Book Reviews
Recommended Books
There are some great reads available at the moment
that are ideal for those either staying in the UK
or for those travelling to learn more about your destination.
(All books reviewed are available from Amazon
- click on the banner above for great value deals).
We've grouped our favourite books by country (where
appropriate), and hope that you'll find something
of interest for your bookshelf...
Africa
The Shadow of the Sun is subtitled 'My African
Life', and tells the fascinating story of the forty
years that acclaimed Polish journalist Ryszard Kapusscinski
spent on the Dark Continent. A partial view of African
culture, politics, and the legacy of European colonialism
and African despotism. An extraordinary book and a
must for anyone travelling to Africa.
Asia & India
The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh is an epic
set against the backdrop of Britain's war-torn decline
as an imperial power in Burma, Singapore, and India.
Weaving the story of one extended family, this is
a story of personal triumph and suffering, of a glittering
civilisation destroyed by competing invaders, and
of characters caught up in a maelstrom of change.
A 'forgotten' chapter of recent Asian history brought
to life by a masterful writer.
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Perhaps best known for his book (and the subsequent
film starring Anthony Hopkins) "Remains of the
Day", Kazuo Ishiguro's latest work When We
Were Orphans is a poignant narrative of one man's
obsession with solving the mysterious disappearance
from Old Shanghai in the 1920's of his parents. Returned
to England an orphan, the narrator becomes a leading
detective and society figure, yet is forever haunted
by his Shanghai childhood and the shadowy events that
unfolded there so many years before. Moving between
the London and Shanghai of the inter-war years, When
We Were Orphans is a story of sacrificing the present
and future to an obsession with the past. A fascinating
and moving novel.
Australia & The Pacific
Bill Bryson's Down Under is an affectionate
and humourous travel story with Australia at centre
stage. The quirks, hidden corners, and inhabitants
of the Great Southern Land are put under Bryson's
rose-tinted microscope, with engaging results.
A great read for summer that just may have a few Aussies
pining for home, and encourage others to look beyond
the fly-blown, beer-guzzling stereotype. Bryson is
the perfect travelling companion as he seeks out the
places and people that make Australia unique.
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Lifting the scab on a less savoury chapter in early
Australian history, English Passengers by Matthew
Kneale is the ultimate culture clash experience,
fascinatingly told in the first person by each of
the main protagonists. Reverend Geoffrey Wilson is
the man at the centre of the dramas that unfold as
he seeks to find the biblical Garden Of Eden in far
flung Tasmania. Chartering a ship from London, the
expedition team are soon at each others throats, while
the Captain has other problems to deal with...
Set in the 1850's, English Passengers tells the parallel
story of the extinguishment of the Tasmania Aboriginies
by a combination of misguided colonial assistance
and wanton cruelty at the hands of the settlers. Peevay
(a half-caste Aboriginal) is the voice of this dying
race, and soon to be caught up in Reverend Wilson's
increasingly mad expedition. The story of Peevay is
a searing indictment on the impact of Victorian colonialism,
and we also gain a brutal insight on the lives on
those other unfortunates - the convicts.
Funny, moving, ironic - English Passengers was deservedly
shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Highly Recommended.
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A chilling recount of the sinking of a ship called
the Essex by a whale in the early 19th century waters
of the Pacific, In The Heart of The Sea by
Nathaniel Philbrick is the ultimate shipwreck story.
In a 'Survivor' challenge that you won't see on the
ITV series, the crew are reduced to eating each other
as they drift helplessly across the vast expanse of
the Pacific.
A true story - and the inspiration for Moby Dick -
the strength of Philbrick's narrative is his reconstruction
of the peak years of the whaling industry, and a potted
history of the once-famous whaling port of Nantucket.
As the crew take to the ocean on a three year round
voyage, the fact that you know the horrible fate that
awaits them makes their unfolding lives all the more
poignant.
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Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton brings
to life the infamous 'spice wars' of the seventeenth
century, when England and Holland fought for a bloody
foothold in the Spice Islands (now part of modern
Indonesia). A great window into the era of empire-building,
but not for the faint hearted!
Giles Milton is also the author of The Riddle and
the Knight (see below).
Britain
The Road to Nab End is the fascinating and
bitter-sweet childhood memoirs of William Woodruff.
