Daren
I went into this book with no preconceived idea of what is was about, only that it was recommended by a few readers, and that, of course, it is science fiction from John Wyndham. Published in 1957, it is set in the 1950's and feels like an authentic small rural village setting in Britain.
Often the mark of a good novel for me is being able to surprise me. This is surely rare in a classic sci-fi novel like this, but I genuinely have no recollection of anything about this book - albeit I have read a review or two from friends...
I was pleasantly entertained by this novel, and I don't want to throw out spoilers either, but there were some clever twists in the reading of this - perhaps I should have seen more of them coming - they were not completely left field, but nevertheless they caught me with surprise. It is not a fast paced novel - quite the opposite, but the threat builds steadily throughout the novel. Other than some slightly over-long philosophising dropped into conversation, it was quite readable. Perhaps the only weakness is how readily the village people accept the situation as it unfolds - maybe this was the post-war society stoicism well captured? The form is narration, from a partly involved person, so slightly unusual, but it works well here.
It isn't a long read, although I had it in the car so was only reading a chapter or two at a time, and it took me about 8 (working) days to finish.
Recommended, 4.5 stars, rounded down.
I note that nosing around a few other reviews uncovers the story line rather easily, so perhaps I have been overprotective when not discussing, but I really did benefit from knowing nothing about it in advance. I understand the blub on some editions spoils much of the story too... with my edition this was not the case.
Fraser's Flashman #7. This time a novel in two parts covering the USA and Flashy's experiences in the 1849/50 gold rush to California (albeit he doesn't reach the destination) and then again in 1875/76.
As always Fraser is able to insert Harry Flashman into accurate history in a faultless way. More than once in this novel alone Flashman and his narrative steps in to resolve aspects of history, albeit in a fictional way - so very clever, Fraser has no equal in this genre.
Flashman continues to be a scoundrel in this novel, and while he remains a self-confessed coward, when his back is to the wall he still show more courage in his self preservation than the average man. But yes, he continues to exhibit some appalling behaviour (particularly towards women) throughout this book, although he is very close to getting his comeuppance (once again)!
As is the case as well as an accurate historical setting Fraser treats us to Flashman interacting with a cast of real people. In the first timespan he travels with Richens 'Uncle Dick' Wooten, to Bent's fort (a renowned frontiersman and guide); becomes entangled with s gang of scalp hunters, led by Grattan (also known as John Glanton); then falls in with the Apache's themselves where he becomes the son-in-law of chief Mangas Coloradas, and befriends the famous Geronimo. Moving on the travels with Kit Carson and Spotted Trail, a Sichangu Lakota tribal chief. At his point Flashman meets Spotted Tails young nephew, who is to grow up to be Crazy Horse.
In the second timespan Flashman again meets up with Spotted Horse, President Ulysses S. Grant, but it is his time with George Custer, his brothers and other soldiers and his presence at the Battle of Little Big Horn, then his relationship with Frank Grouard (Standing Bear) that stands out. As the novel draws to a close he meets up with old friend Wild Bill Hickok.
For a part of the second timespan Flashman's possibly cheating wife Elsbeth travels with him until she heads off to do her own thing, and Harry is left to his own devices. There is a great twist at the end for Harry to deal with, but I don't intend to spoil it for other readers.
Another great read at 4*
Upfield's #19 Inspector Bonaparte mystery.
This time in the Western Australian outback, where Bony happens to be passing through as he learns the body of a police constable has been found in his vehicle on a remote road. His Aboriginal tracker is also missing, with his swag and the constable's rifle - and it appears he is the culprit. But of course, that would be far too straight forward, and so Bony takes on the case, outranking the local police and in equal parts confounds and amuses them with his approach to solving the case.
As anyone familiar with these books would know, the story rolls out gently. At first there are things that can't be explained, little progress seems to be made. Some of the outback characters are strange...
But the police are not the only ones looking for a killer. It become apparent that the Aboriginal tracker was not the killer, but also a victim, and his tribe are seeking vengeance. Do the police or the Aboriginals get to the killer first?
Anyone who has spent time in the Australian outback would more than likely have come across those considered strange. Usually they are not, they are just not used to socialising or interacting with people - strangers at least. Social skills require practice, and they don't get a lot of people to practice with! But I digress.
Bony soon narrows down a few possible suspects but has to untangle the web before he can solve the riddle, but can he do so before the Aboriginals?
I like these books, perhaps a little more than they deserve.
An entertaining 4 stars.
Easter Island is an interesting place, and this book is a pretty tidy summary of events up to around 1975, when it was published. To be honest, I don't know how much of the information in here is now superseded, but with the way it is presented, it doesn't really matter, as it sets out to summarise each visit by Europeans and what they learned from their visit - right or wrong.
While translated it has been translated to English, it reads excellently, so I assume the original does too.
It covers visits to Easter Island by the Dutch (1722), the Spanish (1770) and the British (1774), all very short visits where they learned little. It next covers visits by the French (1786), then the Russians (1804), then the return of the British (1825) again learning little but all distributing gifts and receiving fruit and vegetables while losing much else to the light fingered locals.
Intermingled through these visits are minor facts the visitors learn and explanations recorded of the language and behaviour of the people encountered. Some expeditions saw no females at all, and saw few people, others were visited by many. They were mostly peaceful encounters, but on occasion a handful of natives were killed by the visitors. There was worse to come.
There are then some chapters outlining folk stories, legends and origin stories from the island.
In 1863 we next we come to Brother Eyraud, a Frenchman who volunteered to come to the island and found a mission to help the natives. The chapter explains his long and troubled experiences with the natives, and his relative successes before his death (natural causes) in 1868. As is often the case ,after the missionaries came the traders and exploiters. In the case of Easter Island they were one in the same as they arrived, annexed land and set about enslaving the islanders and trapping them in indentured labour contracts to pay off debts for goods taken. Many Easter Islanders were taken to other islands as slave labour, but these people generally died within a short period of time when taken from their homes and worked - they had a very sedentary lifestyle on Easter Island and had no history of physical work!
In 1888 Chile officially annexed Easter Island and a new exploiter took over restricting access to land and water and so the islanders were again forced into indentured labour.
It was only after this period commenced that scholars began taking interest in the vanishing (vanished?) culture. This was a messy era to describe other than to say many visited, many took away relics, small statues and carved tablets what preserved the ancient script of hieroglyphics. The large statues for which the island is so well known have always fascinated, but luckily due to their immense size they have not be plundered (much). There were many expeditions and archaeological visits some staying long periods, and making interesting discoveries. Americans, the British, a French/Belgian, and then the Viking of the Pacific - Thor Heyerdahl, of course. By this time Heyerdahl had completed his raft journey and came to Easter Island to excavate and solve mysteries. Not always the most well thought of man, for this non-academic approach, I have a bit of a soft spot for him.
