Twenty-three more Books of Senegal

Now that Peace Corps c'est fini, it's time to wrap up my short reviews of the books I've read while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. The other 100 on the list can be found here.

1. Bryson, Bill. In a Sunburned Country

• Bill Bryson travels around Australia 
• I loved it so much that I decided to also take a trip around Australia (particularly the Darwin area, in the north) upon my completion of Peace Corps. 
• But then my friend Laura invited me on her COS trip instead, so here I am in Athens, which is also cool. 
• Anyone want to go to Australia with me? 
• Five stars. 


2. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness

• Very short and very good tale of a scary and suspenseful journey into the Congo 
• Four stars 
• Zero percent overlap with my African experience. 

3. Donoghue, Emma. Room

• A five-year old boy has spent his entire life in a garage-sized room - he and his mother are held captive there by a man who kidnapped the mother. 
• Does a very good job of telling the story through the eyes of a five-year-old 
• If you don't like five year olds, the narrator could be really annoying. 
• I like five year olds. 
• Five stars. 

4. Dugard, Jaycee. A Stolen Life

• Reads like it was written by someone with a 5th grade education 
• Because it was. 
• Heartbreaking. 

5. Egan, Timothy. The Big Burn

• About the history of the US forest service and the massive fire that caused colossal damage during its first years. 
• Deepened my confusing long-standing crush on Theodore Roosevelt 

6. Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink

• About the decisions that people make without thinking about it 
• It's fascinating that instant likeability is a skill that can be practiced and perfected 
• Made me want to be a professional face-reading lie detector. That sounds so badass. 

7. Heath, Chip and Dan. Made to Stick

• About why some ideas thrive and others don't 
• Interesting for anyone interested in behavior change or understanding their own behaviors 
• Behavior change is hard. 

8. Jiles, Paulette. Enemy Women

• A southern woman flees with a horse after the civil war while battling "consumption" 
• The woman who recommended I read this loves horses 
• If you love horses, you'd probably love it too. 
• Three stars, as I am indifferent to horses. 

9. Johnson, Adam. The Orphan Master's Son

• A North Korean plays the government to get ahead in life 
• North Korea is scary 
• I wish it had more history and facts, but since North Korea is so closed off facts are nearly impossible to come by, so I guess this is as good as it can get. 
• Four stars. 

10. Lamott, Anne. Traveling Mercies

• A woman's journey toward discovering her faith 
• It's OK. 

11. Lappe, Frances Moore. Diet for a Small Planet

• Vegetarianism is better than carnivory, ecologically speaking 
• That idea is so elementary now that it's hard to remember it was ever groundbreaking 
• Very interesting, but very dated 

12. Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City

• A serial killer does his thing at the World's Fair in Chicago 
• The serial killer part was interesting, and the part about the men putting on the Worlds Fair was interesting, but it seemed like two short books randomly smashed into one. 
• Still very good, just not the most cohesive. 

13. Lawry, Lois. The Giver

• I think I read this in middle school, but that was a long time ago. 
• Good, but too short. 
• The cover had a picture of Taylor Swift on it, so apparently they made a movie of it at some point. 

14. Martel, Yann. Self

• A man turns to a woman than back to a man 
• Very strange. 
• I guess I'd recommend it to a stranger but it's too weird to recommend to friends. 
• If you're a stranger read it and let me know what you think. 

15. Piercy, Marge. Woman on the Edge of Time

• A woman in a mental health facility can communicate with the future 
• The future's full of hippies. 
• I would be happy living in this hippy future. 
• Four stars 

16. Rand, Ayn. The Fountainhead

• Almost the same book as Atlas Shrugged 
• I liked Atlas Shrugged more 
• But both are very good 
• Dominique perplexed me. 
• I can't unsee unnecessary columns in architecture now. 

17. Roach, Mary. Bonk
18. Roach, Mary. Spook

• Bonk is about sex, Spook is about ghosts/the afterlife 
• Both are very funny, very well researched, and highly recommended. 
• Both are full of fun little tidbits you can bust out during lulls in conversation 
• Professional pig inseminators are trained to stimulate the pigs during the process because if the pigs climax they have higher fertility 
• I probably wouldn’t bust that one out in conversation unless my goal was to end it. 

19. Robbins, Tom. Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates

• A man named Switters goes on adventures 
• I loved it. Tom Robbins is a very creative man and I'm gonna read many more of his books when I return to the land of libraries. 
• Seriously, where does he get his ideas?! 

20. Schlessinger, Laura. Ten Stupid Things Women Do To Mess Up Their Lives

• All of the ten stupid things have to do with mate choices 
• "don't marry an elephant and expect it to curl up and purr in your lap" 
• "don't jump in an empty swimming pool hoping that water will materialize before you hit bottom." 
• Sound, logical advice. But she also encourages women to take time off work to full-time mother, which I don't agree with. 

21. Vonnegut, Kurt. Breakfast of Champions

• Short and full of pictures. 
• Good, but doesn't live up to the hype 
• Three and a half stars 

22. Zafon, Carlos. The Shadow of the Wind

• A young man tries to protect his favorite book from a villain set on destroying it 
• It sounds lame, but it’s actually a really good, suspenseful book. Four and a half stars. 
• The young man thinks that every woman he comes in contact with is in love with him, which is annoying. 
• If Mr. Zafron writes from experience, he must be either gorgeous or have a really overinflated ego. 
• Google images tells me it's the latter. 

23. Zelinski, Ernie. The Joy of Not Working
• If you’re bored while not working, find hobbies you enjoy. 
• Done.