About Us

It all began in November 2016 when the founders, Beth & Mia were inspired by My Year Reading a Book from Every Country in the World, a TED Talk where the speaker discussed her realization that she'd read few books from beyond the English-speaking world. Shocked to realize their bookshelves were similarly skewed, they established an online book club to delight in A World Adventure by Book reading books from other countries.

Julie joined the book club in its inaugural year & then became a moderator after 3.5 years of active engagement with the group. Sue & Gemma joined the book club in 2020 & then became moderators after a year of active club membership. Beth C joined the club in 2018 becoming a group expert after 3 years of active membership in the club.

(Ivor joined the book club soon after its creation & was a wonderful moderator for the club 2018 - 2020.)

Beth McCrea

Beth loves shaping tech, delights in her career as a Director of Product Management, & adores her 2 furbabies. In her spare time, she's a world traveler, a voracious reader, an amateur photographer & an avid scuba diver who's lucky enough to write for Scuba Diver Life.

Seeing life as an adventure, she seeks out off-the-beaten-path locations in her quest to explore her NYC home & travel the world.

Beth also happily functions as the admin for this web site as well as the primary admin for the online book club.

Beth's Favorite global Reads

She devours science fiction & fantasy interspersed with scuba diving books, historical fiction, food-based books, detective novels, travel books, literature, & poetry. Beth possesses a penchant for Arthurian legends & stays on top of trends by amusing herself with tech/business books.

Mia DeGiovine Chaveco

Mia devotes herself to others as a Registered Nurse living in Charleston, South Carolina. She's also a firm believer in self improvement & has returned to school while working full-time.

Married to the love of her life (Jose), her family became complete with the arrival of her daughter, Autumn. Her life is full with yoga, salsa dancing, books, movies & music. Mia is also passionate about cooking/eating vegetarian food. She wishes she could travel more, but adores reading the world as a substitute.

Mia enthusiastically acts as the online book club's co-admin.

Mia's Favorite global Reads

She reads for pleasure, but also to expand her mind often preferring literature, memoirs, & philosophical books. Mia also likes to dabble in historical fiction & biographies.

Julie Jacobs

Julie is married with three teenage kids. After over 20 years in Maryland, she now lives in the high desert of Utah. An avid bookworm, she remembers running to tell everyone that she read Dr. Seuss’ Hop on Pop “even the hard parts.” Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1993 forced her reliance on (& appreciation for) audiobooks, but hasn’t stopped her love of reading.

The love of books may be genetic as her mother is an author with many books to her name, The Canary (a historical mystery; view on Amazon) being one of them.

Julie joined the book club in its augural year. After 3.5 years as an active member, she became an engaging moderator for the club.

JULIE's Favorite global Reads

She dislikes gratuitous gore, graphic romance, & cowboy-type westerns, but she’ll read nearly anything if there’s a strong storyline to support it.

Sue Attalla

A retired English professor, Sue has been an avid reader since childhood & as an undergraduate read Greek tragedies & comedies while working for Look Magazine.  She recalls her mother’s occasional admonishment: “Get your nose out of that book”—words Sue obeyed for only a few minutes.

She attributes her love of other cultures to reading a memoir by an exchange student. Since then, she & her husband have hosted 16 international students, 4 while their daughters were still home in Oklahoma & another 12 since alongside 2 neurotic dogs.

Joining the book club in 2020, Sue became a wonderful moderator after a year of active club membership.

Sue’s Favorite global Reads

She enjoys variety, including cultural history, travel, & food books, as well as classics. However, she gravitates mainly toward literary & historical fiction.

Gemma Ware

Gemma was born in England, but after a long detour via Belgium & Scotland has now settled in a small village in the foothills of the Swiss Alps with her wonderful husband, 4 young kids, & an aging cat. She enjoys hiking, nature, traveling, & watching in admiration as her family takes on the ski slopes while she takes refuge in a book & a hot drink…or even glass of wine!

Gemma joined the club in 2020 & became a great moderator after a year of active club membership.

gemma'S FAVORITE GLOBAL READS

She mainly enjoys literary fiction--anything with strong characters, particularly those older or more eccentric.  She also enjoys engrossing long multigenerational sagas, especially anything with a strong sense of place, lots of vivid descriptions, colors, imagery, & local language/expressions.

Beth Cummings

Growing up in North Dakota, one of Beth C.’s favorite places to go was the old library with a scent of books she can still recall 60+ years later. While living in Minnesota, she & her husband raised 2 daughters, & currently cares for 2 cats & 2 dogs.

She formally taught ESL, worked for public tv, & worked/taught at a college. Now retired & living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, she volunteers as an ESL tutor, spends lots of time reading, & reads Shakespeare aloud with a group.

Joining the club in 2018, Beth C. became our first Facebook group expert after 3 years of active club membership.

Beth C'S FAVORITE GLOBAL READS

Her taste has remained consistent. She enjoys mysteries & histories, especially those from unknown parts of the world. She also loves memoirs by non-famous folk that give insight into other places/situations.