Daren

I probably should have predicted this book wouldn't be a great fit for me.

The premise is simple enough - travel author with previous book about 80 trains in India needs to write another book. Lets go bigger and do a bigger journey on 80 trains, Europe and Asia. Fiancé is worried about travel author travelling alone, so at sort of the last minute he joins the journey. Then a friend decides to tag along for the last half.

This was lite, uncontroversial and superficial. However it was easy to read and pretty harmless, so no doubt it will appeal to lots of people.

For me there was way too much minor griping about train conditions, comparing train conditions to other trains, and the dull drudgery of travel where authors insist of describing each time they have to find a hotel, or what they ate for dinner each night. Worse, is there were pages and pages of superficial chat (gossip) about random people they met on the trains - not character studies in the form of excellent train travel author Paul Theroux where were the reader is treated to quirky, interesting, often bizarre character, but too often uninteresting people.

There were some more interesting an in depth sections, North Korea and Tibet come to mind, but there was nothing very new or groundbreaking reported here.

I guess I was underwhelmed by this one.

2.5 stars

Earl Denman is an unusual character. He is quite comfortable by himself, and also in the company of the various African's who assisted him in his climbing of all eight peaks in the Virunga mountains, which sit between Rwanda, Congo DR and Uganda. In all likelihood he was the first to climb all eight of these mountains, five from Belgian Congo territory (which included Rwanda at that time) and the final three from Uganda. He undertook this in 1946, in preparation for his (illegal) attempt at Everest in 1947.

The climbing of these peaks takes the first hundred pages of this book, and, while slightly repetitive (climbing 8 mountains in a row in a similar setting with a similar but everchanging group of people can't really avoid being repetitive) it is well described and interesting.

While Denman says he had nor real interest in tourist traps and Mt Kilimanjaro, he couldn't resist climbing it quickly and without fanfare - he dedicated a grand total of five sentences on the topic... I can't really resist quoting them here.

P120

Here I was in easy reach of Moshi and Mount Kilimanjaro, which has seen too many people on it to hold any appeal to me. However, it is the highest mountain in Africa, and with the thought of Everest uppermost I went along to see what could be done about a quick ascent.

I did not greatly enjoy the climb, which in places was no more than an easy saunter. I actually ran the half-mile along the level plain before the scree slope leading to the 19,455 ft. summit.

From this point on, as he noted, Everest was foremost in his thoughts. He takes a ship to India and makes his way to Darjeeling, where he sets about to find guides prepared to accompany him without sanction from Tibet to cross from Sikkum into Tibet, hike to Everest and attempt a climb all without permission. In fact he must sign a contract to enter Sikkum, stating he will not approach the border of

Tibet, Nepal or Bhutan - which he convinces himself is not something he should feel guilty about.

Denman is incredibly lucky to engage Tenzing Norgay as Sherpa, and Ang Dowa (now I can't be sure but I am sure I have read about Ang Dowa before (although it might be a common Sherpa name), but obviously Tenzing was to accompany the 1953 British Mt Everest Expedition, and successfully summit with Sir Ed Hillary).

Tenzing and Ang Dowa both proved to be excellent companions and while (for example) the 1953expedition departed with 395 men all up (including porters), they were just a team of three. It is not spoiler to say that the attempt failed, but it is still a quite remarkable story.

The travel through Tibet is fascinating, as they were illegal, but also under great hardship staying in very undeveloped villages where it was tough to obtain much food and the accommodation was rudimentary and very cold.

I won't spell it all out, but after a long journey (albeit compete quite quickly compared to a huge group of people) the weather was not helpful, and they were very exposed to cold and wind. Their equipment was low quality and minimal, and they made the decision to turn back at a t time where they probably took the last opportunity to save their lives.

In the last chapter of book describing the journey back to Darjeeling Denman waffled on with some sort of strange philosophy, trying the justify all sorts of things to himself. He really ties himself all up in knots and the vast majority made little sense (to me, anyway). This was the only real letdown in the writing, but lasted only a few pages. The actual last chapter briefly described the 1953 British Mt Everest expedition and its success - as this occurred before Denman published his book.

I saw on the internet that Denman emigrated to New Zealand in 1982, and died here in 1994 - but I had not heard of him or his background before this book.

This was an enjoyable read. 4.5 stars.

Loosely termed a 'coffee table book', this really means a large format book with fantastic photographs, and usually more of the photographs than words. Certainly the photographs are fantastic - detailed pictures of flora and fauna, especially birds, but also historic photographs showing the human history of these islands.

Divided into sections - one for each island group (Chatham Islands, Bounty Islands, Antipodes Islands, Campbell Island, Auckland Islands, The Snares, and Macquarie Island), it steps through various aspects (Geography & Geology, Flora, Fauna, History).

It has an introduction, describing these groups of islands in the Southern Ocean, basically on the way to Antarctica from New Zealand. There is also a section on the future, a detailed bibliography and an index.

I bought this book after the (tourism) expedition I went on that visited The Snares, Auckland Island, Macquarie Island and the Auckland Islands. It departed from and returned to Bluff (near Invercargill, New Zealand), and was with the company founded by Rodney Russ (the author).

