Where in the World Are You Now? December 2007

I'm still in Egypt with Midaq Alley by MahFouz. It's quite a neighborhood.

I am still in Russia with War and Peace, about to head for Moscow after the Battle of Borodino.

I just left Winniepeg, Canada, (As Nature Made Him) yesterday, and now I'm in France (Suite Francaise). I just got here so I don't really have much to say about it yet. I do know there is talk of war. :(

I am in China with Balzac and the Chinese Seamstress. There is a discussion of this work at http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=23364

I started out in Italy, immigrated to New Orleans, then moved up to Iowa with some Germans; I think I'll end up in Texas next. I'm an Italian made green accordion in Annie Proulx's Accordion Crimes.

#5: it's only December 2nd. You must be exhausted!

I'm in Washington, DC with Team of Rivals just prior to the siege on Ft. Sumpter in 1861; at Santa Anita Racetrack with Dear Miss Breed with the Japanese internees in 1941; and in Oxford, North Carolina in the 1970s with Blood Done Sign My Name. All quite interesting and often hard to leave one for another because each is so good.

I'm now in a burnt out bus in Mozambique with Mia Couto's Sleepwalking Land. It's excellent so far.

I am currently investigation some of the Beautiful Lies that exist in the life of Ridley Jones in New York City.

I'm in Weekie Wachee with Delores Walker who has just become a mermaid in Betsy Carter 's Swim to Me

i'm in japan a thousand tears ago in lady murasaki's tale of the genji. (for about the third or fourth time). i never get tired of my favorite books.

I am in Sologne- "one of those traditionally rural regions of France that help keep alive the national self-image", lovely!

I'm reading The grand Meaulnes.

I am Dehli, India and I am An obedient father. I am enjoying the book so far.

I left Sydney's Palm Beach in Ursula Dubosarsky's The Red Shoe and found myself migrating from Poland to the USA in Nicole Krauss's The History of Love.

I've learned all about the Beautiful Lies in New York City and have hopped into my time machine to travel to 19th Century England for a visit with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.

#14 Judylou - I recently purchased The History of Love - You'll have to let me know how you like it.

I'm currently reading By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolano.

I'm still all over the map with Accordion Crimes: Chicago, Texas, Minnesota, Maine, New Orleans, Montana with Italians, Poles, African Americans, Norwegians, Mexican Americans, Germans, French musicians. It's been a whirlwind trip; it's winding down now.

#16 I did like The History of Love. I really enjoyed the way the characters sort of danced around one another, getting closer and closer throughout the story. The ending was beautifully done, no cop-outs or easy fixes; I found it really quite moving.

#18 I think Accordion Crimes is one of Proulx's best works.

Meanwhile, I've returned to coastal NSW where I am learning how to Swallow the Air with a wonderful new aboriginal writer Tara June Winch.

>19 judylou: I have read the Tara Winch novel and enjoyed very much.

I haven't "been" anywhere interesting in a while, but now I'm in Moscow reading The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov. This is a book group read, and was highly recommended by LT members on this thread. Seems to be quite different from my "usual" stuff, but that's precisely why I'm reading it!

#21 -
Could I ask what translation you're reading? I checked it out years ago from a library in a "new" translation, started it, and liked it, but had to return it because we were moving. About 6 months later (after moving) I found an older translation and discovered I couldn't slog through it, so gave up.

>22 vpfluke:: vpfluke, I'm reading a 1967 edition translated by Mirra Ginsburg. In the LT threads where I learned about this book (and for the life of me I can't remember exactly where that was), another translation was more highly recommended. But this edition dropped into my hands, free of charge, so can't complain. And I'm finding it to be just fine.

Comments welcome from anyone else here who might be familiar with the various translations of this book ...

lindsacl, the one that came most highly recommended to me was the Pevear-Volohonsky translation -- the team that did the trans. for the new edition of War and Peace.

I'm in Germany post WWII with The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. It's not clear what town I'm in. I'll look for a sign.

I am in London with The sweet dove died by Barbara Pym. As all her other novels, quite enjoyable.

Just left Peru with The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and now I'm in England with Mrs. Dalloway.

I'm enjoying Sunflower in Hungary somewhere in Pest courtesy of Gyula Krudy.

Now I'm Barefoot in Nantucket with Elin Hilderbrand.

#28 salvino, I enjoyed Sunflower (which used to touchstone, but now doesn't do so correctly) a lot too - quite different from what I expected or, really, anything else I've ever read.

I'm back in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, (where I really grew up) with Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know. It's a fun place be because I'm familiar with so many of the place names mentioned in the story!

I've finished Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto (a great book, btw) so I am leaving Mozambique for Algiers where I will next read Assia Djebar's Women of Algiers in their Apartment. Instead of being in a burnt out bus with an old man and young boy, I will now be surrounded by women.

