Category: Review (Page 100 of 133)

The Land Beyond: A Thousand Miles on Foot Through the Heart of the Middle East by Leon McCarron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Leon McCarron is different to most. Not only has he walked from Mongolia, right across China to Hong Kong, he has crossed the Empty Quarter in the footsteps of Sir Wilfred Thesiger and has cycled right the way across America. So if you were to ask people to list places where they’d like to take a walk, then the Middle East is unlikely to be at the top of that list. McCarron though relishes a challenge, so a 1000 mile walk from Jerusalem to the heights of Mount Sinai begins. 
 
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. Lao Tzu
 
He will be following a set of trails that have been recently re-established but trace their origins back to the ancient trading and pilgrimage routes that crisscross the landscapes of the West Bank, Palestine and into Jordan. It is a hotly contested region, that is still subject to aggression and violence, especially in the West Bank. He is accompanied by friends and guides along the way and sees some of the most beautiful landscapes as he walks through. Apart from one tiny incident with some exuberant teenagers, all the people that he meets are warm and welcoming and generous with their time and experience. 
 
I suspect that the mind, like the feet, works at about three miles an hour – Rebecca Solnit
 

These troubled lands are affected by the volatile mix that is geopolitics, cultural differences and religion, but as McCarron finds on his walk, people are the essence of this place that can trace its history back thousands of years. There are some people who want to ensure that the differences are amplified and use that to drive wedges between people, but there are many others who want to live in peace in their own country and trade with their immediate neighbours. One nice touch to the book is the photo of all those who walked with him on his journey to Sinai. This book is a great insight into a troubled land that could only have been achieved at the speed of a walk.

View all my reviews

Islander: A Journey Around Our Archipelago by Patrick Barkham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

We are an island nation, and this element has gone a long way to defining our character as a people. As well as the main two islands, there are an astonishing 6,289 others, making us an archipelago. The largest of our islands is the Isle of Wight and they go all the way down to small pieces of rock that are only inhabited by seabirds. Some are permanently populated and are semi-autonomous states with their own laws, traditions and a very different view on taxation. Some have temporary residents or are strategic military locations and others were abandoned decades ago.

Form these 6,289 islands Patrick Barkham has chosen eleven that best portray an element that shows just how special these places can be. First on his list is the home of the TT, the Isle of Man, which along with Jersey and Guernsey are Crown Dependencies. This means that they are not part of the UK, nor part of its overseas territories nor part of the European Union. Whilst we are responsible for defence, they are a self-governing and self-contained island that has made a unique position for itself in the world. From there he heads north to three of the Scottish islands that face the brutal onslaught of the winter storms. These places were once the centre of the Neolithic world and the ancient landscape that we can still see resonates into the modern world. He meets some of the new owners of the island of Eigg who bought it from the original laird and see how it is run as a trust. He visits one of the most famous islands that was abandoned back in 1930, St. Kilda, now occupied by military contractors and seabirds. This wedge of rock that leaps almost half a kilometre from the ocean is the last remains on an ancient volcano.

Ireland has its fair share of the islands that go to make up our archipelago and he heads to Rathlin just off the north coast. Like many of our specks of land, it is populated with mostly seabirds, but here people still make a living from the place. His tour of our island bounty would be amiss if the Scilly Isles and the Channel Islands were not visited, so he heads to Prison Island in Alderney home of the only Nazi concentration camp on British soil and St Martin’s, which is less than 1 square mile in size. But it is the islands that are so very tiny that are the icing on the cake of his all too brief journey. In Ynys Enlli he learns about the spiritual dimensions and solitude that an island can offer His final destination is two islands off the wild Essex coast, one that offers privacy and discretion to those need it and to one that is now abandoned and is slowly returning to nature.

