Synopses & Reviews
Nina Sovich had always yearned for adventures in faraway places; she imagined herself leading the life of a solitary traveler. Yet at the age of thirty-four, she found herself married and contemplating motherhood. Catching her reflection in a window spotted with Paris rain, she no longer saw the fearless woman who spent her youth travelling in Cairo, Lahore, and the West Bank staring back at her. Unwittingly, she had followed lifeand#8217;s script, and now she needed to cast it out. Inspired by female explorers like Mary Kingsley, who explored Gabonand#8217;s jungle in the 1890s, and Karen Blixen, who ran a farm in Kenya during World War I, Sovich packed her bags and hopped on the next plane to Africa in search of adventure. To the Moon and Timbuktu takes readers on a fast-paced trek through Western Sahara, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, bringing their textures and flavors into vivid relief. On Sovichand#8217;s travels, she encounters rough-and-tumble Chinese sailors, a Venezuelan doctor working himself to death in Chinguetti, indifferent French pensioners RVing along the coast, and a close-knit circle of Nigerien women who adopt her into their fold, showing her the promise of Africaand#8217;s future. This lyrical memoir will transport you to the breathtaking landscapes of West Africa, whose stark beauties will instill wonder in even the most experienced traveler. Sovichand#8217;s journey reveals that sometimes we must pursue that distant glimmer on the horizon in order to find the things we value most.
Synopsis
A New York Times Notable Book
Winner of the Kiriyama Book Prize
In the heart of China's Sichuan province, amid the terraced hills of the Yangtze River valley, lies the remote town of Fuling. Like many other small cities in this ever-evolving country, Fuling is heading down a new path of change and growth, which came into remarkably sharp focus when Peter Hessler arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer, marking the first time in more than half a century that the city had an American resident. Hessler taught English and American literature at the local college, but it was his students who taught him about the complex processes of understanding that take place when one is immersed in a radically different society.
Poignant, thoughtful, funny, and enormously compelling, River Town is an unforgettable portrait of a city that is seeking to understand both what it was and what it someday will be.
Synopsis
Hessler takes students on an unforgettable journey to a small village in China where he spent two years teaching English. What he discovers while in this remote village is far more than he ever thought possible. This is a very intimate and human look at a town's struggle to adapt to the modern world that surrounds it.
"Charming and insightful. . . . Poignanthilarious. . . . Lively, intelligent. . . . You will learn a great deal about real life in contemporary China in River Town, and about how that vast country appears in the eyes of a sensitive, aware, rugged young American who keeps both his eyes and his mind open."--New York Times
Freshman Common Read: College of Charleston
Synopsis
Feeling directionless in Paris and inspired by the explorers of another era, Nina Sovich packs her bags and hops on the next plane to West Africa in search of adventure, where a fast-paced trek through Mali, Mauritania, and Niger prove that itand#8217;s the travelerand#8217;s journey, not the destination, that is the reward.
About the Author
Peter Hessler is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he served as the Beijing correspondent from 2000 to 2007, and is also a contributing writer for National Geographic. He is the author of River Town, which won the Kiriyama Prize; Oracle Bones, which was a finalist for the National Book Award; and, most recently, Country Driving. He won the 2008 National Magazine Award for excellence in reporting, and he was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2011. He lives in Cairo.
Table of Contents
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;I. ?????
1.and#160;Hotel in Dakhlaand#8195;3
2.and#160;Connecticut Childhoodand#8195;8
3.and#160;First Freedomand#8195;15
4.and#160;Oak Treeand#8195;20
5.and#160;Breadcrumbs in Parisand#8195;22
6.and#160;A Victorian Travelerand#8195;27
7.and#160;Nowhereand#8195;33
8.and#160;My Fishesand#8195;39
and#160;and#160;and#160; II. WESTERN SAHARA
9.and#160;Coffee in Casablancaand#8195;45
10.and#160;The Cold Atlanticand#8195;51
11.and#160;The Bleak Desertand#8195;60
12.and#160;The Love of Homeand#8195;65
13.and#160;Trumping Comfortand#8195;70
14.and#160;Slow Fearand#8195;75
15.and#160;Hitchhiking at the Borderand#8195;83
16.and#160;Death and Dyingand#8195;88
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; III. MAURITANIA
17.and#160;A Boy from Bordeauxand#8195;97
18.and#160;Mood on the Streetsand#8195;103
19.and#160;Nouakchottand#8195;107
20.and#160;Slate Mountainsand#8195;112
21.and#160;The Lothario of Chinguettiand#8195;118
22.and#160;Fortune Tellersand#8195;126
23.and#160;The Good Doctorand#8195;134
24.and#160;The Good Doctorand#8201;and#8212;and#8201;Part IIand#8195;147
25.and#160;Gnostic Lifeand#8195;156
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;IV. MALI
26.and#160;Bamakoand#8195;163
27.and#160;Boubousand#8195;177
28.and#160;Campari by the Riverand#8195;184
29.and#160;The Talismanand#8195;192
30.and#160;Patienceand#8195;197
31.and#160;Tyranny and the Mosqueand#8195;201
32.and#160;The Road to Timbuktuand#8195;206
33.and#160;Whatand#8217;s in a Name?and#8195;212
34.and#160;Faking Devotionand#8195;220
35.and#160;Dogon Countryand#8195;227
36.and#160;Madness and Cocoa Butterand#8195;236
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; V. PARIS
37.and#160;The Quietand#8195;243
38.and#160;A French Doctorand#8195;250
39.and#160;Panicand#8195;256
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; VI. NIGER
40.and#160;Niameyand#8195;263
41.and#160;Women of the Bookand#8195;271
42.and#160;Fashion Showand#8195;283
43.and#160;Free from Loveand#8195;294
44.and#160;Homeand#8195;299
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Acknowledgmentsand#8195;305
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Bibliographyand#8195;307
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; About the Authorand#8195;309