A Few Favorite Books

I'm certainly better read than when I arrived almost 16 months ago.  The truth is that it's hard to work during rainstorms, which Panama tends to have a lot of.  Couple that with a life free of office email, Facebook, cell phones, and TV and what you're left with is a huge expanse of time.  Lucky for me, the volunteer lending library is awesome.  I've been able to completely bypass Nora Roberts and tackle some 50 books ranging from development work to the intricate histories of bananas, coffee, the Chicago World Fair, and Mormonism.  Below are a my favorite or "must-reads" in fiction and non-fiction.


From New York Times September 4, 2007:

Junot Díaz’s “Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” is a wondrous, not-so-brief first novel that is so original it can only be described as Mario Vargas Llosa meets “Star Trek” meets David Foster Wallace meets Kanye West. It is funny, street-smart and keenly observed, and it unfolds from a comic portrait of a second-generation Dominican geek into a harrowing meditation on public and private history and the burdens of familial history. An extraordinarily vibrant book that’s fueled by adrenaline-powered prose, it’s confidently steered through several decades of history. More...

From New York Times October 5, 2008:

The environmental movement reserves a hallowed place for those books or films that have stirred people from their slumber and awoken them to the fragility of the planet: Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” Bill McKibben’s “End of Nature” and, most recently, Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Thomas L. Friedman’s new book, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” may lack the soaring, elegiac qualities of those others. But it conceivably just might goad America’s wealthiest to face the threat of climate changeand do something about it.  More....


I don't want the other great books I've read (or reread) in Panama to slip through the cracks, so here are some other books to check out:

Development-Themed
Stones into Schools, Greg Mortenson
The End of Poverty, Jeffrey Sachs
The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier
Power Politics, Arundhati Roy

Other Non-Fiction
Natural Capitolism, Paul Hawken & Amory Lovins
The Devil & the White City, Erik Larson
Under the Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer
Banana - The Fate of the Fruit the Changed the World, Dan Koeppel
The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
Outlier, Malcolm Gladwell

Fiction
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Persig
The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay
My Ishmael, Daniel Quinn
Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
Tinkers, Paul Harding

Independence Day, Flag Day

On November 3, 1903, Panama declared independence from Columbia.  They had actually declared independence once before from Spain in 1821, but it was more of a separation than independence given Columbia's occupation in Panama. (Some could say that Panama wasn't really off to the races until the US handed over the canal and all military bases in 1999, but that's outside the scope of this blog).

In Calante, Independence Day celebrations were surprisingly similar to back home.  A big meal was prepared for everyone.  Kids spent the morning doing sack races, relay races, and musical chairs.  At the end of the day, it was the adults' turn for fun.  Calante hosted a baile, or dance, at the Casa Comunal with music blaring until 4am.

Flag day was basically rinse and repeat.  The kids participated in more races.  Meanwhile, the adults had their own competitions including tug-of-war and climbing up a greased-down log stuck in the ground.  The prize at the top: a bottle of rum and a few bucks.