0425 | I’m OK, You’re OK | Thomas Harris
About fourteen billion years ago when I was a young child, I remember my mother had this book on my parents’ bookshelf. I remember three things about it. Firstly, it…
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0418 | The Great War for Civilisation | Robert Fisk
Like Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, this is the agonising tale of humanity bravely told. Fisk displays the full range of his encyclopaedic knowledge of the Middle East, knowledge…
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0417 | Mastering Arabic Script | Wightwick & Gaafar
In preparation for heading out to Saudi to work, I started to teach myself Arabic. First thing to master is the beautiful script. My local library had a copy of…
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0415 | Henry VIII: King and Court | Alison Weir
There, in a charity shop, completely unblemished as in a proper bookshop, lay Weir’s encylopaedic description of one of the most magnificent courts of English royalty. And it was mine…
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0414 | A Season in Mecca: Narrative of a Pilgrimage | Abdellah Hammoudi
Right, I think it’s time to share the news with the faithful few who follow this blog: I’m off to Saudi Arabia in a few weeks to work teaching English…
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0411 | JavaScript: The Missing Manual | David Sawyer McFarland
Long, long ago, in a country far away, I attempted to teach myself JavaScript. I wasn’t really sure why I was doing it and that’s probably why I never finished…
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0409 | Behind the Beautiful Forevers | Katherine Boo
Saw this reviewed in The Guardian and as it reminded me of Lapierre’s City of Joy kind of mixed in with A Fine Balance, I thought I couldn’t go wrong…
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0404 | Storm of Steel | Ernst Jünger
Nice to finish off the year as I began it with a book I’m happy to rate as ‘excellent’. This is a remarkable book for so many reasons. Firstly, it’s…
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0402 | Londonistan | Melanie Phillips
Context: Went for many long walks through Ropner Park in Stockton-on-Tees around the time I was reading this. Many hard decisions to make. REVIEW This is not a relaxing read….
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0400 | In the Heart of the Seas | Shmuel Yosef Agnon
Context: Finished this off while lying on a new memory foam topper that I bought for our bed. Mmmmmemory foooooaaaaaammmmmm! REVIEW Here’s a strange book. I spent most of this…
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0397 | Confessions | Jean Jacques Rousseau
Context: Listened to this while we were travelling between Brisbane and Sydney. REVIEW It was radical at the time. It isn’t now. Now we can hardly stop public figures from…
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0385 | Couples: The Truth | Kate Figes
Context: While I was reading this, Mrs Arukiyomi made her first pot in quite a while. REVIEW Figes has obviously spent a lot of time researching this lengthy book about…
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0380 | Spousonomics | Paula Szuchman & Jenny Anderson
Context: Finished this off on the bed with Shiraz for company. REVIEW Get two women together. One wants to write a book about economics and the other a book about…
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0379 | New Guinea Diaries 1871-1883 | Nikolai Nikolaevich Mikloucho-Maclay
Context: Got ourselves some Action Packers in preparation for leaving PNG and carting our life back to the UK while I was reading this. REVIEW I’m nothing short of astounded…
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0378 | Teaching Cross-Culturally | Judith & Sherwood Lingenfelter
Context: Read this while at work in LCORE, Ukarumpa, PNG. My working home for the last 2 years has been the office on the right of this building. REVIEW In…
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0368 | Never Mind the Bullocks | Karl Kruszelnicki
Context: In my room at the Kokopo Centre where we were staying during a language survey, I read this while watched by a hideous doll on the wall. Who makes…
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0346 | Youth | J. M. Coetzee
Context: Hosted an event where we projected a film on a sheet we rigged up on the wall of the living room while I read this. REVIEW Another great novel(la)…
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0344 | Searching for God Knows What | Donald Miller
Context: The morning I finished this, a friend came over and we went and played a round of frisbee golf. REVIEW Reading Blue Like Jazz, earlier this year was something…