Several weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to read a book from each country in the world. I laid out all of the vague details for my plan and got started reading. I said that I would do a monthly update on the books I've read for Project Read the World.
This is that update.
June Books: 2
Total Books: 2/195
I made a pie chart. I regret that decision at the moment.
The Books
Australia - Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
I chose this book to begin my project for a few reasons.
- I thought that it would be easier to start off with a book already written in English so that I wouldn't have to worry about whether or not I could find a translation. Only about 3% of books published in the U.S. each year are translations. I didn't want my project to begin with a struggle to find a book.
- I have read surprisingly few books written by Australian authors. Even though those books are published in English, I have read significantly fewer works by Australian authors than by American, Canadian, or British authors. In fact, the only book that I remember reading by an Australian author in the past 5 years is Cocaine Blues which I only read because I enjoyed watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.
- This book is a YA dystopia. I generally tend to enjoy YA, so I thought it would make sense to start with a genre I would like. I found out after reading that Tomorrow When the War Began is one of the most popular series for teens in Austalia, so clearly I made a good choice.
- My library had a copy of this book. Just being real. Luckily, I have access to a large library system so this project will be easier than it would have been before I moved to Nashville.
I am so glad that I started off my project with this book. One stumbling block that has kept me from beginning this project in the past is that I am afraid that I won't be able to understand or enjoy the books that I read. I realize that's a weird fear to have for someone who was both an English major and an international studies major, but it is something that has worried me.
Those fears did not come true while reading Tomorrow, When the War Began. In the book, a group of teenagers goes on a camping trip in the Australian bush. When they return home, all of their families are gone. The teens slowly begin to realize that their country has been invaded. the group has to decide what to do next without guidance from anyone else.
For a YA dystopian novel, this story felt much more realistic than others I had read. I love the Hunger Games and The Selection, but both of those take place at some unspecified point in the future. In Tomorrow, When the War Began, the story takes place in the present day. The conflict is an event that could conceivably happen.
I loved the way the author portrayed the characters' reactions to their circumstances. The characters are so introspective about the actions that they decide to take. Without giving too much detail, the teenagers feel grief over the loss of life that occurs when they try to save themselves from the invaders. The protagonists question what steps are justifiable to take in order to defend themselves and their families. They even tried to understand the conflict through the invaders' perspective.
The author managed to touch on all of these topics while still keeping the scenes full of action. At the end of every chapter, I was ready to find out what was going to happen next.
The ending of the book was satisfying. After finishing, I did find out that Tomorrow, When the War Began is the first book in a series. I've added the next book to my list to potentially read. I am trying to be careful about filling up my TBR list because I have a ton of books to read to finish their project. The end is so far away that I don't want to overwhelm myself by adding six more books to my must-read pile.
Even though I thought that reading a book from Australia would have a "familiar" feeling to what I normally read, I could still tell differences. I thought that I knew a good amount about the world, but apparently, I don't know that much about Australia. I had no references for several things that the characters mentioned.
I was also very thrown when reading the word "chook" and realizing that was a chicken. I guess I've never talked to anyone from Australia about chickens. Possibly because I don't know anyone from Australia. Or maybe because I don't talk about chickens often enough.
Like Water for Chocolate turned out to be another good read for June. As you might imagine from the title, there is no shortage of romance involved in the story. Tita falls in love with Pedro, but she cannot marry because she is the youngest daughter and must remain single to be her mother's caretaker according to family tradition. Whenever Tita cooks her emotions transfer into the food which then has magical effects on those who eat the food. Because Pedro cannot marry Tita, he marries her older sister in order to remain near Tita. Naturally, drama ensues.
Story-wise, the plot and characters were all interesting. I felt all of the anger that Tita felt at the injustice of her situation. The descriptions of food made the story even better. There's just something about reading about food in books that is nice.
However, I was not a fan of Pedro, Tita's love interest. I know why he married Tita's sister, but that was just not a good decision on his part. I felt like there could have been enough drama from the lovers being separated without this happening.
I was nervous about reading more magical realism, but it made more sense in this book. I might consider reading more of the genre as I continue reading works by other authors.
The most eye-opening part for me was realizing how little I know about Mexico. The story is set during the early 20th century so the period is only about 100 years ago. I could tell you about the 1910s and 1920s in a few places around the world thanks to shows on PBS, but I really don't know that much about the period in Mexico. In fact, I don't know much about any period in Mexico. Even broad areas like celebrations and traditions were new to me.
I don't expect the books that I pick to give me an all-encompassing understanding of another country. That's asking too much from one book. However, Like Water for Chocolate gave me a small glimpse into family life, the Revolution, and race in Mexico.
I expected to see family life in the story based on the subject of the book. I'm embarrassed to share that I know almost knowing about the Mexican Revolution. A few of the names involved sounded familiar after I looked it up, but that's it. You'd think I would know more about that given that Mexico is right next to the U.S. I did take French rather than Spanish, so maybe that's why I didn't have classes that focused on Mexico. I didn't expect to run into gaps in my knowledge so soon into Project Read the World.
Unlike Australia, I actually do know people from Mexico, so I really should know more about the country. I am going to continue moving on to the next books that I have, but I will be on the lookout for more books either by Mexican authors or about Mexico.
