Nobody Knows the Spanish I Speak by Mark Saunders

Excerpted Passage

One day I came home to find Arlene explaining in Spanish to our housekeepers, Ana and Maria that we were moving the following week to a new house one street over.  When she finished, our two housekeepers jumped up and cried.  They hugged us and cried some more.  Arlene asked me what she had just said.  I told her I believed she said we'd just bought them a new house and they could move in the following week.

MY THOUGHTSThis book follows the life changes that Mark and his wife, Arlene, go through as they realize life isn't exactly what they want it to be. They pack up their suburbanite lives and decide to head down to Mexico and live off their nest egg for a while in search of finding their true selves and happiness. From the very beginning, bad omens thwart their move.

The first thing that strikes you about the book is Mark's dry, yet witty, sense of humor. At the beginning of each chapter is a comic strip that will leave you with a smirk throughout the entire chapter. Each chapter, while giving you a sense of who the author and his wife are and all of their internal struggles, will entertain you. Basically, this is a look at the meaning of life from a humorous perspective. In all fairness, several of us would cringe over sleeping with scorpions, but that's not really the point.


I strongly suggest this book for anyone who enjoys a light, funny read. You can go more in depth and really put yourself into the situations and struggles of Mark and Arlene if you choose, but it's not necessary. You can enjoy this as a good time or you can pull a lesson out of it. Either way, this book is guaranteed to make you smile.