Bout of Books 14.0 – Challenges

To keep my updates post from being too crowded and long, I decided to collect all the Bout of Books challenges I participate in here.

MONDAY

Today’s challenge is very much up my alley. Between Library Shelves is hosting the Fictional World Travel challenge.

To participate, I could simply point to my Read Around the World page where I’m doing just that – reading books set in all sorts of places (or alternate versions thereof). But that wouldn’t be fun, so I decided to choose my favorite books set in countries other than my own:

Terry Pratchett – Nation
Set in the Pelagic Ocean (alternate Pacific Ocean) on a small island.
Naomi Novik – Uprooted
Set in an alternate version of Poland, heavily influenced by its folklore and mythology.
Catherynne M. Valente – Deathless
Set in two Russias. One is the real one during wartime, the other is its fairytale counterpart.
Guy Gavriel Kay – Tigana
Set in an alternate Italy. Despite being fantasy, this felt like a real historical novel.
Nalo Hopkinson – Midnight Robber
Set in an alternate Caribbean-influenced world.
Alaya Dawn Johnson – The Summer Prince
Set in futuristic Brazil.

Regardless of their setting, I adored all of these books and highly recommend you check them out. For those interested in books set in Austria, I recommend the crime writer Wolf Haas. His Brenner books are hilarious and very, very Austrian, although I don’t know if his particular style makes it through the translation process.

THURSDAY

Due to lack of sleep, I didn’t read much during the last two days, much less thought about doing any challenges. But my body got some much-needed rest and I’m motivated to participate again. Plus, today’s challenge is a really nice idea (if you love playing around with book covers).

Kimberly Faye Reads is hosting the Four Seasons in Book Covers Challenge. The challenge is: Find four covers/books that represent the four seasons. Whether you use colors, titles, author names or something else is up to you.

And because I can’t keep it to four covers only, have four each for every season:

WINTER

SPRING

SUMMER

AUTUMN

SATURDAY

Today, Steph in Wonderland asked us to plan a road trip. Either we find books set in places that we want to visit or by authors from those places. For this road trip I only chose books I haven’t read yet and, with the exception of Paris, places I’ve never been to:

NEW ZEALAND: Tina Makereti – Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa
Makereti is a New Zealander, plus this book is set in New Zealand and playing with its mythology.
FRANCE: Aliette de Bodard – The House of Shattered Wings
A book set in Paris by a French-American author. I look forward to discovering this alternate Paris.
PORTUGAL: J. Kathleen Cheney – The Golden City
The book is set in Portugal and made it onto my TBR despite the typical YA-ish cover.
AUSTRALIA: Angela Slatter – Of Sorrows and Such
Slatter is Australian and I can’t wait to read her short stories and this upcoming novella!