Daren

Well, I never saw that coming. That's a twist - well done Roddy Doyle. This is why I enjoy your books - that, and how fecking Irish they are, how Dublin they are, and your dialogue. Nobody does Dublin-esque dialogue like Roddy Doyle.

Victor Forde is fifty-four, and has been asked to leave his house by his wife. He moves back to the neighborhood of his childhood. He starts going to the local pub for a couple of pints in the evening. And there he is cornered by a man, Fitzpatrick, who claims he went to school with him - but Victor can't remember him. But Fitzpatrick seems to know a lot about his school years. Victor certainly doesn't like him, but he is aways around on the periphery of his day to day activities.

So the novel is a slow reveal, it flashes back through Victor's life - the Christian Brothers run school (memories of one particular Brother - who couldn't keep his hands to himself), how he met his beautiful and successful wife (although they never got around to getting married), his career in journalism and writing. And it is cleverly crafted. There are layers of information, and there are gaps - some gaps are filled in due course, others are not. Then, there is the ending.

It has been a while since I have ready a Roddy Doyle novel. Too long, and this one was excellent, although it is sad and dark, (and deals with some sexual abuse, so consider that if that is triggering for you as a reader). As another reviewer put it, you don't realise how clever the writing is until the end.

4.5 stars, rounded down.

Rosita Forbes has written a comprehensive book which, as the title suggests, describes India's many states or principalities of varying size and importance - a couple of quotes to explain this...
P11
Counting every small fief ruled by semi-independent chieftain there are six hundred and seventy-five States.
P12
Logically, the Indian States should be divided into three categories. First would come those which enjoy complete legislative and administrative independence within their own borders, whose laws are supreme, so that from their courts there is no appeal, even the Privy Council. In the second rank would come the Principalities who, with partial executive independence, exercise their legislative powers as well as criminal and civil jurisdiction under British supervision. In the last category would be the prepondering mass of small states who have no Treaty rights and no legislative independence. Their positions were established by grants and they should be differentiated from the other two classes of States, whose rulers are entitled to salutes varying from nine to twenty-one guns.

Published in 1939 it tells of the era of Princes and Royal Families in conjunction with the British East India Company - a complex time for sorting out how parts of India were ruled. Each chapter generally covers one state (of the time, now most have combined into the greater states of the modern days. Around half now form parts of Punjab and Rajasthan. Of other modern states there are perhaps one or two from Odisha, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

The stories cover history both ancient (including some mythological) and contemporary - as well as anecdotes and stories, largely made up of the authors personal experiences and travels. The take in special events, great hunts, cultural festivities and ceremonies etc etc - quite a varied mixture, and yet they did all tend to blend together a bit for me by the midpoint. So many names, facts and figures it all became a little repetitive (in spite of the best efforts of the author to vary the content).

There are plenty of captioned photos - in black and white, and of quality that matches the era. Most of these added a lift to the stories told.

I have read this authors El Raisuni: Sultan Of The Mountains - a biography of a Moroccan sarif. It was a fantastic piece of writing and it was inevitable that this would struggle to measure up, despite my hope.

This contains loads of great reading, and would be really helpful for targeted reading, but becomes hard to stay focused on for a casual reader from cover to cover.

3.5 stars, rounded down.

Published in 1957 (republished I think, it also has a 1950 publication date) I anticipated that this would be a dated view on the early history of Zimbabwe. In the end, it wasn't as out of date as I expected, but a short google informed me there was a decision over the primary disagreement...

This is a desktop study of historic writings, from what I can tell there was no personal investigation in-situ by the author. It has a many page bibliography, and quotes many, many passages from the source books. It got a little bogged down in some repetition around the middle, but finished strongly.

Essentially, there is a ruin in Zimbabwe known generally as Great Zimbabwe. It is constructed from stone - close fitting, dry (no mortar) featuring a curved wall and a round tower. It is foreign to the constructions of more recent local cultures, and differs significantly in quality from some far more modern stone walls constructed within it to ‘repurpose' the ruin. They were of very poor quality. The origins of the ruin, and who the constructors were, is unknown. There are also large scale excavations or mines throughout the area, and it is unclear who the miners were.

If I was to simplify (and I need to, as I won't be in a position to be too detailed) at the time of writing there were two hypotheses for the above, known as the ancient and the Mediaeval.

The adherents to the ancient theory who date the ruins from 1200-900 BC believe the city was built as a pioneer settlement by foreign people (Sabaeans from Southern Arabia, Phoenicians from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, Egyptians from the Nile Valley, or Dravidians from estuary of the Indus, who employed slave labour and mined for gold. These inhabitants would predate the Bantu movement from the north overtaking the Bushmen in the south.

The Mediaeval prescribers, consider the ruins date not more than from 900AD, and were not only occupied at various times by the Bantu peoples, but were of native origin.

The issue, of course, is that the evidence does not entirely agree with either group. There is much contradictory evidence, and much that has been interpreted with a preconceived outcome. Both groups champion the evidence that supports their claim, and dismiss the evidence that does not fit.

As I say it becomes a series of quotations from previous books in contradiction. Thankfully it picked up towards the end with a chapter on the physical artifacts found on the site (and usually taken away to Europe), and a chapter titled ‘Mines, Metals and Mystery' on the topics of the mines and what metals and minerals were being extracted.

Essentially this book can't draw a conclusion, due to the factors outlined above.
Wikipedia will disclose which faction has gone on to be proven correct!

3.5 stars, rounded down.

It is one of the great openings to a book:
People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father's blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day. I was just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money plus two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band. Here is what happened.

I enjoyed the form of the novel - told in the first person long after the action had happened, the remembrances of a now aged woman of when she was 14 years old.

It is told in a straightforward manner. It is chronological, but introduces information not known at the time, in the form of small breakaways - and they are always explained (ie “I found out later that...”). It is a very old-testament view of crime and punishment, as far as Mattie is concerned, if you commit the crime, you suffer the consequences. Inadvertently she is very funny in her adultness - although this is likely the elderly spinster narrator coming through too. She speaks her mind and doesn't accept being taken advantage of.

