I would love some people to help me out with the around the world challenge have a basic format but ideas and offers of help most welcome .THE IDEA SO FAR IS 11 CATEGORISE no order but a year-long challenge ,thinks I need help with are using mister linky ,making a button for blogs to show any help or offers of support be most welcome . here is what the categories would be –
- EUROPE (NORTHERN) -ie Germany ,Holland ,Sweden ,Denmark , Finland,Russia ,Poland ,uk ,Iceland ,Ireland ..
- EUROPE(SOUTHERN)-ie spain ,Portugal,Italy ,Greece,Turkey Balkans …
- AFRICA (FRENCH AFRICA) The west of africa mainly Senegal ,Cotes de Ivorie including books in other language from these areas in english.
- AFRICA (ENGLISH SPEAKING ) southern and eastern africa IE Kenya ,Ghana ,South Africa also books in other languages translated in to english
- ARABIC books from the arabic world Algeria ,Egypt etc
- ASIA (Korea ,Japan and China )
- ASIA rest of asia
- AMERICAS (NORTH) US AND CANADA BOOKS
- AMERICAS (CENTRAL) plus Caribbean
- AMERICAS (SOUTH )
- AUSTRALIA ,NEW ZEALAND AND OCEANIA
There are categories I ve in mind and let people read in what ever order they want but one a month for challenge leaving spare month as we all have things crop up and may need time in hand .
WHAT DO YOU THINK ?
I want this to be fun my personnel goal was to read books from 52 countries this year I ve nearly done that in twelve months ,its given me such a scope of books ,I just in a little way want to pass that on to other people in a fun way ,all the best stu and winston .
I’ll help! You could call the Arabic bit the Maghreb, since I’ve read Algerian lit that was originally written in French rather than Arabic. 🙂 Not to mention Iran (unless you’re thinking of that as part of Asia?)!
You might want to add another Asia bit…or maybe make one category East & Southeast Asia and another Central Asia & the subcontinent? It seems like there’s more historical connections between China/Japan and, say, Thailand or the Philippines than India & SE Asia.
And maybe you could just divide Africa into Western/Central and Eastern/Southern rather than along linguistic lines? Although then I suppose there’s the possibility of Nigerian and South African authors dominating…but I’m confused about whether, say, Rwanda would fall into francophone Africa (for its colonial heritage) or ‘English speaking’ (for its eastern location).
I’d also go ahead and pop the US and Canada in with Central America & the Caribbean, which would free up an extra category for Asia or Africa!
But I’m just brainstorming out loud. 🙂
Mr. Linky is really easy to set up: if you go to the site, you can just sign up for a free account and then use their ‘Wizard’ to get the code. With free WordPress accounts, you have to do the pop-up Mr. Linky.
What are you planning on calling the challenge? Once you have a name, I’ll see if I can come up with a button. 🙂
agree a bit with arabic change that way could include Israel which I worried that it seemed to have missed out ,not sure about africa or asia ,want divide it so people maybe read one from each area that isn’t south african or nigerian ,but suppose people will ,many many thanks for mr linky advice will follow and help with badge most welcome ,all the best stu
Sounds good! I’ll join no matter what. Such a fun challenge! 🙂
great Eva ,want keep it fun ,all the best stu
I’m happy to help, Stu, but I don’t know about Mr Linky or anything like that so best to ask someone else about that.
Let me know if I can do anything 🙂
I will boof ,maybe something on hebrew fiction ? ,all the best stu
I would be willing to help, although I haven’t ever used Mr. Linky yet or made a button, so maybe I’m not much help.
I would however set different options within the challenge: as in, not make it a thing that everyone HAS to read from each category, but maybe make different “levels”: read 5, read 10, read all?
had a league table idea but it felt bit silly points for each area and more for reading less obvious places ,maybe levels ,eva gave some great advice on mr linky ,will play usually work out after couple of tries ,all the best stu
I would be willing to help out Stu – Eva makes some great points, and Mr. Linky is pretty easy to use. Might be a good idea to set up a new ‘Page’ as a headquarters for it? Reminds me of the Orbis Terrarum challenge somewhat too 🙂 I like the idea of more challenges to get people reading international literature!
yes was going move to page when finalised idea and also do post on run up and through yeart to give people books and writers help in a way ,all the best stu
Interesting challenge. I would add Mexico to #9
Sorry I don’t think I would be of help otherwise as I am not tech savvy when it comes to setting up pages and that kind of stuff.
thanks heather ,was going put it in central maybe people read opne from mexico then ,thats ok I m not terrible tech savvy ,all the best stu
I would love to do something like this but its a case of commitment and at the moment I am lacking the urge to commit to anything (even my own challenges) no matter how great – and I do think this is a great idea. I actually looked up all the countries in the world as was planning trying to read a book from every country I havent yet and then felt highly embarrassed that I didnt know a lot of the countries existed. I will have a think on this though as it is tempting.
thanks simon Know your busy with wonderful green carnation ,i m aleways looking for new places to read from ,all the best stu
Stu, I’d love to help or participate if I’m still blogging next year. This challenge is a great idea! Unlike at least one person above, though, I’d lobby for including Mexico in North America and not Central America. That’s where most of the country (geographically and population-wise) is in any event. Cheers!
Great Richard be great having you on board for it and your Spanish and Latin American knowledge ,all the best stu
HI Richard, I did think about including Mexico with Canada and the USA, but the American market is so huge, it’s much easier to pick and American book. If Mexico is included with Central, then maybe participants would chose a book from there. Just a thought on my part.
have try and work some way to get people to read a mexican book ,along the way ,all the best stu
Stu, count me in. How about a category for Portuguese-speaking Africa?
that might be a great idea ,there are some wonderful books from round these countries ,all the best stu
I understand your reasons, Heather, but I think lumping Mexico in with Central America might lead to a “ghettoization” of all those Spanish-speaking countries that you wouldn’t have with a Canada/U.S./Mexico North America line-up. Thankfully, Stu is the one who will have to figure all this out in the end anyway. 😀
You can stick make a button into google search to find a site & as long as you have an Image (poss, the planet from space) it can make you a button. normally free, thats what I did.
ps. like this idea, if I can help, tell me how.
Great try that yes want do fun world tour and have some fun with people talking with about world lit ,all the best stu