More Congo reading

Two more for the springboard reading list. Jeff suggested Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone, Memoir of a Boy soldier. There’s an interesting controversy about this. The newspaper The Australian claims that the events described in the book happen two years later than Beah says they did. This would mean he was fifteen, not thirteen. [...]

Read Full Post »

Springboard Reading, or Chain Letters.

While I was reading last night (The Mission Song, John le Carre) I daydreamed my way into a reading project for the year. Springboard reading.
In essence, it goes like this. Once I have read a book, I pick up one of the things touched on in it and follow it up with the next book [...]

Read Full Post »

“Happy New Year!” she expectorated.

Tomorrow will be the fourth day of January, and I’m beginning to wonder when people will stop saying “Happy new year” to me. Still, mustn’t grumble. I’m trying to no longer take a perverse delight in being grumpy, but it ain’t easy!
And as for this New Year’s Resolution business – as good as it is [...]

Read Full Post »

Furst things First

I’m still reading Night Soldiers, and loving it. It’s becoming one of those books that make you hope your bus will be a bit late so you finish the chapter. In some ways it is dull, but I’m still hooked on it. I’ll rephrase that: I don’t find it dull at all, but if someone [...]

Read Full Post »

Alan Furst and the Likely Lads

There used to be a sit-com made in England called The Likely Lads, about two guys who had a bit of difficulty leaving their past behind them and growing up. In one classic episode, they have a bet with someone. They have to get through a whole day without hearing the result of the England [...]

Read Full Post »

Book list

I’m ashamed to say I sneakily stole this from someone else’s blog because I found it interesting.
Bold what you have read, italicize books you’ve started but couldn’t finish, and strike through books you hated. Add an asterisk* to those you’ve read more than once. Underline those on your TBR list. [Aside: I'm not sure who [...]

Read Full Post »

Current Read

I’ve just started Donald Woods’ biography Biko, from which the film Cry Freedom was made. It is an interesting read so far, although I’ve just begun. It isn’t so much memoir or biography, at least at this stage. It starts with a potted history of South Africa since European settlement and runs through the [...]

Read Full Post »

Rules: Bend, Break or Follow?

Think for a minute about sport – any sport. Your favourite one. Curling, hurling, kabbadi or soccer – let’s go with that since it’s the most popular. Imagine a player, the best you’ve ever seen, dribbling round the pitch completely unstoppable. A once-in-five-generations phenomenon. Now imagine two teams playing with a ball the way toddlers [...]

Read Full Post »

Ones you might have missed

The Guardian has a list of contemporary novelists’ selections for books which they feel are very undervalued. How many have you read? I haven’t read any, I’m embarrassed to say.
Also in the Guardian, a look at the actual mechanics of books: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/06/the_hard_truth_about_hardbacks.html
I have to say, I disagree with the writer in this piece. I find [...]

Read Full Post »