What to do on a 28 day ship ride? Read. A lot. We wanted to bring lots of books with us both for enjoyment and as a boredom life-vest.

So, why books and not a Kindle? Lots of people asked us that question or would just straight up say: “Do you have a Kindle? You’ll need one!” Well, we didn’t feel that way…here are our reasons not to bring one:
– we didn’t have one in the first place
– it’s expensive (plus, we already owned most books we wanted to bring)
– it’s yet another gadget we’d be afraid to loose/damage/get stolen
– we like holding books with real pages
– we can lend/give books to others and can even contribute to the ship’s library
– with books, Justin and I can read simultaneously. So… does that mean we would need 2 Kindles? Yikes!

Who knows, one day we may be sick of lugging our books around and try the Kindle just to discover we can’t live without it. For now, books are doing just fine.

So here’s what we brought with us:

A Pig In Provence by Georgeanne Brennan
A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
First-Time Asia by Rough Guides
In Defense Of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
Le Livre Du Voyage by Bernard Werber
Le Mystère Des Dieux by Bernard Werber
Le Pouvoir du Moment Présent by Eckhart Tolle
My Life In France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maughan
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett
The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett
The Journals Of Lewis And Clark edited by Bernard DeVoto
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
The Ridiculous Race by Steve Hely & Vali Chandrasekaran
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
Three Cups Of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Tramping in New Zealand by Lonely Planet
Zen and The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

A large majority of them will either stay on the ship or be sent back home at the end of our ocean voyage.