Okay, so maybe it seems like taking the really easy way out of an Olympic challenge, to do Winter Games instead of Summer, and not only that, but the host countries instead of the participants. But excuse me! the Vancouver Games are next year! And I have a life, you know! So, I’ll take the easy way out as you call it, and do the participant countries after Vancouver. And before the 2014 Games. How’s that? And as I prefer Winter Games above the Summer Games (hello! hockey! and Ski Guy, of course. One must always prefer Ski Guy to no Ski Guy. It’s like a law of nature.) , I’ll do the participant countries of Winter Games.

But that’s a post-Vancouver challenge. This is pre-Vancouver, and it’s about the Winter Games host countries. The list is as follows, with these books as the plan. I’ll list the finished titles that fit the criteria here too.

France: 3 (Chamonix, 1924; Grenoble, 1968; Albertville, 1992)

  • L’éducation d’une fée by Didier van Cauwelaert
  • Au bonheur des ogres by Daniel Pennac
  • Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

Switzerland: 2 (St. Moritz, 1928 and 1948 )

  • Book 1
  • Book 2

USA: 4 (Lake Placid, 1932 and 1980; Squaw Valley, 1960; Salt Lake City, 2003)

  • The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Book 2
  • Book 3
  • Book 4

Germany: 1 (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 1936)

  • Book 1

Norway: 2 (Oslo, 1952; Lillehammer, 1994)

  • L by Erlend Loe (I’ve started and restarted this for ages, now I promised Ski Guy I’d read this)
  • Book 2

Italy 2 (Cortina d’Ampezzo, 1956; Torino, 2006)

  • Book 1
  • Book 2

Austria: 2 (Innsbruck, 1964 and 1976)

  • Book 1
  • Book 2

Japan: 2 (Sapporo, 1972; Nagano, 1998 )

  • The Diving Pool by Yoko Ogawa
  • Book 2

Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1 (Sarajevo, 1984)

  • Book 1

Canada: 2 (Calgary, 1988 and Vancouver, 2010)

  • Book 1
  • Book 2

Russia (Sochi) has been granted the 2014 Games. This is optional.

  • Book 1

For added difficulty, I could try to find books from not only the host country but also from the year of the Olympic Games. Obviously that’d be impossible for Russia, and the second Canadian book would have to be left last, and there’d still be a hurry, but I guess those two could be the exceptions. I’ll try this, but I won’t consider myself tied to this additional rule. I think I’ll try to find some options to go with the years hosted -rule, but if I read something that fits, I’ll go with it. And if I later read something that actually fits the year rule too, I’ll just replace the earlier book.

Okay, so the year-rule is turning out really difficult, so I’ll just drop it.