2018 European Reading Challenge Wrap-up

I have completed the  2018 European Reading Challenge hosted at Rose City Reader at the Deluxe Entourage level. Here are the 5 books (by different European authors or set in different European countries) that I read:

• No Fond Return of Love (Great Britain)
• By Its Cover (Italy)
• Beartown (Sweden)
• The Little Paris Bookshop (France)
• The Big Wheel (Monaco)

The sign-ups are already in progress for European Reading Challenge 2019 so if reading your way through Europe appeals I would encourage you to sign up.

The Big Wheel

The Big Wheel: Monte Carlo's Opulent Century
by George W. Herald
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was published in 1963 and is the history of Monte Carlo and its famous casino. Aristotle Onassis ran the casino at that point, and was involved in a somewhat scandalous affair with opera singer Maria Callas. Primarily this book is a bit of political history mixed into a lot of colorful tabloid tales of the rich and famous. It was entertaining, though not particularly deep.
This book counts toward two of my 2018 reading challenges: the Nonfiction Reading Challenge and the European Reading Challenge (for Monaco).

The Little Paris Bookshop

The Little Paris Bookshop 
by Nina George
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a charming book about love and loss and the importance of friends to help you deal with stuff. It was also a love letter to books and to France, especially Provence. The tone of it reminded me a little bit of Chocolat. The main character, M. Perdu, has a bookshop on a barge where he "prescribes" books to his customers to help them with their problems. He ends up on a journey through the canals of France as he tries to heal his own broken heart.

This book counts as my French title for the European Reading Challenge. 

Beartown

Beartown by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“There are few words that are harder to explain than "loyalty." It's always regarded as a positive characteristic, because a lot of people would say that many of the best things people do for each other occur precisely because of loyalty. The only problem is that many of the very worst things we do to each other occur because of the same thing.”

I had to read this for work (yes, this is a benefit of being a librarian) and didn't expect to like it. It is, according to the blurb, about people in a small town in the middle of nowhere that is obsessed with hockey. It is much more than that though and I was impressed. The writing is great, the characters were complex and interesting (though I found many of them unlikable), and the structure of the novel was brilliant. The first page tells you that someone (it doesn't say who) is going to hold a gun to someone else's head and pull the trigger. You spend the rest of the book headed for that moment, still not knowing who the people are.
I am counting this book toward the European Reading Challenge because it is set in Sweden and the author is Swedish. Oddly I didn't realize this until well into the book when someone gives somebody a kronor. Initially I thought the book was set in a tiny Canadian community (it reminds me in some ways of the town in Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World) but when someone mentioned having moved back from Canada I figured it must be set in Minnesota until I got to the kronor thing. Clearly this novel speaks to a broader truth about small town life. I loved the jokes about the people from the next town over and the reality that no matter how lame the place you are from there is somewhere else you will look down on. It is sad, but it is so human.

By its Cover

By Its Cover by Donna Leon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This mystery focuses on the theft and vandalism of rare books in a Venetian library. It was very Brunetti-focused, much more so than many of these novels which have more interaction with other characters than this one did. This struck me as kind of a quiet novel. It was excellent however, with lots of observations of the world and fabulous sounding meals. Who has time to make gnocci with ragu for lunch? Paola Brunetti makes time.
This story is set in Venice so I am counting it as my Italian title for the European Reading Challenge. 

No Fond Return of Love

No Fond Return of Love 
by Barbara Pym
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Dulcie always found a public library a little upsetting, for one saw so many odd people there, and it must be supposed that a certain proportion came in because they had nowhere else to go. Others were less easy to classify and less worrying. Why, for instance, was a reasonably prosperous-looking middle-aged woman--the smartness of her clothes detracted from by the dowdy laced-up shoes that told of bad feet--so anxious to get hold of a pre-war Kelly's Directory of Somerset?" (p. 52)

I found Miss Dulcie Mainwaring a delightful character. Very proper and respectable on the outside, but with a sharp observational wit which she mostly keeps to herself.  This novel is about a group of people living in and around London (mostly in a suburb near Kensington) and the daily concerns and events of their world. At the start of the story many of them don't know one another, but through the book Pym shows how they are interconnected or brings them together in ways that seem inevitable and connections are made. There are lots of vicars, oceans of tea, and a charming sense of the absurdities of life.
This book counts as my British title for the European Reading Challenge. 

2018 Reading Challenges

I have decided on 5 reading challenges for 2018 (in addition to the Canadian Book Challenge which ends on Canada Day):

#1 - Non-Fiction Reading Challenge hosted at Doing Dewey
I am challenging myself to read at least 12 non-fiction books this year.

#2 - What's in a Name 2018 hosted at The Worm Hole
This will require reading 6 books, one for each category:

• The word ‘the’ used twice (The Secret By The Lake; The End Of The Day, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time)
• A fruit or vegetable (The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society; The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake)
• A shape (The Ninth Circle, The Square Root Of Summer, Circle Of Friends)
• A title that begins with Z – can be after ‘The’ or ‘A’ (Zen In The Art Of Writing; The Zookeeper’s Wife, Zelda)
• A nationality (Anna And The French Kiss; How To Be A Kosovan Bride; Norwegian Wood)
• A season (White Truffles In Winter; The Spring Of Kasper Meier; The Summer Queen; Before I Fall; The Autumn Throne)

#3 - Back to the Classics 2018 hosted at Books and Chocolate
For this one I will need to read at least 6 and up to 12 books all at least 50 years old. No more than one for each of the categories:

• A 19th century classic - any book published between 1800 and 1899.
• A 20th century classic - any book published between 1900 and 1968. 
• A classic by a woman author. 
• A classic in translation.  
• A children's classic. 
• A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction. 
• A classic travel or journey narrative, fiction or non-fiction. 
• A classic with a single-word title. 
• A classic with a color in the title. 
• A classic by an author that's new to you. 
• A classic that scares you. 
• Re-read a favorite classic. 

#4 - 2018 European Reading Challenge hosted at Rose City Reader
This will require reading 5 books by different European authors or set in different European countries (Deluxe Entourage level)

#5 - I am also participating in the GoodReads 2018 Reading Challenge with a goal of reading 100 books.