This is a cute story about a dog and human adopting each other during difficult times. Leonard is an ultra-marathon runner, where he runs 250km in 7 days, in the middle of the desert. This time he's in the northwest corner of China and the Gobi desert is in his path. Leonard is taking this race seriously and thinks he can place well. Then at the end of stage one, he spots a little dog wandering around camp trying to get scraps of food. Leonard thinks no way am I giving my precious food to that dog and sets off on the second stage. The dog follows. Surely the dog must belong to someone? As the dog continues to follow Leonard along, he decides to name her Gobi. Gobi ends up completing a few stages of the ultra-marathon and captures Leonard's heart.
This is such a lovely, feel-good story. It focuses not only on how these two met and created such a strong bond, but also the long journey in trying to get her home. There was a lot of red tape, and paranoia, because this story was making national news and much money was given to help with the cause. Leonard starts to worry about kidnapping. Plus he's in China and the government there is always concerned about how their own image is playing off in national news. There were a lot of things for Leonard to be concerned about. He's super lucky he has such an understanding wife, as he spent months in China after the race trying to get Gobi back.
It's a quick paced book, Leonard doesn't focus too much on a single thing. I recommend it!
First Line: "I stepped through the airport doors and out into China"
Rating:
(4/5)
Book 5 in the series has Claire and Jamie making a life as grandparents in North America. Roger and Brianna are trying to get married, as is Jaime's aunt. They also know the war is coming and are wondering what to do about it or whether it's possible to avoid. Stephen Bonnet is still around, somewhere, and Jaime is trying to track him down and bring him to justice.
It's World War II and the Allies are helping the French resistance take out important Nazi targets in France. Felicity, also known as Flick, is a British operative in France, orchestrating the sabotage of a phone exchange. Unfortunately the mission goes horribly wrong. They lose a few agents, Flick's husband is shot, and they have to retreat. They are also now on the radar of Nazi officer Dieter, who will stop at nothing to find Flick.
Joe is a boy of 11 who has lived in a hospital room since he was 2 months old because he has no immune system to stop himself from getting sick. Joe only has a few things to keep him entertained: tv and video games, his laptop where he in touch with another boy in the States with the same disease, his sister, and his nurses. His sister, Beth, struggles with the decision to move away for school because their parents died a few years ago. That's right. This poor kid is stuck in a bubble and his parents have both died in a car crash. His favourite nurse is Greg and he gets a new on Amir who is a bit of an odd character. He always looks out the window, supposedly looking for UFOs. But maybe Amir can help Joe experience a little more of life?
Isaac Swift is a mathematics professor that has come up with no meaningful proofs during his tenure. He's feeling lost. His girlfriend tries to lure him away from constant sessions of math but eventually gives up and leaves him. Isaac is depressed, which sinks him further in to long sessions of math in the middle of the night. Issac finds inspiration in an unlikely source and thinks he has come up with a solution for the wild numbers. He is quickly accused of plagiarism but he doesn't think it's true.
Pregnant with her first child, Eve goes down memory lane remembering her single mother and losing her at a young age. Eve went to live with her grandparents in Whales after this tragedy on farm land.
Detective Hercule Poirot winds up on the Orient Express as he tries to get back home to assist with an investigation. His friend has procured him a ticket as he owns part of the train line. The train stops in the middle of the night due to a snow storm and by the morning, one of the passengers is dead. Poirot must interview all of the passengers in his car and determine who committed this murder.
Notting Hill's private gardens are a sanctuary for those that live surrounding them, until one night the body of a local young woman is found dead in them. The girl is identified as Reagan Keating, nanny to a male young upcoming dancer. Detective Gemma Jones is included on the case as she is a friend of a friend of the victim's employer and knows some of the parties involved. Her and DI Kerry Boatman start to investigate.
Bridget Jones wants to start her year off right. Lose weight, drink less, smoke less. She starts at a new years party where her parents are trying to set her up with Mark Darcy. Bridget isn't having any of that though. She has her eyes on another man from work.
Jack Tagger is obsessed with death. As an obit writer at the local newspaper, he knows which celebrities have died at a certain age and wonders if he can outlive them. Jack didn't always work on obits. He was relegated to that desk when he told the new newspaper owners that they were killing the paper for profits.
Peter Hessler starts in China as an English teacher, eventually moving his way over to journalism. He keeps in contact with his students and their stories are brought to life in this book. He uses these stories to tell a bit about China's past and teach the reader about more recent history. For example, he has a student move to Shenzen and get a job at a factory there. Peter tells the recent history of Shenzen and how it is an experimental city, built with many factories that have attracted young people to come work. This makes it different from many other cities in China as it is one city where the younger generation isn't living with their family.