so, i figured it was time to talk about something that has been haunting me and causing me great joy each evening:
deciding which books to fill my kindle with before departure.
i am absolutely a self-diagnosed book whore. i cannot read enough. when chris and i backpacked across europe for a month, i brought 6 books. i sacrificed who knows how many pairs of underwear and shirts for extra poundage in paper. and it was so worth it.
once we were invited, i realized that i would require a large number of novels to fill my book whoring needs- fiction, nonfiction, books about cambodia, books about women, books about the peace corps.
so, because of my friend's generosity, i was able to cross quite a few books about my new home and life in the peace corps off my list. i will add that "a life inspired," ten short vignettes in, is quite good.
i've been scouring the new york times bestseller list, npr's "you must read this" and even...yes, even oprah's book list for great reads.
and i've created a list seventy books deep. averaging that most books are between 10 to 12 dollars, we're looking at... far too much money.
the other best part of this special delivery is that as i slowly purchase my stock pile of books, i have been holding myself back from using my kindle at all, in hopes of saving everything for our move. which means, i've had very little to read. and now i have TONS to read! hooray!
do you have any great books that i should add to my kindle? anyone else thinking ahead about books or the like in preparation for service?
7 comments:
I'm a huge fan of chick lit so I'm afraid I may not be much help! I adore my kindle and now you'll have room for more undies in your luggage. ;)
do you think you'll have a chance to get to Vietnam? I've got 2 guidebooks I'm happy to send you.
you should definitely read "the unheard" by Josh Swiller. It is his memoir about time in the Peace Corps and being hearing impaired in Africa. I loved it.
More broadly, books I think you might like (as if i know you?) are 'the spirit catches you and you fall down', 'the white man's burden', 'the selfish altruist', and 'the good girl' (la nina mala, originally), 'anil's ghost'.
Definitely share your love of books and couldn't imagine how I would limit myself down.
I'm currently working my way through a top 100 book list, maybe you might find something on that : http://24-to-go.blogspot.com/p/book-list.html
Good luck
i'm just catching up on all these posts and i am so excited for you!
the spirit catches you and you fall down suggested by KM is a great book. i also recently read cutting for stone by abraham verghese, and unbroken by laura hillenbrand. i enjoyed both of those very much.
Thank you all for the great suggestions!
Nellie- I think we're going to try! I may buy those off of you :)
KM- thanks for the great suggestions!
Brit- totally checking out your list now!
LPug: I just bought Unbroken after reading the sample and it is absolutely one that pains me to wait to read. The first twenty pages were so fantastic. Crazy story is that her husband was my professor freshman year in college! He teaches philosophy and I had a massive crush on him. Le sigh.
When I've been in your situation, I thought it was a great opportunity to force myself to read difficult books that otherwise I would forgo for something more fun (also these books last longer and lend themselves to rereading, and you can usually get used copies for a couple bucks).
Books I enjoyed:
The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky (his other books are great too)
Anna Karenina and War and Peace, Tolstoy
David Copperfield, Dickens
Don Quixote, Cervantes
Complete works of Shakespeare (you can act this out together for cheap entertainment, which I used to do with my husband)
The Arabian Nights (unabridged)
When I visited Cambodia, I enjoyed reading History of Cambodia and Voices from S-21 by David Chandler (they were available there in pirated editions though for pretty cheap).
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