Bookcrossing in Bolivia

After leaving Peru, we crossed the border to Copacabana, a town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca.  It is a beautiful place, one where you could easily lose yourself for a few weeks.  Our hostel, a rather strange run down hotel, had views to the lake.  From Copacabana, it was a bus - boat - bus to the capital, La Paz.

Hostal Mirador (Copacabana)
I left Papillon and picked The Trial in Portuguese.

Cafe Pueblo Viejo , in Copacabana, where we sat killing time before our bus.  It had one of those 2 for 1 exchanges, but as I saw 2 great books, I had to trade.
I left:
1. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - picked up in Lima, quite a hoot.
2. Canal Dreams - set in Panama
3. North and South (Penguin Classics) - great to finally read this, after seeing the TV adaptation
4. The Fragrance of Guava (Faber Caribbean) - conversations with Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Picked up:
Pantaleon - from a great Peruvian writer (in Spanish to practice)
Bad times in Buenos Aires
- travel lit about Buenos Aires, where I should be in a week.

Bookcrossing in Peru

First country in my cross South America trip with my brother.  After a gruelling and seemingly never ending bus journey, we finally arrived in Lima.  From Lima, we headed down the coast to Huacachina to go in a dune buggy, then on to Cusco to visit Machu Picchu and finally by train to Puno, on Lake Titicaca.  More luck on the book front as there are more English speakers around.

Left in Home Peru Hostel   in Miraflores, Lima Peru
1. The Divine Comedy: Inferno v. 1
2. A Summer Affair
3. This is How

Picked up in Lima:
1. The murder of Roger Ackroyd - 1001 book to reread
2. The Spell - picked up to see if I liked his style, as one of his others is on the 1001 list

There was no exchange in Huacachina, but swapped Inca-Kola   for My Summer of Love with a fellow British traveller.

Walkon Inn Hostel
in Cuzco, Cusco Peru, I exchanged:
1. Your Royal Hostage (given to me by my brother)
2. The Spell (picked up in Lima)

Picked up in Cusco
Comrades in Miami
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - very happy to get this as I have been looking for it.

Bookcrossing in Ecuador

Brought a stack of books with me to Ecuador, a lot are Latin American related. 
On our first trip around Ecuador, I took a few books to exchange, as a lot of hostels here have book exchanges.  Latacunga was disappointing, either trashy 70s thrillers or books in Dutch.  We had more luck in Cuenca, though it was a rather cheeky book plus $1 exchange.  There was a tiny selection in Guayaquil, so exchanged one.  I had been hoping to pick up more 1001 books to help me with my 2010 total.

Hostal Macondo in Cuenca in Cuenca, Azuay Ecuador
1.Emma
2. Mr. Nice

I also left the His Dark Materials trilogy, which I had given my brother to read:
3.Northern Lights (His Dark Materials)
4. The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials)
5.The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials)

Picked up in Cuenca at the hostel;
1. Papillon
Rather pleased about this as it was a book I had been looking out for.
2. The Divine Comedy: Inferno v. 1 - travelling is the perfect time to read heavy classics.
3. The Lost World - Another book I was looking for.
4. Valkyrie Encounter - Nazi thriller
5. Death in the Andes - picked up for my brother

My brother gave me
Brothers Karamazov (a tome of a book!), which I left at Hostal Dream Kapture, in Guayaquil, Guayas Ecuador, in exchange for A Summer Affair

1010 Challenge: Bonus Category - Olympic Challenge

Bonus 10 x Olympic Challenge
B1. Buxton Spice - Grenada
B2. The Tapestries  - Vietnam
B3. From the Ngong Hills - Denmark
B4. The Railway - Kyrgyzstan
B5. An Ordinary Man  - Rwanda
B6. Blutsbrueder - Liberia
B7. Global Restructuring and Peripheral States -  Mauritania
B8. Inca-Kola -  Peru and Bolivia
B9. Bolivar - A Life - Venezuela and Colombia
B10. Portrait of a Nation - Ecuador

As I am currently travelling in South America, I am probably biased towards the last 2 books, both giving real insight into the northern countries in the region. I also felt that An Ordinary Man was a very humanising book to read.

Early Reviewers: Librarything

I have received 3 books in the last few months, lucky me!

The first was Timoleon Vieta Come Home  , fitting nicely into my 1010 Challenge Travel Category.  The link of the book is the titular dog, Timoleon Vieta, a mongrel who attaches himself to a lonely Englishman in the Italian countryside. Man and dog live together, the only constant in the Cockcroft's life, a life littered with failed romances, exile in a foreign country. This, the only truly constant relationship of the book, is interrupted by the arrival of the Bosnian. Timoleon and the Bosnian do not hit it off, leaving Cockcroft with a difficult decision to make.  In the second part of the book, we see the dog's encounters with other people, touching their lives in a small way. I really enjoyed the second part, windows into very different people's lives, and very personally written. It is in the second half that the writer's touch for description really comes in to force.

The second was  This is How,  I am a huge fan Canongate press and so picked this one out of the Early Reviewers scheme.
I read the book rather quickly, this was due to the snappy writing style and the plot. 
Patrick is a mechanic who, after his girlfriend dumps him, decides to move to the coast.  He ends up living in a boarding house run by a widow, trying to find his place. 
This is a book of frustration.  We hear all of the happenings through Patrick, which could be seen as one-sided, but helps the tension build and, ultimately, brings the reader to sympathise with the protagonist.
I found the Patrick´s time in prison particularly well written, capturing as it did the otherworldliness or time of life on the inside.


And last, but not least,  The Obelisk.  I was so excited to get this, I have enjoyed each and every one of Forster's books. This one is rather different, a collection of short stories, unpublished in his lifetime. There are uniting themes, homosexuality and class being the most prevalent. There is also the juxtaposition of the real and unreal, leaving the reader eager to read on and work out exactly what is going on. For me, the titular story was the best.

1010 Challenge Completed Category: Myths

Group 7: Myths and Legends
1. The Lusiads ** 1001
2. Stardust (this is the audiobook read by the author)
3. Politically Correct Holiday Stories
4. The Snow Cow
5. Branca de Neve
6. The Fire Gospel
7. The Water-Babies ** 1001
8. The Aeniad dramatised audiobook with Derek Jacobi and Ralph Feinnes
9. If you could see me now
10. The Divine Comedy: Inferno **Part 1 of the 1001 book

Of these, I would have to say that I enjoyed The Fire Gospel and The Lusiads most, both were cracking reads. As a light hearted holiday read, I do recommend the Politically correct holiday stories.

1010 Challenge Completed Category: TRAVEL

Group 5: Travel
1. Attention. Deficit. Disorder
2. River Town
3. In the Heart of the Sea
4. Danziger's Travels: Beyond Forbidden Frontiers
5. In Xanadu
6. Sea of Poppies
7. Timoleon Vieta come home
8. The Hill Station
9.The Oxford Book of Travel Stories
10. The Sheltering Sky

Gave up on The Wild Animus, what a bore.
* 1 1001 book

Top reads included River Town, as I lived in China for a year and the epic Sea of Poppies.