What We're Reading

We are really excited to have more time to read this year.  Here's a running list of books we've read during (or in preparation for) the sabbatical.  We started with a lot of books about South America, but we are looking forward to broadening our focus.  Please suggest anything you think we should be reading!

It's roughly in reverse chronological order.

The Garden of Evening Mists, Tan Twan Eng
Set in Malaya during the Emergency of the 1960s, this is a beautifully written, slow-moving, sad book. The protagonist is a Chinese Malay who had been a Japanese war prisoner.  She develops a relationship with the former gardener to the Emperor of Japan.  The book touches on Japanese garden design, tatooing, and Japanese archery.  A nice read while traveling through former French Indochina, heading to Japan.  (Yo)

The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
The Fault In Our Stars was one of those books that was well written, exciting, and sad.  Hazel, the main character, has lung cancer.  The book isn't all about her cancer, though.  The author does a good job of making the book funny, sad, and exciting.  (Ruby)

Gregor the Overlander, Suzanne Collins
I enjoyed this book so much, that I could barely put it down.  This book has a mix of real world problems, plus a fantasy world.  If someone were to ask me if they should read this book, I would say definitely. (Ruby)

Big in China, Alan Paul
I enjoyed reading this engaging memoir by an American recounting his family's ex-pat years living in Beijing.  It's not super informative about Chinese culture, focusing more on the author's musical journeys (he forms a blues band that becomes hugely successful).  (Yo)

When Broken Glass Floats, Chanrithy Him
This is a powerful memoir about surviving the Killing Fields of Cambodia. It's hard to imagine how the author survived years of deprivation, starvation, war, and the deaths of many family members.  Her description of her journey to the U.S. via refugee camps in Thailand the Philippines was particularly interesting.  (Yo & Neil)

The Circle, Dave Eggers
This is a dystopian novel set in the near future about a young woman who works for an all-encompassing social media company.  At first, it seems like a dream job, and the company ("The Circle") seems like it is doing good things for the world.  But then it all changes.  The Circle is working towards completion of the company, which means holding a world wide monopoly with no one stopping them.  This is an interesting read about a company, where either all your dreams come true, or your nightmares. (Neil and Oscar)

Stranger Than Solitude, Yiyun Li
Set in Beijing and the United States, and alternating between 1989 and the present, this novel tells the story of three friends.  It explores the consequences of a tragic event in their childhood.  I loved this novel and am eager to read more by Li, a Chinese author who writes exclusively in English, her second language.  (Yo)

Lenin's Kisses, Yan Lianke
I really enjoyed reading this novel set in rural China as I was traveling around rural Hunan with family. With hints of satire and magic-realism, the story centers on a tiny village full of disabled people, and a pompous yet well-meaning local official who wants to bring Lenin's body to the Chinese countryside to serve as a tourist attraction.  With generous use of footnotes, the author fills in the historical context, jumping back and forth across the centuries.  Many elements of the story echo actual historical events like the Great Leap Forward.  I feel like this isn't a great description, but I loved the book!  (Yo)

No Time Like The Present, Nadine Gordimer
This was a great book to read while traveling in South Africa.  Gordimer tells the story of a biracial family living in modern day Johannesburg.  The novel is rich in details about the anti-apartheid movement and current social and political challenges.  (Yo)

Kaffir Boy, Mark Mathabane
Non-fiction book about a black boy growing up under apartheid.  The author was born in 1960, so he's not that much older than I am, and I recall a lot of the world events he lived through.  In his case, there was a happy ending, as he achieved his dream of getting abroad.  But the bleak picture of life under apartheid was graphic and upsetting.  Although the book was a bit longer than it needed to be, I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to understand how apartheid affected individuals and families. (Neil & Yo)

1984, George Orwell

A classic, this book portrays a future where privacy is the rarest resource.  Big Brother and the Thought Police are everywhere and always watching.  The futuristic technology seems outdated now, but many aspects of the totalitarian government seem realistic.  The torture scenes are chilling.  Reading this book plays mind games with you.  (Oscar & Yo)

