My third year joining this readathon. This year I overlapped it with Realmathon, Desertathon and Escape the Readathon.
As you can imagine, the goal is to read books from as many participating countries as possible. The little twist is that your points is calculated by how the countries fare in the contest, so you don’t always win by reading more books. I suppose you can call it read smarter, not faster, though that helps too. I think I am getting better at this game, I checked the betting sites and made sure I read the top 10, but nonetheless quite a few countries I’ve read got kicked out in semi-finals. Not that I would call that a waste of time reading those books…
The reason I so enjoy this readathon is that it introduces me to a lot of new authors and books from different countries. It definitely pushed me to read beyond what I normally do, and I learned much about history and cultures. Nonetheless, after a month, I feel overdosed with WWII stories and memoirs.
The 27 countries I’ve read:
Albania: Ghost Rider by Ismail Kadare
Armenia: Three Apples Fell from the Sky by Narine Abgaryan
Australia: Hemingway in Spain by David P Reiter (I read this for Spain only to realize I covered that country already, but lucky me, the author happens to be an Aussie!!!!)
Austria: The Devil in Vienna by Doris Orgel
Belgium: Ella in Europe by Michael Konik
Croatia:
Cyprus: Bitter Lemons of Cyprus by Lawrence Durrell
Czech Republic: The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
Denmark: The Little Book of Lykke by Meik Wiking
Estonia:
Finland: Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta
France: Not by Bread Alone by Debra Borchert
Georgia:
Germany: Belonging by Nora Krug
Greece: The Naked Olympics by Tony Perrottet
Iceland: Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson
Ireland: Danny Boy by Malachy McCourt
Israel: The Book of Jonah by R. O. Blechman
Italy: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Latvia:
Lithuania:
Malta:
Moldova:
Netherlands: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Norway: Inadvertent by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Poland: We Won’t See Auschwitz by Jérémie Dres
Portugal: Charlie Hernández and the League of Shadows by Ryan Calejo
Romania: A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson
San Marino:
Serbia:
Slovenia: You Do Understand by Andrej Blatnik
Spain: The Ambulance Man And The Spanish Civil War by Paul Read
Sweden: The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson
Switzerland: Toni The Little Woodcarver by Johanna Spyri
Ukraine: You Don’t Know What War Is by Yeva Skalietska
UK: Love and Death Among the Cheetahs by Rhys Bowen
My favorite reads, regardless of their win or loss in Eurovision, are: The Book of Eels (Sweden), The Fault in Our Stars (Netherlands), Beautiful Ruins (Italy), The Devil in Vienna (Austria), Three Apples Fell from the Sky (Armenia)
And here are some of the books I didn’t get around to, or add from what other participants have read:
Albania: The Sworn Virgin or books by Ismail Kadare
Armenia: Jesus’ Cat by Grigor Shashikyan, Gerdame
Australia: Long Way Gone
Asutria: Last Train to London
Azerbaijan: Orphan Sky, Ali and Nino, Solar Plexis
Belgium: Nowhere Boy or Tin Tin
Croatia: Girl at War
Cyprus: Cake and Puppet, An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma
Czech Republic: Maybe We are Leaving, Kafka
Denmark: Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors
Estonia: When Doves Disappear, Purge, Ice Museum, Inner Immigrants
Finland: Norma
Georgia: Flight from the USSR
Luthuania: books by Ruta Sepetys, Words on Fire, From Fang with Love
Malta: Midwife of Venice
Moldova: The Good Life Elsewhere, Power of Language, Bessarion Stamps
Montenegro: Till Kingdom Come
Norway: Karl Ove Knausgaard
Serbia: Tea Obreht, House of Remembering by Filip David
Slovenia: You Do Understand
Ukraine: Land of Stone Flower, Dog Park
1. Read a YA nonfiction book – Tisha
2. Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, or myth by an author of color – Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen
3. Read a mystery where the victim(s) is not a woman – The Fire Kimono
4. Read a graphic memoir – Dare to Disappoint
5. Read a book about a natural disaster – The Preservationist
6. Read a play by an author of color and/or queer author – Yellow Face
7. Read a historical fiction novel not set in WWII: A Mercy
8. Read an audiobook of poetry – Poetry of K.Y. Robinson
9 Read the LAST book in a series – Silvertongue
10. Read a book that takes place in a rural setting: Driving Over Lemons
11. Read a debut novel by a queer author: You Should See Me in a Crown
12. Read a memoir by someone from a religious tradition (or lack of religious tradition) that is not your own: The Betrayal
13. Read a food book about a cuisine you’ve never tried before: Gastronaut
14. Read a romance starring a single parent: Born to Bite
15. Read a book about climate change: South Pole Station
16. Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman: Midnight Sun
17. Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages): The Artemis Fowl Files (includes two novellas)
18. Read a picture book with a human main character from a marginalized community: The Last Story of Mina Lee
19. Read a book by or about a refugee: I Shall Not Hate
20. Read a middle grade book that doesn’t take place in the U.S. or the UK: Lara’s Gift
21. Read a book with a main character or protagonist with a disability (fiction or non): Ghost Boy
22. Read a horror book published by an indie press: Slightly Spooky Stories
23. Read an edition of a literary magazine (digital or physical): Tiny Words
24. Read a book in any genre by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous author: The Song the Owl God Sang