Breathe To Read

Breathe To Read

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Year End Review

Well - the end of 2019 has arrived!  Here is a run down of what I accomplished in the reading world these last 365 days.


I have read 168 books

Those books totaled 50,112 words

My longest book was 776 pages.  My shortest book was 30 pages

I got really far into my Read the World challenge.  Before the year started I had already covered 23 countries in books I have read previously.  Becuase I already had those books on my shelf and liked them, I kept them as my books for those particular countries.  Well - except Great Britian - I did pick another for that country this year because Harry Potter was my books choice, but I didn't really want a series for my challenge.

Anyway.  So far I have read books from 143 countries.  There are a total of 202 countries in the world, so I am getting close!  I am sure before the end of 2020 I will have this challenge completed.

I have been buying the books from each country to keep on our bookshelf.  I liked the idea of having one book that took place in each country in our permanent collection.

The rest of the books this year were off challenge.   The challenge got very heavy - lots of non-fiction books and intense stories - that I decided I wanted to read a few things for pleasure as well.  I tried to limit those books, but I have to admit it was hard!  A lot of books came out this year that I wanted to read that had nothing to do with my Read The World challenge, so I snuck those in there.

This was my best reading year so far.  I am pretty proud of that accomplishment.  I am looking forward to 2020 and finishing the Read The World challenge, and probably starting my next challenge which is Reading The States.  Can't wait.

Doing your own Read The World challenge?  Here is an a list of the countries I have read a book from so far.  Click on the Title and it will take you to my review of the book.