Insurgent, Veronica Roth
Insurgent is the second book in the Divergent series.  There were some exciting parts in the book, because at one point, I stopped reading it for awhile.  But, I liked how the ending was so exciting and you just want to read more.  (Ruby)

Allegiant, Veronica Roth
Allegiant is the third and last book in the Divergent series.  This book made you just want to keep on reading, and was very exciting.  I won't give it away, but the ending of the book was so surprising, I never saw it coming.  The author made a huge plot twist.  I won't say anymore, but I would definitely recommend this book.  (Ruby)

Four, Veronica Roth
This is a very short book, probably fifty pages or so.  It tells a short part of Four, a character in Divergent, telling a part of his life.  The author is making a series of these, and I am excited to read the next book when it comes out on July eighth.  (Ruby)

Free Four: Tobias Tells The Divergent Knife-Throwing Scene, Veronica Roth
This is a scene told from the perspective of a character in Divergent, revealing a lot about him, and things that you don't know.  Since this is just a scene from a book, this is very short, but interesting. (Ruby)

One More Thing: Stories & Other Stories, B. J Novak
B.J Novak, one of the creators of The Office (US), is very funny and original.  In this book, he compiles all his entertaining anecdotes and stories ranging from ten pages long to only a couple sentences.  This book will leave you giggling to yourself every time you think about one of the short stories.    (Oscar)

Marching Powder, Rusty Young
This memoir/tell-all about life in La Paz's San Pedro prison is banned in Bolivia.  Apparently, it's very popular in the UK and Australia, as it tells the tale of Thomas McFadden, a Brit who spent 5 years in the prison for drug trafficking.  It paints a picture of a prison with its own economy and laws.  Inmates buy and sell their prison cells, run restaurants, and manufacture the highest quality cocaine in Bolivia. The law enforcement and court system come across and completely corrupt.  Until recently, tourists visited the prison and could even spend the night.  After a recent rape of a young girl (wives and children live in the prison), the government finally decided to close San Pedro.  (Yo & Neil)

Desert Memories: Journeys Through the Chilean North, Ariel Dorfman
Every country should have a writer like Ariel Dorfman to chronicle its people and history.  This book tells the story of Chile's Norte Grande, the nitrate boom and bust, through the lens of Dorfman searching for a murdered friend's body and his wife's estranged family.  This was great preparation for the few days we'll get to spend in San Pedro de Atacama.  (Yo)

Heaven To Betsy, Maud Hart Lovelace
Heaven to Betsy is the first book in the Betsy-Tacy series where Betsy is in high school.  This has probably been my favorite book in the series so far, because it seems so realistic.  Deep Valley in 1910 isn't exactly like Park Slope in 2014, but the things that everyone does are the same.  Betsy and the "crowd" go get ice cream, and ice skate all the time.  The other thing that I like about this book is the crowd.  That's what the group of Betsy's friends is called. It would be so fun to be in Deep Valley, hanging out with the crowd.  (Ruby)

Betsy in Spite of Herself, Maud Hart LovelaceThis is the Betsy-Tacy book where Betsy and Tacy are in their sophomore year.  I liked how throughout the series, you can see how the characters change a lot, but you still can tell that they are the same.  I also like how there are references between the first books in the series, and the others. If someone were to ask me if he/she should read this book, I would say yes, because this book has a perfect mix of realistic, and historical fiction. (Ruby)

Divergent, Veronica Roth
Divergent is about a girl named Tris, who lives in futuristic Chicago.  Even with the predictable plot, it was one of those books where you savored it, so you wouldn't get to the end. I especially liked the parts where the author describes Chicago in the far future.  There are five "factions" or groups, which Tris decides between.  Even though I would love to explain more, I don't think that I should give it away.  (Ruby)

A Mango Shaped Space, Wendy Maas
A Mango Shaped Space is about a girl who finds out that she has synesthesia at the age of twelve. Synesthesia is when you associate colors, objects, tastes, or other senses with each other.  For example, the girl in this book sees mango colored puffs in the air whenever her cat purrs.  I liked this book because it describes synesthesia, while playing out a typical story of a twelve year old girl.  (Ruby)

