About books

I´ve never been in a book club before, but, as cheesy as it sounds, I hope to someday. The Women of the Oriente of Omnibus 97 had grand plans of starting one, until a key member got kicked out (of Peace Corps, that is). So, until I reconnect with the one other woman ´member´ of the Women of the Oriente of Omnibus 97, I will maintain my own book list---books I´ve read, books I´m reading, books I´m going to read, books I want to read (but don´t have) and books that are banned (okay not really).

Please feel free to add some recommended books, let me know if you´ve read any of these same books (and add your thoughts/rants about them) and OF COURSE you can send me any good books after you´re done reading them. Email me for my new mailing address in Puyo if you don´t have it already!!!

Books I´ve read since I´ve been in Ecuador:

• Inés of my Soul by Isabel Allende (comments: Allende is one of my fave´ authors and this historical-based fiction about the a Spanish woman, mistress to Chilean conquistador Pedro Valdivia, who lived and travelled in this part of the world in the 1500´s was a good read. It was a reminder to me of one of an important contextual difference historically between the ¨discovery¨ of North America and the ¨conquest¨ of South America: the British brought their wives and families to the “New World” and together they killed or pushed out the indigenous populations (and otherwise didn´t mix with the native North Americans). Meanwhile, the Spaniards came to South America alone (leaving their wives in Spain) and mixed with (often raped) the indigenous populations, thus creating the large mestizo population that exists today.)
• True Evil by Greg Iles (comments: Greg Iles books are, for me, pure take-my-mind of Spanish leisure reading)
  Saving our Rainforest (comments: this book doesn´t know what it wants to be when it grows up. It was clearly written by several different people with totally different writing styles. It is part guidebook to community based and indigenous ecotourism in the Oriente, part advocacy piece.
  Confessions of an Economic Hitman (comments: I admit I didn´t finish this book, as it belonged to the Arajuno Jungle Lodge and I didn´t get through it all before we had to leave. Even so, I don´t know that I would have finished it. It had a great beginning…it was set in Ecuador (the author was a Peace Corp Volunteer here) and had a detailed description of the incredible drive from the Sierra through Baños and Shell which you go through to get to Puyo. But, the book jumped around a lot after that and lacked a lot of critical details about all the supposed evil doings of the author on behalf of the corporatocracy to make it seem credible. At the same time, if what he says is true, we should all be afraid. Very, very afraid.
• Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman (comments: This memoir by an American woman is a personal account of a quite unusual mid-life crisis: she gets rid of everything and travels around the world (including a stint in the Galapagos) as a modern day nomad. The first half of the book was riveting, the second half (where she essentially lives in Indonesia for years) not so much. On balance, a good book and a recommended read for those that have ever had the itch to ditch it all and globetrot.
• The Places In Between By Rory Stewart. (Comments: this is a memoir by a Scottish dude who decides to walk across Afganistan in 2002. Why? Cuz he likes walking. And he wants to complete that portion of a trek he started in other parts of Asia. The living conditions of the Afgan people made my life here feel like the Posh Corps. Anytime I started getting homesick for a hot bath, real coffee, a cold beer at Dick´s, or other creature comforts, I would remind myself about the incredibly impoverished world and reality the Hazaras (and many of the other ethnic groups of that region) lived in and I would feel a twinge of guilt and in some wacked out way, it made me feel better. Candidly, it was a slow read. And the whole time I´m reading it, I´m wondering ¨why the hell is this guy walking across Afganistan? And why in the hell would you do it in the year 2002?”)
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Comments: I read this book in one day. Anytime I read a book in one day, that usually means it was a great read. True ´dat. And I thought it was hilarious that it had discussion questions in the back… now if only I had a real book club of geeky gals like me to discuss it with…say over a great glass of wine…sigh….oh, I digress. Anyway, reading this book right after finishing The Places In Between was some serious “strategery” (not really, it was totally by chance). Because The Places In Between included a lot of historical background on the various ethnic conflicts and past wars fought in Afganistan, it actually enhanced my reading of The Kite Runner that much more. Two thumbs up.
  
  What I´m reading now:
• Savages, by Joe Kane. This book is about the Huoarani and so far it is a fascinating read and it has provided some fascinating insights about the group of women I´m working with at AMWAE. More details to follow.

Books that I plan on reading (these are books I already have here in Ecuador and are now on deck)

• Omnivore´s Dilemma (gracias a Rick & Melinda)
• 2 Richard Russo books (gracias a Kelly & Bryan)
• Another book, I forget the title (gracias a Chris & Sarah)

Books I´d like to read (but I don´t yet possess)
I started to compile a list of ¨must read¨ books recommended to me from other volunteers and friends (please add your recommendations!!!)

• 11 minutes
  The Alchemist
  The Zahir
  The Valkyries (there are some serious Paulo Coelho fans in my group)
  Fast Food Nation
  Glass Houses
  In the Time of Butterflies
  Into the Woods
  Life of a T-Shirt
  All the President´s Men
  Salt
  Ishmael
  A Book of Books
  My Sisters Keeper
  The Bookseller of Kabul
  Deception Point
  Bergdorf Blondes
  A Prayer for Owen Meenie
  East of Eden
  The Stranger
  The Sun Also Rises
  Shadows of the Sun
  The Historian
  Notes from a Small Island
  Sex Lives of Cannibals
  Galapagos (Kurt Vonnegat…I don´t know how to spell)

Other
Books that weren´t necessarily recommended, but may be useful to my work here in Ecuador (and that I do not possess):

Trekking through history, The Huaorani of the Ecuadorian Amazon by Laura Rival
The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs

As I am writing about books, I am struck by the place-based importance and association in my memory of the books I have read, their themes, and where I was when I was reading them. My memory of the books is intertwined with my fond and/or vivid memories of the place I was in (either physically or mentally) when I read it. For example: 100 years of Solitude in Costa Rica… the Poisonwood Bible in Tonga…The House of the Spirits in ´my´ yellow chair in the computer room of our Eastwood house…and Portrait in Sepia, around the time that MawMaw passed away.