Friday, March 4, 2011

Five Best Books

5 Best Books

There is a great new meme I discovered thanks to Judith at leeswammes:  Cassandra of Indie Reader Houston has started “5 Best Books” - a different topic is suggested each week and participants list what they think are the 5 best book for that topic.

This week's topic is 5 Books Set in a Foreign Country

This is a great topic for me because I LOVE reading books set in foreign countries and in history.  I read both fiction and non-fiction, but I will limit this list to fiction because that is what usually inspires me to travel:
  1. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (India).  This is one of my all-time favorite books that I need to re-read.  It provides a glimpse into both the good and not-so-good sides of India in the years after achieving independence.
  2. A Long Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka (Poland).  This novel shows the city of Krakow at two different times of rebirth - at the beginning of Communism in Poland and after its fall.
  3. A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse (France).  Anything set in Paris and about a bookstore will get my attention every time.
  4. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (Japan).  A simple novel that to me embodied what I consider Japanese life to be.
  5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (England).  I absolutely love this book and its story of postwar life on the island of Guernsey.
What are some of your favorite books set in a foreign country?

4 comments:

  1. I love this list! I'm finding so many new books to read. I haven't read any of these, though I've heard of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. I've heard it's really good.

    Thanks for joining up! I can't wait to see your next list!

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  2. Eeek, Suzanne. The first 4 books I want to read, I mean I really want to read them, and the fifth is one I really enjoyed too. We must be book twins! :-)

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  3. Thanks, Cassandra -- I am glad I found out about this meme.

    Judith -- great minds think alike, hmmm? ;-)

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  4. A Novel Bookstore is on my must read list!!!!

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