This is another book by Barkham that is a heady blend of travel, natural history, personal stories and history. Bearing in mind he has barely dipped his toes in the tales that our islands can tell with the eleven he has chosen, there are some fascinating stories in here. Throughout the book, we hear the stories of Sir Compton Mackenzie, another man who was equally obsessed with islands and even bought one too as well as living on others. He is not afraid to talk about the positive and negative aspects of living on an island either. The beginning of each chapter on each island has a delightful sketch and a carefully chosen quote from D.H Lawrence ‘The Man Who Loved Islands’. All of these elements deftly drift in and out of the narrative making it a joy to read.

View all my reviews

The Epic City: The World on the Streets of Calcutta by Kushanava Choudhury
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

By the young age of twelve Kushanava Choudhury had moved back and forwards across the planet four times. A graduate of the prestigious Princeton University and with opportunities galore in his adopted country, the call of his home country and city that his parents had left was too great. So he returned home to the city built between a river and a swamp; Calcutta.

It was a city whose golden age had long passed, once the capital when the British ruled, that had moved to Delhi. Relatives called and tried to persuade him that this was not such a good idea as other cities in India could claim to be up and coming and offer chances and business in the new global economy. He took a position at the Statesman, the leading English newspaper in the city and relished the chance of living once again in his home city of fifteen million people.

In this city of a swirling mass of humanity, and a place that assaults every sense that you have. It is a personal journey too, partly down his own memories of the city and the family that had been moved over from East Bengal after partition and Choudhury wants to rediscover the places that made him who he is now. In this thriving city, he is seeking those stories that rarely make the papers and certainly not the headlines to add greater breadth to the everyday lives of this city. It is an enjoyable book to read with a fascinating insight into a city that is still thriving coupled together with his personal story as Choudhury rediscovers all that he loves about the chaos of his home city. A minor detail on this too is that the gold blocking on the cover makes this a sumptuous cover to look at.

View all my reviews

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wigtown is a beautiful rural town nestling in the south west of Scotland, and it has been designated as Scotland’s official BookTown. It is home to a range of bookshops and book-related businesses as well as its own book festival. The Bookshop in Wigtown is Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop, with around 100,000 items of stock and miles of shelves, an open fire and nooks and crannies to lose yourself in.

The proprietor of this bibliophile heaven is Shaun Bythell and on the 5th February 2014, he decided to start keeping a diary of the things that happened in the shop. Over the next year, he tells us just how it is running a bookshop in the modern world, from battling against the 1100lb gorilla that is Amazon to travelling around Scotland looking at collections of books, hoping, but not expecting to come across that rare book that he knows will sell.

Whilst he likes to have paying customers through the doors, it is his financial lifeblood, after all, there are certain types that he is critical of. Those that cross the threshold declaring a love of all things bookish are frequently the ones who leave empty-handed. He argues with customers who think that a second-hand bookshop should only stock titles that are £1 each and catching those that surreptitiously amended the prices of the books.

And then there are the staff…

This is a brilliant portrait about running a business in a small town, that the things that happen all have some impact on everyone in the town. He does not hold back in saying just how tough some things can be and how the core of second-hand bookshops, rare collectable and signed editions have had the heart and soul ripped out of the market with the internet in general and Amazon in particular. I really liked the way that he noted the number of orders that came through via the internet and the way this frequently varied from that actual number of books they could then find! Rightly, he has never embraced the flawed philosophy that the customer is always right and also seems to relish the verbal battle with those that want something for almost nothing. If, as a book lover, you have ever contemplated or dreamt of opening and owning your own bookshop then this is the book to read; you might just change your mind…

View all my reviews

The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The trend for zombie books has largely passed me by, but having picked up The Girl with all the Gifts and was drawn into the fast-paced story before I realised what it was about. Turns out it was very good indeed, so when this appeared on my library shelves I grabbed it.

It is not a sequel as such, rather a story set in the same world that he created in The Girl with all the Gifts. Up in Scotland are a small team of soldiers and scientists who have left the last stronghold of humanity, Beacon, and who have been tasked with finding a cure for the virus that has turned the population into ‘hungries’. With them is possibly the only person who would be capable of finding the cure from the caches of Cordyceps cultures, should there be one, Stephen. He was a survivor of an outbreak and his strange behaviour is tolerated as he is quite brilliant.