This is a great book for the basic facts around the islands, plus the history of each including the many ships wrecked and men stranded on these island groups. There are two outliers included here - one is The Chatham Islands - because they are not really subantarctic, they are too far north, but also because they have been inhabited since the 14th Century, whereas the other islands have had only minor sporadic settlements. The other outlier is Macquarie Island, which is a governed as a part of Tasmania by Australia (so I needed a passport to visit!).

Re-reading this brought back great memories of my trip in December 2019.

5 stars.

Maxwells third book of the Ring of Bright Water trilogy.

If you consider Ring of Bright Water is the introduction to Maxwell's otters, who are, lets face it, the stars of the show, and The Rocks Remain as providing the follow up of the otter's lives, then this book is the story of Maxwell's property Camusfearna in the books, but readily identified, unfortunately for Maxwell who received all sorts of visitors and interference after publishing the first book.

Maxwell tells us the origins of the name of this book as he sits on a hill above his property, trying to piece together how he can go on: P16

A single raven swept by, high on the hustling wind, his deep guttural croaks almost muted by its force. I remember how Wilfred Thesiger had once told me that when a camel caravan in Southern Arabia would sight a single raven overhead the Bedouin would attempt to annul the evil omen by calling to it, "Raven, seek thy brother!" It seemed too late now for that invocation.

And is an early indicator of the disasters and sadness Maxwell shares in this book.

It is hard not to have sympathy for Gavin Maxwell, and the complex events of his life. He is certainly an eccentric man, he is without very dedicated to the animals he bonds with, and has had more than his fair share of misfortune.

There is remarkable little in this book about the otters, other than Maxwells desperate struggle to rehome them in a sanctuary or zoo, and he final few chapters. It is more about bringing more structure and some of the goings on in the background that he wasn't able to share in the second book. His constant trouble with financing the property, the animals and his other attempts are revenue are documented well in this book. It seems he was taken advantage of and his trust, which was being managed by others was mis-managed, reducing his finances to zero. His other schemes to bring industry and use to the lighthouse properties he bought, for example just never got off the ground and those he employed to establish them didn't achieve the outcome and just left while Maxwell was overseas or tucked away writing, trying to meet his publishing commitments.

The Land Rover accident that initially seemed minor almost meant amputation of his foot, but instead was months of medical care and rehabilitation, preventing him from progressing other options that were to earn him money to save his property and lifestyle. This wasn't the only medical issue, and he went through a long stressful process when he was identified as possibly having lung cancer. After a long process he was cleared of this, however he was to die of lung cancer around a year after this book was published, in a sad end to events.

I won't delve more into the details.

4 stars

This has been kicking around my shelves for years. I have read a lot of Colin Bateman's novels when I was more fiction focused, but I never got around to this one.

A few days ago I finished a Gavin Maxwell book which was particularly depressing - I haven't tackled a review of it yet, but I needed something easy and light. I forgot how easy it is to read a 400 page novel, compared to a 200 page non-fiction book, and I feel a little less guilty about my low page count year on year, and my reading of short books.

Dan Starkey, formed journalist, now offers 'a bespoke service for important people with difficult problems'. He has been kicked out of his house by his wife (again) and has no clients.

In the first chapter, he is visited by old acquaintance, radio shock-jock Jack Caramac, who is always stirring things up and courting controversy. In the past days his 4 year old son was abducted (for an hour) and returned with a note, albeit a cryptic threat. So he asked Starkey to help.

Of course, this is only the beginning of an overly complex web of events that take place in Belfast post IRA, but with the UFV still playing terror, selling drugs, and dealing with internal power struggles. Caramac has been giving them grief on air about a 14 year old boy they kneecapped, and Starkey ends up mixed up in it all, dragging long suffering wife Patricia in too.

In typical Bateman style it is high octane with all manner of twists and turns as Starkey pieces together events, taking beatings as the story rolls out.

Short and sweet, enjoyable and easy. Not for those with objections of wanton violence, serial cheating and lots of sexual inuendo (par for the course with Dan Starkey).

4 stars.

Simply written, likely for young readers, this short story by Ruskin Bond is a charming tale of a girl with an umbrella. Out in the hills of Garhwal Binya is herding her family cows when she comes upon so wealth city picnickers. One of the women wants Binya's lucky leopard's claw, and eventually, albeit petulantly agrees to give her a blue sink umbrella in exchange.

Binya adores the umbrella and from this point it goes everywhere with her rain or shine, despite the fact is is mostly decorative.

The beautiful silk umbrella is not an item seen before in the village, and Binya becomes the envy of all the villagers, not least shopkeeper Ram Bharosa, who wants it at all costs.

The short story has a charming twist at its end, and becomes a moral tale.

An easy read, but worth the effort, typical of Ruskin Bond's simple writing style.

4 stars

Orwell has been interviewed about this book and given slightly different explanation about the accuracy of this book, presented as autobiography. It is somewhere between 'all the events in the book happened' and 'most of the events are factually presented', which is ok for me. Dervla Murphy writes a very good introduction in my edition, where she explains this and other background.

