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when i travel, i like to read novels set in that country or region, preferably ones written by locals. it’s my way of learning local history, customs, nuances as told by those who live it. i looked all over for thailand reading recommendations, but surprisingly, i found very few. maybe i just […]

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i’ve been lethargic in my reading lately. i think it has a lot to do with phil being home. i read a lot more when he’s gone, which explains why i have a new book review since i read a lot when he was in scandanavia last month.

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If you’re living in East Africa, hands-down the birding book to get is the Helm Field Guides Series, Birds of East Africa by Terry Stevenson & John Fanshawe. It covers Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi…in-depth. Beware it’s size, which makes it somewhat cumbersome to take along while traipsing through the forest. […]

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Again, another book not about Africa. A good one, though.
I’ve never read any Ian McEwan books before. A synopsis of his book First Love, Last Rites: “Taut, brooding, and densely atmospheric, these stories show us the ways in which murder can arise out of boredom, perversity can result from adolescent curiosity, and sheer […]

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1 of the best books i’ve read in a while. as annbarry says, “hi-larious,” but also touching & insightful.
this is the story of a wildlife biologist living in the field with his troop of baboons in kenya. but, sapolsky gives us more than that. the chapters switch from stories of the […]

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i’ve always loved reading, but when i moved to seattle a year ago i became a crazy avid reader. probably ‘cos phil wasn’t around and i had lots of time to read at night after work. i found an awesome bookstore in seattle - queen anne books (top of queen anne hill on […]

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(Ok, so not all of the books I’m reading are about Africa…)
If you’re looking for the same formulaic plot as The Da Vinci Code, look no further than Angels & Demons. The back cover of the book claims: “discover the world of The Da Vinci Code with the book that started it all.” […]

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Being an undergraduate history major and on my way to Africa, I should have known more about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. But, admittedly and probably like many of my fellow Americans, I was naïve, unaware, and protected from world news in 1994, which pre-dated my introduction to NPR in 2000.
This book […]

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Being the first Africa book I read and considering I was reading it as I landed in Africa for the fist time, you can understand why I consider this one of the more influential books in my Africa experience.
Theroux’s overland safari takes us all the way down Eastern Africa “from Cairo to Capetown.” […]

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