When Mattie Ross arrives in Fort Smith she finds the law will likely do very little to pursue the murderer she takes her own action. She asks around, and finds a Deputy Marshall (known to have “grit”) and offers to pay him a bonus bounty for hunting down Tom Chaney, and bringing him back to Fort Smith.

Reuben ‘Rooster' Cogburn is a middle-aged, one-eyed, overweight alcoholic, but according to the sheriff “He is a pitiless man, double-tough, and fear don't enter into his thinking. He loves to pull a cork.” When Mattie locates ‘Rooster', he is testifying in court against a captured murderer. The defense, in cross referencing has him admit to having killed 23 men in the course of his work capturing wanted men hiding out in Indian Territory. Mattie is therefore convinced of the ‘grit' she is looking for.

After making a deal with Cogburn, she is accosted by LaBoeuf, a Texas Ranger turned bounty hunter who is also pursuing Tom Chaney, although he knows him by another name. He dismisses Mattie, sending her back home to her ma, treating her like a child. This, of course, has the opposite effect, and she is determined to see justice done, and will travel with Cogburn.

The three end up travelling together, an uneasy grouping as they feel out their levels of trust, while LaBoeuf continues to demand Mattie return home.

I am not in the game of spoilers in fiction, so will leave off the plot at that.

Reminiscent of Winter's Bone for its youthful female lead, headstrong and with ‘grit' of her own, this novel is well worth searching out. Published in 1968, while it tells of a time gone by in the days of Indian Country, it still reads authentically and in a style relevant today.

5 stars

Musician and poet, late night radio talk show host, sailor, New Zealand ‘personality'. I have always been fond of Andrew Fagan - a practical but often unconventional thinker with opinions on lots of things.

I picked this book up with only moderate expectations - I think it was a dollar in a Salvation Army store or something, but I ended up reading it fairly soon after I got it, and I quite enjoyed it.

Mostly, the book focuses on Fagan's five solo voyages of Swirly World in Perpetuity (Fagan didn't name it) interspersed with a light touch biography and some odd philosophical carryings on.

Swirly World was purchased from a bizarre character called Michael Brien - who refers to himself as the First World President of the United Planet, and led the Church of Physical Immortality... spoiler alert he passed away a few years later! It is described as a flush-decked miniature of an ocean-going keeler; it is 18 feet long, has a one-man cockpit. More than a few people have described Swirly World as being ‘cut off from the rest of the yacht'. Is is quite stumpy.

But to the five solo voyages - the initial testing voyage was to Raoul Island (Sunday Island), the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, 1,100 km north north-east of New Zealand, completed shortly after the purchase, in 1986. Voyage 2 took Fagan from Auckland around North Cape and down the east coast to Wellington, 1987.

There was a hiatus between voyage 2 and 3 where Fagan was in London, living on a house boat, working as a roadie to the stars, but his eventual return to New Zealand led to Voyage 3 which was planned to take him from Wellington to Stewart Island, but unfavourable weather enroute resulted in a change of plan and this journey ended in New Plymouth (1991). This destination set in place plans to undertake the big one - to take part in the Solo Tasman Race, from New Plymouth to Mooloolaba.

There was a lot to arrange for the Solo Tasman Race - many more hoops to jump through to sail internationally, much more gear that was mandatory, and much financial input necessary. Finding a corporate sponsor proved impossible, but a nautical supplier became the lifeline, providing all the necessary rescue equipment, gps and communications equipment. There also needed to be a dispensation to allow Swirly World to enter the race, as it was significantly smaller than the rules permitted - in fact it was to hold the record for the smallest yacht to make the crossing of the Tasman Sea solo (both ways).

Twenty days is a long trip, and while inevitably Swirly World came in last (Fagan points out that for him this wasn't a race to compete with others, but the challenge of completing the crossing) it was a feat of endurance and perseverance that he succeeded. He jumped a ride back to New Zealand with one of the other competitors, to go back on tour and raise money to fund the return journey, leaving Swirly World moored at a yacht club for six months. Voyage 5 was, of course, the return crossing of the Tasman.

One of the aspects I enjoyed in this book is the mention of other New Zealand nautical authors, a couple of whom I have read. Johnny Wray was a inspiration to Fagan from early on (my review), Gerry Clark (my review), there were others...

Overall an enjoyable read, although it could have done with a tighter edit around the peripheral tangents that to me didn't really fit in well - like the trip to Israel. It contains plenty of technical nautical jargon for those with interest in the specifics of sailing, but it is easy enough to read through for those (like me) with only the basics to grasp. There is a glossary at the back if you need to make the jargon understood...

4 stars

Arthur Upfield, author of this book, was a British born Australian author best known for the series of books featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, a a half-caste Aborigine of the Queensland Police Force, known as ‘Bony'. This is of course is one from that series - it is number 23 of 29. Upfield moved to Australia at the age of twenty, and travelled the country extensively, learning about the Aboriginal people - that he holds the Aboriginals and their culture in high esteem is a central part to this book and obviously the series.

In this book (no spoilers, this is all in the blurb) Bony is sent to a small, remote town of Daybreak, where three murders have occurred, with no apparent common traits. In order to make inroads with the small, tightknit community Bony must approach undercover, as a horse-breaker.

It is unusual to come across writing in this era (published 1959) where an Aboriginal (part-Aboriginal) is the main character, but is portrayed as an intelligent, thinking character - a Detective Inspector no less. For this aspect alone I would try a few more in this series. Generally I enjoyed the writing, but there were some aspects I wasn't enthused about. On a couple of occasions there were things the author kept from the reader that Bony knew - we (the reader) were there when he learned them, but they were only unveiled later - I found this aspect almost unfair as we were also puzzling through the evidence to determine the murderer's identity. It also became reasonably obvious who the murderer was with still a wadge of pages to read, and it was spun out a bit.