Each chapter reveal the new findings, presented them well and in relatively simple terms.
At the end is a chapter describing the three contrasting theories of the origins of Eater Islands inhabitants. Even now Wikipedia states that expert opinions vary. I am sure modern science has taken the history further since this book was published, but for me it was an enjoyable read, and I learned plenty of new information, however I wouldn't use this as the only source of data.
4.5 stars.
Previously I read another of Calder's books about Northern Africa. They were similar in style, but the Northern Africa book was hands down more engaging. In that case he was appointed by UNESCO to report on scientific advances in the countries he visited, and the United Nations organisation again stumped up money for this journey. Published in 1957 the travel takes place the year prior I believe.
Calder obviously has the ability to convince people (officials mostly) that his ambitions are worthy - many go far out of their way to help him, from flights to accommodation, from assisting him with ground or sea transport to putting him up for weeks at a time when the weather demands it, or just going out of their way to show him things.
If I am honest, this one wore me down pretty quickly. Perhaps it is the location - the Canadian north, but I don't think it was this. Calder is the king of the information dump. He burns through statistics and facts about people I have never heard of and will never hear of again. He recounts side stories while narrating his own, he covers topics far and wide as they cross his path. It reminds me of another author I read a bit too much of, Frank Clune. Once the information dump begins my eyes grow heavy unless it is specifically something I want to read about.
Broadly speaking, his goal was to inspect and report on the Canadian Arctic - deemed an under-developed territory - to review and catalogue its successes and where further development is likely yo yield best results. How the rest of the world's experiences can be used to extend the frontiers of agriculture, atomic energy and the like. What are the effects of a gradually warming northern hemisphere on the vast timber forests? etc.
With generous support of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) as well as many other individuals and companies, he is whisked around Canada. Dog sled and snow tractor also feature as he covers off a vast array of topics including the Inuit people (still referred to as Eskimo back then), the Hudson Bay Company, the Canadian Arctic islands of Cornwallis, Melville, Sommerset & Bathurst, uranium and gold mines, Animal breeding stations, spends time with Arctic doctors and geologists, he flies to the North Pole with the Air Force, and visits everyday people. He spends time with the Mounties and the Air Force in remote bases, pursues Caribou and attends an Arctic survival course (one of the more interesting sections), sees the aurora, reindeer and vegetable farms raising successful crops.
There is a lot to take in, and yes there is a travel narrative running through, but it wore me down, and as such sits with a three star rating, which may be generous by half a star!
This book opens with the author about $300 short of what he wants, but packing his car and leaving New York for Guatemala anyway. His reasoning? if he didn't go now he might never. His goal? To explore lost Mayan ruins - he knew there were many more than on the maps, and he wanted the adventure of finding one! This book was published in 1968, so reasonable to assume the journey occurred in the year or two prior.
This is a book divided into five parts.
The Long Drive The authors journey from New York to the Mexican border, through Mexico to the Guatemalan border, and through Guatemala to the city of Quezaltenango, the setting off point for his jungle adventure. This was no easy trip, an inappropriate vehicle choice, a car which broke down with painful regularity, a journey with very little money, spent mostly sleeping in his car, and a journey down roads which became worse the further he got from New York. Realistically this was an adventurous enough undertaking, yet was only the means of getting to his starting point!
Appropriate now to outline the story around the ruins at Machaquila. It is not 100% clear whether Alberto Lisi read about a ruin in the jungle near Poptun or whether it was just an area he identified as being a possible location. He spent plenty of time planning the location he set out for (Poptun), but it wasn't really until his arrival there when he was able to talk to the locals he found out that around 1957 a group of petroleum geologists undertook an expedition to test a lot of the river for mining potential. While they had not visited the site of the ruins they were nearby, and it was suggested local men who accompanied the geologists knew where the ruin was. After tracking down various people, Lisi found a man who claimed he had been to the ruin, and that he guided another gringo there some two years before (he was known as Don Juan, but Lisi subsequently found out his name was Ian Graham). This didn't put Lisi off, but reinforced his ambition to reach the ruin.
Into The Jungle The first part of the expedition to find the ruins. Lisi has enrolled two men (Carmen and Pablo) and a mule (Alcira) to accompany him. His plan - to cut a trail through the jungle, following the route Pablo and Don Juan took, as far as necessary in order that the river is navigable (it runs underground for some distance due to the local geology). From there Pablo and Lisi will continue by inflatable boat; Carmen and Alcira will return to Poptun). This section of the journey is hard, but as the mule is carrying all the loads, and the men have all their food and equipment, it is manageable - even easy, compared to later stages!
The Rio Upon reaching the navigable river, the plan is enacted. The boat is inflated, gear stowed and Carmen and Alcira depart. This becomes a crash course in white water boating with untold dangerous rapids and cataracts and waterfalls as well as many trees fallen over the river. There is a lot of lowering the boat, portaging and of course a capsize in which much of their food and equipment is lost. Here turning tail and trying to get back to Poptun was the obvious choice - they didn't of course. Most people would suggest that without machetes or boots any attempt to travel through the jungle would be impossible. Lisi thrives on impossible, and hey continued on the boat downstream until Pablo lost the plot. This jungle man was never comfortable on the river, and came right up to the point of a nervous breakdown, threatening to leave after some 50 waterfalls had been worked around. Lisi finally agreed to leave the river and go on by foot to the ruin.
The Ruin And so after making shoes from a leather bag and tying them to their feet they began cutting a trail with a 6 inch hunting knife and a Swiss Army knife! The on to El Final (the last camp of the geologists) was thankfully only another day and a half. At this point Lisi had given up hope of continuing downstream to another town (the ruin was equidistant between Poptun and that town). Pedro insisted they must depart the following day by 10am. And so Lisi makes a rushed visit to the ruin he travelled so far to see, locates with Pedro's assistance the carved stellae, climbs some temple mounds, and is away, in a return journey that comes close to taking his life.
The Return I have elected not to even outline the return journey. Some readers may choose to find the entire expedition unrealistic or embellished. The description of the men on their return to Poptun puts them very close to death. Lack of food and equipment, the weather, the lack of trail and hardship of travel, the challenge of navigation, and poor decision making due to extreme weakness are all factors deal with in this section.
By necessity, this book was all about the journey and little about the destination. I enjoyed it, read it over two days, and it certainly held my attention.
5 stars!
According to Wikipedia the ruin was excavated in the early 21st Century by by the Atlas Arqueológico de Guatemala in collaboration with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Google maps shows a town of Machaquila, albeit very rural looking town!
