohne Gott (Vienna to Zürich Hbf)
- 12 February: Switzerland — Les amis de Bernhard (Over the Gotthard Pass)
- 13 February: Italy — De mooiste van Salvatore Quasimodo (Ferry to Patras, bus to Athens, then more ferries to the islands)
- 20 February: Greece — Good will come from the sea (island-hopping ferries to Asia Minor)
- 23 February: Turkey — The new life

Reviews of these books are in my Q1 Club Read thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356199

Country no.11, out of Europe and it's starting to look more like a world tour...


I visited 11 countries of the United Nations (5.69%) out of 193.
Create your own travel map .

Very Nice idea!
1. I'm in Greece *now* Odyssey a good starting point.
2. Another trip at the same moment 2024 (I love magical realism/ surrealism) would be: Belgium: Slaap 'Sleep'- Annelies Verbeke, Netherlands: Het lied van ooievaar en dromedaris 'The song of stork and dromedary', (not translated yet) - Anjet Daanje, ~North Sea~ Denmark: Over de berekening van ruimte I , * I'm here now * Over de berekening van ruimte II 'On the calculation of space'- Solvej Balle.

Well I finally made it out of Denmark yesterday, a day late, after being held up by Per. I had been planning on taking a ferry to Germany from here, but am now looking for somewhere there or elsewhere that might offer a bit of entertainment. I suspect I won't find it!

Create your own travel map .

Not sure I like the idea of Greenland showing as part of Denmark, but I suppose for now it's correct.

>39 SassyLassy: Sadly there's no longer a train-ferry connection, the train goes the long way round until they finish the tunnel. But you could get the ferry to Rostock, then you'd be able to hop across to Lübeck for some Thomas Mann as a bit of light relief after Per :-)

Alternatively, you could get the train across from Copenhagen to Malmö, then you'd be right in the middle of Wallander country and have time to knock off a quick Swedish murder before getting the ferry from Ystad to Poland...

Still stuck in Switzerland with Peter von Matt. Afterwords comes the big question: reading eastwards to East Europe or better westwards (France,Spain,Portugal) over the Atlantic to Mexico and Latinamerica? I'll let you know soon.
Wish you a great reading time!

I keep getting "blown off course". From New Zealand I sailed to Russia and now will have to backtrack to Samoa, either before or after visiting South Korea and/or Malaysia....

>40 thorold: Well that is indeed sad about the ferry. Perhaps I will change my route completely and make my way to Hirtshals for the ferry to the Faroes and then on to Iceland.

Very funny, but probably true comment about Thomas Mann. Right now I've decided to run off on an adventure with Walter Scott for my light entertainment.

>42 ELiz_M: Samoa, South Korea, Malaysia... sounds really exotic to me and I have no idea of the good books out there. Which ones can you recommend me?

>43 SassyLassy: I can certainly recommend the Faroes, anyway. For books and scenery. But take your own vegetables…

Ok, take two:

1. Japan: The Old Capital
2. Russia: Chekhov
...ferry...
3. Vietnam: Man
4. China: Grass Soup

The books have to be read in order, right? Even if there are books between? For instance, I read a book set in Kazakhstan, but earlier. I can't list it now, right?

Yestetday left Switzerland, went to Italy with Das periodische System by Primo Levi. La bella Italia!

After Italy with Primo Levis great book, follows France, Spain, Portugal and over the Atlantic to America with Columbus crew. After travelling through Latinamerica want to cross the Pacific to Japan, and then comes China. So is the plan till now :)

Another country, making convincing progress Eastward now:
- 2 January: Belgium — Christ's entry into Brussels (train from Brussels to Berlin via Aachen and Köln)
- 16 January: Germany — Der Butt/The flounder (train from Berlin to Nowa Ruda via Rzepin and Wroclaw)
- 31 January: Poland — House of day, house of night (on foot over a smuggler's path into the Czech Republic, then train to Prague)
- 1 February: Czech Republic — R. U. R. (I was heading for the Prague - Vienna express, but there was a Bratislava train due...)
- 8 February: Slovakia — Mütter und Fernfahrer/Matky a kamionisti (down the river to Budapest)
- 9 February: Hungary — Via Bodenbach (Budapest to Vienna express via Györ, not Bratislava)
- 9 February: Austria — Jugend ohne Gott (Vienna to Zürich Hbf)
- 12 February: Switzerland — Les amis de Bernhard (Over the Gotthard Pass)
- 13 February: Italy — De mooiste van Salvatore Quasimodo (Ferry to Patras, bus to Athens, then more ferries to the islands)
- 20 February: Greece — Good will come from the sea (island-hopping ferries to Asia Minor)
- 23 February: Turkey — The new life (various slow and uncomfortable bus journeys over the mountains)
- 12 March: Iran — Salam, Europa!