A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
As an avid consumer of science writing, I just loved this book.  It explains the history of the universe and of earth (geology, plants, animals) in an engaging way, mostly through the personal stories of the scientists involved.  The book is full of amusing stories of scientists intentionally poisoning themselves, making under-appreciated discoveries, and holding ridiculous grievances against competitors.  Bryson summarizes the history and state of scientific knowledge in each area, which only emphasizes how little we know about nearly everything -- the universe, our climate, our origins, even the bacteria in our bodies.  He also highlights areas of scientific debate, which I always find useful.  I still don't understand anything about quantum mechanics, but I now have a better idea of how that field developed and what remains to be understood by people much smarter than me.  (Yo)

Younger Next Year, Chris Crowley & Harry Lodge
This was recommended to me by Robert Currie, the leader of our Futaleufú trip, and an amazingly in-shape 55-year old.  Although aimed at people a bit older than me, it was an interesting read - about the science of aging, the the extreme importance of staying very active as you age.  I tend to like motivational books like this, and it was in keeping with some of the themes I'm exploring during this sabbatical, namely, how to best spend the next half of my life.  (Neil)

Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card

Ender in Exile is the last book in the Ender series.  In this book, Ender, the main character, is trying to outlive his fame by traveling to different worlds on a starship.  He is trying to undo his sins and make a new life as a traveler of the universe.  One of his sins is he killed a boy in self-defense while being trained in the military.  He also killed a whole intelligent alien species. It is an engrossing book about the challenges of his new life, and his responsibilities.  I loved it and wished that it would never end.  (Oscar)

Shadow of the Giant, Orson Scott Card

This is the last book in the Shadow series, which is a sequel to the Ender series.  It’s about one of the main characters who was genetically altered to be really smart and die at an early age.  It’s about his life and his involvement in the multiple wars going on in the world.  He is trying to create world peace before his time is out.   I really liked this book because it gives you another perspective on the same story as Ender’s Game.  (Oscar)

Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls

This is a memoir about Jeanette Walls’s family growing up.  It shows their multiple struggles, socially, financially and mentally.  It is told as if she was telling the tale while experiencing the events, and not 30 years later.  This book is sad, depressing, funny and entertaining.  I really loved it and I definitely recommend it.  (Oscar)

Shadow Puppets, Orson Scott Card

This is the second book in the Shadow Series.  Shadow Puppets is about Bean, and his life growing up on earth.  He is involved in multiple wars and is faced with many struggles including stopping the world from getting destroyed and meeting with many different leaders of powerful countries.  I liked it (of course) because it was more down-to-earth than the other books which all take place in space (no pun intended.. hehe).  (Oscar)

Shadows in Flight, Orson Scott Card

This is the second to last book in the Shadow Series.  This is about Bean, who started out on a journey at near light speed so the relativistic of time wouldn’t affect him.  He also brought along his three children who share his birth defect.  He is trying to find a way to cure himself, but stumbles upon a new alien race.  This book was interesting because it was told from the perspective of three people so you could know what each of them was thinking and what they each thought of each other.  (Oscar)

Heading South, Looking North, Ariel Dorfman
This was another great book to read while in Chile.  Dorfman chronicles his exile from the U.S., then Chile, then Argentina.  A lefty intellectual, he writes about becoming a revolutionary and working for Allende, his love-hate relationship with the U.S., and his ever-changing loyalties to English and Spanish.  Dorfman is very prolific and I'd like to read his book about Chile's Atacama desert and check out his fiction.  (Yo, Neil).  I particularly liked his thoughts on how language can influence meaning.  For example, he talks about how the extensive use of passive/reflexive form in Spanish influences the discussion of responsibility (e.g., in Spanish, you typically say, "I was missed by the bus" rather than "I missed the bus").