I also found a link to the article by Ian Graham, published in 1963:
https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/across-the-peten-to-the-ruins-of-machaquila/
This is very interesting as a comparison to Lisi's journey. It took Graham 24 days to cut a trail to the ruin, with many men and mules, and he stayed just under 3 weeks to investigate. Pablo is mentioned by name. While it sounds a hard expedition, Graham had finances to employ men and buy food. He sent a man back for more food to be brought on a mule at least twice. The left the ruin and heading back on day 42. By comparison Lisi's journey as 21 days, the entire return trip with very little food, the last several days without any. However it is apparent that Lisi made his expedition hard for himself by lacking funds - Graham made is all sound pretty easy - This gave me plenty to think about after already giving Lisi the 5 star review!
On google I found another article on the Stelae recovered from Machaquila: https://traffickingculture.org/encyclopedia/case-studies/machaquila-stela-2/
A short story featuring Garda Detective Bunny McGarry, who can always find his way into, and then out of trouble.
For this short situational story, it is St Patrick's Day in Dublin, which anyone who has been in Dublin for the big day knows means... American marching bands. Along with partner Butch, Bunny finds himself on duty supervising floats (due to a previous indiscretion) and must deal with the fall out of a brawl between one of the American marching bands and a Canadian marching band. But what caused this brawl?
Happy St Patrick's day for yesterday!
3 stars. Very short!
Described as the classic Australian outback yarn, Hell West and Crooked by Tom Cole lives up to the billing. As a youth Tom Cole emigrated from Britain to Australia in 1921 to chase a more exciting life and quickly found his feet in droving and mustering cattle. He fitted in well with the characters of the outback, can obviously tell a story well and is an excellent collector of tales. This was written much later in life, with the assistance of his diaries.
"Hell west and crooked" is defined at the start of the book as 'A cattleman's expression meaning all over the place. 'The horses are hell west and cooked - it'll take a week to muster them' and as well as a good name for his autobiography, it goes some way to explaining the hectic lifestyle and experiences of Tom Cole.
From droving (moving mobs of cattle from the stations to sale, usually to the larger towns) and mustering (rounding up all the cattle running loose on a station for yarding, where ear-tagging, branding, castrating and other things are undertaken, usually precedes droving the steers of saleable quality to market) Tom moved in to managing a few stations as the head stockman, usually in the short term, and horsebreaking (training and making fit for riding) before venturing into buffalo hunting (for skins) and crocodile hunting (also for skins) when the markets were good for that.
As well as a mostly linear timeline explanation of that progression, Cole weaves in the stories of the people he interacts with in the outback. He names hundreds of (mostly) men he meets, works with and drinks with, and tied up in his tales are some of the more well known outback stories. Many of these cross over with other authors anyone who follows my reviews will have heard of, particularly Ion Idriess, but also Frank Clune and Peter Pinney. These included Aboriginals Wonngu (the Caledon Bay murder of Japanese fishermen, as well as a failed police patrol searching for him) and Nemarluk (associated with the murder of prospectors Stephens and Cook), plus good background on the overland telegraph, Sidney Kidman (the Cattle King) who set up a vast number of stations, and even the original flying doctor who was precursor even to John Flynn and his flying doctor service in the outback.
Cole's tales cover the period from his arrival in Australia in 1921, his brief time in the Queensland Outback before his found his place in the Northern Territory Outback. The book ends at the outbreak of World War II, and has a short paragraph on completion which simply states he did not see Arnhem Land again for 45 years.
I understand there is a sequel which covers time he spent in New Guinea hunting crocs.
This is 5 stars, and was going to be from the first page. If you have any interest in this genre then do yourself a favour and go find a copy.
A quote in hindsight. P167
Reflecting, fifty-odd years later, on what was without doubt an idyllic lifestyle, it is difficult to find anything or anywhere today that is remotely like it. Motor vehicles tearing across bitumen roads day and night, cattle mustered with helicopters, aeroplanes landing almost daily at the homesteads, radiotelephone communications, massive road trains shifting cattle a couple of hundred miles in a day... undreamed of in 1930. (from 1988 when the book was published).
The first two thirds of this book details the expedition that Wyn Sargent undertook with her 12 year old son Jmy (what is this name?) to the interior of Indonesian Borneo, visiting many Dyak villages in 1968. Sargent, a photo-journalist was in Borneo to do a story, but had little intention of visiting the interior. A local journalist who understood the plight of the native villages managed to have the local press run headlines about her impending trip (without her acceptance) and it grew momentum she couldn't resist.
In itself, this journey was a massive undertaking, and dangerous not because of the headhunters but because of the risks to the health of the travellers (hepatitus and malaria were the main risks, but malnutrition was a big factor) and the danger of the environment - be that snakes, floods, or general risk of injury in the jungles and rivers.
What Sargent learned, as well as a massive amount of anthropological information about the life and death of the Dyak peoples was that they were at serious risk of dying out - that the Dyak people were exposed to the same sickness risks as the travellers, they were unable to sustain food cropping, their hunting grounds were becoming more and more barren and as a people they were on a slippery slope to extinction. This is not the expectation for the isolated tribes of the world, who we generally expect are getting on better with out the contact of the great white saviours, but was very much the fact. While not an anthropologist, Sargent does a good job of describing what she saw and what she was told by interpreters and guides.
In the time Sargent spent in the jungles she attended a great many traditional funerals, festivals and general tribal customs, all described in detail. She had a lot of interaction with tribal witch doctors, village chiefs and the day to day people.
The last third of the book describes how, after meeting with the Indonesian government Minister responsible, who basically told her the government couldn't help the Dyak people, set up an American charity to bring medicine, food, hospitals and schools to the jungle. This was a massive undertaking, and Sargent herself was directly approaching company CEOs to solicit donations of goods and services to assist. Sargent was adamant her charity would be non-religious and non-political - so rare and perhaps why this was such a success.
Published in 1974, the two letdowns in the book were the lack of maps and the poor quality photographs - a surprise for a photo journalist!
3.5 stars, rounded down.
A couple of quotes:
P41
"It was six feet long, weighed five pounds and it was stretched across my chest.
'It's a snake,' whispered Jmy.
'Don' move, it's looking around,' Sjam said.
Suddenly the snake bolted and was gone.
Panggul stood looking into the canoe. 'No worry! Snake only little python. Not squeeze much. See in tree? He have many brothers and sisters there.' I looked into that palm tree that sheltered our canoe during the night. It was beset with crawling baby pythons..."
P64
"Flying ants, as large as horseflies, had invaded the area, and he first thick cloud of the swarming insects flew up the river and int the canoes head-on. They stung us with their bodies ad left us scrambling to put our arms over our faces for protection. But Panggul threw out his hands and grabbed as many as he could hold in his fist then smashed them into his mouth! 'Makan, makan,' he yelled. 'Very good for eat.'
The second onslaught of ants sailed into the canoes from starboard. We squinted our eyes against their huge batting wings then clapped them up as fast as we could and shoved the handfuls into our mouths.