Oddly, the latest book was another one about a journey back over ground I've already covered, in this case following a 19th century Shah on a tour of Europe. But it scores additional Phileas Fogg points for including the first balloon flight of the trip, plus plenty of trains, ships and camels.

Reviews of these books are in my Q1 Club Read thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356199


I visited 12 countries of the United Nations (6.21%) out of 193.
Create your own travel map .

>49 thorold: I am curious about Salam, Europa!, your review reminded me instantly of Joseph Roth's Die Geschichte der 1002. Nacht. Is it based on/inspired by a real person?

>50 MissWatson: The narrator says it is, but the narrator is fictional, and there is no bibliography…

The main source is obviously The Diary of H.M. the Shah of Persia during his tour through Europe in A.D. 1873 by Naser al-Din Shah. See Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary_of_H.M._the_Shah_of_Persia_during_his_tour_t...

Abdolah adds a visit to the Netherlands that isn’t in the itinerary as summarised on the Wikipedia page, and ends the book with the Shah in Paris, omitting the visits to other parts of France, Italy, and Austria, so there’s no actual overlap with Joseph Roth.

>51 thorold: Thank you!

Left Italy after enjoying Primo Levis short Stories, I am now in France at the hospital with Das Leben ist ein listiger Kater by Marie-Sabine Roger

On to Pakistan, so I've covered about 70° of longitude in Q1 (a bit more if you can count Kashmir, where the latest book was partly set, but I'm not getting into that discussion...). I'll need to speed up a bit if I want to get round the globe by the end of the year:

- 2 January: Belgium — Christ's entry into Brussels (train from Brussels to Berlin via Aachen and Köln)
- 16 January: Germany — Der Butt/The flounder (train from Berlin to Nowa Ruda via Rzepin and Wroclaw)
- 31 January: Poland — House of day, house of night (on foot over a smuggler's path into the Czech Republic, then train to Prague)
- 1 February: Czech Republic — R. U. R. (I was heading for the Prague - Vienna express, but there was a Bratislava train due...)
- 8 February: Slovakia — Mütter und Fernfahrer/Matky a kamionisti (down the river to Budapest)
- 9 February: Hungary — Via Bodenbach (Budapest to Vienna express via Györ, not Bratislava)
- 9 February: Austria — Jugend ohne Gott (Vienna to Zürich Hbf)
- 12 February: Switzerland — Les amis de Bernhard (Over the Gotthard Pass)
- 13 February: Italy — De mooiste van Salvatore Quasimodo (Ferry to Patras, bus to Athens, then more ferries to the islands)
- 20 February: Greece — Good will come from the sea (island-hopping ferries to Asia Minor)
- 23 February: Turkey — The new life (various slow and uncomfortable bus journeys over the mountains)
- 12 March: Iran — Salam, Europa! (some more unnecessarily adventurous bus journeys to the border...)
- 18 March: Pakistan — The golden legend

Another exiled writer, but for once this is a book about the country in question, not a journey out of it. And it's probably not easy for anyone to write frankly about either Iran or Pakistan whilst actually living there.

Reviews of these books are in my Q1 Club Read thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356199

Leaving France and travelling to Spain with El principe destronado by Miguel Delibes.

Wish you all a nice weekend!

I visited 5 countries of the United Nations (2.59%) out of 193.
Create your own travel map .

Squeezed India into Q1 after all…

- 2 January: Belgium — Christ's entry into Brussels (train from Brussels to Berlin via Aachen and Köln)
- 16 January: Germany — Der Butt/The flounder (train from Berlin to Nowa Ruda via Rzepin and Wroclaw)
- 31 January: Poland — House of day, house of night (on foot over a smuggler's path into the Czech Republic, then train to Prague)
- 1 February: Czech Republic — R. U. R. (I was heading for the Prague - Vienna express, but there was a Bratislava train due...)
- 8 February: Slovakia — Mütter und Fernfahrer/Matky a kamionisti (down the river to Budapest)
- 9 February: Hungary — Via Bodenbach (Budapest to Vienna express via Györ, not Bratislava)
- 9 February: Austria — Jugend ohne Gott (Vienna to Zürich Hbf)
- 12 February: Switzerland — Les amis de Bernhard (Over the Gotthard Pass)
- 13 February: Italy — De mooiste van Salvatore Quasimodo (Ferry to Patras, bus to Athens, then more ferries to the islands)
- 20 February: Greece — Good will come from the sea (island-hopping ferries to Asia Minor)
- 23 February: Turkey — The new life (various slow and uncomfortable bus journeys over the mountains)
- 12 March: Iran — Salam, Europa! (some more unnecessarily adventurous bus journeys to the border...)
- 18 March: Pakistan — The golden legend
- 24 March: India — R K Narayan omnibus Mr Sampath, etc.

