Book List in Progress

Hello Friends! Despite the chaos of graduation (!) and moving back home, I am making progress! As you can see below, I have posted the current book list I am working from for my preparations. No, I do not expect nor intend to read all of them this summer, though I hope my interest will be peaked by my travels, so maybe they'll all be read some day. This list has been compiled by talking and emailing many people, and I'm still adding to it every day. A few that I've received in the last couple days haven't even made it to the list yet, but they will. I will continue to edit this list on this blog post as I receive recommendations, so please send them in by comments or email! The bolded ones are in progress already, either by being bought, or having been checked out of the library. Posts on these readings are forthcoming.

PLEASE! If you know of any good readings, be they fiction or non-fiction, short or long, pass the author and/or title on to me, especially if they concern the countries that don't have books listed yet. Thanks!

Global Books List (as of June 2)

SWITZERLAND:

• **Bloomability Sharon Creech;

GERMANY:

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EGYPT:

• The Cairo Trilogy Naguib Mafouz
• Border Passage;
• The Looming Tower Lawrence Wright
• Travels with a Tangerine Tim MacIntosh-Smith (Arab world region) 

TURKEY:

• Istanbul;
• Bliss;

INDIA:

• **The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy;
• Untouchable Mulk Raj Anand;
• Dreaming in Hindi (linguistics approach)
• **White Tiger Aravind Adiga;
• Homeless Bird Gloria Whelan;
• 2 States: The Story of My Marriage Chetan Bhagat (to be bought in India);
• A Fine Balance Mistry
• The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri
• Holy Cow Sarah MacDonald

THAILAND:

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CHINA/HONG KONG:

·     Factory Girls Leslie Chang

·     Coming Home Crazy Bill Holm

·     Red Scarf Girl Ji-li Jiang;

·     Chinese Cinderella Adeline Yen Mah;

·     Country Driving Peter Hessler

·     Oracle Bones Peter Hessler

·     **River Town Peter Hessler

·     Bound Feet and Western Dress Pang-Mei Natasha Chang

·     Falling Leaves Adeline Yen Mah

·     Lost on Planet China J. Maarten Troost

·     Hong Kong Jan Morris

SOUTH KOREA:

• **Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea Barbara Demick;
• The Post-American World (Asia regional);

JAPAN:

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GENERAL:

• **Half the Sky Nick Kristof (global womens issues);
• The Spritual Heritage of the Human Race: An Introduction to the World’s Religions Bushrui & Massoudi 2010
• The End of Influence: What Happens When Other Countries Have the Money Cohen & DeLong 2010
• The Art of Travel Alain de Botton

• Adventure Divas Holly Morris

Thanks! Keep your eyes out for a post on The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton soon!