New books by Peace Corps writers — January–February 2020
To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — CLICK on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards.
We now include a one-sentence description — provided by the author — for the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers 1) to order the book and 2) to volunteer to review it. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at peacecorpsworldwide@gmail.com, and we’ll send you a copy along with a few instructions.
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Posthumous
(children 7–12)
Paul Aertker (Mauritania 1988–89)
Flying Solo Press
May 2018
$12.97 (paperback), $6.41 (Kindle)
“A middle-grade adventure filled with mystery, friendship, and heart — like a Da Vinci Code for kids.”
Turn Left at OrionHundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope – and How to Find Them
Brother Guy Consolmagno (Kenya 1983–85) and Dan M. Davis
Cambridge University Press
2019 — 5th edition!
256 pages
$22.93 (spiral bound)
This unique and best-selling guidebook to the night sky shows amateur astronomers how to observe a host of celestial wonders. Its distinct format of object-by-object spreads illustrates how deep-sky objects and planets will actually look in a small telescope, with large pages and spiral binding for ease of use outside.
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What Some Would Call Lies: Novellas
Robert G. Davidson (Eastern Caribbean—Grenada, West Indies 1990-92)
Five Oaks Press
July 2018
177 pages
$16.99 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle)
If personal memory is false, what happens when you try to construct a memory of something that you don’t remember but should—that you desperately want to remember?
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Flamenco in the Time of Moonshine and Mobsters
David C. Edmonds
St. Petersburg Press
December, 2019
393 pages
$18.95 (paperback), $18.00 (Kindle)
Amy Romano, a former PCV (Romania) and flamenco dancer in Tampa’s Latin district, finds herself back in 1932 and on the run from gangsters and J. Edgar Hoover’s moonshine-busting G-men.
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Fast Train Home
by Gus Karlson (China)
Self-published
January 2020
164 pages
$12.99 (paperback), $8.99 (Kindle)
From the mountains of the Tibetan borderland, to the skyscrapers and bright lights of Chengdu, Fast Train Home is part memoir, part philosophical rumination on the meaning and importance of travel and the value of strange experiences. Come get lost with the Peace Corps’ finest volunteers in these introspective, semi-autobiographical tales of hapless adventure.
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Between Inca Walls: A Peace Corps Memoir
by Evelyn Kohl LaTorre (Peru 1964-66)
She Writes Press
256 pages
August 2020
$16.95 (paperback); $8.99 (kindle) — Pre-order Price Guarantee.
A young woman’s experiences as a PCV in Peru.
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Florida Lost and Found: Nature in the Changing Landscape
By Fran Palmeri (Benin 1967-68)
Green Pilgrimage Press
200 pages
January 2020
$29.98 (paperback)
Florida Lost and Found celebrates all of natural Florida, not just her beautiful beaches but her magical springs where manatees congregate, mysterious cypress swamps, and prairies lush with wildflowers.
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¿Eres tú?: A History of Lonquimay
Frank Tainter (Chile 1964–66)
Go to Publish
December 2019
328 pages
$17.80 (paperback), $2.99 (Kindle)
This novel that takes place in the Araucarian region of south-central Chile not only is it a story of love, it also presents a history of the region, its native people, their folklore music, and their plants with medicinal powers.
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All The Days Past, All The Days To Come
By Mildred D. Taylor (Ethiopia 1965-67)
Viking Books for Young Readers
496 pages
January 2020
$16.19 (hardback); $10.99 (Kindle); $47.59 (Audio CD)
In her tenth book, Mildred Taylor (Ethiopia 1965-67) completes her sweeping saga about the Logan family of Mississippi, which is also the story of the civil rights movement in America of the 20th century.
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Great crop of new books! I don’t know where to start! Mark
While you are stuck at home trying to help slow the spread of COVID-19 – flatten the curve as commentators keep saying – why not volunteer to read and review a book written by an RPCV?
When you see a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide, send a note to Marian at peacecorpsworldwide@gmail.com, and she will send you a copy along with a few instructions for writing your review.
With nothing open and “gatherings” of 10+ persons prohibited, it seems like a great time to enjoy a good book!