Set in the bleak mill town of Blackburn during the
1920's and 1930's, this extraordinary autobiography
is filled with hilarious and sad anecdotes, and poignant
observations of a bygone and poverty-stricken era.
From the grandmother who died in the workhouse, the
father gassed in the trenches of France, to the mother
who kept the family together, this is a book of remarkable
characters and of both human desperation and triumph.
Highly recommended.
The Remains of the Day won the Booker Prize
more than a decade ago, and was made into an Oscar-winning
movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.
This reflective novel charts the travels and memories
of an ageing butler as he heads across southern England
to meet up with a former employee. A fascinating account
of a butler's existence in an old English country
house, and a haunting study of lost love.
Turning Thirty by Mike Gayle is a bitter-sweet
reflection on turning 30, and finding that life and
love haven't quite turned out to plan. Returning to
his home town of Birmingham and childhood friends,
Matt Beckford struggles with reaching this milestone
while having one eye set on the future, but one foot
firmly set in his past.
A funny, reflective novel that will strike a chord
with anyone who has looked back and thought 'what
if', while grappling with career and relationship
issues.
After You've Gone is Maggie O'Farrell's first
book and it is one you won't want to put down.
The prologue describes the strange, out of the ordinary
actions of Alice Raikes (a young Scottish woman),
which ultimately lead her to step into busy traffic
outside Kings Cross Station. The rest of the book
describes the complex reasons for Alice's behaivour,
taking us on an emotional journey through a life lived
on the edge of 'belonging'.
Set in Victorian times and against the backdrop of
the Crimean War, Master Georgie tells the story
of surgeon and photographer George Hardy. Followed
to the death and disease of the battlefield by his
adoptive sister Myrtle, the eccentric Doctor Potter,
and the mysterious Pompey Jones, Master Georgie is
an enigmatic hero in an enigmatic book.
While short (at just 212 pages), Beryl Bainbridge's
Booker Prize-shortlisted novel is nevertheless evocative,
unpredictable, and darkly memorable.
Joanne Harris is flavour of the month since her book
was adapted into the Academy Award-nominated Chocolat,
and follow-up Blackberry Wine is every bit
as impressive.
Blackberry Wine tells the story of a middle-aged
writer on the slide, plagued by memories of his teenage
holidays and the friendship forged with a mysterious
old man. Weaving past and present seamlessly, Harris
takes us on a fascinating personal journey that is
in part inspired by the unusual properties of the
book title's vintage.
Ian McEwan's Atonement was a favourite in
many quarters for the 2002 Booker Prize, and is an
intricate and powerful story of simple events unravelling
the relationship of a wealthy English family in the
1930's. A despicable crime and mistaken identity lies
at the centre of this masterful story, and as Britain
descends into the dark days of the Second World War,
a fleeting chance for atonement presents itself...
Melvyn Bragg's excellent The Soldier's Return
tells the story of a British soldier returning
from the Second World War to the constricting town
and married life he left behind. A story of alienation,
fear, and the glue of love that manages to keep a
family from breaking apart.
A sequel - Son of War - continues this compelling
saga.
Egypt & The Middle East
Ahdaf Soueif's The Map Of Love was a strong
contender for the 1999 Booker Prize, and has been
acknowledged as a unique study of Egyptian quest for
independence in the early years of the 20th century
and of the clash of European and Egyptian cultures.
The Map Of Love is much more than that though. This
fictional 'flash back' of a scandalous and ultimately
tragic interracial love story is a moving and challenging
canvas for a fascinating chapter in Egyptian history.
The heart of this book is the mighty Nile River,
the main artery of Egyptian life for many millenia.
Stanley Stewart's Old Serpent Nile charts the
author's quest to travel the length of the Nile -
from the Delta to the fabled Mountains of the Moon
in Africa.
The episodic retelling of this remarkable and often
harrowing journey through lawless lands, endless desert,
and on the river itself eschews the usual methods
of the genre, and is all the fresher for it. A fascinating
book that has deservedly won a number of awards.
