Book Travelling Challenge

seagullyna
Dec 28, 2021
10 min read

A few years back I decided to expand my reading horizons by reading books by authors outside the USA and the UK, as it seemed that I mostly read those. As a Belarusian, thus Belarusian and Russian being my native languages, I also read some Belarusian and Russian authors, but I thought I should still expand my reading further. So I decided to do the following: whenever I visited a new country, I tried to find and buy a book by the author of that country. Before travelling, I also did some research on the books, their availability in English or Russian, as well as the shops where I can find tem. So when I arrived in the country, I already had a plan on where to go and what to buy. Occasionally, while wondering around cities, I ran into bookshops that I didn't plan to visit beforehand, which was even more fun, though afterwards I found myself having bought way more books than I had planned. :)

I started this reading challenge back in December 2015 when I visited Copenhagen, Denmark and bought "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" by Peter Høeg. And the challenge is still ongoing, as I haven't visited all the countries on Earth - there are a lot of them in the end. I guess, it will be a life-long challenge for me. But all in all, I visited 26 countries and in almost all of them I bought a book (or several ones). I must admit though that I haven't read all of them yet, a lot are still on my TBR (to be read) list. Unfortunately, during the coronavirus pandemic I haven't been able to travel much, so not many books joined my library since it started. I am wondering if it is good or bad...

Anyways, here is a list of the countries, where I managed to buy a book, the title of the book(s) I bought and my short review, if I read it/them.

As I don't have pictures of the books, I will post photos of some of the bookshops I bought them in, and just random bookish puctures.

0. Poland

I visited Poland before I started this reading challenge, so I haven't bought books there. So the solution is quite simple: I need to go there again and buy the book.

1. Denmark

"Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" by Peter Høeg (1992)

It is a mystery book, telling a story of a Greenlandic woman, living in Copenhagen, who gets herself into investigating a murder of a young boy, who she had befriended beforehand.

I bought the book because I got interested in the title, it sounded peculiar to me, what does "feeling for snow" mean? It turns out, it literally means "feeling for snow", i.e. being able to read snow and tracks on it like hunters are able to read tracks on the soil. And for a Greenlander, it is a natural thing. The book was not an easy read, but I was glad I read it, because it was a real insight into a Danish-Greenlandish culture and a great start to expanding my reading horizons.

Here I am enjoying my cup of coffee in one of the Copenhagen's book cafes. I bought the book for the challenge here.

2. Estonia

"Baba Mora" by Aino Pervik (1971)

It is a tale of the kind and eccentric sorceress Baba-Mora. As in any fairytale there is a morale here: universal well-being depends on each of us. I enjoy reading fairytales, and this one was a great read.

3. Sweden

"Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot: His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred" by Carl-Johan Vallgren (2004)

The title of the book gives an idea of what the book is about - the life of the human monstrosity Hercules, which, again taken from the title, is not easy at all. Being born with severe health problems and with a not normal body, putting it lightly, he is considered a monster - nobody wants to look at him, but those who dare - want and do cruel things to him. But somehow he manages to survive and find happiness! How? You better read the story! Not an easy read, I would say even challenging, but worth it.

4. Norway

"The Burnt-out Town of Miracles" by Roy Jakobsen (2005)

The novel is set in 1939 in a small Finnish village, which is soon to be invaded by the Soviets. Everyone, except the main character Timo, flees from the village burning their houses. But Timo stays, as he cannot imagine his life anywhere else. The novel describes how he lives through this invasion time.

This book is one of my favourites from this challenge. Definitely recommend it.

5. Italy

"Decameron" by Giovanni Boccaccio (1353)

The book is set during the times of the Black Death epidemic of 1348, when seven young women and three young men decide to escape from the city of Florence and settle in some castle nearby trying to survive the plague. In order to amuse themselves during that time, each day they spend in the castle - ten, all in all, each member needs to tell a story of some kind. So the book contains 100 stories - some are about love, some are about wit, some contain tragedy, others have a happy ending.

So far I read maybe half of the book. Although I found some of the stories strange and hard to believe, I am generally liking the book, because it gives details on the life of people having lived in the 14th century, mind you! It cannot be not interesting.

The picture was actually taken in Vatican, but do you see the whitish bag on my shoulder? There are books bought in one of the bookshops in Rome, and "Decameron" is there too!