The Thing About Luck, Cynthia Kadohata
This is a young adult book about a Japanese American family working through a harvest season in the the U.S.  Ruby had loved Kira-Kira, by the same author, so we decided to read this book together. Only I finished it, though.  The story and characters are not that compelling.  I stuck with it, reading every night in my sleeping bag during the Futaleufu rafting trip.  Reading a book by flashlight made me feel like I was a kid again.  (Yo)

My Invented Country, Isabel Allende
Allende grew up in Chile and abroad, but she has spent her adult life in exile.  She writes beautifully about her nostalgia for the Chile she knew as a child.  She also elucidates the Chilean identity while telling the story of her eccentric family and a bit about the history of the country.  We really enjoyed this book and found it to be a great introduction to visiting Chile.  (Neil & Yo)

The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King, Rich Cohen
Samuel Zemurray, a Russian immigrant, was the entrepreneur who brought bananas to North America. He started off as the little guy, and eventually took over United Fruit.  Cohen makes a convincing case that Zemurray's story is the story of America, optimistic and idealistic, but also flawed.  (Yo)

Betsy-Tacy and Tib, Maud Hart Lovelace
This is the second book in the Betsy-Tacy series where Betsy, Tacy and their new friend Tib are eight.  I like how Maud Hart Lovelace based the series on her childhood.  Maud is Betsy, who wants to be a writer.  Bick, her friend, is Tacy, who is bashful and quiet.  Tib is Midge who is small, and loves dancing.  The rest of the characters are based on her family and friends.  I like how the stories are based on her childhood, because you can think of this book actually being someone's life, not just a made-up story.  (Ruby)

Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, Maud Hart Lovelace
This is the third book in the series.  I like how I can find connections between Maud and Betsy.  For example, Betsy wants to be a writer, and Maud is a writer, or how Maud loves poetry, and so does Betsy.  My favorite character is probably Tib because she is so small and dainty, but really adventurous and exciting.  I also like Betsy, because she always knows what to do in a situation.  Tacy is probably the least like me, because she is quiet, while I talk a lot, and she has red hair and blue eyes, while I have brown hair and brown eyes like Betsy.  (Ruby)

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Maud Hart Lovelace
This is the fourth book in the series, where Betsy, Tacy and Tib are 12.  I like to picture the characters getting older and older, although it is hard to picture.  The books still seem so much like life now, although they are from the early twentieth century.  If I landed suddenly in Deep Valley, I would be friends with Betsy, Tacy and Tib.  We would climb up the big hill together, and have picnics, get a banana split at Heinz's, and play tag outside in the backyards.  (Ruby)

The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
This is a fictional story of two teenagers with cancer.  They meet each other in a support group and become friends.  It's about their relationship and is very heart warming.  It's also very sad.  (Oscar)

Little Failure, Gary Shteyngart
Reading Running With Scissors got us in the mood to read memoirs.  In the same funny voice Shteyngart employs in his works of fiction, this book tells the story of his immigrant journey from the USSR to the US.  The book bogs down a bit towards the end during the college and post-college years in NYC.  But I definitely recommend this if you like Shteyngart's fiction, as he explains many parallels between his life and his work.  In particular, it sheds light on his intense relationship with his parents, with Russia, and with Judiasm.  (Yo)

Indecision, Benjamin Kunkel
This was an interesting read after Catcher in the Rye.  It's also a coming of age novel about a young man in his 20s who gets fired from corporate drudgery at Pfizer in NYC and who travels to Ecuador to chase a girl.  Ultimately, it was not the most satisfying read.  But it has its funny moments and brings to life the existential dread of one's twenties.  It also evokes traveling in Ecuador very well.  (Yo and Neil)

Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger
This is a realistic fiction book about a teenage dropout who goes to New York for a couple of days.  It shows how his life is falling apart and he keeps doing things to mess it up.  In the end, he spends a day with his sister and he decides to fix his life and work.  This is a good novel and is worth reading. Although I found it kind of depressing because of the main character's sad life.  (Oscar and Yo)

Running With Scissors, Augusten Burroughs
This is a memoir about Augusten's crazy life as a child.  He didn't have much supervision so he made all of his decisions by himself.  His parents didn't really want him around, so his mom's shrink adopted him.  Augusten's life is more bizarre than fiction.  There are many sad moments, but this is also a really funny book and I laughed out loud many times.  (Oscar and Yo)

Betsy-Tacy, Maud Hart Lovelace
This is the first book in a series written many years ago.  I liked it because the characters always like to explore things, and seem like me when I was five.  I also like how each chapter is a different activity that they do  They go through a lot of adventures, and I think I would definitely be friends with Betsy and Tacy if I knew them.  (Ruby)

Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
This is a sci-fi novel about a futuristic earth where everything is dying from pollution.  The only escape for humanity is in a giant video game called OASIS.  Right before the game's famous and rich creator dies, he sets up a giant treasure hunt based on 1980s trivia inside the game.  The winner receives his fortune.  This is a fun fast paced novel. Brush up on Rush lyrics, Family Ties, Bladerunner, Monty Python, and Ladyhawke.  MUST READ (Oscar, Neil and Yo)

Tenth of December, George Saunders
This short story collection is both funny and sad.  Saunders has a unique voice, capturing an America of the downtrodden, consumer culture, personal striving, and just plain weirdness.  We read one story, "Sticks," out loud to the kids, which they loved.  Even though the stories are bleak, they can be uplifting too.  And they do make you laugh.  (Yo)

Shadow of the Hegemon, Orson Scott Card
This is the second book in the Ender's Shadow series.  This book is not set up in space but is about more realistic, earth related issues.  The main character, Bean, is learning about who he is and how to command a group of men to follow orders from his 10 year old self.  (Oscar)

Home For the Holidays, Heather Vogel Frederick
This is the fifth book in the Mother Daughter Book Club series where they read the Betsy Tacy series. I haven't read them or even heard of them but I still feel like I know all of the characters.  The book also really zooms in on the characters' relationships with each other.  (Ruby)

Wish you were Eyre, Heather Vogel Frederick
This is the sixth and last book of the Mother Daughter Book Club series.  This time around they read Jane Eyre.  I like how the book club always thinks of what Jane would do if she were them.  I wish that the series would go on because now I really want to know what is going to happen in the next book. (Ruby)

The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes
I am so happy that I picked up this paperback in the English Book Shop in Quito!  I really liked reading Flaubert's Parrot back when I was college and had been curious about Barnes' latest book, which won the Man Booker Prize in 2011.  Like the book I just read, this one explores the complexities of memory.  The narrator is a man near the end of his life, looking back on formative relationships from his youth.  (Yo, Neil)

The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri
Sometimes you read a book that helps you understand the world, and yourself, a little better.  The Lowland did that for me.  It tells the story of two brothers, a tragedy early in their lives, and the repercussions over the course of generations in two continents.  The story unfolds from different perspectives, with a chronology tweaked to reveal key events over time.  Some of the relationships between characters are very intense.  Other characters seem barely to penetrate each others' psyches. Melancholy pervades the book, and some of the characters seem strangely passive and unfeeling.  The book, with its simple language and quiet unfolding of narrative, has a feel of allegory.  I was especially drawn to what it reveals about parenthood (some of it quite dark), and the pull of family history and childhood relationships.  I have been saving this book to read as a special treat.  Jhumpa is an old friend, so I suppose I'm biased, but I found a lot of meaning in this book.  Oh, the book is also filled with beautifully crafted sentences and descriptions, so read it if you're looking for inspiration as a writer! (Yo)

Silk Parachute, John McPhee
This is a wonderful collection of essays, many of which have appeared in the New Yorker.  My favorites are the pieces on lacrosse, and on adventurous eating, and, of course, "Swimming with Canoes."  McPhee can make anything interesting, even golf.  (Yo)

The Mother Daughter Book Club, Heather Vogel Frederick
This is a realistic fiction story about four girls. I like how they are so different but are all friends. What I also like about this book is that each person in the book club is like one of the girls in Little Women, the book that they are reading.
(Ruby)

Much Ado About Anne, Heather Vogel Frederick
This is a sequel to The Mother Daughter Book Club. The book club is still together and everyone reads Anne of Green Gables. I like how they pick up right where the first book ended. (Ruby)

The Giver, Lois Lowry
The Giver is about a boy who gets a lot more pain and memory at age twelve than almost anyone. He is the only one like that in his community and he tries to get past in a normal life being singled out. (Ruby)

Dear Pen Pal, Heather Vogel Frederick
This is the third book in the series to The Mother Daughter Book Club. This time they read Daddy Long Legs. I like how they write to their pen pals while in Daddy Long Legs, there are letters to Daddy Long Legs. (Ruby)

