MY turn?! Well it's about time.

I thought this day would never come! I already have my three picked out, and I'm pumped about all of them equally. (Lies. I'm actually sort of biased to one, but I won't try to sway you...) It's been decided that my book club choices will have a theme. It's time to read about someone else's travels- since I have no time and no money to travel myself. Here we go...

Book #1:



At a South Korean marketplace, three-year-old Kim Sunée’s mother deposits her on a bench with a fistful of food and a promise to return. Three days later, a policeman takes the little girl and what is now a fistful of crumbs to a police station, where she learns that her mother isn’t coming back. From here, her extraordinary life journey begins.
Adopted by a young New Orleans couple, Kim spends her youth as one of only two Asian children in her entire school and church. At the age of 21, she becomes involved with a famous French businessman, and suddenly finds herself living in France, mistress over his houses and stepmother to his eight-year-old daughter. But despite this glamorous lifestyle, Kim feels like an outsider, and it is in food and cooking that she finds solace and a sense of place. From Korea to New Orleans; from Paris to Provence, Trail of Crumbs is a passionate tale and fascinating memoir about love, food,travel -- and the search for self.

Book #2:



In a heartrending and astonishing novel, Eggers illuminates the history of the civil war in Sudan through the eyes of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee now living in the United States. We follow his life as he's driven from his home as a boy and walks, with thousands of orphans, to Ethiopia, where he finds safety — for a time. Valentino's travels, truly Biblical in scope, bring him in contact with government soldiers, janjaweed-like militias, liberation rebels, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation — and a string of unexpected romances. Ultimately, Valentino finds safety in Kenya and, just after the millennium, is finally resettled in the United States, from where this novel is narrated. In this book, written with expansive humanity and surprising humor, we come to understand the nature of the conflicts in Sudan, the refugee experience in America, the dreams of the Dinka people, and the challenge one indomitable man faces in a world collapsing around him.

Book #3:



In 1960, at age 58, John Steinbeck set out with his French Poodle, Charley, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years. Together, they crossed America from the nothernmost tip of Maine to California's Monterey peninsula, stopping to smell the grass, to see the lights and to hear the speech of the real America. Steinbeck dined with truckers, encountered bears at Yellowstone, and reflected on the American character, racial hostility, and the unexpected kindness of strangers. Lyrical, perceptive, and surprising, it's an indispensable portrait of our national identity.


So, there you go. Choose wisely. Once we've chosen a book, we'll figure out a date for you to all come to our apartment! Until then...