11 in 11 Category Challenge - The First Quarter

The first 31 books of my 11 in 11 Category Challenge . As with last year, I am speeding through the first lot of books, this is because I am at my parents' house with a huge number of books to choose from.  From previous experience, the second half of the year is always harder as I look for books to complete categories.

Category 1:  Latin America

1. The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts
2. Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord ** 1001 Book
3. Malinche

Category 2: 1001 Books

1. The Idiot
2. Of Mice and Men
3. Schooling
4. Pereira Maintains

Category 3: History  (Fiction and Non-Fiction)

1. The Help
2. The Bamboo Palace

3. Ivanhoe

Category 5: Asia

1. The Good Earth

2. The Inheritance of Loss ** 1001 Book

3. Eating Chinese Food Naked

Category 7: German Speaking World

1. Dragon Rider
2. Candide *1001 Book, main character from Westfalen.

Category 8: Film & Adaptations

1. The French Lieutentant's Woman ** 1001 Book
2. Bleak House ** 1001 Book
3. Wicked
4. Crash ** 1001 Book
5. The Notebook
6. A Christmas Carol and other Christmas Stories ** 1001 Book
7. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland **1001 Book
8. The Time Machine **1001 Book

Category 9: Links

 

1. Son of a Witch part of Wicked series
2. A Lion among Men part of Wicked series

 

Category 10: Travel

1. Three moons in Vietnam

Category 11: British Authors

1. It Could Happen to You
2. Cold Comfort Farm **1001 Book
3. I was Jane Austen's Best Friend
4. Mrs Fry's Diary 

Some of the books may end up in different categories, especially as I am trying to read as many 1001 books as possible this year (15 read so far).  I am also trying to read books I already own, I have a veritable Andean mountain of books to read in my room.  Some have been there for years, not because I don't want to reason, but because, for some reason or another, I keep overlooking them.  One such book was Schooling, as well as  Louis de Bernières' Latin American Trilogy.

Top reads so far include:

French Lieutenant's woman, I just couldn't put this one down.

I also really liked The Help, a look at life in America's South as the Civil Rights Movement hots up.

The Good Earth, a book that had been on my wishlist, didn't disappoint.

Cold Comfort Farm was hilarious, I can't believe that I had never come across it before.
Pereira Maintains , interestingly I have read another translation of this book, but it was before I lived in Portugal, so this one struck me more.  Through meeting a young dissident, Pereira decides to challenge Salazar's regime.

Duffers - 

Bleak House, I found this hard to get into and to get through. I was also disappointed by Malinche, which was not up to the standard of Laura Esquivel's 1001 Book, Like Water for Chocolate .