If one is hungry, anything is likely to be good to eat, and the flying ants were delicious. Since then, however, I have been able to get along without them."
David Newman seems like that friend who is always in trouble - the stubborn one who refuses to back down, who seldom admits he was wrong, who is always borrowing money and is unable to repay it, and who is genuinely very lucky. Notwithstanding that he is the most interesting friend you have...
But I have got ahead of myself. In the early 1960s Englishman David Newman had an old flatmate who was living and working in Nigeria who invited him to come over some time. Newman phoned him up out of the blue one day to let him know he was coming - by car. He had just bought himself a new Ford Zephyr, and was confident that the trip from London through the Sahara would be possible. In fact at every level of enquiry he was told it was impossible - which became his motivation to succeed.
All his savings spent he begged and borrowed to buy the last of his equipment. He set up another good friend to bankroll him by wiring him money whenever required! He obtained a few visa's but decided primarily to deal with the border complications on the way.
Initially he had a travelling companion (whose own father warned him was worthless, and that he would regret it) but he turned out to be a poor fit and was kicked out after a short time. He also had another companion in northern Africa for a time, but he was mysteriously arrested at a border, and Newman had to proceed alone. However he picked up yet another companion for the final section of his trip, an experienced fellow who was part of a Cambridge University trip by Landrover in a similar route the other direction who was prepared to come out to join him.
For the largest part, stubbornness drove him on. Extreme risks were taken, incredibly recklessly, time and time again he drove off into the desert alone to become stuck in the sand, low on water, out of food etc etc. Incredibly for him it always seemed to work out that someone came along - luckily for the reader, he got to write his book.
reliance on the French Military was high, and often made for uncomfortable reading where he promised to pay, knowing full well he hadn't the funds to do so. He borrowed from his bankrolling friend, he borrowed from British consulates, he paid the Ford Agent for carparts with a cheque he knew was going to bounce.
His route was Britain - France - Spain - Gibraltar - Morocco - Algeria - Mauritania - (perhaps a small diversion into Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara)) - Senegal - The Gambia - Senegal - Mali - Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) - Ghana - Togoland (Togo) - Dahomey (Benin) - Nigeria. It was an interesting time for many of these countries, as they were literally becoming independent from France at the time of travel. This assisted Newman as the newly independent counties were unsure how to manage visa's and border controls, so his lack of visa's didn't trip him up (much).
Anyway, all these reckless acts, his immense good luck and his ability to get outcomes from the least expected sources all made this an excellent and entertaining read. At less than 200 pages it was a quick and enjoyable read about a man prepared to take great risks for the love of travel and adventure.
Predictably by the time Newman arrives in Nigeria his flatmate has departed, and upon being asked what next, he calmly states he will return to the UK to raise some money to finance the return journey Zephyr, by a route through the middle of the Sahara this time. Impossible, everyone tells him...
4.5 stars
I will start with the complaint that the font in my edition is ridiculously small, making it harder to read than it needed to be. It is fairly dense reading (in terms of content) so a tiny font with close linespacing makes it so much harder.
What is it? Essentially seven essays on Victorian women travellers, with little in common except the Victorian era and the fact they each pushed boundaries or broke ground in different ways. The downside of seven women being profiled in one book is that they are longer essays than a short story but shorter than a full biography, somehow going further than whetting the appetite but not going so far as to form a full conclusion! Nevertheless it was readable enough (the content, not the font) and had some interesting facts over particularly where the women's autobiographies blurred the lines of truth or glassed over some aspects.
The women in question were:
Emily Eden - Sister of George Eden, Lord Auckland the Governor General of India, covering her travels to India with George.
Anna Leonowens - (of Anna and the King fame) - who was employed to teach the King of Siam's children and wives, and be his personal translator.
Amelia Edwards - Novelist and Journalist who travelled through and wrote about Egypt.
Kate Marsden - Who travelled through Siberia (pre-train tracks) to visit lepers and prisoners and seek to improve their lives.
Gertrude Bell - This one suffered most from the amount Bell achieved in her life, and trying to fit it all in to short essay. She is best known for her travels in the Middle East, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Daisy Bates - From Ireland to Australia where Bates marriage didn't work out and she found an affinity with the Aboriginal people. She work ed for their benefit and lived with them, sharing their hard way of life, yet still retaining her interactions with the authorities she considered were doing the Aboriginal people harm.
Alexandra David-Neel - The French woman who defied the British who ordered her out of Tibet, then wrote a book in English about her journey to rub it in. He return to penetrated even further into Tibet to visit Lhasa is covered in more detail.
3 stars
Buchan's #4 featuring Richard Hannay - now Sir Richard, and retired from the army to live in the Cotswolds with his wife Mary and young son Peter John. But the idyllic lifestyle is interrupted when he is asked to assist with the rescue of three hostages by a group of men plotting a political and financial upheaval that would rock the world. But who is the ringleader, and what has it to do with a strange little poem given as a clue?
Set mostly in London with a short sojourn to Norway, it is perhaps the darkest of the Hannay stories so far and certainly more complex in structure and reasoning than the earlier novels. As usual with this series, the book was completely contemporary at the time published (1924). The protagonist blends Eastern mysticism and hypnotism with the more straightforward kidnapping, blackmail and profiteering and, as we come to expect with Richard Hannay some frantic chasing as the deadline approaches.
Notwithstanding the frantic section towards the end, there is more sedate chapter than the reader would have found in books 1-3, including several at the start where Hannay is resistant to being drawn into the rescue, and several more when he is at a bit of a standstill on solving the problem and goes through a period of just really treading water waiting for something to happen. However this variable pace was more a pro than a con, as variation in pacing allows the story to build to its climax.
There are some old friends to help him along the way -Sandy Arbuthnot and Archie Roylance feature heavily, and of course Hannay's wife Mary who plays a very involved part of resolving the story
Perhaps the most amusing part was when Buchan, though the Dr Greenslade character sums up the writing of an adventure story - self mocking at its finest:
I want to write a shocker, so I begin by fixing on one or two facts which have no sort of connection… You invent a connection – simple enough if you have any imagination – and you weave all three into a yarn. The reader, who knows nothing about the three at the start, is puzzled and intrigued and, if the story is well arranged, finally satisfied. He is pleased with the ingenuity of the solution, for he doesn’t realise that the author fixed upon the solution first, and then invented a problem to suit it.
I found it as readable and enjoyable as the earlier books.
4 stars.
Published in 1966, Spillane's Tiger Mann #3 (of 4) continues his experiment in the espionage spy genre as a excursion from his gumshoe detective characters.
In this book Tiger has to get close to, protect and then extract assistance from a Middle Eastern Arab and his young bride, oil contracts playing off America with Russia. Add to the mix a dangerous assassin spoiling the American play and with revenge in mind for Tiger Mann while he is in the country.