6. Lithuania, Russia

When I was visiting Lithuania and Russia, I bought the books, but I am sad to admit that I don't remember which ones. As I was moving to Georgia this year, where I am now, I couldn't bring all my books with me, and as I will stay here for a while, I won't be able to look through my books to find the ones I brought from these countries. So for now, that remains a mystery. :)

7. Latvia, Slovakia, Andorra

I haven't bought any books when I was visiting Riga, Latvia, Poprad, Slovakia and Andorra la Vella, Andorra, so, as with Poland, I need to visit these countries again and find the books by Latvian, Slovakian and Andorian authors.

In case of Latvia and Andorra, I haven't done any research on the books beforehand (why? - I am now wondering), so that was the main reason why I didn't buy any. In case of Slovakia, I actually spent quite a lot of time looking for books by Slovakian authors. The problem was that Poprad is not a large city, and I found only one bookshop there. It sold books in English, and I think there were some in Russian, but none of those were by a Slovakian author. I even asked a bookshop assisstant to find me one, but he said they have none, although he did recommend a website to me where I could order such books, which for some reason I didn't do. So now I need to find the website, or go to Bratislava - the capital of Slovakia, may be there I will have more luck.

8. Finland

"The Summer Book" by Tove Jansson (1972)

The book is about a six-year-old girl Sofia and her grandmother spending summer on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. During the time they explore, talk, play and do a lot of other things together, as well as apart - an elderly woman would hardly manage to keep up with a child's energy.

Tove Jansson is famous for her stories about Moomins, but I wanted to read something else by the author, so I chose this book as it had good reviews. But in spite of being quite an easy and light read, I must say that I didn't really like the book, not because the book was not good (I can see why people like it), but because it is just not my type of books.

9. Germany

"Schilf" by Juli Zeh (2007)

I have wanted to read this book for a long time, but I bought it in original, i.e. in German, and I want to read it that way. Unfortunately, the level of my German (I think it is a strong B1) is not good enough to read it. So I am slowly revising my German and hoping that soon I will be able to read the book.

10. Scotland

"More West Highland Tales" by John Francis Campbell

I know that Scotland is part of the UK, but when you think about it, Scottish people do have a destinctive culture, so in my challenge I decided to separate the four countries of the UK and read books by their authors as part of it. I haven't read this book yet though, some day I will come to it.

One of the bookshops I visited in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2017

11. Iceland

"Icelandic Folktales"

"Silence of the Grave" by Arnaldur Indriðason (2001)

I read the "Icelandic Folktales", as the title suggests, it is a book with legends and fairytales from Iceland. I would say, it is great for educational purposes for those who want to explore the Icelandic culture. Unfortunately, the second book, which I bought in Rejkyavik, is still on my TBR list.

12. Ireland

"The Voyage of the Dolphin" by Kevin Smith (2016)

Ok, here I must admit, I haven't done a proper research on Irish authors before visiting Ireland. So when I was in a bookshop in Dublin, I didn't know what to buy. So I found this book, which was set in Dublin, and I hoped that the author was Irish. It turned out that Kevin Smith was born in London but grew up in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK. So this book only half counts towards my challenge goal - as I haven't been to Northern Ireland, but I was in Ireland. The solution, I think, is the following: visit Ireland again and buy the book of the Irish author, and then visit Northern Ireland and read the book I already bought. :) And yes, I haven't read "The Voyage of the Dolphin" either.

13. Austria

"Measuring the World" by Daniel Kehlmann (2005)

The novel is a fictional biography of German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss and German geographer Alexander von Humboldt, and their many groundbreaking ways of taking the world's measure. But the book is not all fiction, some of the biographical facts about the scientists are factually correct.

When I read the reviews of the book, my expectations grew very high, so I expected a marvel. I can't say that the book is bad, no, quite the opposite, I like the book, but I can't place it among my favourite reads, like e.g. "Frankenstein" or "Ender's Game". So after having read the book, I was a bit disappointed, but the novel did raise my interest in the real biography of Gauss, which I am planning to read.

I didn't plan to visit this bookshop in Vienna, Austria, but it happened to be on my way around the city. A very nice place! (2018)

14. Belarus

"The Gray Legend" Uladzimir Karatkevich (1961)

I am including my native country to this challenge because in 2017 I moved to Italy to study, so at that time I was considered to live in Italy. So when I came to Belarus for holidays, I bought "The Gray Legend" book by Uladzimir Karatkevich and read it, so I counted that as part of my challenge. :)

"The Gray Legend" tells a story of hostility and squabbling between Kizgaila, a duke, and Roman Rakutovich, a nobleman, the latter harboring anger for years towards the former, because the duke didn't free Rakutovich's love interest from his service a few years back. This conflict between the two turns into a war, where many innocent people die. Although in the centre of the story there is this conflict, a lot is devoted to the description of the lives of ordinary Belarusian people and how their national identity was being born.

