Read The World - Togo - The Village of Waiting

Book: The Village of Waiting
Author: George Packer
Pages: 336
Book takes place in the country: YES
Author is from the country: NO (but he lived there for 18 months)
I have visited: NO

This is my 61st book of the year

I go back and forth with this challenge of wanting to read fiction or non fiction from these different countries.  I think for some countries fictional novels seem like a fine choice.  But for a lot of these small, poor, African countries, I really believe non-fiction is the right choice.  To really learn something about the country and the people.

This is the author's own story of the time he lived in Togo with the Peace Corps.  He was there for 18 months in the early 1980s.  He was stationed in a village called Lavie as an English Teacher.  What he finds is the desperately poor, who pin all of their hopes on the people who are sent to help them.  He gets to know a wide variety of people while he is there - the villagers, the chiefs, the children at his school, and tries to figure out how he fits into their world.  He comes to care for the people in the village and wants to help so badly.  But knows that he will never make enough difference.  That he will never be able to catch up with how much they all need.

This was a good book.  I thought it was very, very well written.  The story was engaging, and George tells a lot of stories about his time there and the people, and he expresses his frustrations well.  When you first start this book you will wonder to yourself "wow George - what were you even doing there?  You seem to just be focusing on the negative".  BUT - as the story goes along, it becomes more well rounded and you start to understand his frustration.  And you come to realize that we would probably all feel that way - especially growing up in middle class America.  You would feel helpless in what would look like a hopeless situation.

I encourage you to read this book.  It gave me a really good look into the village life in Togo.

Stars: 4 1/2

Extra Book: The Art of the Swap

Book: The Art of the Swap
Author: Kristine Asselin and Jen Malone
Pages: 352

This is my 60th read of the year.  I read this book with my two, 12 year olds, and we finished it up last night.

This is the story of Hannah Jordan and Maggie Dunlap.  Hannah lives in a mansion that was turned into a museum.  It is the Elms in Newport, Rhode Island.  Hannah's father is the caretaker of the museum, and Hannah has spent her time learning about the family that lived there.  She seems to know more than ever the guides who take visitors through the museum.

The biggest mystery of the Elms is an art heist that took place in 1905.  It involved the 12 year old niece of the homeowners - Maggie Dunlap - and a painting of her that her aunt had commissioned.  Hannah has always been fascinated by the story of the heist, and Maggie.  One day, she is cleaning a mirror and touches a spot on the mirror that sends her swirling into the past.  The next thing she knows - she is Maggie in 1905 and Maggie is her.

The girls have no idea why this happened, but they are determined to find out.  Hannah gets her wish to see what it was like to live at the Elms while it was a house and Maggie gets a chance to see what it is like in the future.  The girls think that the art heist is the heart of the reason they were switched, and now they must work together - and quickly - to set things right.

This was a great book.  I actually know the author, Kristine Asselin quite well.  She is an amazing person in real life, and her personality shines in this book.  There is a nice message woven within the pages of the mystery, and my daughter, especially, was tuned into that.  Plus, there are a lot of true to life elements in the book that I was drawn to.  (The Elms, The Berwinds, Maggie, etc - all real places and people). 

I am glad we had a chance to read it and I cannot wait to see what Kris writes in the future.  Bravo!

Read The World - Finland - The Year Of The Hare

Book: The Year Of The Hare
Author: Arto Paasilinna
Pages: 182
Book takes place in the country: YES
Author is from the country: YES
I have visited: YES - in 2023

This is my 59th read of the year.  I finished this one as an audiobook.

Finland is on our short list while we live in Europe.  My daugher, Finley, thinks she needs to visit because "Fin" is in her name.  Works for me.

This is a story about Vatanen, a Finnish journalist who one day hits a hare with his car on his way home from work. He goes after the hare and this leads to an adventure with him and the animal.  They travel all over Finland and Vatanen plays many different parts and meets a lot of people along the way.  The whole time, the Hare remains his constant companion.  Vatanen has left his wife, but he has discovered that he likes living on his own - likes living in the moment.  He is on a wild adventure that involves lots of snow (of course), reinder and even a bear.  Every person that Vatenen encounters says something about human nature - that living a simple life isn't so simple.

