Around the World in 80 Books 2014 Wrap-Up Post

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BOOKS READING CHALLENGE 2014
 Wrap-Up Post

Just heard about this challenge and decided to try it as well. This one is just fiction, but has a few sub-challenges to it as well.
Since I read 115 fiction books last year, I thought 80 was doable, but I only made it to 71.

Also the host seemed to lose interest gradually over the year, putting up the monthly posts late, then not posting at all for the last few months.  

Here are the details:

• You collect gems for each part of the challenge you complete.

The red gem

• Read 80 books in 2014. They can be any fiction genre and any length, as long as they are published and are available to purchase.
• Since this challenge is about going round the world, read books set in different locations of the world. For example, there shouldn't be two books set New York. 
• Complete this mini-challenge and collect the rare red gem. I did not complete this one.

   The green gem   

• Read at least one book set on each continent –Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America and Antarctica. If you need help finding books set in Antarctica check out this Goodreads List.
• Complete this mini-challenge and collect all 7 green gems. I collected 6 of these, as I didn't do a book from Antarctica. 

   The yellow gem   

• Read our selected book of the month. There will be one each month. Complete this mini-challenge and collect the 12 yellow gems. They only actually gave out 6 Book of the Months, and I got 4 of them. 

The blue gem

• The coveted blue gem will be awarded to all those who complete all the mini-challenges and collect all the green, yellow and red gems. Obviously, I did not get this one. 

My books:

1. The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood. Finished January 3 (Napa, California and Rhode Island)
2. Teatime for the Firefly by Shona Patel. Finished January 5 (Assam, India)
3. Sweetness from Ashes by Marlyn Horsdal. Finished January 5 (Ottawa and Vancouver, Canada)
4. Death of a Nightingale by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis. Finished January 11 (Copenhagen, Denmark)
5. Necessary as Blood by Deborah Crombie. Finished January 12 (Brick Lane, London, England)
6. Touch by Adania Shibli. Finished January 13 (Palestine)
7. The Tulip Eaters by Antoinette van Heugten. Finished January 15 (Netherlands)
8. A Jew Must Die by Jacques Chessex. Finished January 17 (Payerne, Switzerland)
9. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight. Finished January 18 (New York City) 

10. Drawing Conclusions by Donna Leon. Finished January 20 (Venice)

11. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley. Finished January 29 (Bishop's Lacey, England)
12. Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Finished January 30 (Sitapur, India) (January book of the month)
13. Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson. Finished February 2 (Merville, France)
14. Between Heaven and Earth by Eric Walters. Finished February 8. (Tanzania)
15. Graffiti Knight by Karen Bass. Finished February 9. (Leipzig, Germany)
16. The Wanting by Michael Lavigne. Finished February 12. (Israel and Palestine)
17. In the Darkness by Karin Fossum. Finished February 16. (Norway)

18. Hush Little Baby by Suzanne Redfearn. Finished February 17 (Laguna Beach, California)
19. Lost Cause by John Wilson. Finished February 19. (Barcelona, Spain)
20. The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Finished March 1 (Quantico, Virginia)
21. Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith. Finished March 3 (Portland, Oregon)
22. The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan. Finished March 4 (Paris, France)
23. Close to the Heel by Norah McClintock. Finished March 6 (Iceland)
24. The Bear by Claire Cameron. Finished March 7 (Algonquin Park, Canada)
25. The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon. Finished March 10 (West Hall, Vermont)
26. The Runaway Wife by Rowan Coleman. Finished March 11 (Lake Country, England)
27. The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison. Finished March 15 (Chicago)
28. The Sun and Other Stars by Brigid Pasulka. Finished March 16 (San Benedetto, Italy) 

29. Morning Glory by Sarah Jio. Finished March 20 (Seattle)
30. Cataract City by Craig Davidson. Finished March 22 (Niagara Falls)
31. The Boy in the Snow by M.J. McGrath. Finished March 23 (Alaska)
32. The Wind Is Not a River by Brian Payton. Finished March 25 (Aleutian Islands)
33. The Wives of Los Alamos by TaraShea Nesbit. Finished March 26 (Los Alamos)
34. Always Watching by Chevy Stevens. Finished March 28 (Vancouver Island)
35. The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory. Finished March 31 (English moors) (March book of the month)
36. The Spymistress by Jennifer Chiaverini. Finished April 1 (Richmond, Virginia)
37. After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman. Finished April 9 (Baltimore, Maryland)
38. In the Orchard, the Swallows by Peter Hobbs. Finished April 18 (Pakistan)
39. An Inquiry into Love and Death by Simone St. James. Finished April 24 (Rothewell, England)
** Scars by Cheryl Rainfield. Finished April 28 (April Book of the Month - LGBT)
40. The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial by Peter Goodchild. Finished May 15. (Tennessee) (Any book read in May counted as a May Book of the Month, so we'll count this one)
41. A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain by Adrienne Harun. Finished May 17 (Northern BC)
42. Tyringham Park by Rosemary McLoughlin. Finished May 19 (Ireland)
43. Somebody to Love by Lori Wilde. Finished May 27 (Cupid, Texas)
44. Stitch Me Deadly by Amanda Lee. Finished May 29 (Tallulah Falls, Oregon)
45. Saigon by Anthony Grey. Finished June 8 (Vietnam)
46. Attack in the Library by George Arion. Finished June 11 (Romania)
47. The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer. Finished June 30 (Cairo, Egypt)
48. Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi. Finished July 6 (Ghana)
49. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. Finished July 9 (Charleston, South Carolina)
50. A Small Weeping by Alex Gray. Finished July 21 (Glasgow, Scotland)
51. Fish Change Direction in Cold Weather by Pierre Szalowski. Finished July 30 (Montreal)
52. Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler. Finished August 12 (Wisconsin)
53. Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews. Finished August 14 (Passcoe, North Carolina)
54. The Patience of the Spider by Andrea Camilleri. Finished August 17 (Sicily)
55. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Finished August 20 (Nigeria)
56. The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen. Finished August 27 (Tarrytown, New York)
57. Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld. Finished September 5 (St. Louis, Missouri)
58. Little Bastards in Springtime by Katja Rudolph. Finished September 10 (Sarajevo, Bosnia)
59. Petrified by Barbara Nadel. Finished September 13 (Istanbul, Turkey)
60. No Safe House by Linwood Barclay. Finished September 20 (Milford, Connecticut)
61. Archipelago by Monique Roffey. Finished September 26 (Trinidad, Venezuela, Netherlands Antilles, Colombia, Panama, Galapagos Islands)
62. Summertime, All the Cats are Bored by Philippe Georget. Finished September 27 (Perpignan, France)
63. A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz. Finished September 29 (New South Wales, Australia)
64. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. Finished October 3 (Branwell, Ohio)
65. Tomorrow City by Kirk Kjeldsen. Finished October 9 (Shanghai)
66. Just the Way You Are by Christina Dodd. Finished October 29 (Boston)
67. Kilometer 99 by Tyler McMahon. Finished November 8 (El Salvador)
68. The Betrayal of Trust by Susan Hill. Finished December 14 (Lafferton, England)
69. Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay. Finished December 15 (Provence, France)
70. If Books Could Kill by Kate Carlisle. Finished December 21 (Edinburgh)
71. Funny How Things Change by Melissa . Finished December 31 (West Virginia)