Where in the world have you been?

This week's Weekly Geeks asks you to tell us about your globe trotting via books. Are you a global reader? How many countries have you "visited" in your reading? What are your favorite places or cultures to read about? Can you recommend particularly good books about certain regions, countries or continents? How do you find out about books from other countries? What countries would you like to read that you haven't yet?

I am definitely a global reader but I also think that when you read books you inadvertently become a globe trotter. This is the beauty of reading. Without stepping outside the house, I get transported to places and very often times (if you happen to read historical fiction) I wouldn't have a chance to visit in reality.

I honestly can't tell how many places I visited over the years of reading therefore what you see on the map are only the countries that I remember the most. And even to pick my favorites is quite difficult because every country has its charm and something special that cannot be found in any others. I most definitely enjoy reading books set in Japan and China, maybe because the culture is so foreign, so old and so rich in mysticism. India and Africa are also special treats for me. I have fallen in love with India and especially Indian writers when in college studying its literature plus literary works set in colonial and post-colonial period of India by British writers. Africa, especially Nigeria, came into my reading world in college as well, while working on my Master's thesis on Chinua Achebe who is a native of Nigeria. I was simply enchanted by the multitude of languages there (some 200 tribal languages and dialects in Nigeria only), beauty of tribal traditions and beliefs, and of its people. And then there is Europe, with so many countries to choose from it makes me dizzy: Ireland, Spain, Russia and Italy, just to name a few.

The books & authors that have stood out for the past few years are really worth reading as they did make me almost ache for the places they portray.

1. Shantaram by Gregory Roberts. It is a fictionalized account of the authors life in India. It is one chunkster of a book but I was taken in from the first page. I know that there are some opinions that argue that the line between fiction and truth is too blurred, it's hard to say what we should take as facts but I honestly don't care about that. It transported me to India I had never known before, the author's love for this country and Indian people was contagious and gave me no choice but share it.

2. All the novels by Jonathan Carroll. He is not a very well known writer in the United States but from what I remember, extremely popular in Europe. He uses magic realism in his novels, with a perfect mixture of metaphysical, magical and reality. Even though he is a native of New York City, he lives and writes in Vienna. Vienna is also the setting of a lot of his novels and they made me in turn want to visit this magical place with its old streets, enchanting cafeterias and brick buildings. The bullterrier in this photo is also present in many of Jonathan's novels.

3. Margit Sandemo and her Legend of the Ice People. My, oh my how I love this author and her saga set in Norway, spanning the centuries about the clan of witches. Even though it's supernatural, it is also combined with beautiful Scandinavian landscapes and culture. I first read all the books in Polish when I was a teenager and now, almost twenty years later I still remember it all vividly. Sadly the books are not available in the U.S. yet but they have been recently translated into English and are sold on the British market.

This is the map showing all the places I've been to (while reading):



As far as reading about the countries that I have not yet gotten a chance to, Australia is the one that takes the prize. I already have two books on my shelves about Australia and I am getting to them really soon: Bryce Courtenay's Four Fires and Colleen McCullough's Morgan Run.

Well, there it is, my travels around the world.

And to finish the post nicely I must say that I sometimes find myself talking with authority about this or that country and people would ask me, "How do you know that? Have you ever been there?" and I would answer, with just a little pride in my voice, "No, but I read the books.". Ha!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Okay, I'll just come right out and say that this book was a big disappointment to me. I know that it puts me in the minority, probably somewhere right at the bottom of the list but I just could not make myself care for the story and the characters at all.

Let me first go over the plot, which is probably not necessary as most of the readers out there already have heard about it. But the plot summary is always in order. As the story begins, we meet Mary who lives in a tiny village surrounded by the Unconsecrated (another word for zombies) and the only thing that separates the world of zombies from the world of the living is chain link fence (ahem, how tall is that fence or how strong that it kept the zombies at bay for generations?). Mary is a teenager ready to be married and start her own family when her mother goes out too far into the Forest of Hands and Teeth (where zombies reign supreme) and gets bitten by one of the Unconsecrated. At this moment Mary's world as she knew it ceases to exist. Her brother Jeb, who can't forgive Mary for letting their mother live and become one of the zombies, gives her away to the Sisterhood, who have more secrets that the author bothers to share with the readers. Mary is miserable, she loves a person who cannot be with her and his brother is the one who finally speaks for her (proposes to her), but she doesn't love him and she wants to get away from the village and find the ocean her mother had talked about. Mary finally gets her chance when the village is breached, the Unconsecrated turn or kill all the inhabitants, apart from, of course the most important characters: Mary, Harry, Mary's brother Jeb, Mary's love Travis and her former best friend, Cas, plus a little boy Jacob (why he's thrown in there I have no idea, maybe to help preserve the human species in the future). Okay my head hurts already. The rest is history...or future.

To be fair to the author, I think that the story is interesting and her portrayal of Mary's despair and unhappiness engaging. To a point. But when I realized that Mary was going to be the only character described in depth and all others might as well have been zombies for all the insight given the reader, I lost interest completely. I am not sure whether Mary was supposed to come off as a self-absorbed, egocentric young woman or not. If it was intentional, then it has definitely been achieved. Then again, if I have to wonder about it then one way or another something just isn't right.

Another thing going against this book was that I listened to it on audio and the narrator killed the story. The whole book was read in a monotonous tone of reading the telephone book. I actually think that the person reading the introduction about who recorded the book, the title, the author and the narrator put more intonation and emotion into her voice than the narrator. I simply could not tell when Mary was happy, sad or horrified. All and all, the narration was very robotic and the only reason I kept listening to it was because I hoped that it would get better. It didn't.

