Monday 14 June 2010

FIFA World Cup Soccer Reading Suggestions

Are you wondering what to do with the balance of your day while you are not watching soccer.  I recommend picking  up a book written by an author from one of the countries featured at the World Cup this year.  If you are not up to date on your international writers, check the list below for suggestions of authors and their novels.  Links to author websites will be included where possible, highlighted book titles lead to my reviews or those of my online friends.

If you wish to learn more about the participating countries, check the book Who Owns the World by Kevin Cahill with Rob McMahon. 

Corrections and additions to this list would be greatly appreciated.

Algeria
     The Prince and the Passage of the Iron Doors

Argentina
Olga Orozco
     Engravings torn from Insomnia

Australia
     No Highway
     A Town Called Alice
     The Lieutenant     

Brazil
      Birds for Demolition
   
Cameroon


Chili
     2666
     The Savage Detectives

Cote d'Ivoire
     As the Crow Flies
An interesting article from the University of Western Australia about female writers from Ivory Coast.

Denmark
     Smilla's Sense of Snow
Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen
     Out of Africa
     Babette's Feast   reviewed by Beth at Beth Fish Reads.

England
J. M. Barrie
     Peter Pan

France
Alexandre Dumas

Germany
Hermann Hesse ( I read both these book when I was in highschool, excellent)
     Sidhartha
     The Glass Bead Game
Gerbrand Bakker
     The Twin  review printed in The Guardian.co.uk , review by Rob at Winstonsdad's Blog

Ghana

Greece
     Zorba the Greek
     Freedom or Death

Honduras

Italy
Umberto Eco  (read both of these many years ago, highly recommend)
     The Name of the Rose
     Foucault's Pendulum

Japan
Haruki Murakami  (listened to the audio book, excellent description of why he runs)
     What I talk about when I talk about Running

Korea DPR

Korea Republic

Mexico
     The Devil's Highway  reviewd by Amy at Amy Reads

Netherlands
New Zealand
     The Bone People
     Guardian of the Dead  (on my soon to be read list)
     Mr. Pip

Nigeria
     Waiting
     Monday Morning
     The Icarus Girl
     Say You're One of Them
     Things Fall Apart

Paraguay

Portugal
     Barnacle Love
     The Elephant's Journey available September 2010
     In Blindness

Serbia
     Gotz and Meyer

Slovakia

South Africa
     Poison
     Homing  due out July 2010
     Jungfrau
    
Spain
     The Carpenter's Pencil reveiw by Stu At Winstonsdad's Blog

Switzerland

Uraguay
Ida Vitale   poet
     Reason Enough

United States of America
Edward P. Jones
Slash with Anthony Bozza
     Slash

Comprehensive list of Women Writers in Africa from the University of Wollongong, Australia
  
Amy at Amy Reads is hosting a mini Nigerian Reading Challenge.  She has listed several authors and invites all readers to join in and learn more about Nigeria.  She has posted a brief overview of several authors.

Stu at Winstons Dad's Blog is reviewing writers in his "World Cup of Writers"  from each of the participating countries.  To date he has featured the host country South Africa,  England, Nigeria, Ghana  

The Savvy Reader has put together a list of the Top Ten Books to Celebrate Soccer World Cup.

Thanks to Della of Cones to Go Press for her author and book suggestions.
The FIFA logo has been borrowed from the official FIFA website.

6 comments:

Lady Penguin said...

That Slash book sounds quite interesting. Perhaps I can add it to my ever growing list of books to read.

Miri said...

This is a great idea and honestly, more up my alley than watching the actual games...I'm not that big a soccer fan and that background buzz from the horns is driving me crazy!

I loved the film (or was it a mini series)A Town Called Alice.

Amy said...

Hey, Stu over at Winstonsdad's Blog has been doing a feature called 'World Cup of Writers' and has been highlighting great writers from each country participating! Also, if anyone decides to read a Nigerian author, do stop by and join my Nigeria mini challenge :D

Anonymous said...

thanks for mention heather and amy :) ,you can have bolano for chile his 2666 or savage detectives ,erm i ve review ida vitale poetery for uruguay ,spain zafon ,rivas i ve his carpenters pencil ,nederlands gerrhard bakker the twin i m just reading at mo ,you could check booklit blog or complete review website Michael has loads on there ,all the best stu

The Single Nester said...

How fun are these World Cup suggestions! I am reading "Tara Road" by Maeve Binchey right now. If you have a suggestion for a light summer read set near the water, I would love to hear it. Last summer, I read "The Last Summer of You and Me" and I loved it!

Beth F said...

Fun list! Thanks.