Notwithstanding those issues, I found it an interesting enough setup to want to explore this character a bit more.

I had expected there would be plenty of copies of the vintage editions available second hand, but there are many more recent re-publications than vintage copies in the market in NZ. I was briefly in Melbourne last month and couldn't find any copies at all in the couple of second hand bookshops I perused, so it may be a while before I get to read more!

I am hoping that there is a bit more back-story covered in the earlier books as to how Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte came to be.

A solid 3 stars.

Flashman #6 - the one that starts with the cricket match...

Yes the cricket, unfathomable for the non-British and non-colonials. It wasn't that bad - at least it was only fifty or so pages long - from other reviews I had read I pictured it taking up a third of the book. But yes, I can see that it would not be required reading - and it did take a little longer than normal to set the stage for Flashman's adventure. Famous cricketers of the time (Pilch, Mynn and Felix) are cleverly written into the story.

This is the first of the Flashman Papers to drop back and infill a missing time period when the books are read in published order. This book covers the period 1842 to 1845, making it the third book chronologically.

I do my best not to spoil the story, so sticking to what the Blurb already gives away - Flashman spends time in Borneo (Saba mostly) and Madagascar, and for a large part of the story is joined by his beautiful but brainless wife Elspeth (although she proves to have her moments of clarity). The majority of the plot unfolds having arrives in Singapore, where historical figures are plentiful but largely play small parts.

Borneo is all about pirates and James Brook - the White Rajah, the British adventurer who suppressed piracy in Sarawak and as part of this story attacked pirate strongholds in Saba - assisted by Flashman. Brook is already the ruler of Sarawak by this point, but that is not the purpose of this interlude by Flashman. Suleiman Usman, pirate king features heavily in the first half of the book. Flashman of course is not such a willing participant, but he is perhaps more motivated than usual. The end of this fracas is sudden, and Flashman and Elspeth are whisked away from Borneo...

Landing in Madagascar, Flashman is enslaved by Queen Ranavalona I, who had made Madagascar inaccessible to foreigners, had tortured and murdered a great number of the people she ruled over and was quite mad. Any European found on Madagascar was deemed ‘shipwrecked' and permanent slavery was the punishment for this. With skills on offer, Flashman is made military advisor and lover to the Queen, but will she tire of him before his ‘skills' give out...

Another fantastic weaving of historical events.
4 stars

———
Other reviews from this series:
Flashman
Royal Flash
Flash for Freedom!
Flashman at the Charge
Flashman in the Great Game

A rare recent publication, but as usual in these cases, I was gifted a voucher!

While this book is compelling reading, I felt it lacked a central theme. The sections of the book came at random, and I found some confusingly contradictory. The book is subtitled ‘breaking stereotypes of modern Africa' and yet it managed to confirm a few stereotypes in amongst repeating that they didn't apply to all, just some of Africa... it didn't convince me on some of these. While I am being negative (sorry, but this is a common peeve with me) was there no possible way to fit in a few maps? I would have settled even for two - one post colonial showing some indication of what was going on with various kingdoms etc vs the colonial carve-up that much of one of the chapters is spent discussing. For me this was unforgiveable (not having maps) and a star or maybe a half was the cost.

To the sections -
1 - Lagos - a look around Lagos and the Nigerian outlook - the author's home town.

2- By the Power Vested in Me, I Now Pronounce You a Country - the carve up of Africa by the nations of Europe, including the ludicrous drawing of straight lines for borders that run through geographical features and tribal groups land alike. This was perhaps the most compelling of chapters for me. It gave back ground of why countries wanted to land-grab (in many cases to take the slaves from ‘their' slice), and how the different countries looked to administer the lands.

3 - The Birth of the White Savior - the chapters here examine why aid doesn't benefit those it should (a position I have long agreed with), chronicles of LiveAid, BandAid etc, as well as more recent efforts with something called Kony2012 ( I was obviously oblivious). Again, a compelling chapter, reinforcing what others have suggested happens with aid agency money (Paul Theroux is the author who springs to mind).

4 - The Story of Democracy in Seven Dictatorships- Somalia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe (and Zambia), Rwanda, Algeria, Equatorial Guinea and Libya. For me this is a chapter I found excellently written, but I fail to understand how this is dispelling stereotypes. These are stories of strongmen and dictators ruling over countries by changing rules, corruptly siphoning off money into personal wealth and providing family or cronies with high ranks and positions. This did the opposite of dispelling.

5 - There Is No Such Thing as an African Accent - this section dives into generic African tropes in films and books; some mocking of Madonna, who considered that Malawi was not grateful enough when she adopted children and that they didn't turn on the VIP treatment for her. It goes on to discuss the film Black Panther and its positive role modelling for black people.

6 - The Case of the Stolen Artefacts - The vast museums full of looted African artifacts and the ongoing arguments for returning these to where they were appropriated, or retaining them in European (and American) museums. An interesting section, and a long process ahead!

7 - Jollof Wars - A whole section on a (admittedly culturally important) rice dish. I struggled to maintain any interesting this one.

8 - What's Next? - A section with a mixture of stories about where Africa is headed. It included groups making or attempting social and political change; and then a dull section on Nollywood film.

Overall, there were parts I really enjoyed reading, some that were ok and a few dud chapters I struggled to stay interested in. Lacking an overall theme, and lack of maps altogether were marks against. There was enough in here for me to enjoy reading it.
3.5 stars, rounded up.

This is a collection of (mostly) well known fairytales published in a more original (albeit translated from French) format.

There were plenty of stories that most of us know - Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella (or Cinderilla as it is in this book), Puss-in-Boots, and Little Red Riding Hood. There were only a few I didn't have prior knowledge of -Riquet With the Tuft, The Ridiculous Wishes, Donkey-Skin and a few that were familiar enough that I probably had them read to me at some point.

There was plenty of difference from the Disney-fied version where everything is sanitised that they were enjoyable enough of a read, even for an adult who doesn't read kids books. Bluebeard was probably the pick of the stories for me!