Packed in the cross between an articulated truck and a tank called ‘Rosie’ are two commanders, one with a military brief to get the mission to the places they need to go and retrieve the samples that they need and the other is in charge of the science team. In this confined space comes the news of an unauthorised pregnancy, challenges to the authority of those holding the mission together. Unknown to most of the team the seeds of sabotage are being sown and they lose contact with Beacon. In amongst this turmoil is also the glimmer of hope as a discovery is made that may be the bridge between hungry and human.

This is another really good book that uses a solid scientific foundation for Carey to build the story on. It is fairly fast paced, with plenty of intrigue and tension as the events on ‘Rosie’ build. If you have read and liked the Girl with all the Gifts, then this is going to be right up your street. I am hoping that there is another book set in this world soon.

View all my reviews

Midwinter by Fiona Melrose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A decade ago in Zambia, Cecelia died at home at the hands of a mob. It was a death that still affects Landyn and Vale Midwinter, father and son. Now back in Suffolk, they are both still raw and haunted by her death and frequently descend into rows and fights. It is after one of these major falling outs that Vale ends up getting plastered with a friend of his called Tom. They decide to steal a boat and because they are so drunk, just about survive an accident.

As they recover from their injuries, the father and son start to look back at the events that brought them to this night. It is a painful process for both as they are full of anguish a decade after the event. Alternating between their perspectives we learn about the landscape of Zambia and how tough a life it was out there to Suffolk where they are now. As each man contemplates the sharp elements of his grief, we learn how they grasp for crumbs of comfort for the lady that they lost all that time ago.

It took a little while for me to get into this book. The flipping between the father and son and the harsh African and gritty English landscapes is slightly unnerving and the story seeps into you. I couldn’t quite see where it was going, then something clicked in the story and Melrose’s power as a storyteller made this quite a poignant book showing how people deal, or more correctly don’t cope with, the long-term effects of grief. I liked the prose too, it has the same wistful melancholy to At Hawthorn time by Melissa Harrison. Will definitely be reading Johannesburg by her.

View all my reviews

Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made by Gaia Vince
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Our planet is constantly changing. The energy that it receives from the sun drives the weather systems across the globe and feeds the plants that keep the oxygen cycle going. The internal processes of plate tectonics and erosion mean that the landscapes are constantly changing too. But now there is an extra factor too, our love of fossil fuels is changing the atmosphere in ways that we cannot fully understand, though the trends are there if you care enough to look. The data on all these changes is immense, so Gaia Vince, editor at Nature, decided the best way to understand the immensity of the changes happening would be to go and see it herself.

Her travels takes her to the rooftop of the world to see artificial glaciers being created, mountains being painted white to increase the albedo and looks at the positive and negative effects of dams. She tracks across deserts, climbs mountains, tiptoes through sewage and walks on one man’s solution to the rising sea levels; floating islands and speaks to the head of a country that is going to disappear under the waves in the next few years.

It is an interesting book on the way that we have changed the planet so far and the long-term implications for dramatic change. As the world changes in dramatic ways, she sees human ingenuity in solving the problems that are being raised as the climate changes. By going to these places herself and seeing the problems first hand, she gets a better overall view of the state of the globe and thankfully does not hold back with her opinions as to what is happening. Even though it is four years since it was published, it is still a prescient book, but it would be nice to have a revised edition soon. The only downside for me was the epilogue; it was a very speculative and even hopeful vision of our world in 2100, a planet that had changed in so many ways; I can’t imagine that it would be as comfortable as that.

View all my reviews

Thirty Years in Wilderness Wood by Chris Yarrow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

Lots of people have dreams about where they want to live, their perfect career but very rarely do these get realised or combined. Chris and Anne Yarrow are one of the few that have been able to do this when they purchased Wilderness Wood in Sussex. This 63-acre plot of woodland was to become a home, a source of income and a way of life.

