Videos

Now that I have fast enough internet, I wanted to post a few videos. This first video is a compilation of lots of quick scenes that I filmed to give you a sense of my daily experience with my host family. (Lots of dancing!)

The 6th graders perform "Peace Like a River" on the last day of school:

The girls sing "Let It Go" from Frozen:

Need a book recommendation?

There’s a lot of free time in the Peace Corps. Like, A LOT. I’ve never had so much time for pleasure reading! 

Here are my top ten recommendations:

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver – I felt obligated to put one of Babs’ books on here since I read so many of them. The Poisonwood Bible is still by favorite, but I didn’t technically read it here.

En el tiempo de las mariposas by Julia Alvarez – The English version is also available (In the Time of the Butterflies). Based on the true story of four sisters who protested the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving – I generally don’t like John Irving novels (they’re just so weird!), so I was skeptical when my dad sent this one to me. But this book is possibly one of my favorite books of all time. Hilarious and heartbreaking. I can’t explain it and do it justice, so just take my word for it and read it!

Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin – I read the first five books (possibly a 6^th one came out while I was here…?) and the first two were my favorites. Yes, there are dragons, but the fantasy elements play a secondary role – it’s about political intrigue and scheming. I haven’t seen the tv series yet, but everyone says I have to watch it.

Columbine by Dave Cullen – A disturbing book about the Columbine shooting, but absolutely incredible, and an important read. And sadly, very timely.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett – It kind of pains me to put a Follett book on here, since Ken Follett’s smug author photos are something of an inside joke in our volunteer lounge. But this book was just fabulous – an epic about building a cathedral.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo – This one is a beast at 1400 pages. You might want to get an abridged version, seeing as Mr. Hugo has an unfortunate tendency to go off on tangents (like a chapter about the history of the Paris sewer system in the middle of the climatic sewer escape).

River Town by Peter Hessler – A memoir of a Peace Corps volunteer in China. Fascinating and funny.

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt – So sad and touching, but also funny – just a gem.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson – A science book for non-scientists with Bryson’s fabulous storytelling. This book had me gazing up at the night sky in utter wonder. The universe is amazing!!!

And here’s the comprehensive list.

1.      Longshot by Dick Francis

2.      Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

3.      The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle

4.      La ciudad de las bestias by Isabel Allende

5.      The Testament by John Grisham

6.      The Year of Living Dangerously by C.J. Koch

7.      No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

8.      Emma by Jane Austen

9.      The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

10.  Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale

11.  The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett

12.  Empire Falls by Richard Russo

13.  Gap Creek by Robert Morgan

14.  Coyote Waits by Tony Hillerman

15.  Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

16.  Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

17.  La sombra del viento by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

18.  The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost

19.  The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

20.  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

21.  English Creek by Ivan Doig

22.  The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski

23.  A Room with a View by E.M. Foster

24.  The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria

25.   Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

26.  The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

27.  Shakespeare by Bill Bryson

28.  The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

29.  The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan

30.  Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener

31.  The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

32.  Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg

33.  En el tiempo de las mariposas by Julia Alvarez

34.  The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

35.  The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

36.  The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

37.  The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

38.  The Island of the Colorblind by Oliver Sacks

39.  The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

40.  Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi

41.  To Sir, With Love by E.R. Braithwaite

42.  Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

43.  The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

44.  The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

45.  A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

46.  Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

47.  The Valley of the Horses by Jean M. Auel

48.  Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

49.  The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

50.  The Unheard: A Memoir of Dearness and Africa by Josh Swiller

51.  Once Minutos by Paulo Coehlo

52.  Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

53.  A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

54.  A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

55.  A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin

56.  A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

57.  Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer

58.  Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver

59.  Columbine by Dave Cullen

60.  The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

61.  Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

62.  The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

63.  Escuadrón Guillotina by Guillermo Arriaga

64.  The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson

65.  All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

66.  Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

67.  A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

68.  A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

69.  Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

70.  The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

71.  The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber

72.  El amor en los tiempos de cólera by Gabriel García Marquez

73.  The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

74.  White Out by Michael W. Clune

75.  Moby Dick by Herman Melville

76.  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

77.  Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

78.  The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

79.  The Help by Kathryn Stockett

80.  The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

81.  Yes Man by Danny Wallace

82.  A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

83.  Home by Julie Andrews

84.  The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

85.  Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

86.  David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

87.  When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

88.  The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

89.  The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory’

90.  One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Marquez

91.  A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell

92.  The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein

93.  The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkein

94.  The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkein

95.  Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski

96.  The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

97.  Dune by Frank Herbert

98.  The Canterbury Papers by Judith Koll Healey

99.  I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles

100.                     Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

101.                     A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

102.                     The Pawnbroker by Edward Lewis Wallant

103.                     Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

104.                     Forrest Gump by Winston Groom

105.                     The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

106.                     La casa de los espíritus by Isabel Allende

107.                     Marriage, A History by Stephanie Coontz

108.                     Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

109.                     Into Thin Air by Jon Krakaeur

110.                     Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

111.                     Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

112.                     Slam by Nick Hornby

113.                     Empress by Shan Su

114.                     The Runner by Christopher Reich

115.                     Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer

116.                     Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

117.                     The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

118.                     Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

119.                     Wild by Cheryl Strayed

120.                     The Edge of Paradise: America in Micronesia by P.F. Kluge

121.                     Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

122.                     The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

123.                     Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

124.                     Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris

125.                     Every Last One by Anna Quindlen

126.                     1984 by George Orwell

127.                     River Town by Peter Hessler

128.                     Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

129.                     Ape House by Sara Gruen

130.                     A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow by Tim Brookes

131.                     Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

132.                     Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

133.                     Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

134.                     Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

135.                     Animal Farm by George Orwell

136.                     I’m a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson

137.                     Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

138.                     The Awakening by Kate Chopin

139.                     ‘Tis by Frank McCourt

140.                     Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

141.                     The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

142.                     The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

143.                     Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

144.                     La mala hora by Gabriel García Marquez

145.                     Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

146.                     City of Thieves by David Benioff

147.                     Drown by Junot Díaz

148.                     A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

149.                     Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

150.                     Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

151.                     The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

152.                     The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

153.                     Dear Life by Alice Munro
154.          Plainsong by Kent Haruf
155.          In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson