Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Peace Corps is a great time to read lots of books. I know very few volunteers who don't read at least a couple dozen, and many will read 50-100 during their service. The following list is mine. I've added a couple of short notes at the bottom. I figure reading 60 books in 21 months makes me a big enough nerd without giving my review of each one. But feel free to leave comments. I'd be happy to discuss any of them.

Books Read in Peace Corps (in chronological order)

Neither Here Nor There, Bill Bryson
*Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama
Mango Elephants in the Sun, Susana Herrera
Bleachers, John Grisham
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy), Douglas Adams
My Other Life, Paul Theroux
Betrayals, Brian Freemantle
The Third Secret, Steve Berry
Pop Goes The Weasel, James Patterson
All Over But The Shoutin', Rick Bragg
*Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
*The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
*End of the Spear, Steve Saint
*Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
+Bill Bryson's African Diary, Bill Bryson
*The Tender Bar, JR Moehringer
*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling
Ishmael, Daniel Quinn
The Amber Room, Steve Berry
*A Million Little Pieces, James Frey
*Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
*Fast Food Nation, Eric Schosser
*+Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
*+Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
*One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Next, Ken Kesey
The Stupidest Angel, Christopher Moore
*Three Cubs of Tea, David Oliver Relin and Greg Mortensen
Rule of Four, Dustin Thomason and Ian ______
The Romanov Prophecy, Steve Berry
*The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama
*Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bill Bryson
Jonathon Livingston Seagull, Richarc Bach
*Lamb, Christopher Moore
*+The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond
Take Me With You, Brad Newsham
Long Way Round, Ewan MacGregor and Charley Boorman
The Alchemist, Paulo Coehlo
+Animal Farm, George Orwell
*+Lord of the Flies, William Golding
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chblosky
For One More Day, Mitch Albom
*The Road, Cormac McCarthy
*+A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff
*Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer
The Golden Compass, Phillip Pullman
Wild At Heart, John Eldgredge
The Phantom Tollbooth, Norman Juster
Amulet of Samarkand, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jonathon Stroud
*Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer
The Golem's Eye, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jonathon Stroud
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Mark Haddon
The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis
*Under The Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer
A Boy Named Shel, Lisa Rogak
*Beautiful Boy, David Sheff
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
*The Monkey Wrench Gang, Edward Abbey
The Motorcycle Diaries, Che Guevara
Swine Not?, Jimmy Buffett

Also started but not finished: A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, The Celestine Prophecy, On The Road, Stranger Than Fiction (not the book of the Will Ferrell movie)

* – Recommended by Me. Some of the recommended are better than others, and just because I didn't recommend a book doesn't mean it's not good and/or entertaining. These are just the ones that have especially stuck out.

+ – Read at least partially before Peace Corps. Counting in country, I've now read A Walk In The Woods three times. I love that book! And I'll definitely read Thunderbolt Kid again. I love Bill Bryson!