Dated somewhat by it's racial slurs and rampant macho stance, it is however true to the era and the genre, so the reader shouldn't complain on those matters. There was no lack of action and at 172 pages it moves fast enough to keep up the interest.
There is little of challenge in the reading, as is usual with Spillane, but there was plenty to entertain me while this sat in my car to fill in those spare moments.
3 stars
Pinney's second volume, following Trooper Johnno, who becomes a Corporal for a period of time becomes demoted and then isn't really sure where he stands... The 8th Commando Squadron are shipped to Bougainville, to replace the departing American forces who are off to the Philippines.
Pinney's writing is surely at its finest in these later books. While I always enjoy his writing, it has really scaled new heights here. It is incredibly rare for a book on a single page to be able to describe landscape and the soldiers moving through the jungle through jungle so clearly; to be able to clearly explain a soldiers attitude towards the Japanese - of pure hatred for the solider, but in all soldiers, not necessarily hatred of the man; and to perfectly fall into step with the conversation of a common man - in pure Australian complete with slang and rhyming slang yet still making it sound authentic.
The name of this book comes from a discussion near the end of the book, but it is quoted on the inside cover. Obviously about the futility of war, I have replicated it here.
"It's a stupid bloody fight," he said. "We will be needin' more than mops when the big rains come."
"Free tucker," Buster grinned. "Six bob a day and permission to fart. What more you want?"
Jonas glared. "It won't accomplish nothing', and a lot of blokes are going to get hurt. And when them rivers flood, and he poor bloody infantry bog down, the whole thing's going to blow up in our faces. It's like firing a glass cannon at bloody rainbow, ay? But galahs like you can't see that."
In the Preface, Pinney states that this book ... is intimately based on (his) diaries... and represents the limited experience of one man. An attempt has been made to eliminate factual error, but bias and prejudice remain, and the dialogues recorded here approximate only a few of the conversations that took place. The book is in no sense a unit history, nor is it meant to be. If it gives even a marginal notion of what the campaign meant for a small group of men on Bougainville, it will have served its purpose.
There is plenty of bias and prejudice - these are men tasked with eliminating an enemy - there is limited capacity in most soldiers to separate the individual from the enemy. They are referred to a Nips and Japs, they are ridiculed for their fear of the jungle (they like the clearer ground), but only the foolish believe they are not a risk.
Johnno introduces his fellow soldiers, we learn about their character, their flaws, their fears. Some are friends, some are frustrating men to be thrown in with. Some are not alive by the end of the book. The futility of war is written throughout, but this was a book I tried to read in small doses, not because it was a tough topic, or a heavy read, but because I didn't want the slender 228 pages to end. Mainly because I have not found a copy of the third in the trilogy yet.
5 stars
Hard book to review (and rate) this one. I sought it out when the second in his "empire series" was recommended to me (The Siege of Krishnapur), and typically for me, I needed to start with book one.
This book is set from 1919 to 1921, in the fictional town of Kilnalough in Ireland, in and around the fading glory of the Majestic Hotel. The protagonist is Brendan Archer, former British officer, and supposed fiancé to Angela Spencer, the eldest daughter of the hotels owner, Edward Spenser, and aging Anglo-Irish Tory. Archer, referred to almost exclusively in the novel as 'the Major', is making a visit to Angela, who he met when on leave in Brighton during the war - he has no recollection of proposing to her, but her weekly letters while he was in service were all signed off as his fiancé! Through her letters, the Major knows much of the background to the hotel, its guest and Angela's family.
This is a pretty difficult book to assess, published in 1970, it is essentially historical fiction. It revolves around the Major's relationship with Angela , but it can't be judged a romance. Political satire, with its symbolism (more below)? A Fawlty Towers-like comedy in the crumbling hotel, with forgetful old ladies, Spencer's dogs and the rougue cats? There is also the Irish Situation always bubbling in the background - the Easter Rising having taken place in 1916, where the Irish rebelled against British Rule before being suppressed. Now events were moving back in the favour of the Irish, and as we know British rule in Ireland ended in December 1921 - but this is more of a background to the story. There is a bit of everything mentioned, all wrapped up in this book.
For large sections of the book, to story moves slowly - glacially you might even say. It is more a catalogue of existence within the hotel that a narrative that moves the story forward - likely intentional, as it exhibits the uncertainty the Major feels in his relationship.
There are metaphors or symbolism evident in this novel - I am usually not good at figuring these out, but as other reviewers have outlined - the dilapidated hotel (The Majestic!) represents the fading British Empire - literally falling apart, and the parallels with the narrative interrupted by reportage articles on the unrest in Ireland, India and South Africa. The upper floor of the hotel has been overtaken by ginger (orange) cats with green eyes - the Republicans? One of the cats which attacks an old lady is brutally put down, as the Irish resistance is dealt with by the British.
There is much to consider in this 450 pages, and much more to the plot than I have outlined here.
I enjoyed reading this, but would not be satisfied with the pace if I read another novel this slow in the next 10 or 15 books!
4 stars
The format of this appealed to me - testing Aesop's Fables against actual scientifically studied animal behaviour. I found it well written, perhaps a little repetitive where certain experiments were relevant to more than one fable, and perhaps 50 pages longer than my attention span (due to the repetition?)
The format is consistent - a paragraph long fable - usually an explanation about the evolution of the relevant animal (sometimes relative to the evolutionary branching from man, or another animal), a study on the behaviour relevant animals, usually some other animal relevant to the behaviour - a summary of whether the fable is fact or fiction (incorporating a suggestion for a better fitting animal where appropriate.
The Crow and the Pitcher - We learn a lot about corvids (ravens, crows, rooks, magpies, jays etc) and their ability to problem solve.
The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - This chapter focuses on wolves, but also sidelines into primates. This one covers an animals abilities in deception.
The Dog and its Shadow - We learn about dogs, mostly focusing on the domestic dogs and the ability of self-recognition.
The Ass Carrying the Image - This chapter studies donkeys (and to a lesser degree other equids) generally focused on donkey intelligence and cognition.
The Fox and the Crow - Foxes take centre stage here, and this is largely a chapter on debunking fox myths!
The Lion and the Shepherd - We learn about Lions and experimentation into animals that act with reciprocation (or those that don't).
The Monkey and the Fisherman - Primates are one of the most studied of animals, so as well as being referenced in many of the other chapters they take centre stage here, with a study of which animals engage in mimicry or imitation.
The Ant and the Grasshopper - I am sure you are picking up on the theme... grasshoppers and ants feature here, where the ability to 'future-think' or prepare for the future is studied.
The Hare and the Tortoise - Surely the most famous of the fables, the hare vs the tortoise, slow and steady wins the race etc, this gives us lots of facts around hares and tortoises and how it all pans out in a race.
