World Lit Wednesday: BY NIGHT IN CHILE by Roberto Bolaño

ISBN: 9780099459392 [UK]

Continent: South America

Country: Chile

Title: By Night in Chile

Author: Roberto Bolaño

First published in: 2000

"...[H]e said: Pablo's going to win the Nobel Prize. And he said it as if he were sobbing in the middle of an ashen field. And he said: America is going to change. And he said: Chile is going to change. And then his jawbone hung out of joint, but still he said: I won't live to see it" (p. 50).

My first South American novel for the Global Reading Challenge is By Night in Chile by Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. Taking place over the course of one night, the novel follows the wandering thoughts of Father Sebastian Urrutia Lacroix, a priest and literary critic who is approaching the end of his life.

World Lit Wednesday: THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins

ISBN: 9781407109084 [UK]

Continent: North America in the post-apocalyptic dystopian future

Country: Panem

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

"I can't go down without a fight. Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to...to show the Capitol they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their Games" (Peeta, page 172).

The idea of the Global Reading Challenge is to read books from every continent, but since there aren't many books to come out of the frozen wastelands of Antarctica, for the "seventh continent" you get to choose your own genre: historical, sci fi, nautical, fantasy, or whatever. I've chosen alternate realities, which is what brought me to Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games. And wow, I'm glad it did.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen is from District 12, the poorest of Panem's districts, located in what was once Appalachia. Life is tough, and it's only Katniss's illegal hunting that keeps her little family from starvation. But things get even tougher when Katniss ends up as a tribute in the Hunger Games, the annual televised competition in which twenty-four kids--a boy and a girl from each district--fight to the death. There can only be one winner. 

Global Reading Challenge: BELOVED by Toni Morrison

ISBN: 9780099511656 [UK]

Continent: North America

Country: USA

Title: Beloved

Author: Toni Morrison

First published in: 1988

Awards: Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, 1988; Frederic G. Melcher Book Award, 1988

My pick from my home country, the USA, is Toni Morrison's Beloved. A dark tale about an ex-slave who is haunted by the ghost of the baby daughter whose life she ended, Beloved is easily the most powerful novel I've read in recent years.

Global Reading Challenge 2011

Recently I came across this Global Reading Challenge, hosted by Dorte H (via Ari at Reading in Color). The idea is that you read a certain number of books from each continent (for Antarctica, you can substitute a genre such as historical fiction, sci fi, or fantasy), with each book from a different country or state. What an awesome idea! Since I've been meaning to expand my reading this year, I decided to sign up for the expert level and read three books from each continent.

I've already read one from the USA (Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison), so I want my other two North American books to be from Canada and Mexico. And I've read one from Europe--Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (UK).

I've also reserved two African novels at the library--Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria), and Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe).

I could really use some suggestions for the rest of the books, especially Asia and South America. Please feel free to make recommendations in the comments. Also let me know if you're going to sign up, and what books you are planning to read.