I Spy China by Toni Petniunas I found this a very interesting book to read. Perhaps this is because I used to travel to China many times per year and also lived in Taiwan for three years. Ms. Petniunas is not a youngster. She is yes younger than I but still I believe she is in her mid 50’s when she went to China to teach English as a second language. I say this because when I lived in Taiwan as a business executive, I did read the forum for foreigners which covered many topics that were useful like where I could get breakfast cereal or a good cup of coffee. But the main focus and writing was by young white man teaching English who found themselves in a relationship with a young local girl that was becoming more than they wished. I would laugh. Ms. Petniunas is not interested in looking for a man but instead spends her time learning and comparing China to the US as countries and more importantly the desires, hopes and lives of the young college age students she lives among. This was fun and informative. I found I could relate to much of which she wrote about in terms of what happens on a day to day living in a place with very different ideas and a language that is hard to comprehend. In my case I could get along a bit better than her but still issues would come up. So, I think this is an excellent book for someone interested in comparing America to China. There is good and bad on both sides. The book is long (almost 600 pages) but it is well written, amusing and informative and move along at a nice pace. This is not a travelogue but a book about adapting and living isolated for people like yourself when you are middle aged and still adding to a life’s experience. Bravo to her! I know when it is like to do this.

This is rather long, but the author writes well and it contains some good humor mixed into the stories and descriptions of the author's travels. I wasn't sure what to expect but I enjoyed this overall.

Thanks very much for the free review copy for review!!