I ended up either planning well at the outset or pacing myself well, as I have only one book on my list yet to read, with just three days (and one looooong plane ride) left on the trip.
It took me forever to finish the Buffet biography, which is behemoth. I started it on the hike in New Zealand and then finished it somewhere in Tanzania (six weeks later). Dad was interested in reading it too, so I picked up a copy for him in the Sydney airport to read on the plane ride back to Kansas. (The book itself was huge – I’m glad I had it electronically.) The book was really interesting, and I learned a lot about investment strategies (his philosophy is that only experts should try to do it themselves, and everyone else should find an index fund). He’s definitely a bit of a strange bird, but he comes across as a likeable character.
From there I moved into my “Africa list,” starting with No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall. The first third of the book bored me to tears with all the description about the main character’s father, but since it wasn’t that long of a book, I stuck with it. In the end I liked it, and I would consider (though not jump to) reading the next book in the series.
Then I read Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone by Martin Dugard. I started it in Zanzibar, which was fitting because both adventurers gathered all their supplies in the town in which we were staying, then set off to the west across Tanzania looking for the source of the Nile river. Quite well written, very interesting. I liked it a lot, and Mr. Farmer even picked it up.
Then I read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. This is one of the few books that hasn’t ceased to amaze me as I reflect on it. I think it’s brilliant. The story is fascinating, and the detail she conveys about the Belgian Congo in the 1950s/60s is amazing. Even more importantly, the story is told with such interesting devices from the point of view of the four daughters, whose characters are perfectly brought to life. I’ve tried to read the Bean Trees and other books by the same author and just couldn’t get into them, but this one I highly, highly recommend.
On the plane to Ethiopia I tried to get into Pilgrims by Garrison Keillor. That’s the one where Lake Wobegoneans go on a vacation to Rome. I probably read 40 percent of it and decided to call it quits – he just goes on and on about silly crap and I can’t take it. He’s much better as an oral storyteller than in writing, in my opinion.
Since we were in route to Muslim country Egypt, I started Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, which was outstanding (thank you Kim S. for the recommendation). This one’s about an American who used to climb mountains in Pakistan before nearly dying after losing his way back down. He was nursed back to health in a remote village and upon seeing that the children had to sit outside in the cold for school, he vowed to come back and build them one. He’s now built hundreds of schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It’s an inspiring story about the difference one person can make, but it’s also disturbing in terms of how the Taliban and their funders in the Middle East are recruiting ignorant children. If you pick up one book out of this list, this should be the one.
Next I chose Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, which I also really liked. This one is about a guy who is just about to finish his veterinary studies at Cornell when his parents (his father also a veterinarian) are killed in a car accident, leaving him nothing. He in essence tries to run away, and by chance jumps on a circus train. He ends up becoming the circus veterinarian. The book is told from a clever point of view, and it drew me in immediately. My only criticism is that I think the end is a little unimaginative, given the rich imagery she paints during the course of the book.
On Friday I skeptically started The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (since we’re in Germany). It’s short, and I was thinking of skipping it, but I was hooked from the first sentence. I think it only took about 3 hours to read, and it’s an excellent character sketch that deals with the theme of collective guilt over the Holocaust and subsequent generations’ struggle with forgiveness versus blame for various passive and active participants. I’d been avoiding the movie because Kate Winslet drives me nuts (she only plays herself, kinda like Robert Redford). But now I think I have to see it.
So that leaves Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
As an aside, we were just in Munich visiting our friend Ruth from the hike, and I saw On The Road sitting on her credenza. She said she’s been reading it for a year and is almost through it (quite an impressive feat, given that she’s reading it in English!). I told her I quit halfway through. I gave her the first Charlaine Harris (True Blood) book as a gift for letting us stay with her, which wasn’t my very first choice, but it was the first one we were able to find in German.
gallopingnelly
