Looking over the books I’ve read this year, I began to realise that I have travelled a bit more widely than usual – which put me in mind of a challenge I’ve been meaning to try but keep forgetting to get around to, FictionFan’s Wanderlust Bingo. In addition to her rules that a country can only be used once, I also decided that the book can only fill the slot if the setting is important either atmospherically or to the content/plot. For instance, although very little of Rose Nicholson actually takes place at sea, there is an important scene on the Edinburgh-St Andrews journey at the start of the novel that sets up the rest of the book. I’ve filled out twelve of the squares already – let’s see how many I can manage by the end of the year… I will probably end up doing some rejigging because, for instance, I have Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s I Do Not Come To You By Chance up soon on my TBR, which I think is set in Lagos (city). I’m hoping to read a campus novel for the free square and even have one in mind – but I reserve the right to change my mind and fit something else in there at the last minute!
Making the bold assumption that I am going to stick roughly to what I have planned for the rest of the year, here are some of the spots that I am hoping to fill:
Polar regions – An African in Greenland (Tété-Michel Kpomassie)
Village (Norway) – The Wreath (Sigrid Undset)
Island (Iceland) – The Island (Ragnor Jónasson)
Beach (Greece) – This Rough Magic (Mary Stewart)
I’m completely stumped for both Desert and Forest, though – suggestions? Recommendations? I’m all ears!
louloureads 
Dune
The Word for World is Forest
Dune is a great shout – I read and loved it years ago, but I’ve not yet read any of the sequels which would presumably also qualify! I’ve never before read a book that made me so intensely thirsty. And I hadn’t heard of the Le Guin novella before – thanks for the suggestion!
Like you, it’s years since I read Dune, or saw a movie version (I still have it on VHS).
All of Le Guin’s ‘Hainish’ sf is excellent. I’m pleased to recommend one you haven’t read.
Oh, I’m glad you’re joining in! No deadline for the year end unless you want to set it for yourself – the few of us who have done it have all drifted into a second year except Christine, who raced through it! I’ve done a new version for next year getting rid of some of the trickier boxes, like desert! I ended up reading a Biggles book for that box, Biggles Defends the Desert, (Sahara), which I loved but am not sure would be your type of thing. Maybe, though! Other people recommended The English Patient (which I tried and abandoned). Christine read Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru, (Californian Desert) which I’d read a few years ago – a wonderful book I thoroughly recommend. For Forest, I could have used The Poisonwood Bible (Congo), except I used it for River. I ended up reading Three Men on the Bummel – Black Forest – but it was pretty mediocre, to be honest. Christine used State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, (Brazil), which again I had read before and enjoyed, but not loved. Good luck!
The English Patient is another one sitting on my TBR at the moment – I know almost nothing about it though as it was recommended by a friend, and didn’t realise it would qualify for Desert! I started reading it recently and decided that I didn’t have the concentration span for it just then, but maybe next month when I have some annual leave. I’ve never read any Biggles but my dad loves them and I think I might even have some of his old ones somewhere on my shelves… maybe I should look and see if it includes Biggles Defends the Desert! Thanks for the recommendations – it’s such a fun challenge 🙂
Lou, I read a lot of Biggles as a kid. I still have one, Biggles in Australia, and it is more racist than you could imagine
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Oh, you read a Conjure Man book! I believe that is part of a series I just learned about this year at the American Writers Museum in Chicago.
The Conjure Man book I read was a standalone – it was the only crime novel the author ever wrote – but I am interested to learn that there is a series on the topic!
Okay, maybe my brain made something up, because I cannot find a trace on the internet of what I thought I knew.
For “forest” I used The Cone Gatherers – a short novella set in Scotland
For “desert” I’m thinking of The Ardent Swarm or Black Mamba Boy
Thank you for the suggestions! I haven’t read a Forest book yet so I will definitely bear that in mind. I’ve heard good things about The Cone Gatherers! I have used An African in Greenland for Desert, because technically Greenland is a desert, and I’ve found a noir set in the Faroe Islands for Polar Regions. By the time I finish I feel like I will have rearranged all these books about thirty times though!