When he originally tried to publish the Paris section of the book it was rejected, as too short, so he added the London section. The two work well together, but Orwell mentions nothing about his returning to his comfortable family home from Paris before setting out to live in the dosshouses of London. Again, that is fine. I would have ruined the flow of the narrative to have a holiday of luxury I expect. Ultimately Eric Blair decide he would publish under a pseudonym, choosing George Orwell - he was not sure how his family would feel about how he had been living, and wanted to offer separation to those who he wrote about (he changed their names too).

What to write about a book with over 8000 reviews on GR?

Well, I will keep it brief, and although when I read it I thought every second page was quotable, I noted down none, and spent 10 minutes looking for something only to come up short.

I loved this. 5 stars.

Well perhaps not that brief.

The two sections of the book both examine poverty. In the case of Paris, poverty of the hard workers at the bottom of the rung. The lowly dishwasher, or plongeur in a Parisian hotel. In the case of London, it is the tramps without jobs and without the prospect of a job, trapped as they are in the system of the boarding lodges, where they must have no money to stay, and they cannot stay in the same house more than once in a month, meaning perpetual moving from one area to another, removing the hope of finding work.

In Paris, teaching English and pursuing authorship, Eric Blair ends up without work and with very little money, in a poverty spiral. Being robbed of his cash, he ends up with great experiences to write of!

I thought the descriptions were excellent, my nose screwed up at the description of the smells; I cringed at stepping on the rubbish and waste he described on the floor; my skin itched as the bedbugs and other vermin were described. I felt sick for the guests of the hotel when Orwell described what the staff were doing, or even just their lack of hygiene. Some of the things described were foul beyond imagination, the lack of kitchen hygiene, safe handling of food, etc. Makes this reader reassured at the modern health inspectors, who notoriously do a poor job, but something is better than no checks and balances, right?

Orwell's whole relationship with the Boris the Russian refugee is hilarious and was inevitably a downward spiral based on the Russian's eternal optimism and Orwell's constant hunger and eking out of a few centimes to live on.

In London, having previously read the short essay The Spike I knew what was coming. This was a more leisurely telling of Orwell's experiences though, and again the descriptive writing was great. Orwell makes a great play at explaining the system traps those within it by its rules making it near impossible to ever fight their way back out of the system. More than in Paris, in London Orwell is voluntarily exploring life as a tramp. He has a a job lined up upon leaving Paris, as a caregiver for a mentally ill man, but the family go off on holiday for a month leaving Orwell at a loose end! Poverty tourism? Think of it as research I guess. He pawns his serviceable clothes for rags more in keeping with he fellow vagrants. A diet of bread and butter, shuffling from one spike to another, I think filling in days is the best description for his life for this period.

OK at risk of needing to go back and edit the bit about keeping it brief!

The blurb: "In 1890, two American college graduates set out to travel around the world on a then-new invention, the modern bicycle. In 1893 they returned, have covered over 15,000 miles, at that time the "longest continuous land journey ever made around the world." This is their account their trip across Turkey, Persia, Turkestan and northern China. It described their adventures traveling along through regions few outsiders ever visited."

That is a reasonable summary. Although they travelled for three years, and this book covers only a portion of their journey. The preface says they took some 2500 photos - a selection of which are reproduced in this book. While the quality aligns with expectation from this era, they are interesting and help with the descriptions shared in the narrative.

The writing style is informative, but not excessively detailed. The two authors share a voice - it isn't clear how they contribute to the narrative, but I will use 'they' in my review for the authors. Interestingly, we learn almost nothing of the authors - they share very little of themselves in this book.

Initially they share details of how their bicycles are viewed - with trepidation often, panic sometimes, and crowded jostling occasionally. After a time these reactions become commonplace to them, and they skip over this - so by the midpoint the reader can take for granted that these men were travelling on practically unique machines in these parts of the world. They do seem to run out of descriptive energy as the book progresses. Every aspect and detail in Turkey is gifting line space, but by the halfway point it becomes far more muted on detail. China receives a significant amount less attention that did Turkey, although this is probably reflective of what they recorded in their diaries.

I read a digitised version of this, on my phone, over a period of a couple of months, as such the details came and went for me, but my overall view is that the authors did well to describe all they saw, those they met and their journey in sufficient detail, but without being too bogged down in the rigours of daily life, or in deep analysis of something they were experiencing in passing. Thankfully they avoided in depth political analysis (which seldom ages well in a travelogue) or details of individuals beyond common interest.

They share their hardships without playing martyr or pretending they were worse off than others. They extoled the virtues and shortcomings of their bicycles, the running repairs and the spares they arranged for delivery enroute. The roads of course were not set up for cyclists, so there is plenty of angst about the road conditions throughout. The side trip to climb Mt Ararat is also worthy of a mention.

Perhaps this suffers from my infrequent and fragmented reading, but it fell a little short of my expectations (or perhaps hopes) for such a promising title.

