Beastmomma

Welcome to the World Party Reading Challenge, where each month we will celebrate both a US holiday/observance AND a different country. Because what better way to party than with a book. The idea is to read more international literature, but Fizzy Thoughts used US holidays and observances as the inspiration.

**Update, the challenge has changed hosts and rules.  The new details are below**

The challenge is about getting a real sense of place, of delving into a country’s history and culture through fiction and fabulous characters.

Each month Suzi will write a post on a particular country with a selection of novels for you to consider reading. Suzi will choose one of those novels and discuss it in greater detail, including some fascinating facts related to the story that Suzi digs up from the internet or possibly her own travels.

You can then choose one of the novels from the list or tell us about something else you have read set in that country. You’ll be able to post comments, and links to your own blog where you discuss the book (or books!) For more details on the new challenge, go over here.  The countries and the order in which we are reading are listed below:

• October – Afghanistsan: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini You can find my review here.
• November – Turkey: My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk. You can find my review here.
  
• December – Greece: Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières. You can find my review here.
  
• January – Iran
• February – England
• March – Ireland
• April – Jamaica
• May – Pakistan
• June – Russia
• July – Spain
• August – Thailand
• September – India: Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil You can find my review here. 

The books listed below are the ones I read for the original challenge.  Looking forward to going around the world again.

• April – April Fool’s Day – France.  I read Chocolat by Joanne Harris. I finished right in the middle of the month on April 14th.  You can find my review here.
• May – May Day – a communist country of your choice, past or present. I read Everything is Broken by Emma Larkin. It is set in Burma. I finished the book on May 19th. You can find my review here.