Pies and Prejudice, Heather Vogel Frederick
In this book, the mother daughter book club is reading Pride and Prejudice. Someone moves away, and most people don't have much free time, but they always end up finding time for meetings. (Ruby)

Ender's Shadow, Orson Scott Card
Another version of Ender's Game (read below) that is told from another character's point of view.  Even though the story is the same, the book is very exciting and interesting. It's told from the perspective of Bean, who is a secondary character in Ender's Game.  (Oscar)

Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
An exciting Sci-Fi novel that is action packed and leaves you on the edge of your seat.  It's about a world set in the future where an international government is training kids to become commanders and save humanity.  The book is so much better than the movie.  This is a must-read! (Oscar)

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton
An adventure tale, love story, mystery, this was a wonderful escape.  The book is set during the gold rush in New Zealand and the plot unfolds from multiple perspectives.  Astrology figures prominently as an organizing principle (although I didn't make the effort to try to understand it fully).  I thoroughly enjoyed this book but it didn't quite live up to the hype.  (Yo)

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
From the Berkeley Carroll 8th Grade curriculum.  The last time I read this, I was a teenager.  Now I have a teenager.  And yes, it was dated when I read it in the 80s and it's even more dated now, but whatever...it's a classic and absolutely worth a re-read.  I'm excited to see how Oscar likes it.  (Neil)

The Voluntourist, Ken Budd
A veritable cottage industry has sprung up around foreigners volunteering as they travel.  Spurred by the sudden death of his father, Budd embarks on a multi-country voluntourism spree.  We read it partly because there's a chapter on Ecuador.  Unfortunately, we didn't learn much about Ecuador.  Budd writes somewhat superficially about his volunteer placements and his fellow travelers.  (Yo and Neil)

Turn Right at Machu Picchu, Mark Adams
Adams follows in the steps of the famous explorer Hiram Bingham, who "discovered" Machu Picchu in 1911.  He travels with an experienced Andes adventurer, who explains the fascinating history of the Incas while they trek.  I have to confess that even after hundreds of pages, I didn't totally understand the whole alignment of Incan sites with each other and the sun, but I did come away with a real appreciation for the intelligence and fortitude of the Incan people.  (Yo)

The Panama Hat Trail, Tom Miller
A wonderful book that traces the creation of genuine Panama hats (they're from Ecuador!), from the harvesting of the reeds, through the entire production line, to their sale in the United States.  Like a modern day Bruce Chatwin, Miller tells the stories of the people he meets along the way -- weavers, middlemen, and foreigners in Ecuador who collect and protect indigenous art.  We especially liked the chapter on Jews in Cuenca.  (Neil and Yo)

The Gringo: A Memoir, J. Grigsby Crawford
The harrowing tale of a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador.  He chronicles his intense love/hate relationship with Ecuador.  Well, it's mostly hate, but we still liked it.  Crawford's favorite moment is traveling on a local bus through the Amazon rainforest, looking out the window at the verdant landscape and watching flashes of human habitation zip by.  He doesn't want that bus ride to ever end and you sort of understand why.  Spoiler alert: contains squeamish sections on problems with his "man plumbing."  (Neil and Yo)

The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton
This was another wonderful find at the Strand Bookstore.  De Botton asks the big questions of why we travel.  With chapters on anticipation, transit points, curiosity, and the sublime, he draws on the thinking of Flaubert, Hopper, Van Gogh, and others.  This is the kind of book you could return to and always find new insights.  We wish we could carry it with us!  (Neil and Yo)

Of Love and Other Demons, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
This is a beautifully written story about a decaying colonial family in a fictional South American country.  It's got a beautiful heroine with long, red hair and special powers, white people living in fear of their dark skinned servants, a decrepit and learned bishop, a neighbor from an insane asylum who cleans the house during the night, a crazy abbess, and a love-starved priest.  Reading it is like taking a delightful siesta in a hammock.  (Yo)

