Are you ready to get this party started? I was going to wait a few months to start this challenge, but it looks like the party is ready to go…

Welcome to the World Party Reading Challenge, where each month we will celebrate both a US holiday/observance AND a different country. Because what better way to party than with a book. The idea is to read more international literature, but I used US holidays and observances as the inspiration. Some connections might be obvious, others less so. I promise I’ll divulge the secret workings of my brain, but not until the beginning of each month (actually, it will most likely be the week before, and I’ll try to include some reading suggestions with each post), when I’ll post a little bit about my choice for the month. Don’t worry, I will give you the complete list ahead of time, it’s just that, for now, you might be left wondering why we’re reading about England in honor of Valentine’s Day.
Details:
12 months, 12 countries, 12 books. Each month we will read one (or more, if you’d like) book either set in, or written by an author from, the featured country (in a few cases I’ve been vague and you just have to stick to the criteria). If you’d like to read a non-fiction book about the country, that works, too. However, I do ask that you avoid books like Eat, Pray, Love and You Shall Know Our Velocity!, which feature multiple countries. The intent is to try to get a sense of place from your book or author. And yes, audio books are allowed. Also, my apologies to the under-represented South American and Pacific countries. Next year I’ll have to find a National Shoe Day and then we can read about the Philippines.
Do you have to participate all 12 months? That would be swell, and if you want to consider the challenge completed, then yes, all 12 months are required. However, if you have a burning desire to read a book about Rwanda and only want to participate for that month, I won’t turn you away. Party crashers are always welcome.
I will post a Mr Linky each month for the reviews about the featured country. Feel free to go back and enter reviews as the year goes on…I won’t hold you to India in October if it takes you until January to finish. The only advantage to posting your reviews timely is that I MIGHT do an occasional giveaway for participants. However, I make no promises.
The challenge runs April 2010 to March 2011. If we have fun, I’ll do it again next year with different holidays and different countries.

Here is the list of US holidays and observances that we will be celebrating with a book from another country:
- April – April Fool’s Day – France
- May – May Day – a communist country of your choice, past or present
- June – Juneteenth – Liberia
- July – July 4th – Rwanda
- August – Women’s Equality Day – New Zealand
- September – Native American Day – any sovereign Native American tribe
- October – Columbus Day – India
- November – Thanksgiving – Turkey
- December – Happy Holidays – choose your own country. It’s my little gift to you.
- January – Martin Luther King, Jr Day – Cambodia
- February – Valentine’s Day – England
- March – Saint Patrick’s Day – Ireland
Please sign Mr Linky if you plan on joining the party. You do not have to post a reading list, although if some of you would like to post a reading list (yes, I’m looking at you, Eva), feel free to leave the link below. Otherwise, you can just leave a link to your blog or your post stating your intent to join. And I’ll post about the April holiday and books about France later this month, so stay tuned.




















Recent Comments