3 stars

A short story from DH Lawrence, published in 1926. I have read this before, although I can't track down where.

Paul is a boy whose parents are always short of money - his mother says they are unlucky. Paul himself thinks he is lucky, and God has told him so, and what Paul can do is predict the winner of various horse races. He partners with the gardener who puts on the bets for him, although his secret is discovered by his uncle, who wants in on the action. But winning some money is never enough, there is never enough money, more can always be won. But what is Paul's sacrifice for knowing the winner.

No more story, it is too short.

Greed for money over health is the moral in this story.

A good short read.

4 stars.

I tried to enjoy this, I wanted to enjoy this and in isolated spots I did, which is why I gave it three stars. For the most part however it was dry and dense and went too far into politics and complexities that didn't hold my interest.

The entire book is frames around 'short walks' for each chapter (pretty much) he ends up on a walk somewhere, and his narrative fans out from that - perhaps the people he meets, the person accompanying him, the history of the location etc. Sometimes more than one string to the chapter.

Supposedly this is Colombia after it evolved from the narcostate, when it is more tourist friendly, when it is on the rise. For all that Feiling finds plenty to be grim about and plenty to wrote about the cocaine trade, even if it is the former cocaine trade! It is largely a series of grim tales and continues to focus on the experiences of the past, not the future as promised. People he meets include former guerilla's, former paramilitaries and loads of other random people with stories to tell. He delves into history - recent and the times of the conquistadors.

I skimmed in parts, the density wore me down, made it hard to immerse in the read. The sidelines he sets off on don't always feel relevant to the narrative (in fact for me the narrative is hard to identify for too much of the book), and it becomes that hard to enjoy combination of dense and disconnected.

Feiling's The Candy Machine

was excellent, but it had focus. It was also dense, but it ploughed a straighter line.

3 stars

Published in 1999, when Severin had almost reached 60 years old by which time he probably decided to put his long sea voyages in replica's of ancient ships to one side. This is a slightly different approach from him. He looks at a historic character still, but a literary one - Moby Dick. He looks at Moby Dick's author Herman Melville, and how his experiences fed into the great novel. Also where his experiences fell short and his information was gathered from other sources. But most of all, he looks at the whale - whether a white whale was pure invention, a historic cultural legend or really accurate.

Melville acknowledged that he read a book by the survivor of a ship wrecked by an aggressive bull whale (Owen Chase, of the whaleship Essex) on which he based parts of the general story. Severin wants more though validation - white whales - do they exist?

To find out his answers, Severin decides to visit the last remaining aboriginal hunters of whales - they have regular contact with whales, they have historic contact with whales, they have legends and beliefs associated with whales. And so the story takes him to Nuku Hiva (where Melville spent time, albeit less time than he purported), in the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia; to Pamilacan near Bohol in the Philippines; to Tonga and to Lamalera, a remote coastal village on the southern coast of Lembata Island in Indonesia.

In each of these locations Severin spends time with the current whale hunters, as well as the elderly men of the villages, he goes out on boats and sees their traditional hunting methods, learns their many stories and experiences.

I don't want to spoil this excellent book for other readers, so I won't share what Severin finds, but I will say this is an engaging read. There are some nice colour photos of the places he visits, reproductions of lots of black and white paintings and the like as well as some original whale art by Trondur Patursson, a man who accompanied Severin on several of his expeditions, is from the Faroe Islands and therefore is well connected to Whales, and who also visits Severin in Lamalera to share some of the Whaling experiences.

I like all Severin's books, this is certainly no exception, despite it being different from his earlier fare - in that it is more travelogue than expedition and as much a literary investigation as a historical one.

Recommended for Severin fans, for Moby Dick fans, and I expect it will work for those who enjoy the recent literary genre of historical shipwreck non-fiction.

5 stars

From the end of the Preface I thought the humour in this book would fit me perfectly.

"My immediate relations have been of enormous assistance in compiling this volume; without their help it would probably have been published six months sooner."

Also worth mentioning from the Preface is a note as follows: "I am not an authority of anything. This little book is not the history of a life-work in Africa, not is it the diary of an expensive shooting expedition. It is just a simple record of things that actually happened to a casual young man who absentmindedly wandered into Central Africa, travelling very much 'on the cheap' unhampered by friends 'influence,' or letter of introduction."

And the first 20-30 pages of the book lives up to this. Mason is self deprecating and amusing. He is no glory seeker, or seeker of trophies. I marked a few more quotes in the first 20 or so pages - some examples:

P10 "It was very hot, both on body and feet. We walked many miles, but made no secret of preferring to ride. George, in mistaken compassion for his small donkey, used to get off its back and cadge rides on my camel. I would wait until he was out of sight, and, bestriding the pampered moke, smite it firmly down the girth with the ropes end; realising that it must make the best of things, the foxy little brute would trot merrily along with no signs of tiring under my fourteen stone odd, though it had drooped and stumbled beneath George's twelve stone of misguided sympathy."

