Reading 25 Books from around the World - My 2023 Reading Challenge

[@ulbaboomsbooks]

'cerebral'...what an astute description of German writing. Great selection! I will keep my eyes and ears open for further suggestions xx

[@fayesparallelstories]

Thank you 😊 I give German literature a hard time but every now and then something works for me ❤️

[@AnaMoShoshin]

I love this wrap up! It's been an unofficial goal of mine to read from as many countries as I can. Storygraph has a good challenge that is ongoing and lists every country so it's fun to fill it. I waver between just books with settings in the country or authors of those countries, etc... It was really interesting to hear your thought process on this project!

[@fayesparallelstories]

Thank you for your lovely comment. I will head on over to the StoryGraph to check out the challenge now 😁, thanks for the tip! Funny how we self-impose rules like „must take place in said country“ on reading, which is meant to be for fun! 😅

[@audreyapproved]

Really enjoyed this video!! It's always fun to see what people read for different countries in this type of reading project!

[@fayesparallelstories]

I am glad you enjoyed the video!! Never easy to bunch together many books in one video 🙃 but this is one of my favourite challenges, so I thought it was worth a shot!

[@novelish_nyiestra7060]

Hey Ho, no one has ever been obsessed with me before 🥰 Concerning Elif Shafak: I asked my Turkish student for recommendations from Turkish authors and she mentioned Elif Shafak so I am counting her. And If I do, you can as well. 🤣 I really like the way you did the whole format including the categories and now I am sad that I did not do such a thing. 🥲 But I really want to "be done with 2023" video-wise so I'll have to keep that in mind and steal it for my 2024 recap. 😇 Remind me of looking for She Would be King on Friday.

[@fayesparallelstories]

I am glad you liked it 😊 and that I got to declare my admiration for you in a video 🤓 I think you will like She Would Be King- also the title of the book is perfect!

[@zachreads]

Off the top of my head my list of countries from last year US Canada England Ireland Scotland France Germany Finland Denmark Netherlands Iceland Norway Greenland Russia Japan South Korea New Zealand Australia Wales Argentina Algeria Senegal Italy There are more but I don't keep a list, I know "Moonflowers and Nightshade" and "A phoenix First Must Burn" in particular had authors from elsewhere. For Australia Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Weigall Lindsey Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan (fantasy world) A Restless Truth by Freya Marske ( takes place on a boat going from US to England, just finished and loved it) Burial Rights by Hannah Kent (takes place in Iceland) The Power of One by Bryce Courtnay (Takes place in South Africa) The Dry by Jane Harper (3☆ for me) For Japan Earthlings by Sayaka Murata Penance by Kanae Minato Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda (solid but not great) Out by Natsuo Kirino (good but too long) The Human Chair by Edogowa Rampo (very short pretty good) I have a few Chinese classics lined up this year The Art of War by Sun Tzu A Hero Born by Jin Yong The Monkey King by Woo Cheng'en (The Channel Bookish Land reads a lot of translated books)

[@fayesparallelstories]

Thank you for all the recommendations and recommending the channel Bookish Land! I will have so many books to check out!! I am impressed that you remember so many books off the top of your head without tracking! Without noting down certain elements of the books I read I probably would forget it all- my brain can be a sieve!