Yesterday I posted about a visit to the Temple of Literature, so in keeping with that theme I thought that today I would write about books! Travelling offers a fantastic opportunity to catch up on all that reading that you always mean to do but can never seen to find the time to do at home. In a foreign country and away from your usual routine, you often end up with many long bus or train trips on the agenda, lots of downtime (for me, often spent in coffee shops and the like) and less distractions. I generally have a book on the go at home but read WAY more on the road.
What have I been reading lately? I am normally a fiction reader, but I’ve been reading quite a bit of non-fiction lately for some reason, perhaps because those are what books have circulated among our crowd. I thought I’d compile a list of the books I’ve tackled since we’ve gotten to Saigon.
Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts
My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
Tears of the Desert – A Memoir of Survival in Darfur – Halima Bashir
A Long Way Gone – Memoirs of a Boy Soldier – Ishmael Beah
Into Thin Air – Jon Krakauer
River of Time – Jon Swain
The Rum Diary – Hunter S. Thompson
Reading at the moment (and loving it):
Anthony Bourdain – A Cook’s Tour
Next on the docket:
Graham Greene – The Quiet American
Shantaram is pretty much one of the best books in the entire world and it’s not read enough. Props to you for reading it.