Dear Michael - Books I've Read

Dear Michael,

Yes, there certainly has been time for reading. I read more when it rains, when I'm sick, or when I want to check out for a little while. Peace Corps-Vanuatu has been like traveling through a “Choose Your Own Adventure” novel in some ways. Unlike other jobs I've held, I rarely feel that I'm ever not on-call. So, I could read a lot more, but then I feel like I'm missing out on something or that there is something useful I could be doing.

With that said, I do read a lot, just not as much as I could. My Dad in America got me a subscription to The Economist which is printed in Singapore and arrives a few weeks to a month late. It's been fun to share the magazine with my host family and a few other regulars. Many of the adults learned enough English in primary school to at least ask questions about the headlines. Mostly, they just look at the pictures and we talk about them. About once a month, I bring out my big laminated Pacific centered world map and point to the places on the map where the people in the pictures are from. We've managed to have a few good discussions about where Islam started and spread and who is Osama bin Laden. Where is South Sudan? Where is the famine in Africa and why is it happening? And is it true that Brazil is not part of the United States? We've even discussed the Arab Spring and the rise and fall of the British Empire. I'm continually surprised by the questions that people have been wondering about for years and never had a chance to ask.

I've also raided the collection of books donated by Peace Corps volunteers in Port Vila a few times and I've found a few good things to read at the Epi High School Library. Here are the highlights:

• Moby Dick: This was my second read through and it's just as good as it was years ago. The first few chapters where the friendly American Ishmael gets to know the Melanesian Queequeg are a lot funnier now. Host mama Susan saw the cover, a picture of men in a boat hurling a spear at the eye of the big white whale. She seemed rather concerned that those men were “spoiling” the poor whale-fish.

• Persian Fire describes the lead up to the Greco-Persian wars, but describes the very real events in a more accessible, almost novel like fashion. I recommend it. The author also wrote a book about Rome called Rubicon that I plan to read when I'm back in America.

• Pride of Carthage is a fully novelized rendition of the rise of Hannibal Barca and his brothers and the fighting of the Punic Wars. Unlike Persian Fire, this one just attempts to tell a story without being constrained by things like historically researched “facts”.

• In keeping with the theme of big men with swords, I'll be taking Empire of Silver back to Epi. It's the fourth in a series of books I read in America about the Mongol Empire.

• Anna Karenina is almost done. I've been reading it off and on for months and may finish it someday soon. Kathy has a copy of War and Peace that I might have to tackle next.

• Blink by Malcom Gladwell was good and has led to some good discussions with the other volunteers.

• The Holy Bible: I live and work in a very Christian society where people know their text. It had been a few years since I last read this so I did it again.

• Various business and economics books have sneaked in too and there have been several stupid novels that one can finish in a few days.

• The next big reads will be some books sent by Ashley Westby and some from my parents. I've also picked up Leaves of Grass, The Wind up Bird Chronicles, and some more economics junk to keep me going.

I hope they still have libraries in America. More importantly, I look forward to having people around that I can really discuss all of these books with.

Oh, and Michael, did I ever have a Dune strategy? I recall just issuing empty threats and following a line of chaos that seemed more like some kind of anti-strategy.

How was New Orleans? When discussing local naikamas (black magic) on Epi, I mentioned that there is a city in the South of the US where tourists take voodoo tours and there is a story of a zombie werealligator. It took a lot of talking afterwards to convince the group that Rougarou isn't real.

-- Daniel --