Friday, December 28, 2012

2013 European Reading Challenge


Host: Rose City Reader
Name: European Reading Challenge, 2013
Post Reviews

Dates: January - January
My Goal: 5+ Books (Five Star, Deluxe Entourage)


The gist: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour. (See note about the UK, below)
 
What counts as "Europe"? For this challenge, we will use the list of 50 sovereign states that fall (at least partially) within the geographic territory of the continent of Europe and/or enjoy membership in international European organizations such as the Council of Europe. This list includes the obvious (the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy), the really huge Russia, the tiny Vatican City, and the mixed bag of Baltic, Balkan, and former Soviet states.
 
Note: Technically, the United Kingdom is one country that includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.  So one book from any one of these four should count as your one book for that one country. I'm not going to be a stickler about it because challenges should be about fun not about rules. However, when it comes to winning the Jet Setter prize, only one book from one of the UK countries will count.
 
Here is the list, in alphabetical order: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.

My List:

1. The Man Who Went up in Smoke by May Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (set in Hungary, written by Swedish authors) [1/8/13]

2. Whip Smart: Lola Montez Conquers the Spaniards  by Kit Brennan (Spain) [2/9/13]
3. Three English Comedies by A. B. De Mille (United Kingdom) [2/27/13]
4. The Perfect Landscape by Ragna Sigurdardottir (Iceland) [3/12/13]
5. The Lady Vanishes by Ethel Lina White (Bulgaria--actually takes place in the "Balkans" which area covers parts of Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey, etc; I have arbitrarily picked Bulgaria for location) [3/17/13]
6. The Talking Sparrow Murders by Darwin Teilhet (Germany) [5/6/13]
7. Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov [Russia] (6/23/13)
8. The Monster of Florence by Magdalen Nabb [Italy] (8/17/13 
9. Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen (Denmark) [8/20/13]
10. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (French author) [11/27/13]


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