May GeoCAT - Polar regions, islands and bodies of water

Polar regions, islands and bodies of water

There are books from all genres to choose for this one. You can go from freezing cold to tropical and all places in between!

Here are some lists to get you started.

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/arctic

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/18181.Books_Set_in_Antarctica

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/28944.Books_Set_on_Islands

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7859.Oceans_Water_Ice

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/20773.Fiction_Books_Set_On_A_Lake

Looking forward to seeing what you all read!

Please remember to add it to the wiki - https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/GeoCAT_2023#May:_Polar_regions.2C_island...

What a great prompt! I've been wanting to read Ariadne by Jennifer Sait for sometime and now is a great time. It takes place on the island of Crete.

>2 Tess_W: Oh yes! Or Circe or Ithaca or Stone Blind, all of which I have read and enjoyed. Greek mythology is perfect for islands!

I think I will go with The Land of Maybe, set on the Faroe Islands.

I am planning to read The Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia, a book set in Sicily by a Sicilian writer, because Sicily is an island. Great Britain, Ireland and Australia are also islands, but I'm keeping them in reserve in case of desperation, because they might not be in the spirit of the topic.

>5 pamelad: Ha! I was just thinking, "Well, technically, Great Britain is an island."

I'm going to read quite an old book, The Fragile Islands: A Journey Through the Outer Hebrides by Bettina Selby (published in 1989). It's one of the books I've picked up from Barter Books over the years.

I'm planning on reading The Wolves of Mount McKinley for this one. Alaska is included in the Arctic Circle, so I think it should count?

I hope to either read one of my books about the Polarstern expeditions (the Polarstern is a research vessel closely associated with my home city) or one about the Mekong.

I am planning on reading The Snow Walker by Farley Mowat.

So far I've got my eye on A Song Below Water and The Pirate Takes a Bride, so going a bit fantastic/escapist after a couple of months of Very Serious Choices for this CAT.

I'm already planning to read Anne of Green Gables for the Classic and Kitty CATs. It will fit for this one also, being set on Prince Edward Island.

>1 JayneCM: Great choices! I could read with this prompt all year long. I have started Black Cake and will likely finish it before May. If so, it will count for April for the Carribbean. If not, it will count for May for islands.

I have posted before my intention to read The Arctic Fury. I never quite get to it, so maybe this month!!

I've finished The Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia, which was first published in 1961. I recommend for its depiction of Italian politics and the grip of the Mafia on Sicily. It was a brave, political novel in its day, when politicians denied the Mafia's existence. It's set in Sicily, an island.

I recommend The Terror by Dan Simmons, audio version if you can find it. The narrator nails the accents just perfectly: officer class, officer from Northern Ireland, cook and captain and the various other hands who made the crew of the two ships that were part of Franklin's Expedition in 1845.

It's also helpful to listen while you use Google Maps to trace the journey!

Question: would a non-fiction book about marine invertebrates (::cough, cough:: Spineless ::cough, cough::) be in keeping with this month's theme?

I read The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad which I think fits since it takes place mostly on a ship at sea, I believe on the Indian Ocean. Also, I think they were in Singapore at some point which is an island.

I read Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason
Indridason targets the underlying tensions in Iceland's multicultural society when the young son of a Thai immigrant is murdered. The murder reminds Erlendur of a tragedy in his own childhood and fleshed out more of his life story and what has made him so unsociable. I found the police investigation and interview techniques slow, almost to the point of incompetence, but the ending delivered some activity. Overall, it provides a snapshot of modern Iceland but as a mystery novel it's less than what I expect from Indridason.

I have read Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery which is set on Prince Edward Island.

I read Royal Mistress by Anne Easter Smith. It took place in England.

I read The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, 5*, which takes place on an island in the Gulf of Finland.

I'm counting An Immense World by Ed Yong, since it spends a good chunk of its page count on the experiences of fish, whales, and other marine animals.

>21 staci426: I loved that book! If you've not already read it, I also recommend Notes from an Island by Tove Jansson and her partner Tuulikki Pietila. It's their diary of moving onto the island which features in The Summer Book, and is gorgeous.

>23 Jackie_K: Thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely be on the lookout for that one.

I finished The City of the Lost, the first book in Kelley Armstrong's Rockton mystery/thriller series set in a remote part of the Yukon, and I enjoyed it very much, especially the setting. I've read a lot of Armstrong's fantasy books in the past and I think this is the first that has no supernatural element to it.

I have completed my read of The Snow Walker by Farley Mowat. This book is a collection of short stories that are about the Inuit and their culture. Although originally published in the 1970s much of it rings true today.

The June thread (South Asia and South East Asia) is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/350836

Currently reading Death on Delos by Gary Corby

COMPLETED Death on Delos by Gary Corby

I just finished The Last Days of St. Pierre, which is about the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee on Martinique.

I've finished Bettina Selby's The Fragile Islands: A Journey Through the Outer Hebrides, which is an account of her trip cycling south to north through the Outer Hebridean islands in 1985. It was interesting, but also frustrating (full review on my thread).