Libya

Amy @ In Consideration of Books said, "Hi Bonnie, I have a book for you for a country you don't yet have listed and that is very topical right now:  Libya.  It was an excellent book and the author just has his second book out this month.  Here is the link to my review."

In the Country of Men ~ by Hisham Matar, 2006

On a white-hot day in Tripoli, Libya, in the summer of 1979, nine-year-old Suleiman is shopping in the market square with his mother.  His father is away on business — but Suleiman is sure he has just seen him, standing across the street in a pair of dark glasses.  But why isn't he waving?  And why doesn't he come over when he knows Suleiman's mother is falling apart?  Whispers and fears intensify around Suleiman:  his best friend's father disappears and is next seen being interrogated on state television; a man parks his car outside the house every day and asks strange questions; and his mother frantically burns his father's books.  As Suleiman begins to wonder whether his father has disappeared for good, it feels as if the walls of his home will break with the secrets that are being held within.  This book was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.

Luxembourg

Amy @ In Consideration of Books wrote:  "Are you still active with Books Around the World?  I have another suggestion for a country you don't have listed, Luxembourg.   Here's my review."

The Expats ~ by Chris Pavone, 2012

Can we ever escape our secrets?  Kate Moore is a working mother, struggling to make ends meet, to raise children, to keep a spark in her marriage . . . and to maintain an increasingly unbearable life-defining secret.  So when her husband is offered a lucrative job in Luxembourg, she jumps at the chance to leave behind her double-life, to start anew.

She begins to reinvent herself as an expat, finding her way in a language she doesn’t speak, doing the housewifely things she’s never before done — playdates and coffee mornings, daily cooking and never-ending laundry.  Meanwhile, her husband works incessantly, at a job Kate has never understood, for a banking client she’s not allowed to know.  He’s becoming distant and evasive; she’s getting lonely and bored.

Then another American couple arrives.  Kate soon becomes suspicious that these people are not who they say they are, and she’s terrified that her own past is catching up to her.  So Kate begins to dig, to peel back the layers of deception that surround her.  She discovers fake offices and shell corporations and a hidden gun, a mysterious farmhouse and numbered accounts with bewildering sums of money, and finally unravels the mind-boggling long-play con that threatens her family, her marriage, and her life.

Himalayas ~ India

Jane, who doesn't have a blog (yet), recommends Himalayan Dhaba as a good book about the Himalayas.

Himalayan Dhaba by Craig Joseph Danner is set in the Indian Himalayas.  After a hair-raising journey, Dr. Mary Davis arrives in a remote Himalayan village with just a backpack and a box of medicines. Expecting to work with a talented Indian surgeon, she finds instead that he is missing and she is now the only doctor within a hundred miles. When an injured tourist stumbles into her overcrowded clinic, he triggers a series of events that connects an unusual mix of characters: Phillip, the spoiled son of a British diplomat; Antone, an aging addict who attempts to kidnap him; Meena, a local village girl who embarks on an improbable rescue; and Amod, the lonely waiter in the local dhaba, who secretly looks after Mary.

Nigeria and England

Helen said, "Here's a link to my review of Little Bee, which would fit under England and Nigeria."

Little Bee by Chris Cleave is "a haunting novel about the tenuous friendship that blooms between two disparate strangers—one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow from suburban London."  The back cover says:

"This is the story of two women.  Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face.  Two years later, they meet again -- the story starts there.  Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your frienmds about it.  When you do, please don't tell them what happens.  The magic is in how the story unfolds."

Bonnie says, "Much of the book takes place in England, but some really important events take place in Nigeria.  I also recommend this book for both countries."

Uruguay

Bonnie said, "I've found a good book for Uruguay.  The Invisible Mountain is a novel by Carolina de Robertis.  Read my review of the book by clicking here."

On the first day of the year 1900, a small town deep in the Uruguayan countryside gathers to witness a miracle — the mysterious reappearance of a lost infant, Pajarita — and unravel its portents for the century. Later, as a young woman in the capital city — Montevideo, brimming with growth and promise — Pajarita begins a lineage of fiercely independent women with her enamored husband, Ignazio, a young immigrant from Italy and the inheritor of both a talent for boat making and a latent, more sinister family trait. Their daughter, Eva, a fragile yet ferociously stubborn beauty intent on becoming a poet, overcomes an early, shattering betrayal to embark on a most unconventional path toward personal and artistic fulfillment. And Eva’s daughter, Salomé, awakening to both her sensuality and political convictions amid the violent turmoil of the late 1960s, finds herself dangerously attracted to a cadre of urban guerrilla rebels, despite the terrible consequences of such principled fearlessness.