An enjoyable pop-science book, well presented, easy to read (although a level of concentration is required when some of the more complex experiments are stepped through), and it mostly achieves what is sets out to do. If I was be be very cynical, maybe the premise is just a way to arrange a lot of interesting animal experimentation into a framework. But realistically it worked pretty well.
There was loads of good information in the book, too much to replicate here, but worth the read of these sorts of things are of interest.
4.5 stars.
A great doorstop of a book - an omnibus of fiction writing about mountaineering. Various authors, some well know, others unknown. I will only be adding brief notes to each short story and a rating. In many cases the locations are not identified, but I have added generally to the shelves where the locations are know.
The longer novels do have independent listings, so I will review them there and provide a link below.
I expect I will only read a few short stories at a time before getting back to other books, so this ongoing review will likely have been produced over a long period.
In summary I have to say I found mountaineering fiction as a genre to be lacking. It didn't really compared to mountaineering non-fiction for thrills and excitement, commitment and too often, loss.
By calculation, the short stories came out at an average of just under 3 stars from 5. The novella & novel stories came out at an average of 3 stars from 5. So that really means a middling 3 stars out of five overall.
Read from 17/8/24 to 22/2/25
Short Stories
MELTWATER Joe Simpson - A death in the mountains, told from two points of view. 3.5/5
B TOWER WEST WALL Peter Lars Sandberg - Urban climbing, murder and crime syndicates in Boston. Fast action, but tenuous to call this mountaineering. 4/5
LA FOURCHE Anne Sauvy - A deal with the devil to become a more successful climber - what could go wrong? 4/5
A STORM FROM THE EAST David Roberts - A story of relationships and climbing, and lightening! 3/5
MIDGES G. J. F. Dutton - The midges in question hinder climbing. 2/5
OCTOBER DAY Ken Crocket - A starting climb for a boy. 2/5
ULRICH THE GUIDE Guy de Maupassant - The tale of two guides who look after a remote lodge in the Swiss mountains over winter. Supernatural story. 3/5
VIRGINS OF MIST Jeff Long - A supposedly unclimbable rock face with a cave is eventually climbed and the naked body of a women is glimpsed - she becomes recognised as a saint - associated with Mary Magdalene. A secondary story, which to me really confused the story for me, as the narrator has followed a similar pattern, albeit 10 years after, in this village as a Yugoslavian man who hooks up with a local girl. There is a twist at the end when the cave is again accessed. Confusing story. 2/5
THE WHITE GRAPH Dermot Somers - A rock climbing story, with ego and mind games as a man and his climbing partner scale a rock face. 2/5
TIME REVERSAL Anne Sauvy - a story on a strange timeline. 3/5
IN THE CREVASSE Ben Santer - the format didn't work for me, dialogue then inner dialogue. 2/5
SUMMERTIME Al Alvarez - A couple of pages on a mountaineering accident. 3/5
IN HANGING GARDEN GULLY C. E. Montague - Too philosophical for me. 1/5
THE ESCAPIST David Craig - Themed around climbing as an escape from a relationship on the rocks. 3/5
GAZ AND SANKEY M. John Harrison - Unclear where this one was going. 2/5
THE CASE OF THE GREAT GREY MAN Robin Campbell - A Sherlock Holmes / Dr Watson story, with only a vague mention of mountaineering, which in spite of being a strange selection here, was an ok short story. Reasonably authentic to ACD's style. 4/5
CHILDREN LIKE CLIMBERS OFTEN FALL Gordon Thomson - Two men take a friend with a brain injury, who is at risk of being institutionalized, up an unclimbed face. The two men have differing views of how their friend can cope. 3/5
SCENERY FOR A MURDER John Menlove Edwards - I didn't get anything from this one. Somewhat experimental in format maybe. 1/5
CANNIBALS Jeff Long - a strange format, about men trapped after a series of avalanches, the sole survivor accused of cannibalism. 3/5
NO GENTLEMAN IN THE HIMALAYAS Greg Child - all a bit silly really, nothing that held my interest in this one. 1/5
IN ANOTHER TONGUE Greg Child - interesting interpretation of how sherpa see westerners. 4/5
RITES OF PASSAGE Elaine Brook - Tibetans fleeing Tibet for Nepal, and become mountaineering guides. 4/5
THE WAY OF THE WHITE SERPENT John Daniel - an attempt as some sort of mythical history that didn't work for me 1/5
2084 Anne Sauvy - Sci-fi story looking at the 'history' of climbing (looking back from 2084). 3/5
BRIGHT FIRE, BRIGHT ICE Charles Hood - Sci-fi - a wealthy man has achieved all he can in adventure sports, and struggles with what to do next - until he discovers he can charter a flight to Jupiter's moon and carry out a bit of climbing there... 4/5
NIGHT OUT Al Alvarez - a younger climber, and older climber, together are trapped out of the face for the night. 3/5
THE OLD MAN'S PIDGEON LOFT Dave Gregory - a man who befriends climbers to make use of their professions to aid in the renovation of his pigeon loft. 2/5
FOR EVERYTHING ITS SEASON John Long - Steve, whose brother was killed climbing tells the story in a bar, of when he teamed up with his brothers old climbing partner to tackle a difficult face - but primarily because he wanted the truth about his brothers death. The story told has a twist. 3/5
LEVIATHAN Geof Childs - a climb in Nepal, organised by a mysterious man called the Major brings an American, a Scotsman and a Yougoslav together to tackle a face they call the Leviathan. How many make it back? 4/5
THE BRONX PLUMBER Guy Waterman - A story of an unlikely man (the Bronx Plumber) who is subject to the transmigration of souls, as the Hindu call it. Called to fix a backed up toilet he apparently channels Mallory on Everest! 4/5 Quite amusing.