I am now in Russia with War and Peace but December has also seen me up Brokeback Mountain, on Chesapeake Bay island with Jacob I Have Loved and in Denmark with Number The Stars two Newbery award winners! Phew I need to get back to blighty! In case you are wondering I live across the pond in Oxfordshire England!

I'm back in Nepal at election time with The Tutor of History, by Manjushree Thapa. It's a different take on Nepali culture than The Guru of Love - it's set in a much more rural area and the scope is broader. It's well written and the characters are interesting, so I'm enjoying it.

(Touchstones rebelling.)

I've left 19th century London early - where I was visiting Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell for a short trip over to Mozambique in Mia Couto's Sleepwalking Land.

Irisheyz77, let me know what you think of the Couto, will you?

Avaland - I'm about 1/2 way through it now and I am really enjoying it. Its very poetic. Such a beautifully written story.

I finished Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto today and will be leaving that burnt out bus to read A Russian Diary by Anna Politkovskaya. Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist who wasn't afraid to speak out against the corrupt government under Putin and was murdered as a result. I am really looking forward to reading this.

I also really enjoyed Sleepwalking Land. It was a quick read and the sort of story that just sucks you right in. There were times when the narrative was a little disjointed but the author never sways from the dream-like quality of his writing which just made everything work. This is a book that I would recommend to others to read.

I'm back and forth between the west coast of Ireland in the 1950s and Sante Fe, New Mexico in the 1960s in The Land of Women by Regina McBride.

#30 rebeccanyc--

You said Sunflower "used to touchstone, but now doesn't do so correctly." This is an interesting, though difficult notion for me--at least expressively. Can you illuminate your meaning further?

#40, salvino, It's LT lingo.

If you look at the box to the right of the Message box, you will see the heading "Touchstones" which explains how you can use single brackets around a book title to provide a link to the work page on LT and double brackets around an author name to provide a link to the LT author page. These are called touchstones.

What I meant about Sunflower was that when I was reading it, I could click on the link Others that appeared in the box to the right and select the "correct" book -- the one I was reading by Gyula Krudy. Now, that book is not included on the drop-down list so I can't provide the right touchstone for the book (as I did for the author, above).

Edited because I clearly can't tell right from left!

I am in Tokyo, 1940 with Gail Tsukiyama's The Street of a Thousand Blossoms.

I'm not sure where I am, but I believe it's going to turn out to be an alternate universe. I'm at page 19 of The Golden Compass. I want to take my daughter to the movie, and want to read the book first. It's been on my to-read list for at least four years.

>38 Irisheyz77: I will want to read more of Mia Couto's work in the future if for no other reason than out of pure curiosity. However, once I finish my African reading list, I will take a break I think before I return to the continent.

>43 Nickelini: I applaud your desire to read the book before going to the movie. I thought the book/s quite excellent. I will want to see the movie also (along with Atonement).

I'm in Moscow with the Devil and an interesting cast of characters, including a cat and The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

I'm in Vietnam in late 1960s reading Tree of Smoke which has also taken me to the Philipinnes as well as to some poor families in USA. Yesterday unusually for me bought Times Literary Supplement which has a lengthy review. Hasn't added much to my own understanding of this novel but does place it in context with other war novels of this period.

I'm currently in London with Jennifer Donnelly's The Tea Rose - I got a copy of The Winter Rose from Early Reviewers, and didn't realize it was a sequel until it was sent to me - so I get to read & review two books! ...I really do need to remember to review books...

I'm still in Moscow with Master and Margarita while simultaneously (or alternately, since I really can't read two books at once, though I'd like to figure out how) in London with a Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym.

I have finished my Quarantine with Jim Crace in ancient Judea and have moved to modern London with Ian McEwan in Amsterdam.

I was in Europe and the USA for a while: The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald. Now in Morocco which is entirely new to me: Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami.

I'm in Rwanda with Paul Rusesabagina in his autobiography An Ordinary Man.

Right now I'm enjoying some banana beer, a national drink typically shared by friends, with other Rwandans. Care to try some with us?

P.S. If you prefer vodka or champagne, You can join us on the Top 5 Books Party Thread. :-)

I was in Russia with A Russian Diary - but the book was filled with too much hate for me so I decided to put it down. So this morning I started off in California in the 1960s and am getting ready to head off to Ireland with a mother and son in Melody Carlson's An Irish Christmas.

In the Ozarks, a bare, snowy landscape full of tough women and unpredictable, violent men - and incredibly poetic language - in Winter's Bone.

I'm in Tasmania, Australia: The Memory Room by C.J. Koch.

>54 amandameale: Tassie! Nice :)

I was in Swindon, England earlier with Thursday Next in The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I've now moved on to a lovely 3-week vacation in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts with The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall.

>55 digifish_books: So lucky! I read all Thursday Next novels and loved them all, have the Nursery Crime Division series books in the TBR pile for summer (I mean, over Christmas, as I am in Australia and it is summer here now). Jasper Fforde is a pure delight to read!