Honestly, I love everything by Karatkevich, I consider him the greatest Belarusian writer, so of course I love the book and will read more.

Minsk Central Railway Station was decorated in Harry Potter style in 2018. Cool, isn't it?

15. Switzerland

"Heidi" by Johanna Spyri (1880)

"Heidi" is a book about the life of an orphaned girl, named Heidi, who was first taken care of by her maternal aunt, then when the aunt was offered a job somewhere in the city, was left to her paternal grandfather, who was considered a strange man living on a mountain and not wanting to communicate with anybody. But as the story goes, the reader learns the story of the grandfather as well, and he turns out to be not that strange at all. The book covers several years of Heidi's life, which also include her several months' stay in Frankfurt, which she hated, after living for a long time in the countryside.

This book is similar in genre and mood to "The Summer Book" by T. Jansson. It is also quite easy to read and a lot of readers enjoy reading it, but as I mentioned, it is not my type of book, so I can't say I like it very much.

16. France

"Madame Bouvary" by Gustave Flaubert (1856)

I haven't read the book, although I have a few of its copies already, some day I must finally read it!

The bookshop in Strasbourg, France, where I bought "Madame Bouvary" (2018)"

17. Spain

"The Shadow of the Wind" (2001) and "The Angel's Game" (2008) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

When it comes to books about books, or libraries, or bookshops, basically, anything connected to books, I can never resist and start reading them on the spot, no matter what I was reading in the meantime. So when I learned about this book being of this category, of course I bought it and started reading.

The book is about another book, actually, so it is a story within a story. After reading the book "The Shadow of the Wind" by Julian Carax, the main character Daniel decides that he wants to read more works by this author and starts looking for them, however, someone is going around the city looking for the books by Carax and burns them. So Daniel is faced up before a mysterious adventure which holds a tragic story...

The book is an international bestseller, and it has the right to be so. I liked the story, and would love to read its continuation, the only thing is that I expected there would be more books in the story. :)

I haven't yet read "The Angel's Game", which is a prequel to "The Shadow of the Wind" - another TBR.

The bookshop in San Sebastian, Spain (2018)

18. Japan

"Mr. Nietzsche in the Convenience Store" by Matsukoma (2013)

"Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" by Haruki Murakami (1985)

"I am a Cat" by Natsume Sōseki (1906)

"Mr. Nietzsche in the Convenience Store" is a comedy manga about working at a late-night convenience store. It is said to be autobiographical, so the main characters of the story are a fictionalized version of Matsukoma and his new colleague-intern - the sardonic Tomoharu Nii, a blunt, philosophical man from his university, going by the nickname "Nietzsche-sensei" for his attitude. Can you imagine Nietzsche as a shop-assistant? Me neither, but it was a hillarious read, I liked it very much!

The other two books from Japan are on my TBR list.

A 7-storey bookstore in Tokio, Japan. The problem is that almost all the books are in Japanese, luckily there was one section of books in English, where I bought my books. (2018)

19. Czechia

"The House of a Thousand Floors" by Jan Weiss (1929)

Yet another book, which I haven't opened yet.

20. Portugal

"Baltasar and Blimunda" by José Saramago (1982)

I don't have anything to say about the book yet, as I haven't read it. But the place where I bought it certainly needs mentioning. The bookshop name is "Livraria Lello & Irmão", it is located in Porto, Portugal and it is one of the most beautiful bookshops I have ever visited. Just look at the pictures and you will understand. The entrance to the bookshop is not free though, but if you buy the book there, you can redeem the entrance ticket, i.e. you will get a discount for the price of the ticket.

21. Ukraine

"Picnic on Ice" by Andrei Kurkov (1996)

"Picnic on Ice" tells the story of a Ukrainian journalist who receives an unusual assignment from a newspaper - to write obituaries for people who are still alive. Such a task could not but affect the life of the protagonist, which he himself, together with the reader, is subsequently convinced of... In general, the book is both interesting and weird, but reads easily and quickly, it can help pass the time while on the road.