This was a pretty good book.  It was what I would consider quirky.  There were a few parts where I chuckled.  It is a little all over the place, but the hare did help keep the central focus of the story in line for me.  I could picture the scenery of Finland while I read, and could imagine the deep north and what it must have looked like.  

It is a short novel, that might be something you would try if you found it in the library.  I think for now I will keep this one as my Finland book.

Stars: 3 1/2

Read The World - China - China Dream

Book: China Dream
Author: Ma Jian
Pages: 208
Book takes place in the country: YES
Author is from the country: YES
I have visited: NO (but my husband has and my son was born there)

This is my 58th read of the year.

China is on my short list of places to visit.  My son was born there and we adopted him when he was 14 months old.  I didn't get to go on the trip to pick him up because I had a 1 and 4 year old at home at that time that needed looked after.  My husband went and got him and got a chance to explore and visit where our son was born (Hunan).  Someday, we will all go back as a family.  Right now, I will treasure my greatest gift from this country, my boy.

This is the story of Ma Daode.  He has been put in charge of a program called China Dream which will overwrite people's private dreams.  He is got a great job, a wife, and several mistresses and thinks he has it all.

As the program comes together, Ma suddenly finds himself plagued with flashbacks of his past.  He flashes to his time in the Cultural Revolution, his parent's suicide, and the downfall of his family.  He seeks out a legendary recipe for an amnesia potion to erase these thoughts, thinking that this will help him refocus on his current work.

This book was very very confusing.  I really can't write more about it because it didn't go anywhere.  It was all over the place.  I understand that it is a bit of a dystopian novel, but also a colleciton of how the author (who has been banned from China for his writings) feels about his country.  The ending was terrible.  It got more and more twisted as the story went along, and then.....nothing.

Disappointing, really.  I had high hopes for it when I read the synopsis, but there weren't any reviews for it yet on Amazon.  I should have been wary.

I will be looking for another book about China in the future.  Attually, we have a couple on our shelves back in Massachusetts - I might grab one of those before I search out something new.

Stars: 2

Read The World - Bahrain - Round The Bend

Book: Round The Bend
Author: Nevil Shute
Pages: 341 pages
Book takes place in the country: YES
Author is from the country: NO
I have visited: NO

This is my 57th read of the year.

This is an old book.  I actually bought a hard cover, used, first edition and it has been well loved.  This book, I would say, is JUST on the verge of 50% in the country (Bahrain) in order for it to count for me.  

This is the story of Tom Cutter, a British man who loves to fly planes.  He was working as a mechanic when a circus comes to town.  He spends time with their planes and when they pack up to leave, he asks to go with them.  They turn him down, but he follows them anyway, and helps out with odd jobs.  There he meets a man named Connie who becomes his life long friend.

Tom serves in the war, and when he returns home he gets married to the love of his life.  He decides what he really wants to do is fly airplanes, so he buys an old one, and moves to Bahrain to fly charter flights in the Middle East.  Before he knows it, his business is booming and he finds he needs to higher a small staff and buy another plane.

He returns home to find out that his wife has committed suicide after she has an affair with another man.  Tom decides that he will then stay in Bahrain since nothing is keeping him to return to England permanently.  Tom sets up in Bahrain and hires all native workers who are content with low salaries.  This allows Tom to stay competative and before knows it, he needs a 3rd plane and more staff.

On one of his flights, he meets back up with Connie and they rekindle their friendship.  He talks Connie into coming to work with him.  Connie is a hard worker and a great engineer.  Soon he is attracting people from all over because of his approach to religion.  Connie's motto is - if the men do their job well, they are praying.  In a country full of Muslims who pray several times a day, this is attractive.  Connie's teachings spread but the religious heads start to get nervous, and ask to have Connie moved to Bali.  Tom agrees but only if Connie can continue to help him run his business from that area of the world.

Tom finds that all religions respond to Connie from all over Asia.  The story is an interesting take on how religion and doing a job well can go hand in hand.  Tom finds that he can run a very successful business in the Middle East because of what Connie has taught his men.