Available free to down load on Project Gutenberg.

A short (and free) story from Tor.Com (albeit the name has changed, it still redirects from this address) HERE

A fantasy story based in the India of the past, ruled by a Shah, with states run by Nawab. The Gulmohar of Mehranpur refers to the tree (Gulmohar tree - Delonix regia is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae native to Madagascar. It is noted for its fern-like leaves and flamboyant display of orange-red flowers over summer), Mehranpur is the name of the state. It is believed that the health of the tree is tied to the health of the Nawab.

A new khansama (cook) arrives, promising he can prepare a meal that will provide eternal youth. The Nawab disbelieves, but allows the man to make attempt, on pain of death should he fail. The cost - a small amount of gold each day for the eighteen days it takes to prepare.

No more plot, as this short story is short enough that I would spoil it for readers.

Great cover art, and I quite liked this for a 10 minute diversion, and would read more of this authors work.

4 stars

Wow, this was just a fantastic read. It was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Awards in 1983, but inexplicably did not win. For me this was 5 stars from the midway point, and nothing changed that.

The author, as a teen in Togo, picked up a book on Eskimo in Greenland, and decided there and then that one day he would go to live there. Childhood dreams, random factors influence what gets decided, and I expect 99% fall away and life goes on.

In the late 1950s the author left his home town, running away from being forced to join a snake cult! (I won't spoil the great story behind this). He left with no money, but went to the Ivory Coast and worked - throughout the book he is a hard worker, as well as a good learner - and saved some money. He moved on to Senegal, and from there to France, then Germany and eventually to Denmark. Throughout his journey he proved to have a propensity for learning languages.

Tété-Michel Kpomassi has many skills - the obvious one is his charm and ability to endear himself to people. People help him every step of his journey. Yes, he is obviously out of place, and attracts attention for what he is doing, but he is such a willing learner, and driven to succeed that people reward that. He was the recipient of so much good will, this book ran the risk of becoming such a good-news story that it could have been too much. But it was expertly saved - the writing in this book and the translation (written in French, translated by James Kirkup) are excellent.

And so, from Denmark Kpomassi achieves his goal and reaches Greenland. Before he even sets foot on land he was the most unusual thing ever seen in the country! He was welcomed almost universally, he was subject to hospitality from the rich down to the most poor persons in the village. He travelled extensively around the south of Greenland, then as the long winter approached he took himself north, looking for a place to stay throughout the winter. He engaged in all local activities, stepped into the Greenland culture, fully immersed himself in the language and shared his positivity with all.

While the book details a huge amount about the Greenland way of life and culture (perhaps the most ever in a non-academic book) it also provides a lot of comparison with Kpomassi's life in Togo, and the Togolese culture. These were perhaps some of the most fascinating aspects of the book. There is much to learn and also be amused with in the cultural examination that Greenlanders and Danish settlers are put through in this book - from cuisine to hunting and fishing, relationships and cultural fopars to alcoholism and promiscuity.

There are some unpleasantries dealt with in the book - so readers be warned. The Inuit are a people who hunt for survival. The catch whales and various other mammals and birds, they all have hunting dogs who pull sleds, but are also eaten in harder times. Alcohol is a problem that leads to violence. There is a non-judgmental approach to the writing, but some may be disturbed by the descriptive explanations.

In my edition there is a 2014 afterword, that shares the authors return to Togo and his family 12 years after setting out on his journey. It goes on to explain the success of this book, and the extensive speaking tours and return visits to France and Greenland to promote his book, give lectures and visit his friends.

Worth seeking out.
5 stars.

Well, this was a long and torturous read.
Let me start by saying that I have great sympathy for the authors, British couple Paul & Rachel Chandler, who really did no wrong. They were abducted by Somali pirates in the waters of the Seychelles (they were nowhere near Somalia, as was initially reported by media), and could have been rescued quite easily had the Seychelles Coastguard and authorities not bungled a search by looking 10 miles astray of the position they were advised, and them seemingly not bothering to follow up when told of their error.

Instead Paul and Rachel were taken to Somalia, where they remained under guard in fairly poor conditions for over a year while a ransom fee was negotiated.

Their story is interesting, but the book is hard work. We read almost daily diary entries from either or both of them. What they live is repetitious, daily torment - the reader is subjected to this. They are typically out of contact with family back in the UK for long periods - the reader is subjected to this. They each have plenty of time for internal thoughts and analysis - and the reader is subjected to this. They are also moved about frequently from house to house (house overstates most of their accommodation), are often adjacent to the fighting of various militia, engaged in gunfire, and intermittently passed telephones to speak to family members, but also others who they don't know, but are mostly media.

The standoff, of course is money. The Somali pirates believe they will get two million dollars (USD), and don't understand or won't believe that the family have little money - Paul and Rachel being in a position to draw on no more than around two hundred and twenty thousand pounds. This is all made more complicated by the banks refusing the family access to their funds while held under duress.
There are a few minor spoilers below - unavoidable if the story is to be discussed, but if you are about to read this book it might be best avoided.

So for over a year they are held captive, usually together, but for periods they are held separately -which they find very difficult. The reader has all view of the situation from the position of Paul and Rachel, and therefore is limited to the infrequent telephone calls with family. These are generally all the same conversation, prompted by the pirates saying the family are not negotiating.

So for me at least, this was a frustrating read - lots of daily diary repetition, lots of frustrating non-activity, no outside knowledge of what is going on. At 385 pages, the capture happens relatively quickly, the journey in their yacht to Somalia is done by page 65. There is a final chapter where they are handed from the pirates to a rescue party (after money has been dropped) and a couple of short chapters where things are wrapped up (not particularly clearly). Other than that, this leaves a great many pages to cover their year and a bit of captivity.

The final frustration is that little is really explained after the fact. Money was paid - it doesn't seem like it was their savings - but it is not explained where it did come from. A Somali businessman living in Britain was a key part of securing their release - spending 6 months in Nairobi and Mogadishu in the process. There was money other than the $440K given to the pirates, but there seems to be no clear understanding of how much or where it came from. The only thing that is clear is that the British Government was not involved - having a policy of not negotiating.