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Wilfred Thesiger is one of the last great explorers
- a British romantic who lived for many years during
the middle of last century with the Bedu of the Arabian
Peninsula and the Marshmen of Iraq. Desert, Marsh,
and Mountain is a distillation of his remarkable
experiences amongst these and other nomadic peoples,
and of dangerous travels to far flung corners of the
world. Tragically, this is also the last chapter of
a lost world - when camel trains still plied across
desert sands, the nomads still migrated across vast
lands, and the modern world had yet to undermine a
traditional way of life unchanged by the passage of
centuries.
A fascinating insight into India, Pakistan, Afghanistan,
and Sri Lanka, The Age of Kali by William Dalrymple
is an insightful, poignant, and disturbing study of
age-old societies entering a period of great change
and danger. All the more relevant gioven recent political
events, this is a must-read for anyone travelling
to the region.
The Riddle and the Knight by Giles Milton
tells the fascinating tale of medieval traveller Sir
John Mandeville, one of the best known writers of
the Middle Ages. Mandeville's hugely-influential travel
writings told of mysterious lands, strange creatures,
and bizarre civilisations.
Discredited in later centuries - as the Age of Exploration
opened up previously unknown lands and cultures -
Milton retraces Mandeville's steps, arguing that Mandeville
did indeed explore many of the lands described. Part
detective story, part Middle Eastern travelogue, The
Riddle and the Knight may have solved an age-old and
contentious mystery.
France
If you have enjoyed Joanne Harris's previous books
- Chocolat and Blackberry Wine - you will also love
her most recent novel Five Quarters of the Orange.
This book, like the others, builds great empathy with
the cast of characters, particularly Framboise Simon
(whose childhood memories form the basis for the events
that unfold).
Set in a small town in France, Framboise Simon spends
much of her time reliving the childhood memories that
at the time seemed so innocent to her and her siblings,
but proved to have much greater consequences than
they could ever imagine. Now elderly, Framboise knows
that time is running out to uncover the mysteries
of her childhood, and in particular the life of her
mother. Her mother's album - a collection of recipes,
notes and confessions - provides the key to unlocking
the secrets of the past.
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Hardly a new release - in fact the first instalment
was released in 1859 - A Tale of Two Cities
is a gilt-edged classic. Charles Dickens remains England's
dominant literary voice nearly 140 years after his
death, and this is one novel that amply displays his
remarkable gift for crafting a compelling story, memorable
characters.
A Tale of Two Cities is a grim epic, recounting
the terrible excesses of the French Revolution as
the tyranny of the aristocracy was swept away by the
tyranny of the mob. At once an intensely personal
novel of French exiles in London and their return
to the anarchy of Paris, and a story of the grand
sweep of events, this masterpeice will long remain
seared into your consciousness.
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A small peice of Britain stranded at the bottom in
France and in the first decades of the twentieth century
is evocatively recreated by Giles Waterfield in The
Long Afternoon. Set in Menton - a town on the
Riviera favoured by British invalids - the dreamlike
life of one family is lovingly recreated.
Garden parties, the tennis club, the interaction of
staff, family, and society all bring us echoes of
a long-vanished world - a way of life threatened by
the approaching stormclouds of war and the fragmentation
of the family.
Germany
Antony Beevor's masterful book of Berlin in
the last months of the Second World War is a gripping
account of desperation, fear, heroism, and slaughter
on a grand scale. This real life saga provides a chilling
account of Nazi Germany's dying gasp, and the brutal,
brave Russian onslaught against the rotten heart of
Hitler's empire.
The Dark Room was shortlisted for 2001's Booker
Prize, and tells the story of three ordinary Germans
against the backdrop of pre-war Berlin, the last days
of the Second World War, and a search fifty years
on for the truth. A compelling story of guilt and
the blurred lines of war-time morality, Rachel Seiffert
forces us to challenge our own views on the individual
caught up in events that cannot be controlled.
Ireland
Round Ireland With A Fridge by Tony Hawks
recounts the authors bizarre hitchhiking journey around
Ireland with only a small fridge for company - all
to win a drunken bet with friends.
The book abounds with strange and funny incidents,
Irish hospitality, and the author's own unfailing
sense of humour.
It takes a good Kiwi lass to get him laid though...
McCarthy's Bar by Pete McCarthy is a hugely
popular best-seller, and the authors gentle sense
of the absurd is one of the reasons why. An affectionate
'homecoming', McCarthy's Bar has an interesting insider/outsider
perspective on a traditional society undergoing great
change, told with a rich vein of humour.
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