Afganistan - Kite Runner
Albania - Chronicle in Stone
Algeria - The Plague
Andorra - 32 Yolks
Angola - The Book of Chameleons
Antigua - A Small Place
Argentina - Alive
Armenia - Like Water On Stone
Australia - The Light Between Oceans
Austria - Marrying Mozart
Azerbaijan - Ali and Nino A Love Story
Bahamas - An Evening in Guanima
Bahrain - Round The Bend
Bangladesh - A Golden Age
Barbados - The Girl With The Hazel Eyes
Belarus - Voices From Chernobyl
Belgium - A Tall Man In A Low Land
Belize - The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw
Bhutan - Beyond The Sky And Earth
Bolivia - Bolivian Diary
Bosnia - Ziata's Diary
Botswana - The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Brazil - Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Bulgaria - The Physics of Sorrow
Burkina Faso - Of Water And Spirit
Burundi - This Voice In My Heart
Cambodia - The Rent Collector
Cameroon - Mission To Kala
Canada - Still Life
Cape Verde - Last Will And Testament of Senhor de Silva
Chad - The Roots Of Heaven
Chile - Maya's Notebook
China - Lost On Planet China (also China Dream, but it was bad)
Columbia - Delirium
Comoros - A Fish Caught In Time
Congo- Democratic - Tomorrow I will Be Twenty
Congo - Republic - The Poisonwood Bible
Costa Rica - Cadence Of The Moon
Cote d'Ivoire - Whiteman
Croatia - Girl At War
Cuba - Waiting For Snow in Havana
Cyprus - Mythos
Czech Republic - The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Denmark - Number The Stars
Djibouti - The Nomads, My Brothers
Dominica - Black And White Sands
Dominican Republic - In The Time Of Buttlerflies
East Timor - Bitter Dawn
Ecuador - Galapagos
Egypt - A Pure Heart
Equatorial Guina - Shadows of Your Black Memory
Eritrea - I Didn't Do It For You
Estonia - The Beauty of History
Ethiopia - Cutting For Stone
Fiji - The Blue Lagoon
Finland - The Year Of The Hare
France - All The Light We Cannot See
Georgia - Flight From The USSR
Germany - The Book Thief
Ghana - Homegoing
Great Britian - Dracula (also Harry Potter)
Guinea - The King Of Kahel
Guinea-Bissau - The Ultimate Tragedy
Honduras - The Lost City Of The Monkey God
Iceland - Burial Rites
India - Life of Pi
Iran - Persepolis
Iraq - Imperial Life in the Emerald City
Ireland - The Misremembered Man
Italy - Beneath The Scarlet Sky
Japan - Memoirs of a Geisha
Kazakhstan - One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich
Kenya - Circling The Sun
Korea, North - The Girl With Seven Names
Korea, South - Please Look After Mom
Kosovo - City Of Thieves
Kuribati - The Sex Lives Of Cannibals
Kuwait - The Hidden Light of Objects
Kyrgyzstan - Jamilia
Liberia - The House at Sugar Beach
Madagascar - Beyond The Rice Fields
Malawi - The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
Malaysia - The Gift Of Rain
Marshall Islands - Surviving Paradise
Martinique - Sugar Money
Mexico - Like Water For Chocolate
Micronesia - Island of the Sequined Love Nun
Mongolia - Ghengis Birth Of An Empire
Montenegro - Blood of Montenegro
Mozambique - The First Wife
Myanmar/Burma - The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
Nepal - Into Thin Air
Netherlands - Diary of a Young Girl
New Zealand - The Whale Rider
Nicaragua - The Country Under My Skin
Niger - Harmattan
Nigeria - Half Of A Yellow Sun
Norway - Out Stealing Horses
Oman - Earth Weeps, Saturn Laughs
Pakistan - Three Cups Of Tea
Palau - Vanished: The Sixty Year Search
Palestine - Mornings In Jenin
Paraguay - Ada's Violin
Puerto Rico - Stories from Puerto Rico
Qatar - The Glass Palace
Russia - The Master And Margarita
Rwanda - We Will To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed
Saint Kitts and Nevis - Only God Can Make A Tree
Saudi Arabia - Daring To Drive
Scotland - The Black House
Senegal - So Long A Letter
Serbia - The Last Window Giraffe
Seychelles - Stranded in the Seychelles
Sierra Leone - A Long Way Gone
Singaport - Aunt Lee's Delights
Slovakia - Maria Gulovich
Slovenia - Veronika Decides To Die
South Africa - The Elephant Whisperer
Spain - The Shadow Of The Wind
Sri Lanka - The Island of a Thousand Mirrors
Sudan - What Is The What
Suriname: The Cost Of Sugar
Swaziland - The Kingdom of Roses and Thorns
Sweden - A Man Called Ove
Switzerland - Swiss Watching
Taiwan - The Astonishing Color Of After
Tanzaia - The Snows Of Kilimajaro
Thailand - The Beach
Togo - The Village Of Waiting
Trinidad and Tobago - A House For Mr. Biswas
Turkey - 10 Minutes, 30 Seconds In This Strange World
Turks and Caicos - Water And Light
Uganda - Kintu
Ukraine - Like A River From Its Course
United Arab Emirates - City of Gold
USA - The Stand
Uruguay - The Invisible Mountain
Uzbekistan - A Carpet Ride to Khiva
Vanuatu - Getting Stoned Wtih Savages
Vatican City - The Fifth Gospel
Vietnam - The Sorrow Of War
Yemen - I Am Nujood
Zimbabwe - We Need New Names



I will finish the rest of the countries this year.  Not that many left to go!  Here are the countries I will be reading in 2020:

Aruba, Benin, Brunei, Central African Republic, El Salvador, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kurdistan, Laos, Latyia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauitania, Mauitius, Mayotte, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, Nambia, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Phillippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Zambia

It was a good year.  How was your reading year?  Did you read a lot of books you loved?

Bring on 2020

                       
                  

3 comments:

  1. Wow, 168 books - impressive!!
    Congrats to have more than halfway completed your read the world challenge! I gotta say I had to peak at the one for mine, Canada, and.. I didn't knew this book.

    I highly recommend drifting off the challenges a bit a read more books for pleasure here and there - it'd be sad to have reading turned into a chore !
    Happy that 2019 was a good year for you, here's hoping 2020 is even better! xx Happy new year!

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW, you had a fantastic reading year and look at your progress on the Read the World Challenge! So impressive and good luck finishing it up & happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you!! Yeah - riding on public transportation helps me read so much

      Delete