This was a great book.  I didn't think I was going to like it at first - that it was going to be too technical about airplanes and mechanical jargon.  But it was not.  It is very well written, easy to understand, and has a solid message.  When I looked at this book on Amazon, this author has quite a following with his other books, so I might have to check out some others in the future.  I am glad I found this one.

PS - the name of this book comes from the fact that Tom states that people who know him thought he had gone "Round The Bend" when he decided to set up shop in tiny Bahrain.

Stars: 4 1/2

Read The World - Taiwan - The Astonishing Color of After

Book: The Astonishing Color of After
Author: Emily XR Pan
Pages: 480
Book takes place in the country: YES
Author is from the country: NO (but her parents were)
I have visited: NO

This is my 56th book for the year

I listened to this book as an audiobook.  I think that was the perfect way for this particular book - it really brought the story alive.

This is the story of Leigh Sanders.  Her mother has died from suicide and now Leigh is lost.  One day, she sees a bird, and she is sure it is her mother.  Her father, unsure what to do now that his wife is gone and his daughter seems lost, takes Leigh to Taiwan to meet her grandparents for the first time.  Leigh feels this will give her a chance to find her mother and speak to her grandmother.  She discovers that her grandparents speak very little English, and that the relationship between her parents and them is strained.

Her dad finds he cannot stay in Taiwan, but feels Leigh should stay.  Leigh is determined to find her mother and chases after her memories in all corners of Tiawan.  She meets a young girl, Phong, who helps her translate with her grandparents and also find what Leigh is looking for - closure.  

The story goes back and forth between Leigh in Taiwan, and the recent past of her time in the United States.  Leigh is an artist.  She has submitted a portfolio to a special program for talented high school students, but her father was not pleased.  He wants Leigh to concentrate on something "real"  That art is just a past time.  But for Leigh it is everthing.  

She has a best friend, Axel, who she is secretly in love with.  Axel is whom she leaned on when her mother died, but an awkward situation before she left for Taiwan is making it difficult for her to reach out to him while she is gone.  

With the flash back parts of this book, we discover more about Leigh's family and her relationship with her mom and her grandparents and what lead to her eventual suicide.

In the end, Leigh finds what she is looking for, but not in the way she imagined.  She is now able to leave Taiwan and move forward.  Through a tale of magical realism, Leigh and her family are brought to life.  

This book was excellent.  It is going to the top of my list for this year.  Just incredible.  The story was well told, and the writing was beautiful.  I was drawn to the characters and even though magical realism is usually not my favorite but this book blew me away.  The author did a good job of mixing in Leigh's past and present and mixing in the magic elements with true to life problems that many people face when a loved one dies.  

There is a lesson in this story, of course.  She talks a lot about depression, especially in the end, about how important it is to listen to the people in our lives and to pay attention to signs when we think someone might be in trouble.  

You need to read this one.  Or listen to it.  I did find that this book was well told with a voice attached to the characters.  

"The purpose of memory is to remind us how to live"

Stars: 5

Read The World - Swaziland - The Kingdom of Roses and Thorns

Book: The Kingdom of Roses and Thorns
Author: Debra Liebenow Daly
Pages: 276
Book takes place in the country: YES
Author is from the country: No, but she lived there for 2 years
I have visited: NO

This is my 55th read of the year

This is a book of 5 short stories about 5 Swazi women - Anna, Sarie, Elizabeth, Busisiwe, and Thembekile.  They all have faced different obstacles in their lives.  It is set in a beautiful country that under the surface reveals a terrible HIV/AIDS epidemic, poverty, and lack or rights for women.  These women try to overcome their circumstances to give themselves and their children better lives.  The stories cross each woman's life from childhood into adulthood and beyond as they struggle to better themselves.

And that is all I am going to say about this book.  I had looked at several books about Swaziland, and this one got the best reviews, so I stuck with that.  But the writing is not good at all.  It is written almost child like with very little depth or character development.  It would have been better if the author would have picked one character and slowed down the proces and wrote more in depth about their life story.  You don't get the ability with this book to care about the characters at all.  And with the poor writing, it just makes you want to roll your eyes with these stories.

I did finish it, and unfortunately, it may have to stay as my Swaziland book if the other books out there are truly worse.  If any of my blog readers have a book they read about this country that they liked, please share.  I would be happy to replace this one.

Stars: 2