Oh, oh, oh. I love how perfectly heartbreaking and yet, what, celebratory this is? Every time I re-read it it is like looking at the world in a new way.

As always, a solid anthology with a few wonderful 5-star pieces and a few "what?" 2/3-star pieces. Overall: four stars? Oh and don't skip the introduction because Dave Eggers laced it with awesome microfiction.

FYI the edition I'm reading is apparently meant for German students of English and it has like a million footnotes in German on each page and IT'S AWESOME.
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Awesome German footnotes aside, I don't really think this book was for me. I watched the first 20 minutes-ish of the movie & turned it off because I was too grossed out by all the violence. I ended up skimming over a lot of descriptions of attacking old people. I mean, I also was not in favor of the totalitarian regime, but basically I didn't relate to/care about any of the characters. I tried, as an exercise in empathy, but didn't get that far. It was kind of funny in places and I had a good time with the "nadstat" words, but overall... well, eh.

Hmmm I don't know. I debated between three and four stars. Maybe 3.5 really. (Vague spoiler) Sometimes I have a hard time deciding whether I really like it when things work out unexpectedly well or whether I think it's a copout. But you know, sometimes things DO work out unexpectedly well.

I like that this book deals with complex issues of native rights. I am still trying to figure out how I feel about the way it was dealt with.

As usual I do love the way Barbara Kingsolver writes and creates characters. I was happy to have more of Taylor and Turtle Greer.

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would! Mainly because I am not particularly interested in baboons. Apparently neither was Robert Sapolsky before he started studying them (he was hoping to study the more manly mountain gorilla), but he made the story of this baboon troop ridiculously, soap opera-ishly compelling. Plus some insights about Africa and human nature OR WHATEVER.

I re-read this because Three Cups of Tea was making me cry too much. What was I thinking, this makes me cry too. Dammit.

I cried like three times reading this book. Just a good story, and Greg Mortenson just seems like a great guy. Dare I say a "hero"? YES, I DARE. Well written, too, but I think I would probably have read this guy's story if it were composed entirely in text messages sent by an average 12-year-old girl.

I read like 9/10ths of this book before I left for the States and was LOVING it. And then I didn't want to bring such a big book with me on the plane when I had hardly any left to read, and then when I came back and finished it I was a little like, what? It was almost shocking to abruptly re-enter the vaguely magical world Murakami had painstakingly set up throughout the book. Still though, wonderful.

Hands down the best Peace Corps book I've read. Funny, interesting, and none of the sappy bullshit other PC books sometimes try to pull. And seriously Josh Swiller sounds like a total badass.

A solidly enjoyable read. Like Oscar Wao in that the story is familiar but the telling is enjoyable (although this is memoir, not fiction, and I preferred Oscar Wao.)