Lastly, I am not a die-hard fan of Young Adult fiction. I do enjoy some books (The Book Thief, Hunger Games, Inkheart, to name a few) but because I do not love it, it's probably difficult to fully satisfy me and what faults I can justify in genres I love, I cannot overlook in this one. As far as the dystopian theme that is resurfacing in contemporary fiction goes, if it's done well I love it. But, yet again, I am more of a King's The Stand girl than The Forest of Hands and Teeth one.

Book Info:

Author: Carrie Ryan

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Published By: Random House

In: 2009

Recorded by: Listening Library

Narrator: Vane Millon

BTT: Unread Books Challenge

It's my first BTT and I have finally decided to join in the fun especially that this week's theme is exactly what's been weighing on mind heavily for quite some time now. I saw the original post at Medieval Bookworm but she in turn got the idea from The Toddled Dredge.

“So here today I present to you an Unread Books Challenge. Give me the list or take a picture of all the books you have stacked on your bedside table, hidden under the bed or standing in your shelf – the books you have not read, but keep meaning to. The books that begin to weigh on your mind. The books that make you cover your ears in conversation and say, ‘No! Don’t give me another book to read! I can’t finish the ones I have!’ “
I have tons of unread books on my shelves, they are all waiting patiently for my attention and not saying a word. They are so good to me and I feel like a bad stepmother (hanging my head in shame). Anyway, instead of writing up a list which would take me a long, long time, I decided to simply show you.
You can see some ARC's here that have long been published. They're from my time as Border's manager when our store would get tons of them, all employees would stock up without a real obligation to read or review them. I know I will read them but I think that sending so many books to stores is a waste of money on publishers' side and they are better off sending them to bloggers.







Yes, they are double stacked, I just don't have enough shelves or room in my tiny house.




This is my TBR on a cute little wooden shelf I got at one of the Yard Sales. Believe it or not, I do stick to the books I put on this shelf. So, these titles (at least most of them) will be reviewed on my blog soon.

June Reads

With all that's been happening (look up my previous post), June went by very quickly for me. Unfortunately, I have been very slow with reading as other things occupied my mind. Slowly, I am trying to get back to at least take better care of my blog and the blogging community (and of wonderful posts I missed reading). With my state of mind I have learned that one of the best things I can do is keep up the habits (the good ones, of course) and stick to daily routine. So that's what I'm trying to do. The first thing right after posting this, will be opening my Reader to finally visit all the blogs and read what I've missed. But for now, here's what I managed to read in June:

1. One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus - I thought I would like it more than I actually did.

2. Firestorm by Iris Johansen - it was a quick read, a typical, fast paced thriller but unfortunately very forgettable. Actually I already forgot what exactly it was about.

3. Friend of the Devil by Peter Robinson - I am happy I discovered this author, he has a whole series about a British detective and it's similar to P.D. James which I also enjoy.

4. Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant - I wasn't sure whether I should classify this one as horror or thriller, but it fits both categories I suppose. All and all, a good read and, unlike Firestorm, I still remember what it was about.

5. Father Melancholy’s Daughter by Gail Godwin - I think this one is a book to be read more than once in order to be truly appreciated. It's definitely a literary fiction, concentrating on characters and (subject I always like to read about to see how accurate the portrayal is) depression. The writing is at times very deep and profound, I have pages of text underlined to refer back to.

6. Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult - I like Picoult but this one just didn't sit right with me. All's fine until the miracles start to happen and we're looking at the secong coming of Jesus. Not really something I would expect from Picoult and honestly she didn't pull it off all that well either.

7. The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory - Oh, my poor girls at The Girls On Books blog are getting mad at me, since this review was supposed to be posted two weeks ago. I find it very difficult to put a good review together but I promise it will be up on Monday.

8. The Return by Bentley Little - my first Bentley Little book and I was disappointed. It read more like a bad sci-fi than a good horror and I only hope his other books are better since I own two more.

Audio books:

1. Twenty Seven Bones by Jonathan Nasaw

2. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King - I didn't like the book, it was quite boring and at times I just wanted to shut the player off and be done with it. I think however that it's not the author's fault and the series is worth reading but just not the right type to be recorded (at least that's my hope since I have five others in this series).

Okay, it's time to write something.

As you have noticed (if there are still any readers out there who bother to visit my blog) I have not been quite up to par with my blog maintenance, posting, visitng other blogs and commenting. The main reason is this: a couple of weeks ago I found out I was pregnant and a week ago it was confirmed by my doctor. I should be ecstatic about the news but instead I am still struggling with it. You might ask why, you might say it's great news, it's a blessing, many women are not that lucky...And I agree. From a logical standpoint, I know I have to be happy about it and I want nothing more than to feel joy. The problem is, I suffer from chronic depression and unfortunately pregnancy is not a magical cure many people think it is. Quite the opposite. I am very worried about people around me who have to deal with me. Every day I am ridden with guilt on top of my depression deepening with every day that goes by.
I have a ten-year-old daughter and I honestly thought that she would remain my only child. Even though I love her more than life itself and we have a great relationship, I do not consider myself a mother material. Whenever I am around little children, I get anxious and nervous. I even have major issues with babysitting my 3-year-old nephew occasionally. Naturally, I worry how I will manage a baby in my own home. Not to mention the financial struggles I am going through. I have stopped making any money whatsoever, the state of economy is glaring at me in my profession. Sure, translator sounds fine but when a company has to make cuts, a document needed translation is the first one to go. I have learned that this is something most companies can do without.
Geez, I am crying already as I am writing this post because I honestly had never imagined that my life would be as it is. I am so jealous of other women who I see happy, smiling, having so much energy to do so many interesting things where I find it difficult to get up in the morning and the thought of washing the dishes alone makes me tired. Everything seems like an insurmountable task and it makes me so sad...