P18 "Some people will wait till they have measured the horns of some slaughtered creature and compared them to the record book before they decide they have enjoyed their day. The difficulties surmounted, the craft brought into play, the wariness and beauty of the quarry, the long waits while it feeds and moves about unaware of danger - surely these things are worth more than the triumph of its being an inch larger in size than the one killed by So-and-so."

P20 "That country is full of the giant baobab trees... One of these struct me as unusually large, so I measured its girth scientifically. I was checking my result by pacing around its bole when I stepped in a nest of furious wild bees... Wishing to photograph it, I told Ibrahim to go and stand against the trunk to make a contrast. He objected that he would be stung by the bees. In a foolish moment I said, "Very well, Ibrahim, I will give you one piastre for every sting you get." The words were barely out of my mouth before he rushed at the tree and , leaping in the middle of the bees did his upmost to provoke their wrath by stirring them up with both his feet and a spear handle. When I had taken the picture I had to call him away twice, and he came up, covered in stings and smiles to collect about seven shillings for what, I really believe, afforded him no physical discomfort whatever."

But it wasn't too long before the amusing asides fell away and the casual racism (typical of the era) came to the fore. Mason repeats his view that negroes are lesser beings, lack intelligence etc etc. I can separate the views of the time from the author, but this is very repetitive. That aside, the book rolls out to describe his time in Africa (Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Tanganyika (Tanzania now)) undertaking general travel and hunting expeditions. For the Sudanese journey he accompanies a Colonel he meets by chance on a train, in other places he hunts alone or joins up with other white men he encounters.

He shares an interpretation of the different tribes, some of their cultural beliefs and way of life. He explains about the animals he tracks and often shoots, but not always, sometimes being content to stalk and just watch, or take photographs, which is not so common of the era.

Mason is quick to shares his errors and faults, but also equally quick to expose others mistakes, but not in a vindictive way, just to move the narrative along.

The casual racism did drop away about 2/3 of the way through, but the humour didn't really return. In the end I did enjoy the read as a detailed description of his travels and hunting, he told interesting asides and anecdotes about animals and African tribes, taking in a wide array of detail. Overall the rating was tainted by the unnecessary repetition of some of the generalisations and comments on Africans.

There were plenty of decent (for the time) black and white photographs throughout the book. There was also a pocket for a large map, which sadly was missing in my copy. The appendices contained an explanation of the Rift Valley and Volcanoes; a detailed comparative table for the native languages the author collected (very impressive to me at least); and a list of points for others to consider with regard to equipment to take or not take to Africa!

3.5 stars.

Short fiction - categorised as dark fiction, but I am not so sure.

A guys dog dies, and this story is him telling his friends a story about how it lost it's leg in a fight with another dog while he was fishing for catfish at night. This other dog was thought to be an urban myth, but it was real enough when it attacked Dave and his dog after it ate his rotting chicken liver baits. But was it just a dog, or was it more?

A story about a story. It was ok, but didn't send me out looking for more by this author.

Free on TOR.com (now Reactormag.com).

2.5 stars

I am probably guilty of not having read more of Maugham's work - I have read only one other - a novella called Up at the Villa, which I liked well enough.

This collection of short stories all take place in the British colonies of Malaya, Burma (now Myanmar), Kuching (now Malaysian Borneo), Singapore, Indonesia, or on the voyage to or from these places to Britain. While this collection was published in this form in 1993, the stories are presumably much older and appear to be set in the 1930's.

Maugham paints a detailed picture of life in the outposts of the empire, but more they capture the aspects of human nature and the way of life in these places. Particularly it shows the way behaviour's differ in the colonies from the homeland, and how the acceptability of actions and behaviour's differ also.

Footprints in the Jungle - told in the first person, a newcomer to Tanah Merah (in Malaya) meets the locals, and learns the back story of a planter and his wife - that the wife had a previous marriage where her husband was brutally murdered in the jungle under strange circumstances.

Mabel - A very short story about a woman on her way from Britain to join her fiancé after several years apart, although both harbour fears that their partners will have changed.

P. & O. - Set on the P&O liner returning to Britain, Mrs Hamlyn and Mr Gallagher are the main characters who both have different reasons for returning home, and their stories are told during the journey.

The Door of Opportunity - Anne and her husband Alban have just landed in London, having departed from Malaya where Alban was a District Officer in fictional Sondurah. The reason for their departure is the heart or this story and examines Alban's character and behaviour during an uprising in his district.

The Buried Talent - When Convers arrives in Penang on route to his new job in Bangkok he receives a note from a women from the past who was close friend of his girlfriend from long ago, who hopes to meet up with him. This he does and they recount the story of Convers' girlfriend and what happened to her.

Before the Party - Set in the UK, a family about to attend a memorial for Millicent's husband, who died in Malaysian Borneo, where he was the Resident at Kuala Solor (a fictional town). Millicent's sister, mother and father are the only characters in this story and they tease out the story of Harold's death, but end up wishing they had not!

Mr. Know-All - Another ocean liner-set story, in this case told in the first person by a man returning home whose cabin-mate is known on the ship a Mr. Know-all, not well liked as he is a self professed expert at all things. Over the authenticity of pearls, he ends in an argument.