This unassuming wood was to become their home after they managed to secure planning permission to build there, and the scrappy chestnut coppice that was there evolved to become an award-winning example of how to manage a small woodland. They built a barn which became a multiuse facility for schools and craft days, a tea room was constructed for that needed necessary refreshment after walking their dogs an in time became an integral part of the village.

There are some amusing anecdotes in the book, but Yarrow has written a practical and pragmatic guide to running a woodland in modern day Britain, on the trees to grow for the best income, where to use outside resource and where you need to add value to the end product to maximise income. There are chapters on the best way to grow Christmas trees, the 1987 storm, managing a woodland for income and wildlife and seeking the best way to get a work-life balance. If you have ever contemplated the possibilities that owning a woodland could offer this is a book full of advice on what to do, and more importantly what not to do.

View all my reviews

Very British Problems: Making Life Awkward for Ourselves, One Rainy Day at a Time by Rob Temple
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The British are unique, there seems to be no other country whose people would actively seek to form an orderly queue unless it had too, nor do the citizens of many other countries apologise when it is not their fault having bumped into someone. We are obsessed with the weather, even though it rarely has the drama that happens in other countries. Whilst displays of emotion are not forbidden, most struggle to go beyond a swift handshake. Apart from the odd un British like person who suffers from road rage, most are likely to say thank you when hooted at, at the traffic lights and the other thing that will set you apart from others is that you will sigh a lot.

You’ll know you’re British when you say ‘Honestly it’s fine’ to warn of your imminent breakdown, even though the thought of complaining or making a fuss is abhorrent to you, and this book is packed full of these little gems made me laugh out loud (embarrassing I know) and cringe a lot when you read some and think, do I really do that? There is no cure for this burden of nationhood. But tea and sarcasm help. Really enjoyable light-hearted book. 3.5 stars

View all my reviews

How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer by Adrian Newey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Adrian Newey has been living and breathing cars since he first started sketching them at the age of 12. The roots of this love were seeing his father pottering around in the garage on some project or other. Drawing them was one thing, what he really wanted to do was build them, so a welding course followed one summer holiday. He tried racing karts, having saved to buy one, but even though he enjoyed it, it was not his thing. He worked hard to get into Southampton to do a degree in mechanical engineering, however, the maths was a struggle. Leaving with a 1st, he wrote to Brabham and a lot of the other teams but nothing seemed to be offered until a chance call from Fittipaldi and his interview consisted of a nervous wait while Harvey Postlethwaite took his Ducati for a test ride. He was in the door.

The first car that he was involved with, Newey ended up redesigning the aerodynamics to meet the latest change in regulations. The team folded after the money ran out and he was offered a position at March working on the 83G as well as working on the car for the Daytona 24 hour race. Success in that meant he was seconded to Truesports to help with another Indycar. Then the opportunity beckoned for a place in a Formula 1 team, and he joined Leyton House where he had the chance to design a car from scratch. Other teams noticed his success and soon he was working for Williams on their FW14 to FW18 cars before being poached again by McLaren. Leaving there under a little bit of a cloud, he ended up with the newest team in the paddock, Red Bull. The owner wanted to make a serious investment in the sport to promote the brand and the drink and so began a new era and four world championships.

People are well aware of the drivers who wrestle these cars at 200 mph around some of the fastest circuits in the calendar. There are a few team heads that people can name, but most of the designers, engineers and aerodynamicists are completely unknown. But there is one who is almost a household name, Adrian Newey. To put it frankly he is an engineering genius. He has worked with almost all the big teams, using his wide experience in creating a car that just goes very very fast. These cars have, in the right hands, give some of the best drivers in the world race wins and world championships. I have been an F1 fan since the age of 8. I grew up in Woking, and McLaren has always been my number one team, though their performance in the past few years has not done them any favours. There is plenty of fascinating detail in this book, as Newey writes about some of his personal life as well as lots of information about the cars that he designed and how he solved the particular problems that the constant changes in regulation through up. Definitely a books for the die hard F1 fan.

View all my reviews