Wednesday, March 5, 2008

ORBIS TERRARUM Challenge!

The Orbis Terrarum (The whole world) Challenge *sticky post*
*Edit below!
**Another Edit!

We are hosting a Challenge!! I (b) graduated as a major in Spanish Literature, and my husband (B) in English Literature. I am in love with foreign literature of all types and am always overjoyed to get my hands on a good book in this genre. For this reason I decided to host a challenge!! I decided on Orbis Terrarum because it means "the whole world" and that is what this is all about, reading books from all over. There will not be a ton of rules so that hopefully some of you can overlap as you please.

Here is the deali-o!

- The Orbis Terrarum Challenge begins April 1 2008( you are welcome to join later) Through December 20th 2008.
- For the challenge each reader is to choose 9 books (for the 9 months).
-Each book must be by an author from a different nation in our world.

***Edit! You can change your list of books at any time, just as long as you have read nine in the end. sound good?

The bottom line: choose 9 different books, written by 9 different authors, from 9 different countries.

To join The Orbis Terrarum Challenge, write a post with your 9 books on your blog and then add yourself to Mister Linky! Oh, and use the button if you want to ( I know it isn't very good, if anyone has a better idea...let me know! I wanted it to say Orbis Terrarum in roman type bold letters across the bottom, but our computer is not cooperating!):



**Another Edit!! tanabata has added text to our image!! yay!! (thank you!) Here is the new and improved logo for Orbis Terrarum!:



86 comments:

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

come join us everyone! this will be a fun ride!

Wendy said...

I posted this to A Novel Challenge this morning - hope you get LOTS of interest!!!!

Sharon said...

I will definitely be doing this one! Just need to come up with titles/authors/countries. I'll sign up as soon as I've posted.

Heather said...

This is a good challenge! I'm really tempted but I'm really trying hard to limit myself regarding challenges. I know you'll get lots of participants though!

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

*Wendy- THANKS A MILLION!

*Ex Libris- I really just can't wait to see what you come up with. Glad to have you!

*heather- Thank you! Sorry that you are not tempted to the point of joining, but I fully understand having too many good books...and just not enough time!

Juliette said...

Thanks for hosting this challenge - it fits in admirably with my reading plans for 2008.

Becky said...

I have one quick question. It might sound silly too. Anyway, here goes. I review a lot of international picture books. (I have a Travel the World Wednesday feature on my blog). Would picture books count? If so, then I'd be more likely to join. But if not, that's completely understandable. I mean, it might not seem fair to other participants to have 'nine' picture books up against nine novels.

A "no" answer doesn't mean I won't consider participating. It just means I'll have to really think it out to see if I have the time and energy and resources to come up with a viable list. (After all, I've signed up for about 40 challenges this year. And there are always more on the horizon.)

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

* Juliette- I am very happy to have you! Welcome!

* becky- I am not going to be picky, you are the one who will be doing the challenge, and know what you have time for. It is up to you. Let me know what you decide!

Anonymous said...

I will post my choices soon. I am in!

Lotus Reads said...

What a great challenge Bethany...I do love World Literature but I haven't had much luck with reading challenges recently, come to think of it, I haven't had much time to read recently but I'll keep stopping by to see how the other participants are doing and to nab some book recommendations!

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

*gautami- Oh, so cool! Can't wait to see what your books are!! WELCOME!

*Lotus reads- THanks for the encouragement, I am excited about this challenge too. Maybe next time you'll be less busy. Thanks for checking it out!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

I love it! I just got done putting little flags on my world map last Saturday and was researching which books to read next from different countries! I'm in but I am not sure about my list yet...

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

*trish- YAY! so glad to have you!!!

Ramya said...

I am new to your blog. read about this challenge elsewhere and decided to give it a shot. Was wondering though.. do you count translations?? what are the rules regarding translations?? Am excited about this challenge!!
-Ramya.

Ramya said...

hey bethany,
yup..that is exactly what i meant when i said translations. thanks for your clarifications. putting together the list of books i wanna read is the toughest part i guess!:)

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

*ramya- Great! I am glad we got that figured out. yes, it is hard picking a list...I had a had time too.

Ramya said...

hey..so i am finally done picking the list of books i wanna read. so, added myself to the list. can't wait for april!:) i must say yet again, this is nice challenge! and nice meeting you here bethany!

Eva said...

I'm wondering if the challenge is just fiction books? Or can they be non-fic as well, if the authors are from different countries?

karen^b said...

I have just read The Cloud Sketcher by Richard Rayner. It takes place in the early 1900s in both Finland and New York. A good read and it qualifies for this challenge.

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

*eva- no, it can be non-fiction too. whatever you want. yes. It'll be fun!

*karen^b- yes! go ahead and click on mr. linky when you are ready, if you want to join of course!

raidergirl3 said...

I'm trying to make my list, and came up with some questions:
How do I decide the country? is the the setting or the author's nationality? And what about authors born in one country but live and write in another?