Three short Indian novels from seventy years ago, by a writer who definitely wasn’t part of the diaspora.

Reviews of these books are in my Q1 Club Read thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356199


I visited 14 countries of the United Nations (7.25%) out of 193.
Create your own travel map .

Started today a wonderful travel through Portugal, guided by José Saramago himself in Die portugiesische Reise .

>58 BuecherDrache: What better guide could you have?

Having reached India by the end of Q1, I started the new quarter with a trip to (1971- ) Bangladesh, travelling by train via the “chicken neck” route, of course, although I could equally well have taken a ferry:

- 1 April: Bangladesh — A golden age by Tahmina Anam (country 15)

(There seems to be a glitch with linking to images at the moment, I’ll put the map in when it’s working again)

>59 thorold: You are absolutely right :)

The Siliguri-Korridor! Geography has sometimes funny names. Seems to be located in a very explosive region.

Anams book sounds interesting, I'll think on it when I arrive over there, maybe Q3.

I love this thread with all of you around the globe!!

I remained stuck in Japan in Q1 (anyone who had met me before in LT knows that the easiest way to know what I am NOT reading is to ask me what my plans are...). So I may decide to change my trip a bit and make a much shorter one than the originally planned and then return for the big one again - we shall see. Especially because I just landed in Mexico and I can connect that with Japan so... we shall see.

Meanwhile, I am having a lot of fun following everyone's trips and learning tidbits about places I would not have heard of otherwise (the Siliguri Corridor for example).

>59 thorold:
Yeah - it had been glitchy lately - I had been looking for another site but I still like this one when it works. :(

>61 AnnieMod: Hi Annie, surely you can connect Japan with Mexico, diving over the Pacific Ocean :)

What are you reading in/about Mexico? That's my beloved home country!

And yeah, I also enjoy reading about everyone's trips and to learn about amazing books from countries around the world. Just great!

>62 BuecherDrache: Yep, I can. My initial plan was to go the other way but I think I am changing it and will just go over the Pacific and connect it that way and pick up Asia again at the end eventually. Plans never survive reality in my reading life :)

Oh, did you not realize Mexico is your home country :) Reading You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue - which is interesting if frustrating in places. :)

>63 AnnieMod: The decision about the route and route changes are apparently an inevitable part of this beautiful game.
And since the "world is a handkerchief," it is easy to make changes and switch directions. ;)

So far I haven't read this Mexican author and his book sounds really interesting. I'll look for it when I'm crossing the Atlantic in the direction of the sunset.

In which kind of places is it frustrating?

>63 AnnieMod: >64 BuecherDrache: I enjoyed Sudden death very much, so I was planning to read You dreamed of empires at some point — how do they compare?

>65 thorold: I had never read Sudden death so no idea how they compare. I suspect I will finish the one I am reading today or tomorrow and will post a review about it next week or over the weekend :)

>64 BuecherDrache: Its style and presentation mainly - there is no separation for the conversations so they flow inside of the main text. Which I often find frustrating (albeit common in modern contemporary prose). Plus the author chose to use Nahuatl names for a lot of things (and has an introduction explaining why and why he does not provide a dictionary - he wants the reader to pick the meaning from context and it is not just because this is a translation - he does not expect Mexican people to know these terms either). Add the names of the characters which sound similar to each other and very foreign to my ear so keeping some of them separate in my mind is not very easy. It is not unreadable, it is actually quite enjoyable but it can get frustrating and does require concentration.

"Sudden death" or "Muerte subita" is a common phrase in Mexico, not always linked to its original context of tennis.

Well, apparently it's another book that I'll read when I get to Mexico on this literary trip, so then I can answer your question Thorold. :)

Wow, if Enrigue includes words in Nahuatl without using a dictionary, I too will have to read it slowly, even if it is written in my native language.
I'll let you know if I'm frustrated by Enrigue's style too. Is it close to the Garcia Marquez style in "A Hundred Years of Solitude"?