IN GENTLE COMBAT WITH THE COLD WIND Jeff Long - a climber picks up a strange hitchhiker, weak ending. 2/5
Novellas, Novels and a Play
MOTHER GODDESS OF THE WORLD a novella by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Not listed separately, and barely a novella. Set in Nepal, a trekking guide bumps into a fellow guide and old friend on the mountains, and gets dragged into an adventure with Tibetan Monk, and American video director, and George Mallory! Silly fun. 3/5
THE ICE CHIMNEY a play for one actor by Barry Collins
- Also not list separately on GR. A script for a single character, trapped in an ice chimney. Probably much better performed than read. Didn't work for me. 2/5
ONE GREEN BOTTLE a novel by Elizabeth Coxhead
- The first novel in the book. See my review: https://hardcover.app/books/one-green-bottle/reviews/@Daren 3/5
NORTH WALL a novel by Roger Hubank - a technical story about two French climbers in the Swiss Alps. See my review: https://hardcover.app/books/north-wall/reviews/@Daren3/5
LKE WATER AND LIKE WIND a novella by David Roberts - Not separately listed on GR. A tidy novella written around climber Victor Koch and his climbing partner Ed Briles. The story starts with them in Alaska, perched up a mountain face, in a storm and snow drift not far from the top. They make the tough decision to pack up and retreat down the mountain, yet the peak is within striking distance... On the downward climb, there is an accident, and Victor's story rolls out from there. Enjoyable read. 4/5
SOLO FACES a novel by James Salter - separate review https://hardcover.app/books/solo-faces/reviews/@Daren 3/5
VORTEX a novel by David Harris - separate review https://hardcover.app/books/vortex-a-novel/reviews/@Daren 3/5
This book starts out with the author hanging out with and discussing trainspotters. I persisted just long enough for him to move on and away from that topic and onto his journeys. Chesshyre explains that he sets out to understand why people love trains so much - I suppose it needed to cover trainspotters to achieve this goal, but it was a bit too much at first, and then became just scattered observation of them.
Ostensibly Chesshyre took 49 train journeys - it says so on the cover, although it's more like nine actual journeys, some of which are made up of multiple legs, sometimes running together, sometimes with other travel or flights between. There are another couple of chapters which are mashups of multiple journeys, which I guess then adds up to his 49. The also visits 22 countries although I only found 21.
Chesshyre writes well enough in capturing his journey. The narrative is a mix up of his actual experiences on the train (and getting to it etc); conversations with his fellow travellers (sometimes amusing, often dull or tedious); history about the country/area being passed through; history pertaining to trains in the country/area being passed through; details about the train. The details about the train are technical specifications, numbers, where it was manufactured etc - loads of things most people have no interest in - trainspotter stuff again).
Some chapters I found more interesting that others. Most likely this is the travel reader in me - a biased interest in places I have either been or want to go... so the Indian Pacific in Australia, the Trans-Siberian Thru Russian and on through China, India, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Iran were all good in places. I found the USA and Europe sections less interesting.
Overall I am not sure there is a specific target audience for this. For train enthusiasts, probably not enough train detail; for travel readers - probably too much peripheral information. It was an easy enough read, but filled with lots of trivial information about encounters with random people.
Lightly amusing enough that I read it all I suppose!
3 stars
John Lloyd Stephens, an American explorer and writer is credited with a lot of discovery related to the Maya in Mexico. This book, in two volumes, describes his second expedition to Mexico in October 1841 and concentrates his efforts in Yucatan, where his previous expedition was cut short due to the illness of one of his companions.
I read the Project Gutenberg version which still contains the many engravings and map of the original publication. I enjoyed the engravings, because as well as Stephens explains what he finds the engravings make it all the clearer. The map wasn't present (maybe in Volume 2), which was annoying.
It is a pretty straight forward explanation Stephens gives. He describes preparations, accommodations and how they live, what they eat. He explains the issues with mosquito's and bedbugs and the like, as well with those people who assist and those who don't, or are untrusting of the foreigners. But most of all he describes the ruins. He explains how the trees and scrub grows very quickly and that a large part of the labour is clearing the trees and scrub even before any excavation can be made.
Mexico is a place I have not visited, so I have only limited knowledge of the Mayan culture. Not dissimilar to the Inca's of Peru though, where I spent some time as a tourist.
Step pyramids were common and large rectangular buildings with highly decorative facades and a massively thick but blank back wall, made up of many small rooms and a flat roofs. While there were plenty of buildings to expose and excavate, relics were fairly scarce. Pottery and sculptures were found, but rarely fully intact.
Appendices to this volume include temperature observations on the trip, statistics of Yucatan, an explanation of the triangular Mayan arch in construction, and a long explanation of Mayan time.
4 stars
Leon McCarron is no stranger to Iraq, having spent 6 years their establishing the Zagros Mountain Trail. After returning to set himself up in London, and finding himself needing more action, he packs up with girlfriend Emily Garthwaite, a photographer, and sets out to travel the length of the Tigris River, from its headwaters in Turkey to the sea in the Persian Gulf. Joining them are Claudio von Planta (the Swiss cameraman best known for his journey with Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman on their motorcycles in various locations) and local guides for each country. Some time in Turkey and briefly Syria, but the lions share of the journey is in Iraq. In Iraq they are assisted by environmental activist Salman Khairalla and interpreter Hana Ibrahim, both of who feature a lot.
McCarron's intent was to travel as much of it by boat as possible, meeting those who live adjacent the river, learning their stories, and combine them with the river's history. Given this travel occurs during covid, and also through areas where ISIS remain active (if not very successfully active), the journey is quite an undertaking, and while they travel predominantly by boat, there are many periods where we it is just not safe, or permitted to be on the river. In the end the calculation is around 68% of the distance travelled is on the river (approx a 1200 mile journey).
Initially there is no real mention of the environmental condition of the river, but this quickly becomes a major feature of this book - the environmental damage being done to the river, the impacts of this, and really, to raise the issue to the public. Having read Rory Stewart's Occupational Hazards I have some understanding of the complexities of governing and the disfunction in Iraq. Army, police, other factions, militias with conflicting intents, power struggles and lack of cohesive intents mean that the river is treated for local issues not national issues - this becomes readily apparent as they progress downstream. There are many issues, but water control based on the dams is a major factor. Changing the flows, releasing or not releasing water effects all downstream people. This includes the flooding of many villages within the dam catchments, often with little or no assistance in relocating these suddenly homeless people.
There are just so many other issues - excavation of aggregates for concrete and asphalt, depleted uranium left over from military caches, waste from oil refineries, effluent pipes dumping sewerage, the river used as mass grave by ISIS, medical waste discharging directly into the river bypassing a broken treatment plant and water salinity and stagnation in the marshes.
McCarron does a good job of cataloguing all of these depressing things while still identifying some cultural positives, as anyone who has read of the Middle East will know the extent of hospitality, especially from people with so little. Many Iraqi people go out of their way to be of assistance to the travellers, or share their stories with them.
As much as a nautical journey down the Tigris in a traditional boat appeals, that was never viable with the unrest and uncertainty in Iraq. This was certainly an alternative that had plenty to keep me satisfied - still an epic journey, massive challenges and ultimately a really sad state that the Tigris River is now in. The only hope is that this sort of exposure may raise enough concern for changes to be made.
4.5 stars.
This fits into Idriess's autobiographical travels book topic (as opposed to a biography about a historical figure, a collection of historic stories around a theme, or a straight out book on mining or precious stones). I have liked his previous autobiographical tales best of all, but this was a little flat.