Neil MacAdam - A young Scotsman (Neil) arrives to assist a scientist researching insects and is invited to life with the scientist and his wife. When Neil hears rumours being spread about the wife he defends her, but later discovers that he may have been on the wrong side of the argument and if forced to take steps to extract himself.

The End of the Flight - A new arrival accepts a bed at the Resident's bungalow, and despite being very tired and just wanting to go to sleep is told a story about the last man who stayed with the Resident!

The Force of Circumstance - Newly married and returning to a post he has held for the previous 10 years Guy and Doris are settling into life in a far-flung corner of the empire (Sembulu in Indonesian Kalimantan) when Doris notices some light coloured children in the Kampang. There is also a young Indonesian woman hanging about with a young baby. Finding out about Guy's history doesn't go down so well with Doris.

All of these stories are depicted with the background settings fully intact. With tennis rackets, Gin Pahits and Singapore Slings, an administrators overview and natives needing to be kept in line.

I have heard from others than Maugham's short stories are more favourable than his longer works, but I am still game to try a longer novel if they come close to the amusement value of these stories as I enjoyed these short stories more than I might have expected.

4 stars.

The form of this novel is a series of interconnected short stories from three generations of an Afghan family, plus some bystanders! Separated at a young age brother and sister Abdullah and Pari go on to live very different lives, and their stories are told in both their own sections of the book and those of others.

Each of the stories have overlapping timelines, flashbacks and some non-linear sections. They vary slightly within their format for each character, but are largely able to be followed as one section leads to the next. The author does have some fun with starting a section vague and not sharing who the character is for the first few pages.

Based initially in Afghanistan, the story is sad and often the circumstances grim. Later the story moves to other settings, Paris, the Greek island of Tinos and San Francisco.

Hosseini is a great storyteller, but the multiple point of view format didn't work as well as the dual narrative in his earlier books. It was still an enjoyable enough read, but on the basis it was just less satisfying that his others, this sits at 3.5 stars.

Idriess states in his author's note "For long I have wanted to write whatever comes into my head. And here it is. I have written on man, woman, insect and diprotodon, stories, incidents, articles....". Published in 1954 it focuses on stories from Western Australia's north, but does dip briefly in to New Guinea.

I don't think I am being unfair or inaccurate when I say this book is a bit of a muddle - less organised and less structured than this authors other works. I found the fragmentation disengaging, where normally this author is very engaging. It felt clearly like he had lots of fragments of stories he couldn't work into real pieces and perhaps that had been edited from other works as they weren't quite right. There were pages in here with only semi-related stories each of a paragraph, that didn't carry the narrative for me. Seldom are eh chapters directly related, so really this is a collection of short stories, non-fiction of course.

There were also other more focused chapters which did measure up to Idriess's other works, so it is not that this book has nothing to offer, but if this was your first book by this author, it may not encourage you back.

As usual it outlines quirks in Aboriginal culture, introduces dozens of real characters, Aboriginal a white living and working in remote desert country, their experiences, some stories and plenty of oddities. There ae numerous pages of photographs (black and white) of average quality for the era, mostly illustrating the story but not necessarily directly.

Three stars.

Carries Vaughn's installment #6 in her short story Graff Space Opera maintains it's previous high standard.

The last story was a backfiller story of Graff's childhood, so this one returns the reader to a current mission. In this case high tech vs medieval (ie the ‘stunted technology' trope), where the Visigoth team are sent on an extraction mission to a world where its inhabitants are battling each other with swords and bows. However being so low tech, Graff and team can't use their usual information gathering.

Graff is also troubled by his team not fully trusting him - having found out he is not quite human which sets up a bit more tension than is helpful mid-mission.

When the rescue is partway through, and they are confronted by the soldiers in the castle, they don't want to kill everyone, which they could so easily do with their guns, so Graff finds a solution that has him wielding a sword!

Spoilers to say more.

4 short story stars.

A longer than usual novel from Mickey Spillane - a stand alone story, published in 1972. In 1964 Spillane published a short story "The Bastard Bannerman", contained within a slender book with two novella called Return of the Hood. This is a longer version of that story where 'Cat Cay Bannerman' becomes 'Dogeron Kelly', obviously referred to as 'Dog'. Both were bastards and had come home to deal with family business. There were a lot of similarities, but this novel was a lot more complex.

It felt like Spillane shoehorned a few extra storylines in to this one, padding it out to over 300 pages. He does have a good thing going where he gives Dogeron a backstory without the actual detail, and doesn't share the details until right at the end which was pretty successful. It is also the most sexually explicit of the Spillane stories I have read, there is plenty of sex and a lot of inner monologue about sex (the inner monologues felt a bit of a lazy information dumping writing technique to be honest).

I also can't not mention the cover Spillane chose for this book - his wife (or wife at the time, who knows) nude and reclining with a leg in the air, and the awful title (which has no practical link with the story other than there is a film set involved) which combine to make this book one that can't be read in public.