Wales

Bonnie says, "I've been to Wales, via book. After completing A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond, I spent the next couple of hours googling images of mid-Wales and Borth, the book's setting. That's how good it was. Read my review of the book on my blog."

Fifteen-year-old Jen had stayed home in America when her father, brother, and sister moved to Wales for a year, after the unexpected death of their mother. When she joins them in December for a holiday visit, Jen discovers a distracted father, a sullen brother, and a young sister who misses her terribly. Peter, the middle child, finds an ancient harp key that somehow tunes in to scenes from the life of the legendary sixth-century Welch bard, Taliesin. Strangely, Peter isn't the only one to experience that earlier century; people around him -- including neighbors -- see lights and hear fighting, too.

Australia

Amy said, "Hi Bonnie, Don't know if you are still running this challenge, but I just read a new book for Australia: The Voices by Susan Elderkin. Here is the link to my review."

In the remote, blood red dust of the Australian bush, thirteen-year-old Billy Saint turns to the stark landscape and mesmerizing spirits of the native Aborigines for the companionship he lacks at home. When he is befriended by Maisie, an enigmatic Aboriginal girl who has "sung him up," he slowly comes to realize that he is meddling with powers far beyond his control. Ten years later, Billy lies in a hospital bed, recovering from gruesome wounds of mysterious origin. Shifting between his hospital stay and the childhood that led him there, The Voices unfolds into a haunting exploration of the relationship between a white man, the land he loves, and the native spirits of the country struggling to be heard before they are lost forever.
__________

Thanks, Amy. Yes, I hope to continue this challenge a bit longer. Maybe this will explain my long absence from this blog. To everyone, please re-submit any book suggestions you've made that I failed to get posted.
Thanks,
~~~ Bonnie

Finland

Wendy said, "An excellent (and quick) read for Finland is Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name, by Vendela Vida. The book introduces readers to the Sami culture and the haunting and desolate landscape of Lapland. Here is my review."

On the day of her father's funeral, twenty-eight-year-old Clarissa Iver­ton discovers that he wasn't her biological father after all. Her mother disappeared fourteen years earlier, and her fiancé has just revealed a life-changing secret to her. Alone and adrift, Clarissa travels to mystical Lapland, where she believes she'll meet her real father. There, at a hotel made of ice, Clarissa is confronted with the truth about her mother's his­tory, and must make a decision about how—and where—to live the rest of her life.

Italy

Amy said, "Here is another one for Italy for you: I'm Not Scared by Niccolò Ammaniti. The link to my review is here."

“Stop all this talk about monsters, Michele. Monsters don’t exist. It’s men you should be afraid of, not monsters.” A sweltering heat wave hits a tiny village in Southern Italy, sending the adults to seek shelter, while their children bicycle freely throughout the countryside, playing games and getting into trouble. On a dare, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano enters an old, abandoned farmhouse, where he stumbles upon a secret so terrible that he can’t tell anybody. As the truth emerges, Michele learns that the horror in the creepy old house is closer to home than he ever imagined. A widely acclaimed international bestseller, I’m Not Scared is a spine-tingling novel that combines a coming of age narrative with a satisfying, enthralling story of suspense.

Korea

Amy said, "I have a new book for you and I noticed you don't have this country yet: Korea. Here is the link to my review."

One Thousand Chestnut Trees by Mira Stout is subtitled "A Novel of Korea." Uncle Hong-do arrives in Vermont from Korea to see the sister he has never met, a concert violinist long settled in the West. His colorful visit turns his teenage niece's world upside down, disrupting Anna's cozy existence with his eccentric customs, forcing into it a fresh and intriguing tang of Korea. Then, too soon, he returns to Seoul. Years later, Anna, now an artist in Manhattan, finds herself in a state of Bohemian malaise -- unhappy, aimless, uninspired, and mired in routine. She seeks to fill the void with an expedition to Korea, retracing her mother's journey in an effort "to see my family undie." Her departure stirs up vivid, shocking memories for her mother, of her gilded childhood, and of her noble clan's fall from power. Long ago, her grandfather commanded his own private armies and owned vast estates across the country from north to south. In defiance of centuries of barbarous invasions -- by the Japanese, Manchus, and finally the Communists -- he built a temple high in the mountains and planted one thousand chestnut trees to shield it from view. Generations later, his trees call back his great-granddaughter Anna, who sets out with Uncle Hong-do to find the hidden temple and excavate from history the remains of her family's legacy.