August Books

In Search of King Solomon's Mines by Tahir Shah -- After purchasing a treasure map in Jerusalem's Old City, the author sets out on an adventure to locate King Solomon's gold mines.  This book takes you through parts of Ethiopia, introducing you to lovable characters such as the Bible-toting Samson, and the crazy, qat-chewing driver Bahru, and Yusuf, the guy who slaughtered and quartered cows and fed them to hyenas by holding a stick (why? so they wouldn't come eat the village children).  Although the adventure of finding gold doesn't really interest me, the author's storytelling was pretty good. And I like reading about African countries so there's that.

Secret Girl by Molly Bruce Jacobs -- When she was thirteen, the author's father told her she had a sister she didn't know about.  Anne was born with water on the brain, and as done quite often back then, was institutionalized. This book is Brucie's memoir - her story of meeting her sister and pursuing a relationship with her all while dealing with her own problems with addiction. 

To the Moon and Timbuktu by Nina Sovich - Most books like this that I find at my library are a dozen or more years old, but this one was on the new book shelf. I tend to enjoy travel memoirs and this one depicting the author's "trek through the heart of Africa" was pretty good.

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson -- After twenty years of living abroad, the author decides to hike the AT.  I read parts of this to Andrew and we laughed and laughed. So, yeah, it was funny in parts. Other parts were rather interesting (like chapter 14 on Centralia, PA) and others a bit boring.  Good book overall. 

Maphead by Ken Jennings -- curious about places and maps and geocaching and contests to see who can visit the most countries?  Curious about geography bees and road atlas rallying?  If so, you may really enjoy this book!

Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World by Seth Stevenson -- Yes, another travel book, but this was different in that the author and his girlfriend went to some different places, AND their goal was to travel without flying. So, the book is more about the journey to places rather than the really cool sights they saw within certain cities and villages.  Sailing by cargo ship - yep. Sailing by cruise ship - reluctantly.  Biking in Korea - did some of that.. Russian trains - so different from the speed bullet train in Japan and traveling by train in the good ol' USA.  Neat book.

Too Proud to Ride a Cow: By Mule Across America by Bernie Harberts  -- Ever thought about riding a mule across the southern states of the US from coast to coast? Me either. But that's what the author did.  He started out with Woody the mule and his goal was just to go from one end of North Carolina to the other. But when he got to the Tennessee border he decided to keep on traveling.  I read a few parts of this to Andrew. I especially enjoyed when he talked about fearing others and the hospitality of the people he met along the way (especially around page 75), and also when he worked a day picking pecans and his thoughts on how much Mexican workers are paid after he did this all day and made $17 for his efforts (pg. 147).

Mixed Signals by Liz Curtis Higgs -- just a Christian fiction I picked up at a book exchange.  It's the story of Belle the star of mid-day radio. I liked that it took place in Abingdon, Virginia, since I was there just last month.  The book also mentions Damascus which is nearby.  An easy read as we drove home from the beach, and my first fiction book in a while!

The Way It Was ~ 1876 by Suzanne Hilton -- a pretty neat book about the way life was the year the United States celebrated it's 100th birthday. Full of information from books, magazines, journals, and diaries.