My tour so far:

7-Jan-24: Ghana -- Changes: A Love Story
--- across the Atlantic Ocean --- to
15-Jan-25: Belize -- Beka Lamb, where a neighboring country was much discussed so I visited:
5-Feb-24: Guatemala -- Human Matter, closely followed by
6-Feb-2024: Peru -- Ice for Martians
--- across the Pacific Ocean with a re-supply stop in New Zealand --- then on to
22-Feb-24: Russia -- King Lear of the Steppes
--- a quick sail across the Sea of Japan ---
8-Mar-24: Japan -- Confessions of a Mask
--- back across the Sea of Japan ---
20-Mar-24: South Korea -- Bluebeard's First Wife

Now I am going wherever the wind blows, hoping to land in Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Fiji?, some other Oceania island nations, and/or the Philippines....

>68 ELiz_M: Another big fan of Sudden Death here.

I'm trapped on my ferry in the north Atlantic by ice as I try to make my way from Denmark to the Faroe Islands. I hope my book will be waiting for me when I get there!

You guys wrotte so enthusiastic about Sudden Death, that I finally bought it, together with the Red scarf girl. I hope my books arrive this weekend! :)

With Christopher Columbus, aboard the Santa Maria to cross the Atlantic on the way to the Indies. In Christoph Columbus. Das Bordbuch 1492. Leben und Fahrten des Entdeckers der Neuen Welt in Dokumenten und Aufzeuchnungen with Robert Grün.

Greetings from Cuba!
Yesterday arrived to the city of Cabaigüan, getting involved in the story of a curandera or healing woman, who gets her craft from the thunder.
Fidel, Raul, Che and Cienfuegos are starting the Revolution...

Greetings from Cuba!
Yesterday arrived to the city of Cabaigüan, getting involved in the story of a curandera or healing woman, who gets her craft from the thunder.
Fidel, Raul, Che and Cienfuegos are starting the Revolution...

Blessed by Thunder by Flor Fernández Barrios

Ha, we almost met in Cuba! :)

I finally moved from Japan (yey!) so the state of my current trip is:
1. 2024-01-01: Japan: Stand-In Companion by Kazufumi Shiraishi
--over the Pacific
2. 2024-04-06: Mexico: You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue
--via the Caribbean Sea
3. 2024-04-09: Cuba: The Book of Havana: A City in Short Fiction
-- over the Atlantic
4. 2024-04-13: Iceland: Reykjavík: A Crime Story by Ragnar Jónasson and Katrín Jakobsdóttir

It seems like I am taking the Northern route -- I got the most Northern Pacific island which is also a country (Japan), its Atlantic counterpart (Iceland), the most Northern continental country in the Americas (Mexico) so I plan to head to Norway and Russia next to close that circle. Cuba is the one off (it should have been Bahamas if I wanted to stay all North I think) but even it kinda fits.

That also means that I can close my trip after Russia and end back in Japan. I think I will read a Japanese book as a backup there but then I will just exit Russia from a different place to continue the trip.

Reviews and maps to follow (it seems like the usual ones I use and linked above are broken again :( )

Reviews in my Q2 thread ( https://www.librarything.com/topic/359728 )

- 1 April: Bangladesh — A golden age by Tahmina Anam (country 15)
- 24 April: Burma — The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century by Thant Myint-U (country 16)

I couldn’t find a novel from Burma, but this felt like the next best thing… Unfortunately, it also makes it quite clear that it’s unrealistic to talk about crossing any land frontiers in or out of Burma, so we’ll assume I sailed from Dacca to Rangoon.

>74 AnnieMod: Hey, it would have been nice to meet there, talk about books, drinking a Mojito at the Malecón! :)

How did you like The Book of Havana ? Maybe I remain a bit longer on the island and in the Caribbean visiting Jamaica - Dominican Republic - Puerto Rico (?) before heading westwards to Mexico with Alvaro Enrigue.

Enjoy your Northern route! I'm happy to stay now in warm, sunny, latino countries :)

>76 BuecherDrache: I may swing by the islands again on my route later in the year so we may end up meeting again :)

It was OK - some stories were better than others (as is normal for anthologies) and the editors added enough explanatory notes on names and places and terms (and concepts) which are easy to understand for someone who lives there but fall flat for everyone else. So they had a very local flavor - maybe not great literature but an interesting way to meet the current local authors. I still plan to post a review for it in the near future - that usually makes me rethink my initial impressions on anthologies. However, some of the stories can be very explicit (both violence but also sex and drugs) so some people may be put off by that.

>75 thorold: I have From the Land of Green Ghosts slated for Burma if I get there on this trip (for the same reason as you went non-fiction - I could not find any fiction) :(

>77 AnnieMod: That would be nice! :)

Thank you for your detailed comment on the book. Since I don't really like anthologies, I'll look forward travelling to Jamaica. I ordered Augustown by Kei Miller and I am very curious about it.

Have a nice reading weekend!