While a really interesting situation, I didn't enjoy this a read, and it took me far too long to get through this book.
3 stars

Written by Ton Schilling, this book presents stories of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) told to him by an elderly man referred to only as ‘Old Heer JG v d L' and told in the first person. It was first published in 1952, in Dutch, and later in 1958 in English, so we can assume the stories occurred from around the turn of the century, or a little later, as he is referred to as a young man in the narrative.

The narrator worked for the Public Works Department (of the Dutch East Indies) and as such journeyed through the islands of Indonesia, taking control of public works projects such as roads. Often in the wilds, he spent a lot of time with the local people, but never with out Hasim, an older man who acted as his guide, and was very experienced at tracking and hunting.

Each chapter in the book reads as a somewhat self-contained story, as they deal with an isolated event or matter, but they read well as an overall narrative. The translation must be high quality as it reads seamlessly in English.

The stories take us from Sumatra to Java, Borneo (Kalimantan, the Indonesian part), and as far afield as Komodo. The chapter titles provide an insight into the stories (my additions in brackets)- The Elephants' Graveyard; Wild Life in the Forest; The Murderer (a tiger); Tigermen; The Cow-killer (another tiger); Adjaks (wild dogs); Scars (how the narrator got his); Dragons of Komodo; Panthers; Tigermen of Anai.

So as you can see, it has a tiger focus, with the two chapters related to ‘tigermen' related to the Indonesian myth that there are men who can change into tigers. Much of the text has to do with hunting, but as a Public Works Department supervisor it was often to him that the natives came with problems of wild animals near their villages - elephants, tigers, panthers (which are actually leopards, but always referred to as panthers in Indonesia). There is also much hunting of deer and pigs, almost always as food.

This was a well written and enjoyable read.
4 stars.

Ask someone about the Faroe Islands - a few might associate them with Denmark (they are a self-governing archipelago, part of the Kingdom of Denmark); a few might know that St Brendan the Navigator (the Irish monk) stopped at the Faroes on his legendary voyage to Greenland and the Americas (a la Tim Severin's Brendan Voyage); but for most people - the Faroe Islanders are known for still hunting whales.

They continue to hunt pilot whales, as a traditional hunting right. This is large part of this book, occurring in the middle third, and Ecott pulls few punches. It is gruesome, described in great detail and tells of culls in quite extraordinary numbers. For most people - the author and myself included, having this described is a disturbing experience.

But thankfully that is far from all this book is about. Tim Ecott is an Irish born, British author who draws many parallels with the rural Ireland of his grandparents era and the Faroes - based on his numerous and lengthy visits to the islands.

The numerous seabirds get plenty of coverage, but not at the expense of other land based birds - a family of ravens feature heavily. The author also provides a recent and longer term history of each island visited, although for me the many, many people he meets and the names all become a bit of a blur after a while, but there is no lack of interest as I was reading (little change of retention of the knowledge though!).

There is no doubt the Faroe Islands are a harsh and hard place to live. They live a traditional style of life, where they work hard on the land; they are a hardy people. There was a short quote I thought quite apt:

They accommodate an appreciation of the majesty and beauty of the animals and birds around them, with a belief that they are things which equally must be hunted, killed and eaten.

I don't normally go out of my way for cat stories... but the quirky cover attracted me to the story on Tor.com (although I see I have been away from the website long enough for it to have changed its name!), then drawn in to find it is a short story based on an English poet from the 18th century who was put into a mental asylum, along with his cat Jeoffry, who becomes the star of this story.

Christopher Smart, the poet in question (1722-1771) wrote the religious poem Jubilate Agno, a small part of which is about his cat, containing the lines:

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him....For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the Adversary.For he counteracts the powers of Darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life....For he can creep.

And which forms the basis of this short story, in which Jeoffry, who guards he poet from the Devil is tricked into standing aside, while the poet makes a deal to write a poem for the Devil, and thereby lose his soul to him. Jeoffry must then engage the assistance of his cat friends to outwit the Devil and save his poet.

Read it here: For He Can Creep

4 stars

Another mountaineering fiction title, from the anthology I am working through.

This one, published in 1977, is about two French climbers - one a professional, the other an amateur, who are climbing a complex (fictional) peak in the Swiss Alps. The pair are attempting to become the second team to conquer the peak, after the first ended in tragedy.

They are affecting a climb, having met up with a Czech climbing pair partway up, conversing in German only vaguely familiar to both parties, before there is a rockfall and the challenge becomes all the more complex.

This story is very technical (and technically legitimate, as far as I can tell) - as a reader you will need to brush up on your climbing terminology and paraphernalia - there were plenty I wasn't familiar with - prussik clips, pied d'elephant (half a sleeping bag matched with a down jacket), etrier (short ladder clipped on to a peg to allow resting in position, mid climb), etc

But the story is not just climbing, there is plenty of self-reflection by Daniel, the amateur in the pair, and some back-story from Raymond, the guide. Daniel gets to assess all the major decisions he has made in his life.

If it had a flaw for me - it contains quite a lot of French and German dialogue - and while this is probably very basic language - I am not at all gifted in languages, and have no inclination to type a load of text into a translator as I read. In most cases the gist of the conversation is able to be gained, but I still find this an annoyance.

Generally, I am not convinced about mountaineering fiction - there are so many non-fiction mountaineering stories that are gripping and well written, is there a need for fictional stories about climbing fictional mountains? Just not sure - although that shouldn't take away from this story, it was a pretty well paced read, with peaks of excitement.

3.5 stars, rounded down.

This paperback collection of Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op short stories.
As usual with sort stories it is hard to write many words without giving too much of the story away, but I will have a go!
I like the Continental Op - for those who don't know, he is the central character in each story, always the same guy, un-named. He isn't your classic detective character - self confessed, short and fat, but he makes up for it in analytic ability. The number of times I will need to write Continental Op, I will shorten to the uncomfortable “CO”.

