The Next Best Book Club discussion
Looking For Recommendations
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Your help please! Especially since you read...
![Elizabeth (Alaska)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304966095p1/2026178.jpg)
![Carol | 18 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1225827398p1/1684218.jpg)
Yes Danielle, still looking....
![Anastasia (anastasia13)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1645121762p1/2034910.jpg)
colonialism of Africa
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
Here's some I'll suggest more when I have more time to list. Is this the kind of stuff you're looking for?
![Elizabeth (Alaska)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304966095p1/2026178.jpg)
On a misty London afternoon in 1886, piano tuner Edgar Drake receives a strange request from the War Office: he must leave his wife, and his quiet life in London, to travel to the jungles of Burma to tune a rare Erard grand piano. The piano belongs to Surgeon-Major Anthony Carroll, an enigmatic British officer, whose success at making peace in the war-torn Shan States is legendary, but whose unorthodox methods have begun to attract suspicion. So begins the journey of the soft-spoken Edgar across Europe, the Red Sea, India, Burma, nd at last into the remote highlands of the Shan States. En route he is entranced by the Doctor's letters and by the shifting cast of tale-spinners, soldiers and thieves who cross his path. As his captivation grows, however, so do his questions: about the Doctor's true motives, about an enchanting and elusive woman who travels with him into the jungle, about why he came. And, ultimately, whether he will ever be able to return home unchanged to the woman who awaits him there... Sensuous and lyrical, rich with passion and adventure, The Piano Tuner is a hypnotic tale of myth, romance and self-discovery. It is an unforgettable and haunting novel.
![Carol | 18 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1225827398p1/1684218.jpg)
That sounds interesting!! I'll read that!!
You didn't say how old your students are. Middle school, high school?
You didn't say how old your students are. Middle school, high school?
![Liz](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1710616423p1/75360.jpg)
![Elizabeth (Alaska)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304966095p1/2026178.jpg)
![Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (susannag) | 1736 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1208973046p1/1109068.jpg)
![Carol | 18 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1225827398p1/1684218.jpg)
![Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (susannag) | 1736 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1208973046p1/1109068.jpg)
![Elizabeth (Alaska)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304966095p1/2026178.jpg)
![Elizabeth](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1411504795p1/930297.jpg)
Bill Bryson has several travel diaries that are very informative and very funny. A Walk in the Woods Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail about the appalachian trail and In a Sunburned Country about australia immidately come to mind.
The Good Earth - China
Eaters of the Dead - fictional retelling of beowulf, the narrator travels from the middle east to northern europe.
The Odyssey maybe?
There is a really interesting book called Hungry Planet What the World Eats that shows what people eat around the world, how they store their food, how much their food costs, etc...
Left to Tell Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust is more geopolitical but there are some discussions of the surrounding land.
American Godstakes place all over the united states.
andAnansi Boystakes place in florida, England and a fiction carribean island.
![Carol | 18 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1225827398p1/1684218.jpg)
![Leora](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
![Elizabeth (Alaska)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304966095p1/2026178.jpg)
![Jamie](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1242593381p1/898662.jpg)
![Maureen](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1220673045p1/840656.jpg)
![Valerie](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1611157279p1/182503.jpg)
![rebecca j (technophobe) | 6029 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1314125534p1/1413603.jpg)
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![Katie Flora Wilkins (kflora) | 0 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1277051550p1/1747762.jpg)
![Shannon SA](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1320231346p1/2066303.jpg)
Australia: Sunburned Country - Bill Bryson
Afghanistan: The places in between - rory Stewart
America (1960s): Travels with Charley - John Steinbeck
SE & W Asia: A fortune teller told me - Tiziano Terzani
Asia: Shadow of the Silk Road - Colin Thubron
Caribbean: A continent of islands - Nathaniel Philbrick
England: The teatime islands - Ben Fogle
Ireland: Round Ireland with a fridge - Tony Hawks
Mexico: God's middle finger: Sierra madre - Richard Grant
Mali: Cruelest Journey: 600 miles to Timbuktu - Kira Salak
Middle East: Baghdad without a map - Tony Horwitz
New Zealand: In Tasmania - Nicholas Shakespeare
Russia: The Russians - Colin Thubron
Russia (Siberia): River of no reprieve - Jeffrey Tayler
Russia (Siberia): In Siberia - Colin Thubron
Russia (Siberia): Off the map: bicycling across Siberia - Mark Jenkins
Tibet: Seven years in Tibet - Heinrich Harrer
Tibet: Hotel on the roof of the world - Alec le Sueur
Thanks shannon! I put a copy of your list in my notes!!
![Jen B (jennybee618)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1672619756p1/529177.jpg)
![Linda | 887 comments](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
![Carol | 18 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1225827398p1/1684218.jpg)
![El](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1479156984p1/83144.jpg)
You might be able to find even more titles that way as they seem pretty extensive in their lists. I've found several books that way that I hadn't even heard of before. You might check it out too!
Also, my senior year in high school I took a class called World Literature - we read Madame Bovary for France, A Doll's House for Norway, Gulliver's Travels for Ireland, and The Odyssey for Greece. I feel like we read more, but I'm drawing a blank right now. I have to say, though, it was one of my favorite classes during my high school career. If your students can handle it, I might suggest The Name of the Rose including Postscript to the Name of the Rose for Italy, but it's a pretty hefty book. Good luck!
