MASTER THREAD for REGIONAL THREADS - READ THIS FIRST, PLEASE.

Included below (message #2) is a list of 26 geographical ‘regions’ we will be using to encourage world literary travel and provide a place to chronicle your ongoing reading for others. On these threads we hope you might bump into someone else who might be reading in the same part of the world you are (perhaps a conversation will ensue!). Or perhaps you will want to use the 26 regions as a challenge: to read an author from one of the countries in each of the regions—as good a way as any to start or continue one’s travels. I’ll come back after I have created all the regional threads to link them to the titles on the list.

This is meant for ONGOING reading, not past reading; however, in an effort to get the threads started we are asking readers to look at their 2010 reading and post some of your reviews (if short) or excerpt and link (if longer) in the appropriate regions.

Some of us in this group have read great amounts of world literature, and some may even be experts on some level or another on certain countries or regions, but we ask that you refrain from making lists or documenting your entire reading history on any subject here and instead share your passion or expertise in conversation with those who, perhaps like yourself, are currently reading a book from the area.

For those of you who are looking for lists of books from particular countries: one need only do a tag search on LT to find lists of relevant books. You can then check out the reviews and ratings on individual books. However, I’ll create a RECOMMENDATION thread for this group, so one can ask the group.

There are no threads for North America or the UK at this time. We are still mulling over this.

The regions were created based on several factors and could be reshuffled in endless ways. While they may not be perfect, or politically or historically correct, they are serviceable.

Please feel free to leave any questions on this thread. This is a bit of an experiment and we are trying to establish some guidelines without making them ‘rules’.

IN BRIEF:

---Share your thoughts/reviews on a book when you’ve finished it, on an appropriate thread (certainly some books will fit in more than one category) .

---You can also share your 2010 books on these to help get the threads going.

---Feel free to comment on others’ posts, as always, but avoid cluttering up the threads with long lists. Please feel free to include links to other threads in the group or outside, if relevant.

NOTE: This does not preclude our quarterly theme reads threads, our “Where are You Reading Now?” thread, individuals’ thread, or any other kinds of threads here in the group.

***1. Eastern Africa I: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritus, Mayotte, Mozambique, Reunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania (includes Zanzibar), Zambia, Zimbabwe.

***2. Eastern Africa II: Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda

***3. Middle Africa: Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe

***4. Northern Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara

***5. Southern Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland

***6. Western Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

***7. The Caribbean: Anguilla, Antgua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Monserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands.

***8. Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama

***9. South America I: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela.

***10. South America II: Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Falkland Islands.

***11. Asia I: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

***12. Asia II: China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Tibet,

***13. Asia III: Japan, Korea, the Phillipines

***14. Asia IV: Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Timor Leste, Maldives, Brunei

***15. Asia V: India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan

***16. Middle East I: Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel

***17. Middle East II: Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Iraq, Iran

***18. Oceania: Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Micronesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, American Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu

***19. Europe I: France, Monaco, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg

***20. Europe II: Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Svelbard & Jan Mayen Islands

***21. Europe III: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania

***22. Europe IV: Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia & Herzebovinia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro

***23. Europe V: Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Malta

***24. Europe VI: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia

***25. Europe VII: Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Gibraltar

***26. Europe VIII: Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein

Links from the master list to the individual threads above should be working now.

Thank you, Lois, for this MAMMOTH job! Let the reading and conversations begin!

Amazing job, thanks for taking up the responsibility for doing this. I look forward to seeing the threads fill up.

Oh, you are all welcome. A nod to fannyprice for suggesting putting the thread titles and links on the group's page. It took me a while to figure out how to put it there without overwhelming the page, but I think it's okay.

I had to laugh, because JustJoey and I added some of our reading and the first two were in the same category!

>6 avaland:, Oh I like how that worked out! Thanks for being open to suggestions!

Thanks a lot Avaland for the great idea and all the work behind it. I am looking forward to some interesting conversations!

This is great - thank you Lois and everyone else who worked on the groupings!

Have fixed the "Europe IV" link, now off to check if we've been posting in the wrong thread!

Edit to add: just me posting in the wrong place. LOL. All fixed.

Great work! I'm just check out all the region threads, but I have a question. I want to add some of my reading from last year, but how do y'all generally decide geography - setting or author's nationality? Death in Venice, for instance. Thanks.

>11 janemarieprice: Generally, I'd go with author nationality or the nation she/he would most be associated with first (Death in Venice would be considered German literature), but if a book seems to provide a portrait of another place and people, I'd consider cross-posting for setting also. I don't remember much about Venice in Death in Venice, but it's been 20 years since I read it:-) Ultimately, it's your decision and you can post it wherever you think it might be best appreciated.

My current author, Andrée Chedid is Lebanese-Egyptian (born in Egypt) but has spent most of her life in France and writes in French, so I may have to let setting guide me here also.

This issue will come up a lot. If one has a question about what country an author is most associated with, one can always check wikipedia or some other internet source.

I'm going to bump this so that it's nearer the top of the threads and will be more useful.

Forgive me if I've missed something, but I've looked without success for a North America region. Anyone like minded wish to discuss the various merits (or not) of Jack Kerouac's Merrimac Massachusetts, Larry Brown's Mississippi, John Fante's San Francisco, or Paul Auster's New York?

On reflection I see that there is currently no North America region or UK presence. As a humble Brit I find this somewhat disappointing as to someone who's never been west of County Tipperary these places are eminently exotic. Not old Blighty of course...

Hmm, rather disappointing that there is no North America & that the UK & Ireland aren't in Europe I or that it doesn't have it's own region. I'd be really interested in seeing what people are reading in these regions (especially because of my ties to these 3 regions)

15> I've said it before here, I completely agree. I just found a wonderful book with the Shetland Islands as a setting and a Shetland Islands myth as a large part of the plot, and there's nowhere here I can share this!

>14 Polaris-: - 16 Sorry, I have been preoccupied with business and household renovation, but I will put together a solution for the North American-UK dilemmas shortly.

OK, I've created the group: READING GLOBALLY II here: http://www.librarything.com/groups/readinggloballyii1

It will cover all discussions involving: The UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

I've created some general regional threads but create others as you find a need for it.

Like this group, the new supplemental group is meant to encourage readers to read OUTSIDE of their own country's native literature.

Thanks avaland!

>19 Polaris-: You are welcome!

A Child of Christian Blood, Edmond Liven: 1900, Russia, Politics, Revolution,social, legal system, detective, journalism about the Jews and minority populations in the Baltic States. The many difficult, sounding names ending in "...syk, ...tov,..vik" became easier to follow as each individual re-entered or (left, under suspicious circumstances!)the progression of events. This time period of 1911 Russia, puts people at the heart of history then and now. I was saddened by the timidity of the Jewish leaders attitude to "not advocate" for the wrongly accused factory employee. I am curious to discover that my collectible, Russian Postage stamps do not declare any of the officials in this account.