O.K. again with the favorites, man it is hard when put on the spot to narrow this down. I must admit I am cheating here, couldn't think of one without the other. So here I am .. twisting the rule just a little. When I was thinking of my favorite books these two titles came to mind at the same time. The reason these books are my favorites are because they came into my life at a time where I was really self evaluating myself in terms of what does a person really need to be happy? I moved to West Africa in 2003 to a tiny country called Togo. We lived in the capital city of Lome. I have to tell you it was life changing. It was life changing for more reasons than I can list here. Never before have I ever been faced with such poverty and human spirit than I was in Lome. Never before had I witnessed what people are when all they have is one another, not stuff. It was amazing, and I know it changed me and my family forever.
OK the first book is non-fiction. The name is The Village of Waiting. It was written by a gentlemen that served in Togo as a Peace Corps volunteer. I met a lot of Peace Corps people in Togo, some hate this book, some identified with it wholeheartedly. But the book gives a great perspective of life in Togo.
My second fave is The Poisonwood Bible. This book is fiction but man it really captured a lot of what living in Africa is like. It doesn't take place in Togo but it sure does take me right back there. When people ask me what it was like living in Togo I tell them to read the book and they might get a little bit of the feeling. When I read it I could smell the smells and hear the sounds. In the opening chapter one of the main characters smells something and it takes her right back, that is kind of what the book does.
Ok so that is it, I know I bent the rules a tad but sometimes you just have to bend them!
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