0432 | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Maya Angelou
This was and wasn’t what I expected. I think I underestimated the historical context and so failed to appreciate the significance of the story I was being told. I found…
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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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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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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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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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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…
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0343 | Out of Africa | Isak Dinesen
Context: Poor old Mrs Arukiyomi had to have 5 stitches in her finger while I was reading this. REVIEW Fiiiiinally read this. I say that because, when I was a…
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0340 | The Making of the Atomic Bomb | Richard Rhodes
Context: Just after I finished this off, a 7.3 earthquake with more explosive force than an atomic bomb smashed a pot in our living room from 100 miles away. REVIEW…
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0336 | A General Theory of Love | Lewis, Amini & Lannon
Context: Our jacaranda tree was in full bloom as I finished this one off. REVIEW This is the third book on the psychology of love which I picked up when…