Around the World in 25 Novels
Ok, so this may be kind of nerdy, but it excites me. I got Ford started today with the help of a couple of kind strangers and went into Penticton to meet my friend Diana for lunch. After a great meal at the Hooded Merganser we hit the Bookshop in Penticton. It is a marvel. I love used book stores and it's one of the best anywhere. The staff are super knowledgeable. I told them where I'd be traveling to, and they filtered out into the stacks. I left with five novels set along my route. I was so excited about this idea that when I got back up the hill I dove into research mode, and I came up with this list. Twenty-five books, almost all fiction, that chart my course around the globe!
Here's the line-up. Full disclosure, if you click a link here and buy some I do get a bit of a kick-back from Amazon, but don't worry, you'll still get their best deal. If you do read any of these let me know what you think!
Three Weeks With My Brother, Nicholas and Micah Sparks. Yes, that Nicholas Sparks. This feels like a great way to start; a broad sweep of the whole journey by a fabulous writer in collaboration with his beloved brother
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2. Tourist Season, Carl Hiaasen. Carl writes fun detective noire tales set in Florida. This one involves man eating crocodiles, bad guys and beauty queens.
3. The Tailor of Panama, John Le Carré. Spies and adventure at the Panama Canal
4. The Bedlam Stacks, Natasha Pulley. Set in Ecuador
5. Easter Island, The Novel, Jennifer Vanderbes Title says it all.
6. I Am Not Your Eve, Devika Ponnambalam. I’m super excited about this one. It’s the story of Teha’amana, the Tahitian muse of artist Paul Gauguin.
7. Something In The Water, Catherine Steadman. This one takes place in French Polynesia as well. Modern day mystery.
8. Come On Shore and We Will Kill You and Eat You, Christina Thompson. Based in New Zealand, this is a personal account by an American academic who meets and marries a Maori man while studying in the region. It’s a mix of memoir, history and culture.
9. Flames, Robbie Arnott. Contemporary stories set in Tasmania
10. Glass After Glass, Barbara Blackman. I’ve been saving this one for a while. Barbara was married to Australian Modernist painter Charles Blackman. This is her story. I bought this for my last planned trip to Australia, kiboshed by covid. Glad to be taking another swing at it; the country and the book.
11. Port Moresby Mixed Doubles, Michael Challinger. This one is full of stories about expats in Papua New Guinea.
12. Patron Saints of Nothing, Randy Ribay. This one is set in Manila. It’s rated as YA, but it tackles some tough topics, including Duterte’s war on drugs.
13 The World of Suzie Wong, Richard Mason. The timeless story of the love affair between a British artist and a Chinese prostitute. Set in the ‘50’s
14. The Quiet American, Graham Green. Set in Vietnam in the ‘50’s. Yes, it’s the one the film was based on. Two films in fact.
15. The Beach, Alex Garland. Another book that inspired a hit film. This one is set in Thailand.
16. Moonlight Palace, Liz Rosenberg. A family saga set in Singapore in the 1920’s
17. Garden of Evening Mists, Tan Twan Eng. Malaya, now the peninsular part of Malaysia, in 1949. After studying law at Cambrige and time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, our heroine seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child.
18. The Fugitive, Pramoedya Ananta Toer. Set in Indonesia during WWII, this was one of my used bookstore finds. The clerk tells me it’s amazing. Looking forward to it.
19. Family Matters, Rohinton Mistry. Billed as both a domestic drama and an intently observed portrait of present-day Bombay. From the author of A Fine Balance. Looking forward to this one too.
20. Celestial Bodies, Jokha Alharthi. A story of three sisters set in Oman.
21. Abu Dhabi days Dubai Nights, Jillian Schedneck. This is the story of a young female graduate student who takes a job teaching English in the United Arab Emirates.
22. It’s Not What You Think, an American Woman in Saudi Arabia, Sabeeha Rehman. The title says it all.
23. Chronicles Of A Cairo Bookseller, Nadia Wassef. Three women open a bookstore in Cairo. Stop me if you’ve heard this one ;-).
24. To The End Of The Land, David Grossman and Jessica Cohen. Israel, first published in 2008. Jacket says: From one of Israel’s most acclaimed writers comes a novel of extraordinary power about family life—the greatest human drama—and the cost of war.
25. Istanbul, Memories And The City, Orhan Pamuk. This is where our cruise ends. Pamuk is Turkey’s foremost writer and this is his love letter to the city. I’m guessing we’ll spend a bit of time here before we make our way back to Canada. Really looking forward to this final book on the list.
Here’s a quick timelapse of this sketch. It was so fun trying to capture the cover art from each book! I did them from the actual icons in my current kindle library. Most of the other books I bought on audible or in the bookstore mentioned above.
Thanks so much for reading, and don’t forget to sign up for updates to follow along on the adventure!