2012 Challenge: European Reading Challenge (My Challenge List)

TAKE THE GRAND TOUR

January 1, 2012 to January 31, 2013

FINISHED

This is my sign up page for the European Reading Challenge. Please see the main challenge page for more details or to sign up.  Go to this page to post your reviews.

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.

It's my challenge, so I am signing up at the highest level, the Five Star (Deluxe Entourage) level, to read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries.

I originally thought I'd go for the Agritourisimo version for foodie readers – to read  food-related books written by European authors or about European food, cooking, restaurants, culinary traditions, farming, winemaking, etc.  This would be a good tie-in with the Foodies Read 2 Challenge.  But I didn't see enough qualifying books from different countries on my TBR shelf, and my main goal for 2012 is to climb Mt. TBR. 

BOOKS, REVIEWS, & POSSIBILITIES

So far, I have read the five books I need to complete the challenge:

• High Stakes by Dick Francis (UK; reviewed here)
• Serenissima by Erica Jong (Italy; reviewed here) 
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Bosnia; reviewed here) 
• Vie De France: Sharing Food, Friendship and a Kitchen in the Loire Valley by James Haller (France; reviewed here)
  
• Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (Norway; not reviewed)

I am not sure yet if I will read more books this year, but some possibilities for next year from my TBR shelves include:

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie (American; Russia)

The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker (Dutch; Holland)

Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Polish; Nobel)

Death in the Truffle Wood by Pierre Magnan (French; France)



The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass (German; Germany)

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (Norwegian; Norway)

How German Is It = Wie Deutsch Ist Es by Walter Abish (Germany; PEN/Faulkner)

I, the King by Frances Parkinson Keyes (American; Spain)

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (Russian; Russia)

NOTES

Last updated on October 5, 2012.