Archive - April 8, 2013

Imagonna: Peace Corps Memories by Julian Weldon Martin (Nigeria 1961–63) Createspace $10.00 (paperback) 240 pages 2012 Reviewed by John F. Fanselow (Nigeria 1961–63; Somalia staff 1966–68) When I read a book for a review I put post-its on pages that I want to return to after I finish reading the book. After reading the first twenty pages of Julian’s memories, I noticed,  that I had pasted post-its on every other page! As I read on, I kept pasting post-its, not only on every other page, but in some cases also on every page. I was unable to highlight important points and unimportant points because I found that each page contained worthwhile insights or questions, or both. While Julian repeats some themes — loneliness, the racism of some colleagues and his headmaster, his curiosity about the culture of his students and those in his community, limitations of his Peace Corps training, . . .