All Entries in the "Books" Category

Book Review – Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Photo: Indian girl practicing English
After a failed climb of K2 in Pakistan Greg Mortenson set out on a mission of another kind – one that required an immense amount of perseverance and passion beyond K2. This is the true story of Greg Mortenson’s journey to “promote peace one school at a time” I thought that [...]

Book Review: Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Snowflower and the Secret Fan is a fictional book set in 19th Century China - fittiing for all of my China travel in Oct. and Nov. I actually read this book for my sister’s book club. I must start with I normally don’t read fiction - for some reason it lacks the ‘thrill ‘ factor [...]

Book Review – Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald

I just finished the book Holy Cow, a memoir about an Australian’s experiences living in India. It was recommended to me to be a a good book to read before you came to India to get a feeling for the country – or to scare you off. Of course I didn’t end up starting the [...]

Book Review – My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

I don’t really read Fiction anymore, but this book, My Sister’s Keeper, did the impossible - it made me a believer in fiction again. While in Morocco, one of the women in my tour group had brought this book and over the 3 weeks we were there, 4 of the people in the group had [...]

Book Review – The Secret History By Donna Tartt

The Secret History is an older book..not old like Moby Dick…but old like in it was a best seller in 1992. My friend Miles brought it for me as it’s one of his favorite books. I must admit – I haven’t been reading much Fiction lately – but it was fun to get lost [...]

Book Review - Lucky Child by Loung Ung

This is the 2nd book that I’ve read in a series of memoires by Loung Ung. She survived the Genocide in Camodia in the first book, and she has gone on to share the story of her integration into America at 9 years of age in the 80’s. As I’ve traveled around Asia I’ve always [...]

Book Review - First They Killed My Father

First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung
This is the story of the Cambodia genocide that happened a mere 30 years ago. Since I am going to be in Cambodia and specifically wanted to see the Killing Fields of Phnom Penh, I felt that it was important to better educate myself about the subject. Loung [...]

Book Review - The Girl in The Picture

The Girl in the Picture - The story of Kim Phuc - by Denise Chong

This is the story about a picture which I’m sure you’ve all seen - a little girl, Kim Phuc, running down a road, naked and burned by napalm - her picture was snapped and it changed her life. Nick Ut was [...]

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

This book was recommended to me by Keith and Jaqui from South Africa – it was wonderful! This is a true story about three generations of women in China. It covers a vast amount of Chinese History from their family perspective and stories. It spans from 1909 to 1978 from life among the warlords, various [...]

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

David Sedaris is brilliant - he tells story after story about his life with such humor - and strangely (or maybe disturbingly) you can relate to many of his stories! His dry sense of humor is just what I love. Every time I read his stories I think of my friend Miles for some reason. [...]