Road to Osambre, John Ridgway
We feel lucky to have chanced upon this book at the Strand Bookstore.  It's a tale of a British family that treks through the mountains of Peru in search of a friend and his family's farm.  The most horrible things befall them, like raging ear infections, severe dehydration, and a near drowning.  They're also plain hungry and cold a lot.  The landscape of river valleys, jungle, mountains, and altiplano (the high plateau where people live yet hardly anything grows) comes to life. And we also learned how not to trek.  (Yo)

Our House in the Clouds: Building a Second Life in the Andes of Ecuador, Judy Blankenship 
We wanted to love this book but we ended up only liking it.  Blankenship and her husband leave a comfortable existence in the U.S. to move to the Andes.  They build a beautiful house that even gets written up in the New York Times.  Despite an amazing tale of the friendships they forge with their neighbors, and some interesting history of indigenous peoples, the book reads like a detailed account of onerous errands.  (Neil and Yo)

The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende
Plenty has been written about this 1982 novel, a multi-generational epic about a Chilean family during the 20th Century.  The last section is a particularly riveting and heartbreaking account of the right-wing coup that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende (an uncle of the author, I believe) in 1973, and the reign of terror that ensued.  This was interesting to read in conjunction with The Neruda Case, which took place during the same period. (Neil)

The Storyteller, Mario Vargas Llosa
A Peruvian man sees a long-lost friend's picture in a book store in Florence, Italy, indicating that his friend has joined an indigenous tribe in the jungle.  The book delves into the real or imagined process by which the friend leaves modern society.  I'm not sure I would have loved this book if I weren't traveling to South America, but it was an interesting and worthwhile read.  (Yo)

Death in the Andes, Mario Vargas Llosa
A suspenseful mystery set in Peru with magic realisim and vivid characters.  It evokes what life was like during the hey day of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), indigenous beliefs about mountains and nature, and regional differences between the coast and the mountains.  (Neil and Yo)

The Neruda Case, Roberto Ampuero
A fictionalized account of Pablo Neruda's last days, when he sends an untested private investigator around the world with a murky mission.  This is one in a series by the Chilean author, and the only one translated into English, featuring Cayetano, the detective.  We really loved this book for giving us a sense of life in Chile and for providing a human dimension to Neruda.  Neil was particularly impressed that the author is Chile's ambassador to Mexico, as well as a creative writing professor at the University of Iowa, in addition to being a best-selling author.  (Neil and Yo)

In Bolivia, Eric Lawlor 
This is an engaging travelogue by a British author whose father was obsessed with Bolivia.  He meets all kinds of people in Bolivia and recounts hilarious adventures.  He mostly eschews the elites for their snobby attitude towards Indians.  (Neil and Yo)

Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges
We are kind of cheating by putting this book on our list.  It was checked out from the library all summer and spent a couple of pleasant months on our dining room table.  Our good friend and neighbor, Scott Serrano, said that Borges changed his life.  (Scott is a gifted artist who creates intricate botanical drawings of imaginary places like Wallaceana, discovered by faux explorers).  Borges blends the real and the fake, creating stories that leave the reader slightly disoriented.  We plugged away at this book and hope to finish it someday!  (Neil and Yo)

The Motorcycle Diaries, Che Guevara
We both reread this in preparation for our trip and loved it even more the second time around.  Che Guevara writes engagingly and humorously about his (mis)adventures traveling around South America as a young doctor with no money and some dubious letters of reference.  It makes us want to drink mate, the official drink of Argentina.  (Neil and Yo)

Andes, Michael Jacobs
A tome that purports to be a "modern travel classic" that unfortunately falls a bit short.  The author traces the steps of Alexander von Humboldt, the famous explorer who traveled the length of South America around 1800.  It tells the history of each country along the Andes.  We just wish it were better written!  (Neil and Yo)

In Patagonia, Bruce Chatwin
Now this is a true travel classic.  This reads a little like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, like an exuberant torrent of words.  Chatwin bums around Patagonia in southern Chile. He tells the stories of the people he meets, as well as those of historical figures in Patagonia.  (Neil and Yo)

How to Worry Less About Money, John Armstrong
This engagingly written book got us to examine our relationship with money (different for each of us). How much money do we need to be happy?  What's the point of having money?  What's the difference between what one needs and what one desires?  It seemed like a good place to start when planning our trip!  (Neil and Yo)