Time to Vote! Book Read 'Round the World

Book Read 'Round the World

Time to get the Book Moving!

Promoting a worldwide book blogging community and cultural awareness

It's time to start the Book Read 'Round the World Event! If you are a Non-U.S. blogger, you are still welcome to sign up until the books leave my house and get moving to the first stop on their respective world tours!

Two books will be chosen because I have 14 people signed up for the event! There will be two separate groups of 7 (or more depending on if more people sign up this week). 

Here are the choices (If you have signed up, you can vote in the comments, send me a DM on Twitter [@bowlieb], or e-mail me at littlebookish@gmail.com):

The Ridiculous Race by Steve Hely and Valy Chandrasekaran

The most absurd, hilarious, and ridiculous travelogue ever told, by two hit-TV comedy writers who raced each other around the world—for bragging rights and a very expensive bottle of Scotch

It started as a friendly wager: two old friends from The Harvard Lampoon, now hotshot Hollywood scribes, challenged each other to a race around the globe in opposite directions. There was only one rule: no airplanes. The first man to cross every line of longitude and arrive back in L.A. would win Scotch and infamy. But little did one racer know that the other planned to cheat him out of the big prize by way of a ride on a quarter-million-dollar jet pack.

What follows is a pair of hilarious, hazardous, and eye-opening journeys into the farthest corners of the world. From the West Bank to the Aleutian Islands, the slums of Rio to the steppes of Mongolia, traveling by ocean freighter and the Trans-Siberian Railway (pranking each other mercilessly along the way), Vali and Steve plunge eagerly and ill-prepared into global adventure.

The Ridiculous Race is a comic travelogue unlike any other, an outrageous tale of two gentlemen travelers who can’t wait to don baggy cardigan sweaters, clench corncob pipes between their teeth, and yell at their sons, “You lazy bums! When we were your age, we raced around the world without airplanes!”

Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost

In his latest, veteran traveler Troost (The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Getting Stoned with Savages) embarks on an extended tour of "the new wild west," China. Troost travels from the megalopolis of Beijing to small, remote trails in the hinterlands, the fabled Shangri-La and all points in between, allowing for a substantive look at an incredibly complex culture. He does an admirable job of summing up the country's rich history, venturing to Nanjing to learn about China's deep-seated animosity toward Japan; he also visits the Forbidden City, and the tomb of Mao Zedong, still very much revered despite his horrific record of human rights abuses. Gross disparity in wealth, omnipresent pollution and the teeming mass of humanity that greet Troost at every opportunity wear on him and the reader alike; the sense of claustrophobia only relents when he gets into more remote areas. Throughout, Troost is refreshingly upbeat, without a hint of ugly American elitism; he often steps aside to let the facts speak for themselves, and rarely devolves into complaints over the language barrier or other day-to-day frustrations. Those looking for tips on Hong Kong night life or other touristy secrets will be disappointed-few names are named-but readers interested in a warts-and-all look at this complicated, evolving country will find this a rich education. 

~From Publisher's Weekly Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

The Enchanted April is the story of four unique women in England, post-World War I. Two of these women go on holiday to a secluded villa in Italy, both currently suffering from empty marriages. The women attempt to find two others to share expense with, and meet up with a young socialite and elderly woman, and the four together seek rejuvenation from the beauty of their surroundings. ~Product description on Amazon.com

Read below for event details and the sign-up link:

This is roughly how it will work:

• I will purchase (up to) two brand new, shiny paperback books that we choose as a group (they must be travel related since our book will be taking a worldwide journey)
• I'll read the book within 1-2 weeks (no War and Peace length books of course) and send it on to the next person on my randomized list
• The package sent must include: the book -AND- a local treat of some sort that cannot be found anywhere else (it can be something as simple and cheap as a postcard or bookmark, or could also be more expensive like a book by a local author or something like that)
• Before you send the book onto the next person, you must sign the inside cover with the name of your City/Province(State)/Country
• Write two facts on a piece of paper about your City/Province(State)/Country -AND- two questions about the person's City/Province(State)/Country you are sending on to. Include the facts and questions in the package you mail. 

So you are interested in joining?!!

• To participate you must be willing to pay international postage to send the package onto the next person 
• Commit yourself to finishing the book within a reasonable period of time (no longer than 1-2 weeks). 
• Review the book on your blog and write up a post about the experience for my blog (you can also post the experience on your blog). Don't worry, it will be a short post (What you received in the package including the facts the previous reader sent you, a short summary of your thoughts on the book, and where the book is headed next).

Because it takes time to read a book and then have it mailed to another country, the group will have to be small so if there is a lot of interest I may have multiple groups (with the option for a different book). 

This event is now closed U.S. book bloggers. Bloggers from outside the U.S. will still be accepted. If you are interested in joining or helping in any way, please fill out the form or send me an e-mail at littlebookish@gmail.com. 

Click Here to Sign Up! (sign-ups are closed)