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#ToB26 #13

This short, brutal novel hit me harder than I expected. Set in Brazil, in a remote penal colony where prisoners are released only to be hunted, it‘s stark and unsentimental, yet gripping. Maia writes violence without glorifying it. The bleakness is heavy, but the sharp writing kept me fully absorbed. So I am with you, Helen and Sarah!

#ReadTheWorld2025 #34 #Brazil

In times of famine everyone with a family becomes a guardian and a thief. That‘s what this book shows the reader by setting a story in a near future India, where Ma is trying to get her father and daughter on a plane to the US while Boomba is trying to take care of his family. It‘s a sad and harsh read and it feels awfully plausible.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #33 #India

📸 Awaji Island, Japan

Inspector Amaia Salazar is called back to Basque Country, where she grew up, to lead the investigation of several killed young girls. So far so good. But there‘s a lot of folklore too and Tarot cards and nightmares leading her the way. It felt a bit too much, didn‘t really make sense to me.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #32 #Spain #10BeforeTheEnd #5

This book was not for me but I appreciate that for others this will be one that stays with them. While fictional, it shows a window into society in Egypt.

Read for #ReadtheWorld2025 #Egypt

Adding five countries to #ReadTheWorld2025 for September and October: #Ukraine #Albania #Austria #Croatia and #Portugal, coincidentally all European.

I now have read 31 countries!

I knew so little about Liberia, its past and its customs. This was an enlightening memoir that is infused with the history of both the author and the country. Highly recommend.

#ReadtheWorld2025 #Liberia

After 9/11 the narrator of this book moves from NYC to Lisbon to wait for the end of the world. He‘s waiting for his partner Cecilia in his new apartment, that very much resembles the NY one.
Described as a psychological thriller the book is much more a stream of conscience novel and I have to say I got very confused at the end. Just like the narrator. Not sure what to think.

📸 Lille, France

#ReadTheWorld2025 #31 #Portugal

Read on the recommendation of my friend‘s mom. An extensive memoir on Betancourt‘s time in captivity with the FARC. At times it felt a bit sanitized (she seemed to have more issues with fellow hostages than her captors), but I also can‘t imagine enduring what she did.

*small pot in pic is from Cartagena, Colombia.

#ReadtheWorld2025 #Colombia

Such an enjoyable, short, coming-of-age novel. I feel like every girl growing up has a piece of Annie in her. I loved Annie‘s contradictory nature and the simple sentences structure.

#ReadtheWorld2025 #AntiguaandBarbuda