Books

Like other PCVs before me, this is a running list of the books I have read while in training and in service:

March/April 2020

  • All Things Bright and Beautiful (book2) and All Things Wise and Wonderful(book3) by James Herriot, classic autobiography about young veterinarian in late 1930s northern England. I thoroughly enjoyed all 3 books as he shares universal themes about people, animals and relationships.
  • The Happy Teacher Habits by Michael Linsin (very helpful, the best tip for me was how to create a simple story for lessons. I had just started to apply this with success when we were evacuated)
  • Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson ( funny read about his time in England)
  • The Beantown Girls by Jane Healey (good WWII historical fiction about the Red Cross’ Clubmobile girls who raised morale in the European Theatre of Operations)

January/February 2020

  • Vegetable Cultivation, a practical handbook by E.G. Van Antwerpen (dated, but very helpful booklet loaned to me from the local Ministry of Agriculture)
  • Silencing Eve by Iris Johansen, annoying romance thriller
  • All Creatures Great and Small(book1) by James Herriot, classic autobiography about young veterinarian in late 1930s northern England
  • Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith, in the fun series of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Series set in Botswana.

November/December 2019

  • The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult (really good book about young, reclusive woman who unknowingly befriends a 95yr old ex Nazi SS who challenges thoughts about redemption)
  • The Dressmaker’s Gift by Fiona Valpy (set in Paris during WWII, goes back and forth in time between current and war time. I really enjoyed this book)
  • Walking to Santiago: How to guide for the Novice Camino de Santiago Pilgrim by Ryan Tandler
  • Camino de Santiago Journey 2019: Help, Hints and Tips for the Peregrino by Tex Lang (Author is 72 years old, walked part of the way but couldn’t complete the whole trek. Still loved it and came back to complete it. )

September/October 2019

  • The Total Classroom Management Makeover by Michael Linsin (helpful)
  • A Zoo in My Luggage by Gerald Durrell (I love his stories )
  • The Quest by Nelson DeMille (good adventure about finding the Holy Grail)
  • Never Go Back by Lee Child (Jack Reacher thriller)
  • Blanket of Stars: Thru Hiking the Camino de Santiago by CW Lockhart

July/August 2019

  • Halo Effect by Anne D. LeClaire (interesting murder mystery where angry father is commissioned to paint portraits of saints using local townspeople )
  • The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia (good; set in Mexico during time of Spanish Flu and revolution)
  • The Submissive(1), The Dominant(2), The Training(3) Trilogy by Tara Sue Me (along the lines of Shades of Grey)
  • Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (good, military sci-fi)

May/June 2019

  • El Camino de Santiago by Simon Green
  • Circling the Sun by Paula McLain (excellent tale about pioneer female pilot)
  • Mama Namibia by Mari Serebrov (excellent; history of the German persecution in Namibia and also parallel story of Jewish doctor
  • House of Spies by Daniel Silva (#17Gabriel Allon series)

March/April 2019

  • Inferno by Dan Brown (suspense thriller mixed w/ art history, set in Florence,Venice and Istanbul. Thoroughly enjoyed it!)
  • The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (British murder mystery)
  • The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni ( reminiscent of Prayer for Owen Meany which is one of my all time favorites)
  • Small Town Rumors by Carolyn Brown (another light,easy read)
  • The October List by Jeffery Deaver (good mystery with a twist of going backwards in time)
  • Sometime Sisters by Carolyn Brown (another light,easy read)

January/February 2019

  • My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
  • Birds, Beasts and Relatives by Gerald Durrell
  • The Garden of the Gods by Gerald Durrell (highly recommend this trilogy of memoirs and the TV series, The Durrells of Corfu)
  • The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks (light, easy romance but not the cheesy stuff)
  • As Good As True by Cheryl Reid (different story… about Syrian immigrants in Alabama in 1950s)

December 2018

  • The First Days of School by Harry and Wong (helpful)
  • Okavango by June Kay (adventure, memior of exploring the African river)
  • Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman (good,funny, overcoming hardship)
  • Connected by Kim Karr (quick, sexy read)

October-November 2018

  • The Fortunes of War: The Balkin Trilogy by Olivia Manning:
    • The Great Fortune;
    • The Spoilt City;
    • Friends and Heroes (interesting trilogy of historical fiction, British citizens in Greece, pre-world war II)
  • Colloquial Afrikaans by Bruce Donaldson (very good)
  • Deadline by Sandra Brown (murder mystery with twists and turns)
  • Digging In by Loretta Nyhan (light read, widow with teenage son)
  • What Remains is True by Janis Thomas (family torn when young son dies, told in multiple voices)

August/September 2018

  • Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller (interesting, brutally honest perspective growing up white in early 70s in Rhodesia)
  • Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris (thriller, giving perspective on life in Saudi Arabia)
  • Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass (detective mystery with lots of criminal forensics)
  • In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen – WWII novel