right, so, understandably, i didn't just pickle my brain in the brine of academic lit while i was out there. i also read trashy (and not so trashy) escapist fiction! there is an odd mathematics to my field visits so far, almost a rule of physics, that no matter how many novels i bring, i will read each of them twice. this time i brought three and owe a hat tip to rae and tim for the first two, and to eli for the third.
Motorcycle Diaries: read pretty much all of this on my layover day in nepalgunj on the way there (the first time). this may or may not have influenced my decision to keep a journal (which i will post, emo queen that i am). don't make fun of me; it's a good book. if you ARE going to make fun of me, make fun of me for seeing the movie when it first came out, getting to the end, reading the subtitles and going "wait a second...that was about CHE guevara?!"
The 19th Wife: oh my god. polygamy, cults, murder, historical fiction/period stuff. WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE??? (oh, that's right, they made a lifetime movie and made the main character not gay. way to be awesome, lifetime network.)
Cloud Atlas: man, i can not recommend this book enough. it is six resonating narratives, nested like russian dolls and stretching from the 19th century sea voyage and commentary on colonialism through a post-apocalyptic narrative set on hawaii which has plenty to say, unintentionally or not, about the role of the anthropologist. exactly what i needed to be reading, and exactly what i would write if i were that smart and creative and wanted to write a dystopian fantasy. there's ALSO a movie in the works for this one, and i can't wait to see how they do it.
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