Plenty of tough guy action, fighting, shooting etc etc, entertaining enough at a basic level. This achieved the usual 3 stars I end up with for most Spillane works!

3 stars.

A three page story, sent out with an author's newsletter - a part of Aaronovich's Rivers of London series, although this is the only one I have read. Thanks to Maureen for sharing the temporary link: https://mailchi.mp/3f573405ff0d/winte...Set in Pitlochry, Scotland-a man wakes up from a coma after a near drowning in a river. Initially, he says he fell in, but soon admits he waded in to help another. The narrative features an interview between this man interviewed by a Detective Chief Inspector from the Metropolitan Police.Too short for more, or spoilers!3 stars

I bought this on the basis of good reviews and it sounding pretty interesting. Both proved out in what was a great book. Although not very clear from the blurb, this book is partly about one of many cities founded by Alexander the Great on his rampage around the world - he had a thing for naming cities after himself- thus Alexandria. The one in Egypt is the one which hung around. Most of the others (historian consider there were a dozen or so) fell to ruin or were overtaken by other cities. Most have not been discovered.

The Alexandria in this case was known as Alexandria under the Mountain, its re-discovery by Charles Masson, in Afghanistan, is the primary topic of this book. Or is it? This book resolves the question of who exactly Charles Masson is. The events of this book take place from 1827 to 1853. Events I learned about from Flashman (volume 1) and Dalrymple's Return of a King, amongst others.

I liked this quote from early on in the book, P2 of my edition. Given it is page 2, I am not giving anything away when I say Masson at this time was known as Lewis - his real name, Private James Lewis, and his 'walking away from Agra' was him deserting from the British East India Company Army.

As he left Agra behind, he had no way of knowing that he was walking into one of history's most incredible stories. He would beg by the roadside and take tea with kings. He would travel with holy men and become the master of a hundred disguises. He would see things that no westerner had ever seen before, and few have glimpsed since. And, little by little, he would transform himself from an ordinary soldier into one of the greatest archeologists of the age. He would devote his life to a quest for Alexander the Great.

And so Edmund Richardson unpicks a complicated story, breathtaking in parts and heartbreaking in others, particularly the way Masson was manipulated by the British East India Company, and taken advantage of by others.

This really was excellent reading.

I also earmarked this quote, from right at the end: P258 of my edition.

How does history get written? Look closely and you will realise something important. Often it's not because of a professor sitting in a library, but because of someone like Masson: a strange and wonderful character fighting through the snows, chasing an impossible dream. Knowledge, as we hold it in our hands today, is formed not just from scholarship and experiments, facts and equations. It is also made of stories.

The reference to stories ties back in to some of Masson's experiences explained in the book.

I could write a load more, but will resist. Highly recommended if this is in your wheelhouse.

5 stars.

Having read Simon Winchester's ‘Pacific' I had expected this book to follow a similar format, but it doesn't. Pacific was a series on unconnected stories from locations in the Pacific Ocean. This book does contain various stories from locations within the Atlantic, but it is far more heavily invested in an overall narrative (or more accurately several narratives).

For a framework Winchester has divided the book into sections paralleling the 7 stages of man, as listed in Shakespeare's As You Like It which seems somewhat arbitrary, but does sort of work as the life of an ocean - starting with ancient history and discovery and ended with environmental change and what mankind is doing to the ocean.

Winchester uses plenty of sources in history and science, but also manages to include in his narrative plenty of travels - whether that this the explorers of old or drawing from his own travels from the 1960s until now. He also writes of literary figures and their inspiration from and writing about the Atlantic, stories of overfishing and ocean management, pollution and climate change. Naval battles, shipwrecks, plate tectonics and vulcanology,

I certainly didn't read this book quickly. I found a couple of sections at a time was enough before I needed something else - reading 3 books between starting and finishing Winchester's offering. It isn't that it wasn't interesting and appealing, or even overly long at under 500 pages, it was just that it was a slow read. Even the action sections were slow, but then, he had a long history to cover.

There are a couple of decent maps, lots of small photographs and drawings which were ok, but don't make up for the lack of colour plates.

4 stars

This is the second non-fiction book I have read by Adrian Conan Doyle, youngest son of Sir Arthur. This is the first in published order (1952) with Lone Dhow, which was perhaps a little better than this one, likely because this is his first book.

It outlines the journey of the author and his wife Anna as they leave Morocco for something more interesting - to seek out big fish (mostly seeking game fish, but also sharks, rays etc) among the islands and along the coast of Tanzania. They buy a small launch and establish a small crew comprising an engineer who is constantly fixing the engine which breaks down with painful regularity) and a supposed navigator (they have several of these, of wildly varying expertise).

There are multiple tales of various big fish - barracouda, sharks, skip jacks, jew fish, dorado (he caught the world record dorado on this journey), kingfish, cavalli jack; also rays of all types - manta, eagle, death, torpedo and leopard as well as small fish - stone fish, horned trunk fish, garfish, grunter and other things such as sea snakes, sea scorpions & sea slugs.