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

*raidergirl3-
yay! Okay, so it should be where the author is from, not the setting as there are many writers that write about different countries, but the point is to do authors from the different countries.

weather to do it where the author was born or where he/she lives, that is more or less up to you.But, if you look the authors up on wikipedia it will generally tell you what their nationality is and then you can go by that. That is what I did.

does that explain it?

raidergirl3 said...

yep. that's great, now I know what to search for. thanks! *off I scurry to check my countries*

tanabata said...

My list is up. I found I was already planning to read 6 for other challenges but hopefully I'll read more than the required 3 more.
BTW, I added some text to the button. You can see it on my post. Hope you don't mind.

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

*raidergirl3- oh, that is great. you have a great list!

*tanabata- welcome!! and of course I don't mind, I am very thankful! (can I steal it??? pretty please?)

tanabata said...

Of course you can use it. I resized it smaller for my blog. I was going to send you the original sized one with the text but couldn't find an email address in your profile anywhere. Please email me at tanabata2000 at gmail dot com.

Anonymous said...

I like tis idea, I read in different languages and always have books from different countries around.
So far I have listed only 3 books through June, will add more as I go

Thank-you for this challenge and happy reading

Lynda said...

Looking forward to this challenge. Thinking of titles ...

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

*Madeline- Great! and Welcome to the challenge!! I am excited to see which books you choose.

*Tanabata- Welcome! and again, thank you for the button. I can't wait to see your reviews, and get to know about good books.

*the holistic knitter- Welcome!! It will be very exciting to have you! This will be fun.

Corinne said...

This is JUST the sort of challenge I was looking for as I wrap up the Expanding Your Horizons challenge. Thanks so much for doing this!

Anonymous said...

I just put my post up and added my name to Mr Linky. I finally gave in...

Lizzy Siddal said...

Initial thoughts on my challenges page. I'm always interested to see what I actually do read!

Susan said...

I've joined your challenge, and what a great one it is. thanks!

tinylittlelibrarian said...

Wow, I was just thinking the other day "I really need to read more international books..." And then I came upon your challenge! I've got so many challenges on right now, but since we can overlap, I think I'll give this one a go, too! Now I just need to think up a list...

Iliana said...

Finally posted my list! Thanks for hosting - I think this will be a great challenge :)

Anonymous said...

I'm really excited about this one. It's going to help me make my TBR mountain into a hill. I'll post my list soon (or at least part of the list).

Karen said...

Sounds like a great challenge - this is my very first one as a new blogger. Looking forward to it. Will have a think about my 9 books.

Anonymous said...

As promised, here is my list:

http://thatsthebook.blog.com/2931449/#cmts

Anonymous said...

Thnanks for visiting my blog. Can't wait for the big kick-off on the 1st! :)

Bybee said...

Thank you so much for hosting this...I really needed something to kick-start me in regard to reading more books from other countries!

Unknown said...

this is one of the most interesting challenges i have come across! waiting to start reading my list :)

Juli said...

Thanks for hosting! I've got 7 of my 9 so far.

Ana S. said...

Hi! This is a lovely idea for a challenge. I really need some extra motivation to diversify my reading. Thank you for hosting!

Eva said...

I just realised that I put my list up yesterday and forgot to add it here. Whoops! Here it is:
http://astripedarmchair.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/new-challenges/

I'm excited abotu this one-thanks for hosting!

Laxmi Karumbu said...

Hi Bethany ,Im in oregon too... do you have a bookclub or something??Anyway great challenge will keep me busy for sometime:)

Laxmi Karumbu said...

You guessed it I was at the Oregon Gardens ..and you even remember the spot.

Laxmi Karumbu said...

You guessed it I was at the Oregon Gardens ..and you even remember the spot.

Anonymous said...

I would like to join, but I am sitll figuring out my books. What a wonderful idea!

Rachel said...

What an interesting journey this will be! I've never done a reading challenge before, but this one sucked me in. I had the luxury of perusing thousands of possibilities in our used bookstore, Old Saratoga Books, so this was a luxury. I picked nine interesting choices, all authors I've never read, so this will be exciting. Just blogged about it on my bookstore blog, The Book Trout, http://www.booktrout.blogspot.com and look forward to posting reviews of these nine picks.

-Rachel

Logophile said...

Thanks for hosting such an excellent challenge - I've added my list to Mr Linky. I've bent the rules slightly, by including a British writer (I live in Britain) and a continent (and not just a country) but it was my only way to visit Antarctica as part of this whole world adventure so I hope it's OK!

Tricia said...

hey bethany! i hadn't added your book blog to my reader yet and forgot you had it! as soon as i saw the challenge i wanted to do it but didn't have the time right then to get the list together. then time went by......and then i remembered! hurray! it's nice that pp's overlaps, isnt it?

Pallavi said...

Hey can you guide me as to how to join the challenge? I have my list already and ready to post.

Pallavi said...

You will find a review of the book In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar on my blogspot website. Tell me what you think.

monix said...

I'm looking forward (with a little trepidation)to my first reading challenge. I love your colourful blog.

Anonymous said...

I just joined; I will add to my books later on. Thanks for hosting!

Anonymous said...

Hi Bethany :)
i am late at joining even so i read quite a few foreign books, in French , English and German.
So count me in.

