Books

We, like many other Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) worldwide, read a lot of books. If for no other reason than to keep track, we decided to start of list of what we've read. Not included are re-reads of books we'd read before coming (Sam does this a lot). Also, this way if you want to send us books, you won't be sending something we've already read :)

- Didn't like, don't bother. +Enjoyed, recommend. Neither mark puts it in between, not bad but not great.  If you want a summary, leave a comment and ask.

Jeff:

1. + Mountains Beyond Mountains - Tracy Kidder
2. The House at Sugar Beach - Helene Cooper
3. - The Perfect Woman - James Andrus
4. + Easy Compost - The Brooklyn Botanical Garden
5. Where There Is No Doctor - David Werner
6. + Bananas: The United Fruit Company - Peter Chapman
7. Small-Scale Irrigation - Peter Stern
8. Always the Baker and Never the Bride - Christopher Buecheler
9. Typhoon - Joseph Conrad
10. + Starlighter - Bryon Davis
11. - Silent Thunder: In the presence of elephants - Katy Payne
12. + Un Perro Llamado GRK - Joshua Doder
13. + The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
14. + GRK and La Banda de Los Pellotti - Joshua Doder
15. + We Are All The Same - Jim Wooten
16. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
17. Dry. - Augusten Burroughs
18. - The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
19. Where Men Win Glory - Jon Krakauer
20. + The Diamond Age - Neil Stephenson
21. On-going Language Learning: Beyond Hello - The Peace Corps
22. + Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time - Dava Sobel
23. To The Rescue. Stories from Healthcare Workers at the Scenes of Disasters edited by Nancy Harless and Kerry-Ann Morris
24. Have a Great One! A Homeless Man's Story - Laurie Anthony
25. - The Year We Finally Solved Everything - Rudolf Kerkhoven
26. + Don't Be Afraid Gringo - A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart. The Story of Elvia Alvarado, Translated and Edited by Medea Benjamin
27. Painless - Derek Ciccone
28. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
29. Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey
30. Naamah's Curse - Jacqueline Carey
31. Naamah's Blessing - Jacqueline Care
32. - Do You Matter? How great design will make people love your company - Robert Brunner and Stewart Emery
33. + Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
34. + Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card
35. Xenocide - Orson Scott Card 
36. Children of the Mind - Orson Scott Card
37. + Seedfolks - Paul Fleischman
38. Ender's Shadow - Orson Scott Card
39. Prelude to Foundation - Isaac Asimov 
40. + Foundation - Isaac Asimov
41. + Foundation and Empire - Isaac Asimov
42. Second Foundation - Isaac Asimov
43. Forward the Foundation - Isaac Asimov
44. Foundation's Edge - Issac Asimov
45. + United States Declaration of Independence
46. + Foundation and Earth - Issac Asimov
47. In the year 2889 - Jules Verne
48. - Ain't No Sunshine - Leslie Dubois 
49. + Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
50. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
51. + A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain
52. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void - Mary Roach
53. Stuff White People Like - Christian Lander
54. Ringworld - Larry Niven
55. Common Sense - Thomas Paine
56. Sphere - Michael Crichton 
57. + Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman - Richard P. Feynman
58. + Travels - Michael Crichton 
59. + En Route: A Paramedic's Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between - Steven "Kelly" Grayson 
60. + Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
61. + Freedom's Landing - Anne McCaffrey
62. + Freedom's Choice - Anne McCaffrey 
63. Freedom's Challenge - Anne McCaffrey
64. + The Cobra Event - Richard Preston
65. The Gospel of Judas - Simon Mawer
66. + Are you there, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea - Chelsea Handler
67. + The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver 
68. + Stardust - Neil Gaiman 
69. Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
70. +Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver
71. Foundations Fear - Gregory Beneford
72. It's Perfectly Normal - Robie H. Harris
73. Panic in Level 4 - Richard Preston 
74. +First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria - Eve Brown-Waite
75. +The Laughing Sutra - Mark Salzman
76. Rhapsody - Elizabeth Haydon
77. Prophecy - Elizabeth Haydon
78. Destiny - Elizabeth Haydon 
79. Bossypants - Tina Fey
80. Zero History - William Gibson
81. +Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters
82. +The Color Purple - Alice Walker
83. Mastiff - Tamora Pierce
84. Savages - Joe Kane

Sam:

1. +The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper (thanks Uncle Joe--it took me a long time to get to this, but I thought it was very well done. And I passed it on to the rest of Peace Corps Honduras)
2. +Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder (excellent book with a lot to teach about effective development practices)
3. +Bananas: The United Fruit Company by Peter Chapman (I liked this, but it was kind of all over the place chronologically.  Sometimes the ordering of things was really confusing.  That said it was written like a narrative and reads easily)
4. +Un Perro Llamado GRK by Joshua Doder
5. +GRK y La Banda De Los Pelotti by Joshua Doder
6. +Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
7. +The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
8. +Tortall and Other Lands by Tamora Pierce
9. The Legends of King Arthur by Sir James Knowles*
10. El Colonel no tiene quien le escriba by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (I'm not marking this one either way because I understood the plot, but missed a lot of the details. Time to read it in English)
11. +Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver (like the other book of hers that I've read, The Poisonwood Bible, this one is also excellent)
12. +We Are All The Same - Jim Wooten
13. The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson (everyone told me that he's great. I have to admit that at least halfway into this book I still thought it was just plain weird. Turns out it was pretty good, but everything I heard about him not being able to write endings was totally true.)
14. +Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
15. +Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond (Excellent real-life love story)
16. +Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey
17. +Naamah's Curse - Jacqueline Carey
18. +Naamah's Blessing by Jacqueline Carey
19. The Complete Homebrewer's Guide (I have a feeling that this will be an ongoing read.... If anyone wants to send beer-making stuff, that'd be sweet!)
20. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (oh yes, I DID just open that can of worms.  Halfway through and its just like the Lord of the Rings rewritten and 89 billion times longer)
21. Los Detectives del Tiempo by Fabian Lenk
22. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
23. The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
24. The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
25. Chiles by the Brooklyn Botanical Garden
26. Easy Compost by the Brooklyn Botanical Garden
27. The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan 
28. -The Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
29. ++The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
30. The Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan
31. + Freedom's Landing - Anne McCaffrey
32. + Freedom's Choice - Anne McCaffrey 
33. Freedom's Challenge - Anne McCaffrey 
34. + Stardust - Neil Gaiman
35. + The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver