It's safe to assume I'm going to have a lot of down time to read while in Togo. While there are libraries at all the Peace Corps outposts for me to use, I am bringing about five books of my own to enjoy. Volunteers are constantly swapping books with others, always trying to keep their bedside tables full with "to-be-reads."My books are the first in a series of favorite things I will have to leave behind, but will probably try ever so unsuccessfully to squeeze into my luggage. But some I have to bring. They are not necessarily my all-time top five, but they did qualify once I considered the following completely arbitrary qualifications.
1) Re-Readability.
2) The Book's ability to represent me and where I came from.
3) Uniqueness. Will these books already be in Togo/be read by other volunteers.
4) Other Random Variables. These include length, quotability and conversation-starting potential.
This feels like a "desert island" top five, if you had to be stranded with only five books, what would they be? Well, I'm hardly stranded in Africa, but nonetheless, here's what I can't leave home without.
The River Why by David James Duncan
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
Honorable Mention: A River Runs Through It, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Ishmael, High Fidelity, Into the Wild, The Hot Zone, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Caps For Sale
What would you take?
2 comments:
I would take The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Selfish Gene, Naked Lunch and Love in the Time of Cholera
hey!
so i finished reading into the wild and my sitemate read high fidelity here in Togo; in other words, they are already in country so no need to waste precious luggage space (btw, in case you didn't hear through the grapevine, you really do get 100 lbs of luggage...Peace Corps says 80 lbs but the airlines determine the weight limit...so that means more book pound-age). but yea, your other 5 books look good as I don't think I've seen them in any of the PC libraries across the country so far...
oh and hi :) see you in country soon. your training village is gorgeous (it's the same one I just got finished in).
ciao,
-Nikhil
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