The Tenth Clew
The CO has a meeting set up with a prospective client at his residence. Leopold Gantvoort has indicated he has been threatened and shot at, and he doesn't show up for the meeting. As the CO is about to leave a phone call announces that Leopold has been found murdered. With the CO on hand he works with the police to figure out who the murderer is and why. 4/5

The Golden Horseshoe
Named after a bar in Tijuana central to this story in which the CO is hired to seek out the estranged husband of a woman who pays him a monthly stipend, and desperately wants him back. The CO traces him to Mexico and then his client is brutally murdered, but the man was with him the whole time. The twist at the end is a good one. 4/5

The House in Turk Street
The CO is knocking on doors in Turk St looking for a man, but the situation he bursts in on gives him another whole problem to unravel, but those involved believe he knows the whole situation. 4/5

The Girl with the Silver Eyes
The CO takes a job with an artist as his client, whose fiancé has disappeared, but after a few days his client has disappeared too, and the mans brother-in-law becomes the client. He wants the story kept quiet... There is a clever cross-over to an earlier short story here, but I can say no more. 4/5

The Whosis Kid
The CO spots a felon he had a previous connection with, and starts tailing him to see what he is doing in San Fransciso. This leads to him being wrapped up trying to untangle a web of crossing, double crossing and triple crossing between a group of heisters. Slower than the other stories. 3.5/5

The Main Death An art dealer is murdered and a sum of money stolen, and the CO is called in by the art dealer's business partner to solve the murder. The business partners wife, her maid and a couple of crims are all tied into a complex web. 3/5

The Farewell Murder A town called Farewell is the location of the story - the CO is called in to prevent the patriarch of a family from being murdered. The man knows who will murder him, and why, but can the CO stop it from happening? 3.5/5

Averages out to 4 stars

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect with this collection of vignettes. It turns out, for me anyway, that they read as a more modern style that the date they were written (1904-07) or published (1914). They are reasonably ‘gritty' with swearing and bad behaviour on display in a way I wouldn't have expected. I think this is probably what made it an interesting read.

The stories are (mostly) short snapshots of everyday live in Dublin's poorer classes - the way they live their lives, interact with each other. They scheme and double cross, they find ways to work around the law and the morals expected of them. There are also lots of sayings and idioms that are still in use nowadays in Dublin (specifically) and probably all of Ireland - another factor which contributed to me generally enjoying this. Personally I can't help getting a kick out of recognising a street name, or even a suburb from the few years I lived in Dublin.

4 stars.

Another of Ion Idriess's narrative non-fiction stories pieces together from historical records and the local stories handed down from generation to generation. This one - like a few of his other books (more below on this) is set in the Torres Straits Islands between Australia and Papua New Guinea. There can be little doubt Idriess has taken a lot of liberties to make the sparse facts fit a narrative, but it is all pretty entertaining!

This story describes the life of an (unnamed) escaped convict (from Norfolk Island Penal Colony) who, having killed and eaten his fellow escapees, lands eventually on the island of Badu. Torres Strait Islanders at this time, firmly believed that a white man was a lamar - a spirit in human form, a reincarnation returned to earth life. They should be quickly killed so that the spirit can fly back to the world of spirits, otherwise disease, death and disaster would be theirs. So as he lands, the convict is attacked, in this case by the chief.

From an earlier landing the convict thinks he knows a war cry in the local language, but it is actually the name of a god (who the people he overheard were giving thanks to). Yelling his ‘war cry' “Wongai!” he stabs the chief in the heart, killing him instantly. There are a few other coincidences which aid the narrative here. The island has been in the height of a terrible drought, and he arrived in a terrible thunderstorm. Wongai was the lieutenant of Sida, the God of Crops, brother to Kwoiam, God of War, and so the people concluded that he had arrived, reincarnated to break the drought, and lead them in cropping and war! He replaced the old Chief. Like any Lamar he recalls nothing of his Torres Strait life, and needs to be re-taught everything.

In his author's note, Idriess describes his time sailing in the Coral Sea (this sea leads into the Torres Strait) and hearing stories from the ‘greybeards' - the story of Wongai, chief of chiefs of all Badu and Mabuiag and conqueror of Moa. Reincarnated from the skies to teach the natives how to make gardens and how to make war. It was not until later that Idriess realised that Wongai was a white man. On Thursday Island, a pub called Jack McNulty's old time pearler's would tell stories of Wani, the Wild White Man of Badu. There are also historical references to him in books such as MacGillavray's Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake and in Dr Logan Jack's Northmost Australia, and later in the journals of Frank Jardine of Summerset on Cape York.

There are various stages to Wongai being accepted as Chief of the village, then more widely recognised as chief of the island, and beyond. There are raids and battles. There are intrigues with the network of witch-doctors. There is also the tie-in with a previous book Isles of Despair, a fictionalisation of Barbara Thompson, who was a shipwreck survivor who lived with Torres Strait Islanders on Murralug (now Prince of Wales Island) for five years before being rescued.

Overall, a quick, easy read. Entertaining, but more along the lines of what might have happened, rather than being well bedded in historical fact.

4 stars

A few years before this book, Dervla Murphy spent time in Northern India with Tibetan refugees, which she wrote about in her book Tibetan Foothold. This time, she is in Nepal at a similar Tibetan refugee centre near Pokhara. Much is the same as the previous book, although there are differences. In her time in Nepal she learns more about the Nepalese and the Tibetans, and also get a little travel in too.

