I hate to be negative Nancy, but let’s face it:  school has sucked the life out of reading books for fun.  It pains me to declare this as a writer and avid for-fun reader, but after 17 consecutive years of schoolin’ even I have been guilty at times of book burnout.  If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone say, “I read enough at school” or “I haven’t picked up a book since I graduated _fill-in-the-blank_ years ago,” I wouldn’t exactly be rich, but I could afford a decent spring break.  But what they’ve forgotten is that reading doesn’t have to be such a drag.
Chuck Thompson’s 2007 book “Smile When You’re Lying:  Confessions of a Rogue Traveler” proves that reading can still make you laugh hysterically out loud.  Seriously, I wouldn’t recommend reading it at any weddings, funerals or at any other locations where laughter is inappropriate.  One part memoir and one part travel-industry expose, “Smile When You’re Lying,” condenses Thompson’s eclectic, exciting life as an expat and globetrotter into 336 fast-turning pages.
Unlike other writers who travel solely to report, Chuck Thompson started as a traveler and gradually became a writer.  Which means Thompson’s actually experienced the exotic places he writes about, as opposed to typical travel writers who only skim the surface places because they take free, rose-colored-glasses vacations that are funded by the same hotels and groups that they’re supposed to be reviewing. 
Reading “Smile When You’re Lying” is like going on an international road-trip with your quirkiest, most-spontaneous friend.  Throughout the uncharted course of the book, Thompson comes across as a guy you’d actually drink a beer with.  And you need not be a fan of traveling to enjoy his lively characters and insightful anecdotes.
Read exerts from the book and more about Chuck Thompson at http://www.chuckthompsonbooks.com.