I feel like an alternate title for this post could be "The One Where Elizabeth Realizes that She Doesn't Know All that Much about the World." Maybe that is the point of this project. Even when I finally finish all 195 books, I'll only have learned enough to understand just how much I don't know. I think I'll like that outcome better than never trying in the first place.
I've completed 2 of 195 books. That number does not exactly inspire confidence yet. Some things that are worth doing take time.
I currently have 3 books checked out from the library to read next. I've just started reading Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz. This is the first book that has been out of my comfort zone so far. Reading about a Muslim family living in Egypt makes it hard to stay focused on the plot when I don't relate to any of the characters. Also, I'm not far enough in to understand what the plot is yet.
But, this is part of the project. Naguib Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It's important to me to at least give his writing a chance. Some of the books I read need to be out of my comfort zone.
After this, I'm planning to read either The Forty Rules of Love or Three Daughters of Eve as my book for Turkey. Both books are by Elif Shafak. I haven't decided which one seems more interesting to me.
This post has become longer than I expected especially since I only read two books. I love watching super chatty book reviews on youtube though, so I'll consider this the written equivalent.
If you have recommendations for future books I should read for this project, please comment. I currently have a few ideas for my next reads, but I am constantly updating my list.
I was also very thrown when reading the word "chook" and realizing that was a chicken. I guess I've never talked to anyone from Australia about chickens. Possibly because I don't know anyone from Australia. Or maybe because I don't talk about chickens often enough.
Mexico - Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
This was book #2 for my project. I'm going to continue explaining why I chose this book. This is the first update, so I'm still figuring out the format that I want to use.
- Like Water for Chocolate was basically on every single list that I read about reading international authors. It also happens to be a title that I've heard about for years. Possibly because the movie version was the highest-grossing foreign film released in the U.S. in the early 90s.
- I recently finished reading another magical realism novel. The other book was not enjoyable for me, but I've heard so much about this genre in Latin American literature that I wanted to give the genre another try.
- The entire title is Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies. That subtitle is too intriguing to pass up.
Like Water for Chocolate turned out to be another good read for June. As you might imagine from the title, there is no shortage of romance involved in the story. Tita falls in love with Pedro, but she cannot marry because she is the youngest daughter and must remain single to be her mother's caretaker according to family tradition. Whenever Tita cooks her emotions transfer into the food which then has magical effects on those who eat the food. Because Pedro cannot marry Tita, he marries her older sister in order to remain near Tita. Naturally, drama ensues.
Story-wise, the plot and characters were all interesting. I felt all of the anger that Tita felt at the injustice of her situation. The descriptions of food made the story even better. There's just something about reading about food in books that is nice.
However, I was not a fan of Pedro, Tita's love interest. I know why he married Tita's sister, but that was just not a good decision on his part. I felt like there could have been enough drama from the lovers being separated without this happening.
I was nervous about reading more magical realism, but it made more sense in this book. I might consider reading more of the genre as I continue reading works by other authors.
The most eye-opening part for me was realizing how little I know about Mexico. The story is set during the early 20th century so the period is only about 100 years ago. I could tell you about the 1910s and 1920s in a few places around the world thanks to shows on PBS, but I really don't know that much about the period in Mexico. In fact, I don't know much about any period in Mexico. Even broad areas like celebrations and traditions were new to me.
I don't expect the books that I pick to give me an all-encompassing understanding of another country. That's asking too much from one book. However, Like Water for Chocolate gave me a small glimpse into family life, the Revolution, and race in Mexico.
I expected to see family life in the story based on the subject of the book. I'm embarrassed to share that I know almost knowing about the Mexican Revolution. A few of the names involved sounded familiar after I looked it up, but that's it. You'd think I would know more about that given that Mexico is right next to the U.S. I did take French rather than Spanish, so maybe that's why I didn't have classes that focused on Mexico. I didn't expect to run into gaps in my knowledge so soon into Project Read the World.
Unlike Australia, I actually do know people from Mexico, so I really should know more about the country. I am going to continue moving on to the next books that I have, but I will be on the lookout for more books either by Mexican authors or about Mexico.
I feel like an alternate title for this post could be "The One Where Elizabeth Realizes that She Doesn't Know All that Much about the World." Maybe that is the point of this project. Even when I finally finish all 195 books, I'll only have learned enough to understand just how much I don't know. I think I'll like that outcome better than never trying in the first place.
What's Next
I've completed 2 of 195 books. That number does not exactly inspire confidence yet. Some things that are worth doing take time.
I currently have 3 books checked out from the library to read next. I've just started reading Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz. This is the first book that has been out of my comfort zone so far. Reading about a Muslim family living in Egypt makes it hard to stay focused on the plot when I don't relate to any of the characters. Also, I'm not far enough in to understand what the plot is yet.
But, this is part of the project. Naguib Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It's important to me to at least give his writing a chance. Some of the books I read need to be out of my comfort zone.
After this, I'm planning to read either The Forty Rules of Love or Three Daughters of Eve as my book for Turkey. Both books are by Elif Shafak. I haven't decided which one seems more interesting to me.
This post has become longer than I expected especially since I only read two books. I love watching super chatty book reviews on youtube though, so I'll consider this the written equivalent.
If you have recommendations for future books I should read for this project, please comment. I currently have a few ideas for my next reads, but I am constantly updating my list.
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.
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