READ My book selection for Kuwait was Motorbikes and Camels, by Nejoud Al-Yagout. This is the author’s debut novel, and I thought the format was particularly interesting. The book consists of stories about thirteen different people, all of whose lives are intertwined with the lives of one or more other people in the book. While the plot … Continue reading The Booktrekker: Kuwait
The Booktrekker: Kenya
READ Dust, by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, opens with the shooting death of a young man on the streets of Nairobi. He is killed by the police after stealing back the car that was stolen from him. The young man’s name is Moses Ebewesit Odidi Oganda (Odidi), and his death shatters his family: his estranged father Nyipir, … Continue reading The Booktrekker: Kenya
The Booktrekker: Japan
READ One thing I’m enjoying about this reading-the-world project is that it’s nudging me to read international authors I’ve always heard about, but have never read. In the case of Japan, I finally read a book by bestselling author Haruki Murakami – Norwegian Wood, translated by Jay Rubin. As the novel opens, 37-year-old Toru Watanabe is … Continue reading The Booktrekker: Japan
The Booktrekker: Italy
READ One of the reasons why I started this project was to help fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge of geography and world history. The book I read for Italy, Eva Sleeps, written by Francesca Melandri and translated by Katherine Gregor, was a perfect selection to teach me about a region and an era … Continue reading The Booktrekker: Italy
The Booktrekker: Iran
READ There were so many books by Iranian authors I could have read for this blog post that I had a hard time choosing just one. I finally decided to do something completely different and read a graphic novel, written in comic book form. The Complete Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, is a largely autobiographical tale of … Continue reading The Booktrekker: Iran
The Booktrekker: Indonesia
READ Many of the books I read for this blog are tedious and take me forever to get through. That was not the case for the book I chose for Indonesia. Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s The Girl from the Coast, translated by Willem Samuels, arrived in the mail Friday morning, and I was finished with it by … Continue reading The Booktrekker: Indonesia
The Booktrekker: India
READ I’ve read a lot of books for this blog that I haven’t particularly enjoyed. So when I find one that really speaks to me, it’s an especially pleasant surprise. My selection for India, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, by Arundhati Roy, is just such a book. It has so many layers and covers such a vast … Continue reading The Booktrekker: India
The Booktrekker: Iceland
READ With words like “zany,” “bizarre,” and “quirky” dotting the reviews that appear on the back cover of the book I chose for Iceland, I knew I was in for some fun. Butterflies in November, by Auđur Ólafsdóttir and translated by Brian FitzGibbon, turned out to be a wild ride. The protagonist, whose name we never know, is … Continue reading The Booktrekker: Iceland
The Booktrekker: Grenada
READ If you’re old enough to remember Ronald Reagan’s presidency, you’re likely to recall when the United States invaded the Caribbean island country of Grenada. The war lasted only a few days before the U.S. declared victory, and I don’t think I’ve seen anything in the news about Grenada since. With that as my only … Continue reading The Booktrekker: Grenada
The Booktrekker: France
READ The book I read for France, The Heart, by Maylis de Kerangal and translated by Sam Taylor, left me emotionally drained. It chronicles the twenty-four hours following an automobile accident that leaves a young man brain dead, as doctors race through the steps required to remove his organs and transplant them into the bodies of people … Continue reading The Booktrekker: France
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 