I know I had mentioned that I planned to join the Orbis Terrarum Challenge and now I finally have my list of books. I’m going to be a bit sneaky in mix in a couple of books from my foreign authors book group and also from other challenges but you never know, I may end up reading a lot more foreign fiction and I’ll adjust my list to show other choices.

The challenge runs from April 1 through December 20. The bottom line: choose 9 different books, written by 9 different authors, from 9 different countries.

Here is my tentative list:

• Madame by Antoni Libera (Poland). I’ve already started this and it’s great. I hope to finish it by next Tuesday as it’s also a book group read.
• Wild Swans by Jung Chang (China). Also a book club book.
• The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte (Spain). This is also another challenge read.
• The Sleeping Car Murders by Sebastien Japrisot (France). A Very Long Engagement was a favorite read a couple of years ago. This Japrisot novel seems quite different but should be interesting.
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Brazil). I’m the last person to read this right?
• April Witch by Majgull Axelsson (Sweden)
• Women with Big Eyes by Angeles Mastretta (Mexico)
• The Quest for Christa T. by Christa Wolf (Germany)
• Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (Japan)

I tried to stay away from listing British and Canadian authors as I seem to read a lot from these authors anyway. So, I think I’m set to go on a nice trip around the world with this list. Thank you B&b Ex Libris for hosting the challenge. I think it’ll be great fun.

Speaking of trips, I’m off for a quick visit to Austin. Hope to hear a little music on Sixth Street, do a bit of browsing at BookPeople and savor some good eats at Kerbey Lane. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Slowly but surely, I’m catching up on my reviews. I still have a little pile of books waiting for me and of course now I’m trying to keep in mind this article when I write anything about a book. Too late. I am sure I use some of those words quite a bit. Oh well, anyway, let’s talk about some books.

First up is Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I read her first book a couple of years ago and knew then that I’d be eager to read more from her. I wasn’t disappointed with this book at all. It challenged me in that I had to evaluate how I felt about characters who I cared about after they commit offenses. It made me think of issues of forgiveness and most importantly it made me wonder why I have never studied anything about Biafra throughout my schooling. I sort of knew about it but really it wasn’t that long ago that this happened and yet I felt like I was just hearing about this for the first time. I highly recommend this book. For more on the book click here.

I also finished The Scent of Shadows by Vickie Pettersson. Already one down for the Once Upon a Time II challenge. I wanted to like the book, actually I liked the beginning, but just wish it had been condensed a bit more. Too many things going on. You can read more of my thoughts on it here. I am a bit curious about the second book but wonder how it compares to this one. Anyone read it?

I’ve got a couple of books going on right now but I’m kind of in the mood for a mystery so I may have to put all my current reads aside. I’m off to look at the shelves.