Tag: Fiction Fan

This year, I tried to read my way round the world. And to help me along, I played a game of bingo. Here’s how. You take the bingo card shown below, and attempt to cover each square with the title of a book you’ve just read. 

Here’s how I got on. The stars represent how much I’ve enjoyed the book (out of five). The scoring here is quite high – these are among my year’s Best Books. Other star ratings are available, and visible on some other – less successful -choices this year.

The links will take you to my reviews on Goodreads. I’m actively in the process of changing my book tracking to Storygraph. When I started recording the books I’d read, I was at first unaware that Goodreads was owned by Amazon. I’m a fervent Amazon Avoider, so it really is time to go, especially as the site is actually quite clunky.

Wanderlust Bingo

North America
Elizabeth Strout: The Burgess Boys⭐⭐⭐
Nordic
Roy Jacobsen: Just a Mother⭐⭐⭐
City
Elizabeth McCracken: The Hero of This Book (London)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Western Europe
Donna Leon:  So shall you reap (Italy, Venice)⭐⭐⭐⭐
Far East
An Yu: Ghost Music (China) ⭐⭐⭐

Indian Subcontinent
Kiran Desai: Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (India) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Village
Barry Unsworth: Morality Play (14th century Northern England) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Australia
Kate Grenville: A Room Made of Leaves (New South Wales) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Island
Audrey Magee: The Colony (Island off West Coast of Ireland) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
UK (excluding Scotland)
Caleb Azumah Nelson: Small Worlds (London) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mountain
Christopher Somerville: Walking the Bones of Britain (mountainous regions of Scotland; Pennines)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Central America
Any suggestions?
Scotland
Douglas Stuart: Young Mungo (Glasgow) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Africa
Petina Gappah: Out of Darkness Shining Light (Central Africa: the route explored by David Livingstone) ⭐⭐⭐
Small Town
Jo Browning Roe: A Terrible Kindness (Aberfan, Wales)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Caribbean
Any suggestions?
Beach
Sheila Armstrong: Falling Animals (Ireland) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
South East Asia
Kate Strasdin: The Dress Diary of Mrs. Ann Sykes (partly Singapore) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
River
Shelley Read: Go as a River (USA Colorado) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Southern Europe
Joseph O’Connor: My Father’s House (Rome)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

South America
Dan Saladino: Eating to Extinction (Bolivia and Venezuela: a bit of a cheat as Saladino visits every continent in this book)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Central or Eastern Europe
Lauren Chater: The Lace Weaver (Estonia)⭐⭐⭐
Sea
Karen Pinchin: Kings of their Own Ocean (Tuna, widespread)⭐⭐⭐
Middle East
Susan Abulhawa: Against the Loveless World (Palestine). I've hardly started this one, so no thoughts or ratings yet.
Polynesia
Eleanor Catton: Birnam Wood (New Zealand)⭐⭐

This great idea comes from Fiction Fan: you can read all about it on her site and maybe decide it’s for you too. At least one other blogging pal, Karen of Booker Talk has joined in the fun. Read all about it!

As this is my last post this year, it’s time to thank you all for reading and commenting, and for being part of such an engaging community. All good wishes for 2024.

Nicola Nuttall of Unsplash has provided my featured photo.