Book Report

A blog chronicling Peace Corps life would be incomplete without some acknowledgment of how much we read. Even on my busiest days, I spend an average of three hours reading. And then of course, there are the rainy days, or the slow days, when the majority of waking hours are spent devouring a book while lounging in the hammock.

I feel spoiled to have so much time to invest in books. I was a reader in the United States, but I have read probably 70 books during my service which is certainly the greatest number I've gone through in a two-year period since I graduated from story books. (And somehow, that 70 is on the low end of many PCV counts...) This daily reading binge will soon come to an end, when I go back home and am distracted by the Internet, smart phones, electricity, and actual 9-5 occupations. So until then, I will relish my nightly routine of making a strong cup of Panamanian coffee, lighting my kerosene lamp, and settling into the hammock and reading until I'm too tired for another page. Here is a list of my top 10 favorites:

1. The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson- This is about the cholera epidemic in 19th century England. It traces the outbreak to a single household and explains how it spread rapidly due to a lack of public health infrastructure and scientific knowledge. It chronicles the independent works of a priest and scientist who mapped the outbreak and founded a new framework for understanding diseases and how they are spread. It beautifully weaves together ideas of epidemiology, urban planning, public health and the future of cities and their environmental consequences. Completely fascinating.

2. The World According to Garp, by John Irving. I've read several of Irving's books here in Panama, including A Widow for One Year,The Hotel New Hampshire, Last Night on Twisted River, and A Prayer for Owen Meany. He has become one of my favorite writers. I'm addicted to his crafty writing and epic stories that follow the characters from childhood to adulthood. What makes his books so remarkable is how he combines incredible plot elements, ie dwarves, weird fetishes, and circuses, with richly-detailed characters who ring completely true. A great storyteller.

3. How the Brain Changes Itself, by Norman Doidge. A book about brain science which overturns any notions about our minds being "hard-wired" and unchanging. Doidge explains the idea of neuroplasticity through case studies involving stroke patients, or people who suffered injuries or birth defects and then went on to train their brains to function in unexpected and highly effective ways. A nerdy pick, but worth reading if you're interest in medicine or science.

4. Little Bee, by Chris Cleave. I had to put off all work-related activities until I finished this book. One of the most affecting novels I've ever read. The back of the copy I own contains only a sentence or two of plot summary because it claims not to want to ruin the story. I'll say this much: the book is narrated by a young girl from Nigeria and a woman in England. Their lives intersect and what results is an incredibly thoughtful book on what it means to have a conscience, memory, and culture and how these things affect the relationship between people in ways we can only try our best to understand. The plot twists and turns and you'll never know what's about to happen to the characters whose voices will stay with you a long time after you close the back cover. Read this.

5. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. Love Steinbeck. East of Eden might be my favorite book ever, and Grapes of Wrath lived up to all my expectations. Who could ever forget the Joads?

6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo triology, by Steig Larsson. Page-turning thrillers that will also making you completely uninterested in pursuing other tasks. The second two installments can't beat the tight, expertly-woven plot of the first book, but the Lisbeth Salander character has to be one of the most interesting in modern popular fiction and you'll want to follow her until the end.

7. The Spirit Catches You When You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman. An extensively researched look at how Western medicine collides with cultural tradition of the Hmong people from Laos. A toddler named Lia lives with her family in a Hmong community in California and is diagnosed with a seizure disorder. Traditional Hmong culture views this as a misalignment or curse of the spirits. Her parents refer the illness as 'the spirit catches you and you fall down' and believe it is caused by a wandering of the soul. While Lia sees doctors at a local California hospital, her parents are confused by their clinical diagnoses and obvious disregard for the soul's role in Lia's healing. Their efforts to incorporate natural remedies into Lia's treatment results in accusations of non-compliance and eventually they are declared unfit and Lia is taken to a foster family. But this book takes no sides. Fadiman showcases the strengths and limits of Western medicine and Hmong culture equally, and makes it clear that neither one nor the other, but rather the clash of the two, is what ultimately failed Lia. It is a compassionate and dramatic story that will challenge the world view of any reader.

8. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver. A story of a fervent missionary who brings his family to the Belgian Congo in the 1959 just before the country's revolution. They are dangerously ill-prepared in every sense and in the course of events, Kingsolver shows what it takes to fracture families and countries. This book is certainly political, but I loved it for the story it told and the sometimes breathtaking beauty of the author's writing.

9. The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester. This non-fiction pick is about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary and its most prolific contributor, who sent in over 10,000 entries while he was a patient at an asylum for the criminally insane. This story proves the maxim that truth is stranger than fiction. Winchester tells it with the skill of a novelist as he ties together a violent murder, the obsessive drive of the dictionary's editor and the boggling coexistence of genius and madness in one man's mind.

10. Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris. This man is hilarious. His essays are the perfect cure for in-site blues. He can take any mundane event and transform it into sharp, witty commentary on family dynamics, culture, or the simple absurdity of everyday life. He writes about pretty much any topic, and if you listen to to NPR, you've probably heard him read one of his stories. Listen to him here as he explains the Easter Bunny.