As an early book of Murphy's, she was still on deadly form. She loves a drink (some might more readily say she needs a drink, given the lack of options available, and her inevitable keenness) and she is ready to poke fun where she can with her scathing assessment.

p70... at the moment, this consolation consists of a brew distilled in Kathmandu, sold at seven shillings per pint bottle and imaginatively described as ‘pineapple wine'... Most certainly ‘pineapple wine' is not wine and I doubt pineapples play any part in its production - at a guess I would say that it's pure poteen, coloured green. For even the best heads two tablespoons produce the desired effect, and it is probable that three tablespoons would result in macabre hallucinations, quickly followed by death. What it does to one's inside, when taken regularly, I hate to think - but time will tell.p155Now that... tourists are again coming to Nepal, and almost every day during this part week a special plane has flown from Kathmandu to spew out on our air strip a rigidly regimented group of ‘Round-the-Worlders'. These groups of course comprise the bravest tourist spirits - the ones who have taken a deep breath and, against their friends advice, decided to risk two or three hours in Pokhara, bringing hygienically packed lunches with them, drinking very little at breakfast time because - ‘My dear, we were warned! There simply aren't any toilets in the place!' It is unkind to laugh at such groups - but impossible not to do so...... A few days ago one high-heeler caused me hours of tormented curiosity. Her regiment was passing my house... at once she stopped to stare... then called to her friend - ‘Betty look! Do you suppose she lives there?
But her six months near Pokhara allowed he a good look there and in Kathmandu, and she writes good descriptions or people and places. After he time with the refugee camp she heads north of Kathmandu to undertake two weeks trekking, along with a guide - not that he is very familiar with the area she is headed - Gosainkund and Langtang. This is an area I am a little familiar with, having spent 20 days trekking there and the Helambu circuit in 1998. Strangely she never really reached either the fabulous mountains of Langtang or the amazing lakes of Gosainkund! This didn't stop her having a great time and experiencing the fabulous hospitality of the locals, although she was hardly in the ‘trekking circuit' back then.

As a narrative it did sort of lose its way in the last quarter, with her trekking, but got back on track in her epilogue, where she describes bringing her Nepalese puppy back to Ireland (despite failing to secure a permit to do so).
p212Nepal weaves a net out of splendour and pettiness, squalor and colour, wisdom and innocence, tranquility and gaiety, complacence and discontent, indolence and energy, generosity and cunning, freedom and bondage - and in this bewildering mesh foreign hearts and trapped, often to the own dismay.4 stars

Not my usual genre, but legitimately work related. This book does note that all the advice is scalable, so mega project, big project, small project...

This was pretty well presented, and obviously very data supported... in fact almost all data driven. While it was detailed, it was broken into sensible chapters, and built lesson onto lesson. There were loads of good example projects, and even if the reader failed to absorb any lesson, these were very interesting to read about.

The Sydney Opera House - a world renowned building, but it destroyed the career of its architect Jorn Utzon, who was fired from the project partway through construction - planned to take 5 years to build, it took 14 years, and came in 1400% over budget. Utzon was the scapegoat, Joe Cahill was the NSW Premier, and he wanted a legacy project in place for his retirement. He demanded construction began on time, despite the building design not being complete - they barely had an idea how to build it. They needed to dynamite sections and clear them away to start again! This one provides a series of good lessons, especially since it is world renowned and ultimately turned it failure into a success.

Not all the examples in this book are buildings (but they are the ones that interest me). Pixar Animation Studios are held up as a example of planning - a key lesson - plan your project as well as as extensively as you can. Solve as many of your problems as you can in advance of beginning. Because once you have started, that is when delays and problems cost the big money.

Not all the projects are doom and gloom stories - there are examples of success stories - the Empire State Building, Gehry's Guggenheim, T5 Heathrow Airport are some.

I won't attempt to summarise the book, but it does end with eleven take away rules (he calls them heuristics) for better project leadership. These are (for my benefit, not yours - I have to give the book back!) noted below. FYI I paraphrased a few of these...

Hire a masterbuilder - experience counts big time. It is worth paying up for expertise.
Get your team right - “Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better.” Setting up a good, experienced team who will work together is a key.
Ask “why?” - asking why you are doing the project will focus you on what matters, your ultimate purpose and your result. Make sure you don't mistake your outcome with your why...
Build with Lego - this just means modular. Break your big thing into little things, that are preferably the same. Very applicable to solar, server farms, satellites etc and many building projects - schools, hospitals, etc where repetition occurs.
Think slow, act fast - time spent in planning, testing and preparing is significantly cheaper than time spent pausing construction to find answers. Prepare well then build quickly. The longer you build for, the more time for something to go wrong!
Take the outside view - your project is special, but very very rarely is it unique. Learn from the experiences of other similar projects - data is based on project class references.
Watch your downside - risk can kill your project, no upside can compensate this. Focus on not losing, every day, while keeping an eye on the prize - your goal.
Say no and walk away - at the outset, will the project have the people and funds necessary to succeed? If not, walk away.
Make friends and keep them friendly - keep diplomatic relations at all times, especially the good times - its risk management. If something goes wrong, it's too late to start developing bridges then!
Build climate mitigation into your project - no task is more urgent than mitigating the climate crisis. For greater good, and the good of your project.
Know that your biggest risk is you - self explanatory really. Projects fail because of leadership not taking on board the rules above.

I haven't read more of these types of management books to be able to compare, but this one had a good focus, and almost all the content was relevant to me. If for nothing else, the project stories are great.

4 stars.

Published in 1950, this novel was probably a bit risqué for its time. Condemned by the Anglican Bishop of Chester for its ‘explicitness', there is some sex in the story, but it couldn't be less explicit really. The author was a climber who made her start in the 1930s and was obviously familiar with the area of Wales in which this is set - Cae Capal.

Cathy Canning is a working class girl, with a boyfriend sentenced to two years in Borstal. Life in the slums of Birkenhead offers her little and a chance trip to Wales, and an introduction to rock climbing shows her an alternative to the life her mother leads.

The inhabitants of Tooley Street lived in the half-dark, like snails in the bottom of an area grating. They saw no green, and the sky was obscured for them by the smoke from the dockyards and the steamers on the river, and the fumes from the gasworks penetrated their lungs and kept their curtains permanently grey. The year wheeled through its glittering pageant and left them totally unaware.

