Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Reading List

I'm passing off a lot of books to Peace Corps staff to take back to
the office this week. My house has become sort of a de facto library
for volunteers passing through, which is lovely, but I was beginning
to realize that I have far more books floating around my house than I
would ever be able to carry back to Addis.

The purge got me thinking about what I've read since coming to Africa.
Thanks to many of you who have sent me books, and to an incredibly
varied collection among the PCVs and other ex-pats, I've really read
quite a lot. I've kept a list, and it's now at 90 (including,
shamefully, two textbooks and at least 8 books written for young
adults…). Here are the highlights, in no particular order.

Best books I've read in Africa (Fiction):
• Middlesex
• Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits
• Love in the Time of Cholera
• Interpreter of Maladies
• One Thousand Splendid Suns
• Unaccustomed Earth
• Say You're One of Them
• The God of Small Things
• The Sex Lives of Cannibals
• The Hours
• The Book Thief

Best books I've read in Africa (Nonfiction):
• Eat, Pray, Love
• Do They Hear You When You Cry?
• And the Band Played On
• Pathologies of Power
• A Short History of Nearly Everything
• The Devil in the White City
• When You Are Engulfed in Flames
• Dark Star Safari
• How to be Alone
• Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words
• Persepolis
• There is No Me Without You
• Aid and Other Dirty Business

I still have 8 months left here, including three months of rainy
season…I'm taking recommendations :)

2 comments:

Zizou From Djerba said...

Hey Anna,

I hope we will see each other soon :-) I miss you!
Wisdom of Whores is my recommendation for April! I dunno if you can find it in Ethiopia though!

http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/

Unknown said...

Hi Anna! I just love The Little World of Don Camillo, for fiction... but that could be a tough one to get your hands on. The best non-fiction I've read this year is The Translator by Doud Hari (memoir of his time as a translator in Darfur - he is a refugee himself). That's not a fun one to read given the subject, but incredible nonetheless.
Hope you are well!