The Sex Lives of Cannibals

Troost's 2004 memoir of his expat stint on the Pacific island nation of Kiribati is about as good as travel-humor writing can get. Though not as scholarly as Bill Bryson or adventurous as Tim Cahill, Troost nonetheless creates a light, self-deprecating narrative tone that joyfully captures that exasperations and idiosyncrasies of life on an isolated equatorial island. Travel books don't often make me laugh out loud, but this one did.