I myself just came back from the suburban Netherlands, from the heat of "The Dinner Club" (Saskia Noort), a very classy and twisted murder mystery set in the village near Amsterdam where the successful women and wives of successful husbands have got into the "friendship" difficulties. Quite unusual and fresh!

I finished An Irish Christmas and liked it so much that I decided to stay and hang out with Holly and friends in PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern.

digfish, do make a day trip east and we'll do lunch...(however, I'm not home, I'm in Algiers still).

I'm flying back and forth from Norway and Afghanistan reading Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

I'm in Austin and High Plains, Texas and a fictional place called Isidora, where people have no memories, in The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block. I'm also popping in on Moscow with The Master and Margarita and a cast of most ... interesting characters.

I'm in Peru with Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, by Mario Vargas Llosa. I read about him somewhere in this group, and I've not "visited" Peru yet. I'm enjoying the book a lot. The scriptwriter in the story writes radio serials, and every other chapter appears to be a plot from one of the serials ... although that's not usually apparent until later. Interesting style and some good humor thrown in as well.

When I finish this book, I'll have to update my map and personal thread ... this will put me at 31 countries, 20 of which I "visited" this year!

I have finally, but sadly, left Russia, with the new translation of War and Peace. So many books have piled up while I've been reading it that I'm not sure where I'll be heading next!

I'm reading my first graphic novel and I'm in Normandy: Gemma Bovery by Posy Simmonds.
Ca va bien.

While I have one foot still in Algeria, I decided to take a quick and light weekend trip to Victorian England with The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes. The ARC (given to me by my former place of employment) had been languishing for months while I kept to my required reading but it be the holiday weekend and all...

I've left Ireland and am now spending my time going back and forth between Saudi Arabia and California in Ted Dekker's Blink of an Eye

>55 digifish_books: I'm Lost in a Good Book, also in Swindon and
>54 amandameale: I'll be in The Memory Room very soon!

I'm laughing (and crying) my way through 16th century Spain with Don Quixote while periodically skipping to Afghanistan with A Thousand Splendid Suns.

#66 Judy: can't wait to see you!!

I'm having a great time in Seattle, Washington with Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie, before jetting off to Washington, DC with Team of Rivals, and then jetting again to a South Seas island to spend a little time with Pop Eye in Mister Pip.

Just finished The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama. I was in pre and post war Japan. I am now going on a trip to the Caucasus Mountains in 950 A.D. with Michael Chabon in Gentlemen of the Road.

I'm still reading The Memory Room but I'm now in China, c.1976. Very interesting.

I finished Blink of an Eye by Ted Dekker and decided to stay in the Middle East for a bit - traveling from Saudi Arabia to Iran with Christopher de Bellaigue's The Struggle for Iran. Which is a collection of articles that he has written spanning from his first visit to Iran in 1999 to 2006.

I'm just about to venture into Pakistan with The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Hoping to gain a little insight into the culture and politics of the country.

I left France (in the middle of World War II) last night and have just gotten to prep school in Alabama, USA, - of all places! :-) I'm reading Looking For Alaska by John Green.

P.S. This was one of my Secret Santa gifts from fyrefly98. Thanks!

I'm leaving Algeria for Tunisia, relatively speaking a short trip. I've finished the Djebar book which was excellent and beginning Pillar of Salt by Albert Memmi.

I've left Pakistan and I'm now recuperating from TB in Tarumi, a village near Kobe, Japan in The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama.

I have left the wilds of 1860s Canada with The Tenderness of Wolves and prewar England with Rogue Male and am now at home in NYC trying to figure out which of the many books in the TBR pile to read next!

Just left Crosbie, Maine (Olive Kitteridge) and The Small House at Allington in England. Now I'm in Cranford.

In Moscow, St Petersburg and Peterhof (mostly) with Anna Karenina. I am enjoying it, but expect to be here a while...

depressaholic - I will be joining you there in a week or two, depending on when my next ER book arrives. Save a spot for me!

I am in Paris with Peter Ibbetson by George Du Maurier (Daphne's grandpa).

re message 80:
Certainly. Our options seem to be hunting bear or snipe, mowing, attending society functions or gossiping while eating excellent food. My vote goes to the last of these.

Oh me too. I can't bear hunting, mowing makes me sneeze and I just don't have the proper attire for society. Let's do gossip and eat!

73 and 76
teelgee Did you gain the insight you were hoping for from The Reluctant Fundamentalist? Have you reviewed it I wonder.

Am still moving backwards and forwards from Petersburg to Moscow. En route I have visited battle fields at Ulm, Austerlitz and Shongraben to name but a few. Had serious skirmishes with death and have also been to a Masonic Lodge, not to mention the opera. I am also learning more about love as an illusion as Anatole professes 'love' for Natasha. Throughout I have been in the company of some fascinating characters and reflecting upon the big questions of life. Now I am accompanying them along the paths of war and peace..... Lots more action ahead as I move into Volume 3!