What book are you guys currently reading

[Globalti]

Or maybe Theroux just was just being a bit of a patronising prat?

Did he even think that the reason so many people were gathered under one tree might be for social reasons? Or was his automatic response a bit like yours? An automatic assumption that something was amiss and that the 'natives' weren't quite as clever as the middle class White European.

I was waiting for the standard outraged PC knee-jerk response and this post hasn't disappointed! It's impossible for me to convey the writer's meaning in a short summary, and certainly impossible to convey the writer's love of Africans and understanding of them, he having lived and worked in Malawi as a young man. I would respectfully suggest you read Dark Star Safari - it might broaden your rather limited horizons and dismantle some of your prejudices.

 

[Monsieur]

Reading the John Baxter one during the day and the Joel Dicker at bedtime

 

[Monsieur]

Reading the John Baxter one during the day and the Joel Dicker at bedtime

 

[Yellow Fang]

I am reading Robinson Crusoe, and The Buried Giant.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

A history of SAAB

I have a secret longing for a nice 92, or 94 (alongside the one for a Volvo Amazon, or Skoda Estelle)

First produced in 1949, it's not quite a car of its time is it?? (then again, neither was the -1948- XK120)

 

[Globalti]

I've read it. It was very much a Middle Class White European angst tome - and quite peevish in some places, as well as littered with quite crass generalisations. His fixation on aid workers perhaps says more about his experiences in the Peace Corps than anything.

My parents actually met and married in Malawi (or Nyasaland as it was at the time) and were there are the same time as Paul Theroux, when he was with the Peace Corps. He taught in a school down the road from them and they socialised on a number of occasions. One of my older sisters was born in Malawi and the other in Namibia (or South West Africa as it was at the time). I've lived and worked in Africa (mainly in Zaire, Rwanda and Ethiopia). So 'limited horizons' aren't really my thing.

But do carry on...

Sorry. Didn't mean to insult you but it rattles my cage whenever I mention Africa and somebody comes along with what looks like another attempt to prove their impeccable PC credentials when they've never set foot on the continent. You clearly have!

On Theroux I don't think he patronises. I think his story about the tree is just an illustration of his frustration with African leaders and their gross incompetence in managing the continent.

 

[Paulus]

I have just started reading the Rebus books. I am on the first one, knots and Crosses. I have read all the Inspector Thorne books by Mark Billingham this year.

 

[Gravity Aided]

A history of SAAB

I have a secret longing for a nice 92, or 94 (alongside the one for a Volvo Amazon, or Skoda Estelle)

First produced in 1949, it's not quite a car of its time is it?? (then again, neither was the -1948- XK120)

Have a couple of very pretty ones like this in town, as well. I see them from time to time, as I often pass a cafe that is a haunt of vintage motorists, themselves mostly of great vintage themselves. I believe these had 2-cycle engines.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I've read it. It was very much a Middle Class White European angst tome - and quite peevish in some places, as well as littered with quite crass generalisations. His fixation on aid workers perhaps says more about his experiences in the Peace Corps than anything.

My parents actually met and married in Malawi (or Nyasaland as it was at the time) and were there are the same time as Paul Theroux, when he was with the Peace Corps. He taught in a school down the road from them and they socialised on a number of occasions. One of my older sisters was born in Malawi and the other in Namibia (or South West Africa as it was at the time). I've lived and worked in Africa (mainly in Zaire, Rwanda and Ethiopia). So 'limited horizons' aren't really my thing.

But do carry on...

Paul Theroux was one of the original members of the Peace Corps in 1963, but supposedly was thrown out of the PC when he helped an opponent of P.M. Hastings Banda flee Malawi. I'm rather of two minds about him. He does strike me as patronizing and limited in some of the rejoinders he has with people inThe Great Railway Bazaar and The Old Patagonian Express, as well as Kingdom By The Sea. Yet I wonder if these self-reports of encounters aren't more of a "What I should have said" rather than what he did say, at the time. Mind you, I loved his writing, not so much his viewpoint.

 

[Roadhump]

Recently read Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, quite a deep novel.

Currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo. A lot of people probably read this when they are quite young and I only decided to give it a go because one of my wife's workmates said it is her all time favourite book. I am about a third of the way through and I am enjoying it, So far it has been a bit of a swashbuckling adventure story, although it also slows down in places. The writing style reminds me a bit of Wilbur Smith, especially where the action happens, I actually wonder if Smith got some of his ideas from Dumas....it is soooo big as well!!

 

[TVC]

100 Acts of Minor Dissent by Mark Thomas. His cut out and keep desk calender 'Arsey Cops' is first class.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Might look here, as well.
https://thevictoriancyclist.wordpress.com/

 

[welsh dragon]

Im reading the second book of the maze runner. It starts off exactly where the fiext one ends. Its an excellent read, and you will never be bored. Well worth a read.

 

[swee'pea99]

Reading something called The Seven Daughters of Eve, at my daughter's insistence (she says I never read the kind of books she likes, which is true). Have to say so far it mainly confirms why that's the case...I'm sure it's fascinating, but TBH I find it impossible to keep track of - just a blizzard of amino acids and DNA and mitochondria and proteins and cells and molecules and so on and so forth...I plough on with the best will in the world, but it all just dribbles through my fingers like so much dry sand, leaving an indelible blank and a feeling of vague distress and frustration. *sigh*

 

[tfg71]

I am reading, Wide-eyed Wanderers which I was directed to by this book VW Camper Van: A Biography. I had just finished jupiters travels again. always think I wished I had done this when I read these type of books.