Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
#ReadtheWorld2025
review
BarbaraBB
A Guardian and a Thief | Megha Majumdar
post image
Pickpick

In times of famine everyone with a family becomes a guardian and a thief. That‘s what this book shows the reader by setting a story in a near future India, where Ma is trying to get her father and daughter on a plane to the US while Boomba is trying to take care of his family. It‘s a sad and harsh read and it feels awfully plausible.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #33 #India

📸 Awaji Island, Japan

GatheringBooks I lovelovelove photos of your travels! So awesome. 👏🏼 2d
BarbaraBB @GatheringBooks thank you ☺️ 2d
squirrelbrain A rather terrible book, but I still couldn‘t put it down. 2d
76 likes1 stack add4 comments
review
BarbaraBB
post image
Mehso-so

Inspector Amaia Salazar is called back to Basque Country, where she grew up, to lead the investigation of several killed young girls. So far so good. But there‘s a lot of folklore too and Tarot cards and nightmares leading her the way. It felt a bit too much, didn‘t really make sense to me.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #32 #Spain #10BeforeTheEnd #5

Cathythoughts Yes I think I tried that one and it didn‘t work for me either 🤷🏼‍♀️ 1w
Bookwormjillk Too bad the book wasn‘t better, but I love the photo. 1w
ChaoticMissAdventures ✔️✔️ great progress! 1w
GatheringBooks Sometimes authors want to do way too many things in one book - and it ends up unwieldy. 🥰 Love your progress in #ReadTheWorld2025!! We are launching our 2026 theme very soon! 🥰 3d
63 likes5 comments
review
Kristy_K
post image
Panpan

This book was not for me but I appreciate that for others this will be one that stays with them. While fictional, it shows a window into society in Egypt.

Read for #ReadtheWorld2025 #Egypt

Dilara This is pretty much what I thought of this book too! 2w
45 likes1 comment
blurb
BarbaraBB
Read the World | Pushpinder Khaneka
post image

Adding five countries to #ReadTheWorld2025 for September and October: #Ukraine #Albania #Austria #Croatia and #Portugal, coincidentally all European.

I now have read 31 countries!

Bookwormjillk Impressive! 3w
GatheringBooks Oh wow wow wow! Impressive indeed. I am at 37 countries now and 15 languages (translated) - I keep track here: https://gatheringbooks.org/readtheworld2025/ 2w
Suet624 Amazing! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 2w
46 likes3 comments
review
Kristy_K
post image
Pickpick

I knew so little about Liberia, its past and its customs. This was an enlightening memoir that is infused with the history of both the author and the country. Highly recommend.

#ReadtheWorld2025 #Liberia

BarbaraBB I really enjoyed this one too. 4w
Kristy_K @BarbaraBB It was so well-written and informative while still being personal! 4w
50 likes2 comments
review
BarbaraBB
Your Steps on the Stairs: A Novel | Antonio Muoz Molina
post image
Mehso-so

After 9/11 the narrator of this book moves from NYC to Lisbon to wait for the end of the world. He‘s waiting for his partner Cecilia in his new apartment, that very much resembles the NY one.
Described as a psychological thriller the book is much more a stream of conscience novel and I have to say I got very confused at the end. Just like the narrator. Not sure what to think.

📸 Lille, France

#ReadTheWorld2025 #31 #Portugal

Hooked_on_books Lille looks so pretty! 🤩 1mo
BarbaraBB @Hooked_on_books It‘s a cute and charming city. Much more Belgian than French in my opinion 1mo
sarahbarnes Yeah, I got confused at the end as well. I think the marketing for this one was misleading. 1mo
See All 6 Comments
GatheringBooks Ooh, intriguing. Love the photo of your travel, too. Lisbon does not seem an ideal place to wait out the end of the world - too many stairs and steep hills (lols). 4w
BarbaraBB @sarahbarnes The blurb is really misleading! 4w
79 likes6 comments
review
Kristy_K
post image
Mehso-so

Read on the recommendation of my friend‘s mom. An extensive memoir on Betancourt‘s time in captivity with the FARC. At times it felt a bit sanitized (she seemed to have more issues with fellow hostages than her captors), but I also can‘t imagine enduring what she did.

*small pot in pic is from Cartagena, Colombia.

#ReadtheWorld2025 #Colombia

GatheringBooks Oooh, i love the pairing of the Colombian succulent with the Colombian book! Awesome!👏🏼 1mo
Lesliereadsalot Pretty succulent pot! 1mo
56 likes2 comments
review
Kristy_K
Annie John: A Novel | Jamaica Kincaid
post image
Pickpick

Such an enjoyable, short, coming-of-age novel. I feel like every girl growing up has a piece of Annie in her. I loved Annie‘s contradictory nature and the simple sentences structure.

#ReadtheWorld2025 #AntiguaandBarbuda

GatheringBooks I love your book cover! I reviewed this book 3 years ago: https://wp.me/pDlzr-ogz - i loved it too 2mo
lil1inblue I read this and college and thought it was excellent. I need to re-read! 😍 2mo
Kristy_K @GatheringBooks Great review! 2mo
Kristy_K @lil1inblue You should! It was so fun to read. 2mo
48 likes1 stack add4 comments
review
BarbaraBB
Endling | Maria Reva
post image
Mehso-so

#BookerLonglist #6

A highly original novel about 3 Ukrainian women on a road trip with some men they keep captive while Russia invades their country. Also, they are looking for a special kind of snail. I loved the fist half and the part which is an interlude by the author herself. Then however I lost interest a bit. So many super interesting story lines and yet I felt like nothing much happened. A so-so for me.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #28 #Albania

squirrelbrain Yes, I felt like this could have done with some tightening up in the second half. 2mo
Graywacke Totally opposite for me. ☺️ Didn‘t like the 1st 100 pages. After the meta, the story could have done anything and I would have loved it. How many more, B? (edited) 2mo
BarbaraBB @Graywacke That‘s a wonderful experience! I don‘t have any other nominated books at hand right now. I‘ll wait for the shortlist and continue afterwards. I have read the six books that most appealed to me. 2mo
See All 8 Comments
Graywacke @BarbaraBB good plan! 2mo
Suet624 Rats! I really liked this one. 2mo
BarbaraBB @Suet624 I know. I was surprised I didn‘t like it as much as you did 2mo
Suet624 As you know, sometimes it‘s just the timing. I think I had been reading books I really wasn‘t so happy with right before I read Endling and I was just delighted by the composition of the book. 2mo
BarbaraBB @Suet624 So true. And I have felt so restless lately that I found it hard to concentrate on that same composition! 2mo
76 likes8 comments