The Places In Between

Rory Stewart, _The Prince of the Marshes_. It's about general dysfunction in the early Iraq War, but it's also about the meaning of life. Perhaps it's just how Stewart writes? (His _The Places In Between_ is also well worth reading, but is much better known.) Tony Horwitz, all works -- especially _Baghdad Without a Map_ (which will leave you with a much healthier view of the modern Middle East) and _Confederates in the Attic_ (a dress-rehearsal for the Age of Trump?). Pearl Buck, _Sons_. (Best to read _The Good Earth_ first, but you've probably already read it.) I doubt it's a very accurate depiction of China, and the characters' morality is hair-raising (while the narrator is so far off the deep end that he/she is impossible to take seriously); but it's a memorable adventure story firmly grounded in the plausible, and it dramatizes some important lessons about the dangers that can afflict families and middle age.