Reading the World update

 

As three quarters of the year has now passed I am really impressed at how much more of my map I have scratched off since June- I appreciate that reading books from Russian authors and also a couple of Canadian book has really made a difference but when I look back through my reading journal for 2025 I can see that I've read books set in 68 countries.

Of these 68 the great majority are by authors from these areas and for the most part not by British authors using an exotic destination. There are also pleasingly few travel writing books bumping up the totals - and several of the ones I have read were already in translation so gave a non British-centric view to the journey.

Books from Japan still make up the majority of books in translation that I've read in 2025, but so far it is France that holds second place (with South Korea and Germany) in hot pursuit.

If I add in books from last year I can say that I have read books from 83 countries which isn't bad too bad at all really!

My joy in this project is also making me start to think how I can share my discoveries more widely and as I work for the library service and as 2026 has been designated a Year of Reading all I can say is watch this space...

Reading Map 1st July

Graphically speaking

Graphic Novels / Travel Writing from Guy Delisle

While I am renowned for reading anything and everything (cereal packets if there are no books) I don't often read graphic novels.  Superheroes leave me cold and have done since I was a child and never moved on from Super Ted and Banana Man so I have tended to avoid this area in bookshops and libraries as I perceive them to be full of this sort of story.

There have been exceptions, I enjoyed the historical and allegorical Maus books and was fascinated by Peresopolis for instance and so when Guy Delisle's books came up as suggestions on Goodreads I thought they might appeal to me.

So far I've raced though Burma Chronicles, Jerusalem, Pyongyang and I have just started Shenzen. They are a mix of autobiography, travelogue and cultural guide to some of the most interesting or restrictive places on the planet.

In some of the books Guy is alone and travelling as part of his job as a animator and in others he accompanies his wife, who works for Medicins Sans Frontieres, on her postings. All of the books give you some insight into the counties visited but personally I prefer the ones where Guy is with his family and trying to adjust to both a non traditional role (he is a house husband) and life in strange surroundings.

The illustrations are deceptively simple but convey so much, Guy manages to tell all sides of the story where he can and it does seem that he tries to get behind the public facade of the places he lives - perhaps it is being a Canadian (who is married to a French woman) that allows him to be both an objective observer as well as expressing his own opinions in a non-confrontational way.

The books I've read so far have all been translated from the original French but whether it is the style of the books or the quality of the translation I'd never have known. (I would credit the translator of them all as being Helge Dascher but I have returned some of the books to the library already and as is so often the case the translator is not credited on Wikipedia or Amazon for quick reference.)

I'm still not sure that I'm ever going to love graphic novels as genre as a whole but I will keep trying them as just occasionally I am going to hit gold like I did with these! If anyone can suggest more books like these I'd be grateful.