Thank-you for this challenge

Madeleine said...

Oups! i did join before,at the top. I am listed twice in case you want to remove one of my names.

katrina said...

I'm Joining. I'll go away and think about which books I want to read

katrina said...

my list:
Wild Swans, Chang - China
Theo's Odyssey, Clement - France
Out, Kirino - Japan
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Marquez - Columbia
The Castle, Kafka - Prague
Daughter of Fortune, Allende - Peru
I Am Charlotte Simmons, Woolfe -USA
Microserfs, Coupland - Canada
The Motorcycle Diaries, Che Guevara - Buenos Aires

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

WOW! So many of you have joined this challenge!! I never thought...never. I was perfectly happy when it was 10 people interested, this is incredibly cool to be able to get all this imput on which books are really great and which ones are not as great from other avid readers!!

I have fallen way behind in commenting back on here to each of you as you sign up...so sorry. I should have commentented on each of your Orbis Terrarum blog posts...though...so if I am not let me know, because something is wrong!

Thanks again to all of you for joining...oh, and anyone who wants to can still join!! This is way too fun to exclude anyone! haha..good stuff.

Cosmophilia said...

This is a great idea! I'm a little late to the party, but I just posted my list of books to read on my blog.

-
S

Anonymous said...

Awesome idea, I just joined in, that too without having decided the books list! But its definitely going to help people like me who love reading but have somehow been unable to do justice to it for a while!

chitra said...

I do read, but it was always deopendent on my mood. I think it wd be a challenge to look out for specific books and specific authors.

Can u pls tell me , do i need to review the book. I dont think so I am good at that.

Anonymous said...

I am a casual reader. Usually read, whatever that comes my way.

But this is a different challenge - to have a specific goal and read my way towards that! Hope it should be fun :)

Lizzy Siddal said...

I've had a bit of a reorganise on my blogs. You'll now find links to the books I've read for this challenge in two places:

1) On the right hand side bar of my main blog at
http://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com

2) On this post:

http://lizzysliterarychallenges.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/challenge-2008-orbis-terrarum/

Books 1 and 2 under the belt now!

Maree said...

Just signed up. Fashionably late, I hope, rather than pathetically late ...

Unknown said...

I do not know if I will make it, but I belong to a few foreign book groups at Yahoo! Sign me up! Judy

Medbie said...

I'm having a great time with this! It's making me expand my reading horizons a bit!

I'm over half way there now, by the way! :D

Eternal learner said...

Thanks. This way my reading will have some aim whatsoever. I was trying to read "Dog years" by Gunter Grass and going very slow.

Eternal learner said...

Thanks. This way my reading will have some aim whatsoever. I was trying to read "Dog years" by Gunter Grass and going very slow.

monix said...

Hi Bethany
I have really struggled with one of my books and would like to change it. So I'm taking out 'Blindness' by Jose Saramago and putting in 'The Collector of Worlds' by Iliya Troyanov.

1morechapter said...

I finished! My post is here.

Tammy said...

In spite of the fact that I'm several months late for the start, I love this idea and decided to join anyway. Not sure if I'll get all 9 books read in time but I'll give it a try!

Aditya Mani Jha said...

I have inadvertently finished the challenge!!!! I only found out about the challenge after I had finished it!!!

shalulah said...

I'm excited! I love reading books from 'round the world. My list includes a few I've been putting off, so this will get me motivated to finally read them.

Leya said...

I know I'm starting a little late. But it sounds like so much fun. I'll have to work on my list...

Happy reading!

Richard said...

Bethany,

Sorry I'm so late making it to the party (just discovered your site last week), but this looks like just about the best challenge out there! Thanks for hosting it.

Bee Bee said...

God, it is as if I am joining a party that is almost over!
I stumbled upon your challenge via some other blog and I am dying to take it. Only, I havent the faintest idea which books to pick up. I am not sure I can read all nine, but I shall at least try!

Bee Bee said...

hi, I have uploaded my list!

Unknown said...

Great Challenge. I'm on it!

Tricia said...

So, better late than never right? I've read a few since April 1, so I think I can finish in time. Thanks Bethany!

Sandra said...

It's very late in the year I know, but if I can count some that I've read since April 1, I can still do this, please. Thank you.

Alyona K. said...

Still welcoming participants? Count me in, then :) Although it's a real challenge - starting so late. Wish I got to blogging earlier... :)

Unknown said...

If I already posted these two books, I am sorry. I just do not remember if I posted these or not. Judy

http://intergalacticbookworm.blogspot.com/2008/06/life-and-times-of-michael-k-by-j-m.html


http://intergalacticbookworm.blogspot.com/2008/06/death-of-ghost-by-margery-allingham.html

Sandra said...

Whew, I'm finished the reading challenge and just posted about it. I did not however write reviews, I just can't keep up with my ARCs that need doing and I'm ill right now. I hope we do this again.

Diana B. said...

My reading blog is in my native language but I really want to participate in this challenge so I will write all the entries related to it in English. This is the first time I join a challenge. I'll have my list posted soon. Thanks for organizing this!