Idriess was recovering from a bout of malaria, and so was a little low-energy, and that seemed to come through in the writing of this. He joins friends on a driving trip from Sydney to Perth and back (with some side diversions in south-west WA and through Adelaide , Geelong and Canberra on the return): the leader on this journey The Super - L. Colin Smith, who is in the bookselling industry and for work travels across part of Australia visiting bookshops - while the detail is never shared, presumably to make sales to them. The other, co-driver etc is Quiz Kid - CW Priestly, of Canberra - a civil servant.
The three are jokingly argumentative the entire time, each pair ganging up on the third at ay given time to gently mock. Idriess is referred to as Inkpot and is treated as incapable of anything - he is not permitted to drive, has no tasks to perform, he doesn't even carry his own suitcase (an oversized thing his wife insisted on packing). Whether this is due to his recovery from malaria, or whether his friends really judge his as incapable is not really spelled out. Certainly Idriess is singled out for the most mocking.
So primarily a book of their journey of some 10 weeks, 9000 miles across the Nullarbor, but The Super and Quiz Kid throw in lots of random facts, and Idriess fills out local history.
Its a fairly gentle read, telling positive stories at a local level through the four states they travel (New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia on the east to west , with ACT added in on the return journey).
3.5 stars, for its unusual low energy.
I have previously read another of Bailey's books - Mission To Tashkent, which I 3 starred and was a bit critical of. That book is certainly ripe for a re-read, and I think I would probably get more from it now. That book outlined a part of Bailey's military career. This book describes an expedition into Tibet undertaken while on leave and without the authorisation of the military.
Published in 1957, written in 1956, it was pulled together by the author from his diaries, and covers around six months of 1913 in Tibet. Over that six months Bailey and Morshead (Captain Henry Morshead of the Royal Engineers - a surveyor) travelled by foot over 1500 miles in country previously unsurveyed and for the main part unknown (to Westerners) except for some Indian pundits sent out in disguise by the Indian Survey Department in the years prior.
1913 was a critical time as China and Britain (via India) were both engaging (in very different ways) with Tibet and very closely after the completion of the expedition the Simla Conference was held with Tibetan and Chinese representatives meeting with the British to fix the boundary between India and Tibet and to reach an agreement about Chinese and British representation in Tibet.
This proved how the work of Morshead and Bailey was highly valuable as one of their primary goals was to solve the mystery of the Tsangpo Gorges and thus to survey and map the country forming the geographic frontier between Tibet and Assam.
While Morshead was primarily responsible for the survey work, Bailey took the lead on managing the organisation of the journey, negotiating with local officials and investigations in the realms of natural history. He collected samples of many birds and mammals, many new discoveries. The blue poppy is perhaps the most famous one, which Bailey didn't collect but did write about (Kingdon Ward later brought seed back and named it Meconopsis betonicifolia baileyi. There were also many butterflies and also goral (a goat-like animal) and Ovis Ammon (a Tibetan sheep with massive horns) and various birds collected.
I really enjoyed this one. The writing wasn't as repetitive as it should have been in a repetitive expedition. Bailey mentions in the foreword that to relive the expedition as he wrote this book was exciting for him, and that excitement of discovery and experience is transmitted to the reader. He is very complimentary towards Morshead - although they spent much of heir time on their own tasks and Bailey is up front about writing about what he undertook and what he shared with Morshead he couldn't very well write much detail about his companions experience.
There are numerous black and white photos which are very good for the era as well as very good maps attributed to KC Jordan. There were many twists and turns and interesting situations they found themselves in. I won't spoil them for other readers.
This review is long enough already, but I did mark a short passage to quote, so I will finish with that. It is a common situation experienced by travellers unchanged by time of location that I am sure everyone will recognise in some form.
P123
When we reached Gaya we found tents prepared for us and a meal for out coolies. The people of Gaya warned us against the people of Po me, who were unscrupulous and unreliable, bad people, unlike the people of Kongbo. In Po me, we had received the same warning about the people of Kongbo. It seems to be universal, the inability of human beings to feel virtuous except when surrounded on all sides by rogues and villains. What astonished us both in Po me and Kongbo was the degree of security we felt, though we were carrying with us a considerable sum in money and were very lightly armed.
This book appealed to me, in that: a/ it is somewhat obscure; b/ it was published by The Travel book Club; c/ it was published in 1958, meaning the travel occurred a few years prior; and d/ in the blurb it gives away the fact the 21 year old author hitchhiked ‘around the world' for two years. Fair to say, despite being on the light side this book is pretty well on point for my genre, etc.
Peter Beale is a little too smart, a little too stubborn and a little to lucky to come across as likeable initially, but he grows on you, and does become likeable. When I was younger he would have been referred to as a ‘chancer', someone who is always prepared to gamble, go all in, risk it all; but also someone who gets away with it more often than not.
And so it is that he hitchhikes his way from London to Singapore (ok technically he does only set foot in Singapore, but I won't spoil all the detail). On the way he spends time in France, Italy, Yugoslavia (Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia), Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Pakistan and India.
I imagine hitchhiking as a thumb out, car passing by experience (I did it for the best part of a year in Australia, and plenty around NZ when I was young), but Peter Beale takes it to the next level. He hitches rides for free on ships and freight planes, on trains as well as the more conventional vehicles. He occasionally pays a fare, but only when there are no free options.
He set off with about fifteen pounds, but there are plenty of ways to make money on the way. He lectures to school children about his travels, he pens articles, he sells some photographs (taken with a borrowed camera). He settles for weeks or months in a place he either gets stuck in, or enjoys. People help him, families take him in, he must be enjoyable company!
In the course of the book he falls in love - as the blurb tells us. “Lilli was an Italian girl who was a champion swimmer, the Hippo was a middle-aged she-hippopotamus in the Calcutta Zo0. With both of them, Peter.. fell in love.” The circumstances around both are amusing, but both are short-lived - he is back on the move.
The book does slow when he becomes stranded in Calcutta, unable to hitch a flight to Singapore. Circumstances and people in power conspire to make it very difficult, and his stubbornness in his refusal to change his plans results in weeks of delay.
This was a light-hearted travelogue, but it had enough in it to keep me entertained.
4 stars.
This was a complex read for me, and I am the first to admit I don't have the context to take too much from it. The book sets out to cut through the propaganda and misreporting that often turns Kashmir into an issue of religion (which the book explains is not the case, and that it is a political issue).
Published in 2004, with a backdrop of the 2003 election its content, contemporary at the time, is probably quite dated. The author, a journalist who has spent 20 years reporting in Kashmir, interviews and quotes many people, writes about many others all of whom I found it hard to take in. There are also lots of other journalist opinions presented and quoted throughout the book.
Ultimately I didn't get what I had hoped from the book - which is probably more about my expectations than the book - and as a result I would read a bit then put it aside for another book, thereby breaking up the reading further and not achieving the continuity. Probably I should have cut my losses and given it up rather than persisting with it.
2 stars