2012 Global Reading Challenge

Well, I'm on the last book needed for this. The challenge was to read to read three novels from each of the seven continents. My focus was mysteries and for the seventh continent ("Antarctica"), I selected supernatural or paranormal mysteries, a sub-genre I had not previously explored. This quickly became my favourite category. I did find it challenging to find authors from different countries, especially - for some reason - authors in South America. In addition to some very interesting mysteries, I learned a bit more about the history and culture of the countries.

This year, I will not have recaps of each book read but here is my list:

AFRICA

Ghana            Kwei Quartey     "Wife of the Gods"
Botswana       Unity Dow          "The Screaming of the Innocent"
South Africa   Deon Meyer       "Blood Safari"

CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA

Brazil             Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza   "Blackout"
Chile             Roberto Ampuero               "The Neruda Case"
Argentina      (in progress)

AUSTRALASIA

Australia        Kathryn Fox           "Blood Born"
Australia        Katherine Howell   "Frantic"
New Zealand Paul Cleave           "Cemetery Lake"


NORTH AMERICA

Canada (Ontario)               Norm Foster   "Watching Jeopardy"
Canada (British Columbia) Sean Slater   "The Survivor"
USA                                    Jodi Picoult    "House Rules

EUROPE

Iceland                 Yrsa Sigurdardottir    "Ashes to Dust"
United Kingdom   Kate Atkinson           "When Will There Be Good News?"
Italy                      Michele Giuttari        "A Florentine Death"

ASIA

Japan   Keigo Higashino   "The Devotion of Suspect X"
China   Qui Xiaolong         "The Mao Case"
Israel    Batya Gur             "Saturday Morning Murder"

SEVENTH CONTINENT (supernatural or paranormal)

Charlaine Harris     "Grave Sight"
Kate Green             "Black Dreams"
Ransom Riggs        "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children"

One note: for the Canadian authors, the provincial indication is where the author is from (or currently lives), not necessarily where the story is set. My goal was to read one author from each province and territory but that was too much for one year!

A foray into blogging! Can't say this was ever something I thought I would be doing. However, after a year of working on the Global Reading Challenge set up by Kerrie of Mysteries in Paradise, I decided to take the plunge and comment on the books I've been reading, specifically the mystery books. Many thanks to Kerrie for her challenge as it has led to the discovery of many new authors I might not otherwise have come across.