There is an interlude where they seek out overgrown ruins on the island of Songa Manara, which Wikipedia tells me was excavated and researched in the 2000s. The author also regularly takes to the inland with his rifle in search of game (the all-fish diet wearing thin) and meat for bai, but is largely unsuccessful in this.

There are various black and white photographs, the quality matching the era, so not great, but interesting still. A map of the Tanzania (Tanganyika & Zanzibar at the time) coastline, while small scale is helpful for placing their movements up and down the coast.

In case you are wondering, I am not sure of the meaning of the title - perhaps I missed the key phrase in the narrative that links this!

4 stars.

The third of the Border Trilogy - to bring together the main characters from book one (All the Pretty Horses) and book two (The Crossing). John Grady Cole from the former, Billy Parham from the latter.

I was surprised to be thrown straight into the story - they are both working on a ranch together. No explanation of how either got there from the ends of their previous stories - I must admit, I expected it to loop back at some point... spoiler - it doesn't.

In reality this is John Grady Cole's story - the story of his falling in love (with a prostitute) and his unwavering ambition to free her from her bonds and marry her. I won't outline more of the story, but much of the book is other people (especially Billy Parham) trying to turn him from his goal, given the lack of sense Cole was making.

I will come out and say it was an unsatisfying conclusion. I enjoyed this far less than the other two books, and while it gave closure in some sense it was far from satisfying. Perhaps I should have expected that in a McCarthy novel - but I didn't need a nice ending, just a resolution more defined than I got.

Those familiar with McCarthy's writing will be unsurprised. The sparse conversations, the lack of punctuation, the irritation (for me at least) Spanish dialogue, the graphic violence. At least this one avoided the long detailed side stories of little relevance (for the most part).

I gave the first book 5 stars; the second four. I am generously giving this one three!

***

For $2NZ I picked this up in a small town second hand shop - a surprising find, a book I have been looking for for a number of years.

I was surprised by this book -to find a young Richard Halliburton vagabonding around the world when I am more used to his travelling in style or at least sparing no expense. Writing articles for newspapers as he goes, picking up the royalty cheques in the next major city is a fine way to meet ongoing costs, but Halliburton appears almost allergic to money - no sooner does he receive a windfall than he heads to a casino to blow the majority, leaving him just enough to move on.

Jumping trains, stowing away on ships and most often buying the cheapest ticket available (third in the case of trains or deck / steerage depending on the ship) and sneaking or talking his way into first class. From time to time he is indulged by high society, lent clothes and attends parties, but for he main he is vagabonding with others. He pairs up with companions and for periods they travel together, but never for very long. He also pairs up with ladies (the romance of the title) but is very discrete if there is anything more than companionship.

Page 2/3

"A wave of exultation swept over me. Youth - nothing else worth having in the world... and I had youth, the transitory, the fugitive, now, completely and abundantly. Yest what was I to do with it? [...] I wanted freedom, freedom to search the farthermost corners of the earth for the beautiful, the joyous and the romantic.

The romantic 0 that was what I wanted. I hungered for the romance of the sea, the foreign ports, and foreign smiles. I wanted to follow the prow of a ship, any ship, and sail away, perhaps to China, perhaps to Spain, perhaps to the South Sea Isles, there to do nothing all day but lie on a surf-swept beach and fling monkeys at coconuts.

I hungered for the romance of great mountains. From childhood I dreamed of climbing Fujiyama and the Matterhorn [...] I wanted to swim the Hellespont where Lord Byron swam, float down the Nile in a butterfly boat, make love to a pale Kashmiri maiden beside the Shalimar, dance to the castanets of Granada gypsies, commune in solitude with the Taj Mahal, hunt tigers in the Bengal jungle - try everything once. I wanted to realize my youth while I had it, and yield to temptation before increasing years and responsibilities robbed me of courage."

Published in 1926, the 600 day journey beginning and ending in America covers a lot of ground. With a penchant for mountain climbing, he tackles the Matterhorn, the rock of Gibraltar (and is promptly prosecuted for taking photographs in a military zone), Kheop' pyramid and Mount Fuji. He is also not shy of a long trek when required, travelling overland from Myanmar into Thailand through a rough and overgrown trail (a route not unlike other vagabonding books I have read).

Roughly his journey takes him from the USA to Europe - Switzerland, France, Andorra, Spain, Gibraltar, Monaco to Egypt, on to India up through Kashmir and very close to Afghanistan, to Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Russia and Japan, before returning to the USA.

4.5 stars, rounded up

#5 in the Graff series by author Carrie Vaughn. This is a backstory filler, taking us back to Graff on his home planet as a teenager, and then out into the world where he is placed in a space port with a mentor from home to help him transition into him under-cover duties and life off-planet, before commencing his placement at the Trade Guild Military Academy.

This short story sets out another part of the origin story of Graff, who we have come to know from the other four parts released by Vaughn.

There are some lessons learned, and at the end the first link with a character from Sinew and Steel which was the original short story (albeit second in publication, as a prequel was published second in order!).

This was a quick and enjoyable read, for me it sat around the middle of the series for quality - not quite the best, but better than the weakest, so a return to 4 stars.