Ann Morgan: A Story from Every Country
Dec. 6th, 2014 02:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI'm pretty sure I've written that I've decided it would be fun to try to experience media from every country.
And today I realized, duh, that the world is large and so of course other people have similar goals. Because I came across Ann Morgan who decided to read a story from every country. She did this very differently from how I'm doing it, though.
She decided to do it in one year. Ugh, not me--too stressful.
She wrote a blog about it. But that means she had to deal with a bunch of opinionated people. For example, they talked her into reading only things available in English even though she also knows some French and German. Whereas since I'm learning Spanish, I'm hoping I'll be able to read some things from Spanish-speaking countries in the original language.
But then people also sent her manuscripts and translations from hard-to-find countries. So that's cool. But I don't mind not actually finding something from every country. I just like how trying to find something means I will get a lot of exposure. Plus I get to read several books from one country if I feel like it.
Like me, she's using a UN list but she added one other territory based on recommendations from her blog readers. I'll add things whenever I feel like it.
Here's how she decided what counts as a story: "I decided that I would count all narratives that could be read to full effect by one reader on their own. This means memoirs, novels, short stories, novellas, biographies, narrative poems and reportage are in and, with regret, non-narrative poetry and plays are out.
"I also decided that while I would stick to mainly contemporary stories, I wanted to leave the door open for fantastic blasts from the past. The one condition is that the works have to have been created when the country was in existence in something like its modern-day form."
As you might guess, I'm not into regretfully leaving stuff out. So I'm counting plays, ancient stuff, movies, lectures, blog posts from visitors (yes, I'm talking about you Sherry, Di, and Dave), and just generally whatever I feel like plus, for desperate situations, wikipedia articles. If it's not very representative (and what is, really?), no big deal, I can experience something else from there, too.
I think she's reading only things actually written by people from the country which is awesome. As you can guess, I will not be limiting myself like that. However, she has a fabulous list of not only all the things she read, but also a bunch of other things that were recommended to her.
At the end of the year, she wrote a book about her experience. Again, no, I am not likely to be doing that.
**
I'm actually reading a children's book set in Kenya right now. It's translated into English but probably from Dutch, of all things, because it was written by someone from the Netherlands. But I've learned that I often enjoy learning about a country from someone who is not from there but loves it anyway for some reason. My two favorite tour guides (in Jamaica and Amsterdam) were like that.
And today I realized, duh, that the world is large and so of course other people have similar goals. Because I came across Ann Morgan who decided to read a story from every country. She did this very differently from how I'm doing it, though.
She decided to do it in one year. Ugh, not me--too stressful.
She wrote a blog about it. But that means she had to deal with a bunch of opinionated people. For example, they talked her into reading only things available in English even though she also knows some French and German. Whereas since I'm learning Spanish, I'm hoping I'll be able to read some things from Spanish-speaking countries in the original language.
But then people also sent her manuscripts and translations from hard-to-find countries. So that's cool. But I don't mind not actually finding something from every country. I just like how trying to find something means I will get a lot of exposure. Plus I get to read several books from one country if I feel like it.
Like me, she's using a UN list but she added one other territory based on recommendations from her blog readers. I'll add things whenever I feel like it.
Here's how she decided what counts as a story: "I decided that I would count all narratives that could be read to full effect by one reader on their own. This means memoirs, novels, short stories, novellas, biographies, narrative poems and reportage are in and, with regret, non-narrative poetry and plays are out.
"I also decided that while I would stick to mainly contemporary stories, I wanted to leave the door open for fantastic blasts from the past. The one condition is that the works have to have been created when the country was in existence in something like its modern-day form."
As you might guess, I'm not into regretfully leaving stuff out. So I'm counting plays, ancient stuff, movies, lectures, blog posts from visitors (yes, I'm talking about you Sherry, Di, and Dave), and just generally whatever I feel like plus, for desperate situations, wikipedia articles. If it's not very representative (and what is, really?), no big deal, I can experience something else from there, too.
I think she's reading only things actually written by people from the country which is awesome. As you can guess, I will not be limiting myself like that. However, she has a fabulous list of not only all the things she read, but also a bunch of other things that were recommended to her.
At the end of the year, she wrote a book about her experience. Again, no, I am not likely to be doing that.
**
I'm actually reading a children's book set in Kenya right now. It's translated into English but probably from Dutch, of all things, because it was written by someone from the Netherlands. But I've learned that I often enjoy learning about a country from someone who is not from there but loves it anyway for some reason. My two favorite tour guides (in Jamaica and Amsterdam) were like that.