I’ve always read a lot. Since I was a little girl. I used to become so engrossed in books my parents had to take them out of my hands so I could join them at the dinner table. For the past several years I have set a reading challenge for myself on Goodreads and every year I surpass it. This year was no exception, except that I almost doubled my set goal!! I had several reading goals coming in to Peace Corps: 1) read about my country of service, 2) read general Peace Corps stories, 3) read a book from each of the countries that PC is currently serving and has served and, 4) read all the books on my Kindle that I downloaded during grad school. I’m making great progress in each of these areas! I also have a massive list of books I want to read (kept in an excel file, of course) and the PC Library has been very helpful.
Here are all the books I read this year and my rating for each one:
January
A Life Inspired: Tales of Peace Corps Service 4 stars
Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East by Donna Lee Bowen 3 stars
Younger Than That Now by Michael Moran 2 stars
My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg 5 stars
The Conquest of Morocco by Douglas Porch No rating
February
The Sand Child by Tahar ben Jelloun 3 stars
A Woman’s Passion for Travel: True Stories of World Wanderlust 3 stars
Understanding Arabs: A Guide for Modern Times by Margaret Nydell 4 stars
A House in Fez: Building a Life in the Ancient Heart of Morocco 4 stars
March
White Men Don’t Have Juju: An American Couple’s Adventure Through Africa 4 stars
Literacy, Culture and Development: Becoming Literate in Morocco 2 stars
Caim by Jose Saramago 5 stars
The Last Woman Standing by Thelma Adams 4 stars
Travels with a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah 5 stars
America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray 5 stars
April
Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Woman’s Journey Toward Independence 5 stars
The Unbroken Line of the Moon by Johanne Hildebrandt 5 stars
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith 5 stars
Barkskins by Annie Proulx 4 stars
A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveller by Frances Mayes 4 stars
The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano 1 star
The Secret Healer by Ellin Carsta 2 stars
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett 5 stars
May
The Vatican Princess: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia by C.W. Gortner 4 stars
Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society by Fatema Mernissi 4 stars
Hidden Figures: The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation into Space by Margot Lee Shetterly 5 stars
Medicis Daughter: A Novel of Marguerite de Valois by Sophie Perinot 4 stars
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert 4 stars
The Tapestry by Nancy Bilyeau 4 stars
June
How to Forgive…When You Don’t Feel Like It by June Hunt 1 star
An Anthology of Tashelhiyt Berber Folktales by H. Stroomer 4 stars
Rumors by Anna Godbersen 3 stars
Envy by Anna Godbersen 3 stars
The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon 3 stars
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini 5 stars
The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff 4 stars
The Guardian of Secrets and Her Deathly Pact by Jana Petken 3 stars
The Gringo Brought His Mother! by Geneva Sanders 3 stars
And the Rest is History by Jodi Taylor 5 stars
The Negotiator: A Memoir by George J. Mitchell 5 stars
July
The Undertaker’s Daughter by Kate Mayfield 4 stars
Nirzona by Adibah El Khalieqy 1 star
August
Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea 5 stars
Morocco Since 1830: A History by C.R. Pennell 4 stars
The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster by Tim Crothers 5 stars
Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon 5 stars
September
The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal 4 stars
Living on the Edge: Fiction by Peace Corps Writers 4 stars
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs 5 stars
House of Tears: Westerner’s Adventures in Islamic Lands 3 stars
The Birth Order Book: Why You are the Way You Are by Kevin Leman 3 stars
Lost Geography by Charlotte Bacon 3 stars
The Marvelous Misadventures of Ingrid Winter by J.S. Drangsholt 3 stars
October
Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan 5 stars
Pirates: Myth vs Reality by Helen Hollick 4 stars
Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor by Anne Edwards 5 stars
The Last Paradise by Antonio Garrido 4 stars
Never Eat Alone: An Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi 3 stars
In the Shadow of Lakecrest by Eizabeth Blackwell 4 stars
An Introduction to Islam by David Waines 2 stars
The Moroccan Women’s Rights Movement by Amy Evrard 4 stars
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean 5 stars
The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory 3 stars
November
The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain 4 stars
The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne 5 stars
The Man Who Could Be King by John Ripin Miller 4 stars
All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World by Zora O’Neill 5 stars
The Lioness of Morocco by Julia Drosten 4 stars
Madam Belle: Sex, Money and Influence in a Southern Brothel by Maryjean Wall 4 stars
Paradise Delayed – Our New Lives in the Wild. Caribbean Island Life in the Beautiful Archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Panama by Ian Usher 3 stars
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen 5 stars
December
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas 5 stars
Beneath the Wall by Eryn LaPlant 3 stars
Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village by Sarah Erdman 5 stars
Out of Mao’s Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China by Philip P. Pan 5 stars
Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chan 5 stars
The Map Thief by Michael Blanding 5 stars
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer 5 stars
Beautiful Tempest (Malory Family #12) by Johanna Lindsey 5 stars
Service Disrupted: My Peace Corps Story by Tyler E. Lloyd 5 stars
The goal I set for myself was 40 for the year. As of today, I’ve read 74 with 2 more to be completed soon. Four and Five star rated books are highly recommended. The big question now is what should my goal be for 2018?? Gonna sign off now so I can go read some more …..
**UPDATE: I doubled my goal. As of the morning of December 31, 2017, I read 80 books! I think I need sleep now.
alicrain 