In 1950, Leonard Clark and Hal Hennesey undertook a journey through Yucatan, Campeche and Quintana Roo. By their own admission they were under-equipped and underfinanced. They were heading into an unforgiving environment which was to test them to their limits.

I had selected this book based on Leonard Clark's The Rivers Ran East, which was action packed and really didn't stop from page 1 to the end, and although there was some noticeable exaggeration involved there, I really enjoyed it. In Yucatan Adventure there was no noticeable exaggeration, and while the adventure was still there, it was much more uniform in its delivery.

The lack of excitement in the presentation (and lack of embellishment) doesn't take away from the incredible journey, the hardships and the risks, which is all there is the text. It took me a long time to get through this book (of just 250 pages), but that was a combination of the pace of the book, but also external factors like being busy with work and too tired to take in the detail quickly.

Clark and Hennesey journey into the deep of Yucatan, Campeche and Quintana Roo Territory, their main goal to seek out Maya ruins. These are almost all literally ruins, although they come across some remarkably intact sections. The first third of the book take in travel from Merida to Chichen Itza - and is responsible for the slow start to the book. This was a fairly well known and explored place, so there was little discovery and excitement around this.

On returning to Merida they strike into the jungle, travelling by foot and with minimal equipment and supplies. The have a series of guides with pack animals to remove the burden from the men, but progress is quite slow. They encounter ruin after ruin, but as they are not expert archaeologists, and have little in the way of equipment (although they do have a pick and shovel at the start of the journey, these are abandoned fairly early on) they really only measure and describe the ruins rather than make any discoveries.

They engage in some light speculation about the uses of places and how many people may have lived in a ruin, but they also admit they are not expert. There are a few photos through the book, of reasonable quality and of a variation of themes. There are maps on the inside cover of ok quality for an overview, but all the action takes place in a very small area of the map, and is largely illegible.

The last 50 pages of the book are a desperate attempt for the men to balance exploration with survival. They regularly are without water for days then come across water almost by accident, inevitably saving their lives. Each time they do find water or food they decide to press on for another day, rather than begin their return journey, thus making it harder and harder to survive. I hate to think what they looked like when they finally made it back to civilization, but they referred to the people as looking at them , trying to figure out what they were, not believing them to be alive!

I found it hard to rate this book. What Clark and Hennesey did physically was little short of incredible, but it is hard to align their discoveries with meaning - there was some speculation but little analysis, and no excavation. Their survival and ability to push themselves physically was, above all else, disturbing and they pushed their guides almost as hard at themselves, through threats and cajoling, often leaving them with no choice but to continue. Perhaps they framed a way for other explorers and archeologists to follow and research the many ruins they found, and perhaps that was achievement enough to satisfy them.

I settled on 4 stars.

This is a novel, considered autobiographic, about a boy growing up in Britain during the blitz.
It isn't really a genre that I seek out, but Philip Temple is an author of whose books I own around a dozen, and have read about half. His more common genre is non-fiction and often about mountaineering and exploration. He was born in Britain but emigrated to New Zealand where he still lives.

This novel is pure nostalgia - not for me, as I have no connection with London, or Yorkshire during the blitz, but for the author, and those of his era. It is so well described, although described very simply through the eyes of a boy, it is not hard to be drawn into this in a nostalgic way.

The loneliness of living in Yorkshire with his grandparents, his mother living and working in London, but unable to have Sam with her; having only one friend up there; receiving letters from his mother. Over what is a short period it becomes apparent his aging grandparents are not up to looking after Sam for very long. Temple plays out the story of Sam's father, not giving away the details quickly, and cleverly only alluding to the situation. It isn't hard to draw the conclusion that Sam's mother may contribute to her relationship issues with men, as this story plays out.

This novel doesn't paint a happy picture of the Britain of this era, but it reads very realistically, very true. A country in financial trouble, dealing with the war drain. The people are tired, sick of rationing and being unable to afford to buy things they usually have. Work is hard to come by, and so is housing. Employers and landlords have the upper hand.

The next step for Sam is joining his mother in London, where she has rented a bachelors room, or a bedsit, where she and Sam are living in each others pockets. But things go awry and they must move out - and his mother gets a job in a hotel. Unfortunately for Sam this is a live-in position, and children are not welcome, so he starts at a boarding school for boys. He is not happy here, and begins a cycle of running away, testing the headmaster, who tries all manner of treatments to stop Sam - from punishment, to empathising, to bargaining; all to no avail.

There is more, but my intent is not give away all the storyline. I was surprised how successful this novel and the writing style were for me. The relationships Sam has with his mother, grandparents, friends and those at the school are all awkward. He struggles with his internal thoughts, he is stubborn, and jumps to conclusions - all very realistic, and well articulated in the painting of damaged characters.

An interesting read. 4 stars.

I enjoyed his more than I expected to - I thought it very cleverly written, and while I am typically late to the party with reading this, I see enjoyment of it varies fairly widely in my GR friends opinions.

Included in the enjoyable aspects were Griffin being an unpleasant protagonist - a scientist with the goal of using his discovery to further his own life, to cause trouble and even terror, and to protect the secrecy of his discovery at all costs. This story just would not have worked had he been a scientist with morals, who would perhaps seek glory, but would still have published his findings etc. I admit also that I found much amusement in the fact he was running about stark bollock naked when invisible.

HG Wells has shown again how future thinking he was - I am guessing this book was a revelation when published. He had a reasonable stab at justifying the science, and I thought he did well to consider all the aspects of invisibility from a practical perspective - for example the fact food remains visible until it becomes digested enough; blood becomes visible when it coagulates; and how limiting it is for him not to be able to carry anything eg money. There were plenty of unintended and unforeseen consequences as Griffin made his way.

And so with Griffin being, most of the time, his own worst enemy - the story rolls out until it's inevitable conclusion.

A quick and straight forward read, one which I appreciated at this time, the last few books I have read having taken longer than I might have liked to get through!

Perhaps a little generous, but 4 stars!