![Elizabeth](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1411504795p1/930297.jpg)
![Donna | 137 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1228091013p1/1722935.jpg)
![El](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1479156984p1/83144.jpg)
Ooh, Elizabeth, you might check out The Motorcycle Diaries Notes on a Latin American Journey for South America (as well as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, Roberto Bolano, Pablo Neruda - just for some ideas).
I recommend The Motorcycle Diaries for Carol's students also as it does cover geography as well as political history.
![Shannon SA](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1320231346p1/2066303.jpg)
Thanks, El, I've joined that group!
![Pamela](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1195342138p1/307722.jpg)
"Sacagawea" by Anna Lee Waldo is an EXCELLENT historical fiction of the Lewis and Clark expedition told from the point-of-view of their Shoshone Indian guide. Excellently researched and is definitely a geography lesson of the exploration of the West.
James Michener wrote many novels of countries all over the world and even won a Pulitzer Prize for "Tales of the South Pacific." He is known for his extensive research and has books for many countries..."Mexico" and "Poland" just to name a couple...
What a wonderful idea....be sure to post your final decisions on books when it comes to that. I'd love to partake in the adventure in spirit!!!
![Joseph (jazzman)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1227383983p1/1568552.jpg)
Great idea. You must be a fine teacher.
![Elizabeth](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1411504795p1/930297.jpg)
I second the request.
![yellowbird | 55 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1239981898p1/2039724.jpg)
Winterdance is about the Iditarod in Alaska.
The Mermaids of Chenonceaux is a sort of historical guide to Europe. It's mostly very short anecdotes, though, so that might be better for one class fillers between larger projects.
Hope some of those help! I love this idea, and wish I had cool teachers like you when I was in high school.
![Mary Beth (marybethbaker) | 98 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1634320915p1/1350384.jpg)
Also, A Course Called Ireland by Tom Coyne is about traveling through Ireland to play at every golf course.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, all about travel through Spain and Northern Africa.
The Thread That Runs So True by Jesse Stuart, about a teacher in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan, about an historical Indian empress, historical fiction and includes descriptions of the different areas of the Mughal Empire.
![yellowbird | 55 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1239981898p1/2039724.jpg)
Okay, I'm done now!
![Robin (robinsullivan) | 997 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1237804938p1/1572236.jpg)
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In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez about Dominican Republic and Trujillo
This is historical fiction very well researched
La Vida by Oscar Lewis (Puerto Rico)
Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min excellent historical fiction also well researched
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Sijie
Post revolution China also historical fiction
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Non-Fiction
An Ordinary Man by Rusinabagina about Rwanda. The students can also see the movie Hotel Rwanda
The Bookseller of Kabul (Afghanistan) and One Hundred and one Days (Iraq) by Seierstad
Both Non-fiction
The Haj, Trinity, Exodus Excellent historical fiction by Leon Uris Any Michener historical fiction like Mexico
The Kite Runner by Hosseini
Nicholas and Alexandra by Massie non-fiction
Gulag Archipeligo by Solzinitzen non-fiction
Achebe's historical fiction Things Fall Apart
Cry the Beloved Country by Paton historical fiction about Apartheid
Poisonwood Bible by kingsolver. Historical fiction
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Gourevich Non-fiction on Rwanda
Ismael Baeh A Long Way Gone Non-fiction on the Sudan
What is the What by Eggers on Sudan
See the movie Black Hawk Down on Mogadishu
See the movie The Last Emperor on China
All's Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque Historical Fiction
Have every student read a different book and share a power point presentation to entice people to read what they enjoyed during the presentations.
Read O'Brien's The Things They Carried about Vietnam and read Myers' The Glory Field (Vietnam) (or Sunrise Over Fallujah- on Iraq) and see the movie Coming Home, Apocalypse Now, The Deerhunter, Full Metal jacket or Platoon.Also, Miss Saigon. Also see or read The Killing Fields about Cambodia.
Good luck
![Collin Kelley | 9 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1541517880p1/1537347.jpg)
Paul Bowle's "The Sheltering Sky" in North Africa
"The Hotel New Hampshire" has most of it's action in Vienna, Austria
![Kim (kim_reid)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1238358711p1/1778704.jpg)
Donna Jo Napoli also does her homework in creating interesting stories that have very strong references to what the culture is like surrounding the characters. Examples: Hush An Irish Princess' Tale (Ireland), Zel (Switzerland), and Beast (Persia/France).
I would also recommend Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance for a gripping nonfiction book on the landscape of Antarctica.
![Jonathan Lopez](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442488201p1/1412037.jpg)
I just wanted to offer a word of caution against using the Da Vinci Code for its factual information about Leonardo. The book is filled with factual inaccuracies, which doesn't harm the novel in any way, but which I think would give me pause before using it as part of a curriculum.
![Fenixbird SandS | 403 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1288349292p1/425836.jpg)
Why does the book description reference France?? Italy is where I would have guessed the setting is..
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For Example:
Europe.
Book-Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose.
Why? This book not only covers history, but the most important fact is the geopgraphical lesson that can be learned from it. How the men traversed the land, used the land, and survived the land all factor into this well told historical event.
Any ideas you have would be greatly appreciated.