Reading List

Despite everything I have to do before leaving, I’ve been spending my time working my way through my Kenya reading list. These books have their flaws (they reflect the pervasive cultural attitudes of their times), but the stories are still compelling. Although they will not prepare me for present-day Nairobi (much more focused on the sit on the porch and drink sundowners approach to life), these books are good reads

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The Flame Trees of Thika – Elspeth Huxley

I had a dog-eared library discard copy of this memoir of life on a Kenyan plantation when I was in middle school. I re-read it every summer or so, getting lost in the descriptions of dusty roads, fire ants, and young Elspeth’s wonder at both her life in Kenya, and the behavior of the adults
around her. I sympathized with her assessment that people behaved in highly silly ways.

Also going to read Murder on Safari, and The Mottled Lizard.

Going Solo – Roald Dahl

Although not quite on the level of gleeful semi-sadistic mockery as Boy, Roald’s memoir of life as a Shell salesman in British East Africa and a RAF pilot in the region during WWII is as enjoyable. I haven’t re-read it in a while, but what sticks in my mind are bucolic descriptions of Tanzania, joy-riding young pilots, and lots and lots of snakes.

Out of Africa – Isak Dinseen

I’ve seen the movie (I’m convinced everyone in Kenya looks like Meryl Streep and Robert Redford) but have never read the book. It’s sitting on my bedstand – looking forward to losing myself in Dinseen’s prose and story.

West with the Night – Beryl Markham

An evocatively written memoir by Markham, a renowned horse trainer and the first woman to complete a transatlantic flight solo. Although it is disputed whether Markham wrote the book herself, as lofty a figure as Hemingway extravagantly praised her style.

Fun fact – Markham also had an affair with Denys Finch-Hatton, Dinseen’s lover, and went elephant hunting with Dinseen’s husband. Apparently Kenyan society had six degrees of Karen Blixen (Dinseen’s real name).

Waugh in Abyssinia, A Tourist in Africa, Scoop, Black Mischief – Evelyn Waugh

Waugh’s two books of travel writings are currently heading my way courtesy of Amazon’s “used” function, but Scoop may be the single funniest send-up of journalism ever written, while Black Mischief’s Emperor Seth of Azania is a thoroughly enjoyable monarch.

Death in Kenya - M. M. Kaye

I wrote a term paper at Dartmouth on the Indian-born Kaye. Although she is best known for her sweeping historical novels, she wrote a set of highly enjoyable murder mysteries, including this one. The twentieth century equivalent of airport reading.


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What else should I be reading (besides my Swahili dictionary?)

Introduction

Based on all of my twenty-something years of experience, I’ve realized that I make decisions in one of two ways: slowly, with great thought and much consulting of others, or rapidly, decisively, and with little regard for what people might think. While my consultant’s hatred of uncertainty in theory preferences the form, I find myself increasingly guilty of the latter. This is especially true if an idea has been kicking around in some form for a while.

My decision to spend the next 3 months working as a volunteer consultant in Nairobi, Kenya for Technoserve, was both deliberate and rapid. I’d been debating spending some, if not all, of my third year at the Firm doing non-profit development work, but wasn't sure how I'd swing it. When this opportunity arose, it was only a matter of confirming the safety (in 2 days, Daddy B called every NGO he could think of to ask about Kenya) and making sure I could cross the big items off my to-do list in 3 weeks – GMAT, apartment, vaccines, buying safari wardrobe. I’ll be in Nairobi starting mid-June.

This blog will chronicle my experience abroad (as well as the frenzy leading up to my departure). Hopefully it will be a good means of communication with the outside world (not everyone gets the twice daily emails I’ve promised Mommy B). If I can’t manage more than 144 words every few days, there’s always Twitter.

Is this thing on?

Testing...