Project Read the World: July Update

In July, I borrowed a ton of books from the library. Although I read most of them, the majority of those books were written by American authors. I enjoyed all of the books. Now that I'm updating my progress on my project to read a book from each country in the world, I'm kind of wishing that I had been more focused on reading international books.

July books for Project RW: 3

Total books: 5/195

The pie chart is not looking much more impressive than it did last month.

The Books

Egypt - Palace Walk by Naguib Mafhouz

I chose this book because the author won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. As I mentioned in my last update, this book is very much out of my comfort zone. Palace Walk is the first book in a trilogy that follows a Muslim Arab family in Cairo. 

I liked that each chapter follows a different member of the family so that the reader is able to get an idea of what life is like for different people in society. I also appreciated that the book moved quickly. The book has about 500 pages, but since each chapter is short, it's easy to read a chapter or two and then come back to the story later.

Palace Walk's rating on Goodreads is quite high, so most people who have read the book seemed to have liked it. This is definitely not a book that I would have picked up on my own, but I am glad that I've read it. Even though the book only tells the story of a single family's life in Egypt in the 1900s, the book has made Egypt feel more real to me. The only association that I had about Egypt before is the history of ancient Egypt. While pharaohs and pyramids are cool, I have very little knowledge of anything more recent in Egyptian history, as in within the last 2000 years. Even though Palace Walk was written during the 1950s, that's still much more recent.

Looking back at how quickly I expected to fly through books for this project, I didn't take into account the kinds of books that I would be reading. It's easy to finish a YA novel or a fantasy story in a day or two, but books like Palace Walk take more time. I have no intention of reading the rest of the trilogy, but I'm glad that I read this book.

Turkey - Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak

I debated between reading Three Daughters of Eve and The Forty Rules of Love, but finally settled on the former. The book tells the story of a wealthy Turkish woman whose purse is stolen on her way to a dinner party. As the woman gets her things back, an old photograph falls out. The photograph is one of herself, two other women, and a university professor from the woman's time at Oxford University.

Throughout the dinner party, the readers get flashbacks of exactly what happened during her time at university. As the dinner party progresses, terrorist attacks begin occurring throughout the city as well. 

I found this particular book much easier to stay interested in than Palace Walk. Given that this book came out in 2017 and features a female protagonist, it makes sense that it would be easier for me to read. 

However, the themes in this book were still very heavy. Even though I was able to read the book over just a few days, there was still a lot to process mentally and emotionally.

I know that Elif Shafak has several other books. I have a feeling that now that I know who the author is that I'll begin seeing more mentions of her. I will probably consider reading one of her other novels in the future.

Dominica - Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

After two heavy novels, I decided to wade right into this one. I'm going to be honest, Jane Eyre is not my favorite classic novel. I have lots of issues with Mr. Rochester, the main one being that he is married, but doesn't feel that it is important than Jane know this. That's definitely a red flag.

However, I thought that it would be interesting to read Rhys take on this "madwoman in the attic." Rhys gives the backstory of Antoinette, who Rochester marries first, as she grows up in Jamaica. We find out more about what goes on from the point of view of Antoinette, Rochester, and Grace Poole before Jane Eyre begins.

For some reason, I did not expect for this book to make me so sad. Which makes no sense. I clearly know what state Rochester's first wife is in during Charlotte Bronte's novel, so what exactly did I think was going to happen? Obviously, there was not going to be a happy ending for Antoinette.

I appreciate that Rhys shows that Antoinette's "madness" is forced on her by society, but it was difficult to watch that happen. 

This book reminded me somewhat of Kate Chopin's The Awakening. I can understand the point that the author is trying to convey, but I would prefer for there to be a happier ending.

Basically, what I am saying is that I would like all books to have a happy ending, and so far this whole reading books from around the world is not delivering in that department.

What's Next

There are still 190 books left to read. Even though I set my goal as 2 books for this project per month. I really thought that I would be reading at least 4 each month, especially right now while we are still staying home so much. 

One of my initial fears for trying this project was that I wouldn't enjoy the books that I was reading. While I wouldn't necessarily say that I didn't enjoy the books that I read this month, I will say that I found it difficult to keep returning to books that ranged from slightly to mostly depressing.

My next two reads aren't any lighter. I've started reading The Old Drift by Nanwali Serpell for Zambia. I am happy to say that the stories and characters are extremely interesting. However, so far, none of the characters seem likely to get the happy endings that I want for them.

If you follow my Instagram, you might already know that I had planned to start Yeonmi Park's In Order to Live after finishing Wide Sargasso Sea. I'm still trying to convince myself to read it. I just don't know whether I'm up for reading the story of a girl escaping from North Korea, but I also don't think that I'll find that many other books written by someone from North Korea.

There is a children's book from Finland that I'd like to read, so I'll definitely be reading it this month because I need something to keep me from getting too bogged down in this project.

If you know of any happy books written by authors from countries that I haven't read yet, please let me know!

Feel free to follow along on Instagram or on Goodreads for more frequent updates. If I start to get overwhelmed with updating here, I'm more likely to still keep updating on those two sites.