Books Again!

The next batch of books are in a "People&Travel" category, can't really separate the two. This list is only books I've read in the last year or so, excluding old favourites like Dervla Murphy, Peter Matthiessen and many others.

        Connelly:Attention All Shipping is a quirky and fascinating voyage to all the old sea areas from the shipping forecast. There must be many more people who like him & me were mesmerised by the list of mythical sounding places: Doggerfishergermanbight ,Vikingnorthutsiresouthutsire. When I was little they had the same fantasy feel as Hong Kong and Kota Kinabalu, both names that tickled me and I’ve been lucky enough to visit. The other was Timbuctu, I was quite old by the time I realised that one was real. Definitely a good one for the traveller, it is worth re-reading, full of random useful information about the places and their people. Real life visits often not for the luxury-car-brigade, it would be an interesting challenge to follow him.    

Keenan: An Evil Cradling is a gripping account of his 5 years as a hostage, much humour and humanity shines through.

McCarthy & Morrell:  Some Other Rainbow looks at the same events through McCarthy’s and Morrell’s eyes, alternate chapters seeing it all from Beirut then London. It’s a bit jumpy, but works until they’re both in England, then becomes easy to lose track of who’s writing. McCarthy comes over as a wonderfully caring companion.

De Waal: The Hare With Amber Eyes  follows a family from escaping as refugees from Russia, through  vast riches as bankers in Vienna and Paris, through loss and war to “normality”. A collection of netsuke and its inheritance by various family members is a unifying thread.  An interesting insight into aspects of history, but not “gripping”

Martin: The Sheltering Desert tells the tale of two pacifist Germans hiding from the war in the Namib Desert.  A bit drawn out, not totally believable, until their inevitable capture.

Wignall: Spy on the Roof of the World is the story of a climber in the 1950s, starting in Wales, planning a Himalayan expedition.  He was recruited to spy on the Chinese military build-up in Tibet, but entering illegally with state-of-the-art equipment to photograph it from the mountain tops. Predictably he was caught, held and tortured along with his colleagues.  After telling them a fictional tale of super-spy devices they believed him and set them free to cross the mountains in full winter with virtually no food, their escape was too good to be believable, but a good story. He must have been incredibly naive or slightly stupid to think that he could survive this with no real knowledge or training.