Book Rec of the Day 1/22/2007

MEMOIRS

A wonderful introduction to Côte d’Ivoire, to Africa, to the human heart,” says Julia Alvarez of Sarah Erdman’s memoir of her two years as a Peace Corps volunteer. Her village in West Africa was on the cusp of two worlds—the ancient one of tradition and sorcery and the modern one of electricity and AIDS prevention. “It’s rare to pick up a book and be so completely transported to another land, another culture,” says Abraham Verghese of Erdman’s rich and moving story.

NINE HILLS TO NAMBONKAHA: TWO YEARS IN THE HEART OF AN AFRICAN VILLAGE, by Sarah Erdman (Picador, 2004)