999 Challenge August Update

I have now finished a couple more of the groups, so am well onto the final stretch, with only 8 books to go. I still need to find a few books to complete the challenge (Portugal, Canongate), but I reckon I am well on track for this challenge.

Group 1: Oceania and Islands COMPLETE

Group 2: Books about Portugal or written by Portuguese speaking writers. I have recently moved to Portugal and feel I should get to know more about the people and culture. 3/9
1. The Journal of Beckford in Portugal and Spain
2. Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon
3. Dona Flor and her two husbands

Group 3: 1001 Books COMPLETE

Group 4: Children's Books COMPLETE A bookcrosser lent me the Series of Unfortunate Events, which help me wrap up this section.
1. The 13 Clocks
2. Aesop's Fables
3. Mau Começo
4. Goodbye, Mr. Chips
5. The Bad Beginning
6. The Reptile Room
7. The Wide Window
8. The Miserable Mill
9. The Austere Academy

Group 5:
British Writers (pref. new to me) COMPLETE


Group 6:
Controversial or banned Books 8/9
1. Petals of Blood
2. The Satanic Verses
3. A Clockwork Orange
4. Gulliver's Travels
5. Lolita
6. Beloved
7. Their Eyes were watching God
8. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

Group 7: Travel COMPLETE
1. The Emigrants
2. Wall to Wall A Woman's Travels from Beijing to Berlin
3. Facing it: Angel Valerie
4. Something of Samoa
5. The interesting Narrative of Oluanah Equiano
6. Four Corners A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea
7. Snow
8. The Old Patagonian Express
9. Blood River

Group 8:
Canongate Books - a great Scottish press. 8/9
1. The poison that Fascinates
2. The end of Mr. Y
3. A Night out with Robert Burns
4. Tsotsi
5. Rembrant's Whore
6. Being Emily
7. The Penelopiad
8. Binu and the Great Wall of China

Group 9: History COMPLETE

Asia-themed Bookbox: Round 6

This has to be my most popular box, six rounds! Soffitta1's 2nd U.K. Bookbox (Asia Theme) has changed over the rounds, becoming more varied with each one. As usual, my books come from local charity shops, Mount TBR and Bookmooch. As with my other boxes, this has really focussed my mind on reading some of the books I have had for a while, though the mountain still seems to grow faster than I can read!

VARIOUS The Years of Rice and Salt
HONG KONG The Piano Teacher , Gweilo: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
INDIA The God of Small Things, Heat and Dust
INDONESIA Mister Pip
SOUTH KOREA Fox Girl
NEPAL & INDIA Tea for Two
VIETNAM Backpack
CHINA Peony in Love
JAPAN House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories (Japan's Modern Writers) , The Tale of Murasaki
TIBET Namma: A Tibetan Love Story
PERSIA The Rubaiyat (Dover Thrift)

Africa-themed Bookbox Round 2

Been a busy few days reading up the last books to go in the box, round two of Soffitta1's 3rd Bookbox (Africa Theme)
I was asked to do another round of this, happy to oblige! This was also good for Mount TBR, as had gathered quite a few African books on there.

SOUTH AFRICA Gem Squash Tokoloshe
EGYPT The Cairo Diary
KENYA From the Ngong Hills (Penguin 60s S)
NIGERIA The Famished Road
SAHARA The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream
ZIMBABWE An Elegy for Easterly
SUDAN Four Feathers
ZAIRE The Poisonwood Bible

Travel books:
Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town
The Shadow of the Sun (Penguin Celebrations)

Fictional Africa:
The Woman and the Ape
Scoop: A Novel About Journalists (Penguin Modern Classics) (diff. ed.)

Oceania and Islands Bookbox

I have decided to try a new box, this time with an Oceania and Islands theme. The idea is that all off the books have to take place on an island or be written by an islander. Bit of an experiment, but we'll see how Soffitta1's 6th Bookbox (Oceania and Island theme) goes.

Contents:
Japan The Last Concubine
Papua New Guinea / New Zealand Mister Pip
Australia Theft: A Love Story
Java The Flamboya Tree: Memories of a Family's War-time Courage
Haiti Masters of the Dew (Caribbean Writers Series)
Run Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
Australia / Sumatra A Town Like Alice
Trinidad The Mystic Masseur
Samoa Something of Samoa (Penguin 60s)
Sri Lanka Reef
Dominican Republic Dead Man in Paradise
Sri Lanka Anil's Ghost
Papua New Guinea Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea

Film Bookbox (Round 2)

I had only been planning to send out a couple of boxes, but then I realised I had enough for another film round. I have tried to vary the contents, some thrillers, a horror, period dramas as well as more recent films.

Contents:
Last Orders
Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder (Penguin Classics)
The Color Purple
Enemy at the Gates (Classic military)
Death on the Nile (The Christie Collection)
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Sweeney Todd or The String of Pearls
I Capture the Castle (Red Fox Older Fiction)
Sahara
No Country for Old Men
The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Atonement
Circle of Friends
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
My Sister's Keeper
Gladiator - A hero will rise

Asia-themed Bookbox - home again!!

The fifth round is now complete with a great selection of books arriving home. Soffitta1's 2nd U.K. Bookbox (Asia Theme) has had 18 different people taking part over the five rounds, and should soon be out again.

AFGHANISTAN -The Kite Runner
CHINA- Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress , Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter& Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh
PAKISTAN -Emigre Journeys
VIETNAM - The Sorrow of War
JAPAN - Lizard
SOUTH KOREA-Aloft
THAILAND-Even Thai girls cry
INDIA - East of the Sun , Siddhartha (Picador Books) & Love and Longing in Bombay

Film Bookbox

Nothing better than coming home to a stack of books!

Soffitta1's 5th Bookbox - Film Theme arrived back last week with a mixture of books. It included some children's classics: The Lion,The Witch And The Wardrobe, Good-Bye, Mr. Chips, Moonfleet (Wordsworth's Children's Classics) ,The Spiderwick Chronicles: Goblins Attack

Great books like The Remains of the Day (Vintage International) ,Emma
Recently filmed books like PS, I Love You ,Cold Mountainand The Rotters' Club
And last, but not least Cujo, The Beach,Jurassic Park, The Blind Assassin , Star Trek VII: Generations (Star Trek Movie Tie-in)

Fellraven's Crime Bookbox (Round 2)

Fellraven kindly bumped me up the list for the British Mysteries, Crime and Thrillers Bookbox as I am only home for a few weeks. I took part in this before, while I don't read lots of crime books, it is a genre I enjoy. Mum is a bigger fan and had fun rifling through the box.

I took out:

Sherlock Holmes: The Game's Afoot (Mystery & Supernatural)

Sweeney Todd or The String of Pearls

Traitor's Purse

Phil Rickman Omnibus: The Man in the Moss & Crybbe

The Riddle of the Sands

To go back in the box:
Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders
The Love of Stones
Aberystwyth Mon Amour
Oxford Blue
Saviour's Gate
Death of a Chancellor (Lord Francis Powerscourt Mystery)