Status after 11 months

After 11 months, I have read just over 50 titles (of 200 planned) and blogged about 30 or so. The blog takes way more time that I have to devote to it, so now I just read. I'm in the middle of four titles now: "Mexican Bolero", "Crabwalk" (Germany), "I the Supreme" (Paraguay), and "The Implacable Order of Things" (Portugal).

The books above, by the way, were all from the local public library, and I've read each and returned them on time :)

It is 20% off weekend at Half Price Books, so of course, I found more titles to add to the collection. Plus a stop at a bookstore near Purdue University, where one of my kids goes, added two (Malawi and Cameroon).

New purchases led to review of what I have accumulated but not yet read. The stack is quite tall. It is a good thing I skipped the idea of doing this in a year, despite being inspired by A Year of Reading the World. One strategy, of course, is to look for shorter works. Two collections of short stories will help, plus they give me access short works of fiction from Tanzania, Lithuania, Cyprus, Lichtenstein, and Macedonia.

I've started including memoirs, poetry, and nature or travel writing, as long as they are written by someone "of" the country either in childhood or now. Thus, I have Mark and Delia Owens's book "Secrets of the Savannah" for Zambia, at least until I find something else.

Writing from people living in countries with low literacy rates is hard to find in English or French: Current challenges include Central African Republic, Benin, and Bhutan. It is likely that the near 50/50 gender ratio that is currently on my list will tip toward male, as I find works from countries where far fewer women have basic human rights.