0371 | Of Human Bondage | W. Somerset Maugham
Context: Finished this off the day that we hiked up Tavurvur, an active volcano just outside Rabaul surrounded by sea so hot it boiled! REVIEW The only Maugham I’ve tackled…
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0369 | Oscar and Lucinda | Peter Carey
Context: We visited a beach to the southeast of Kokopo while I was reading this. REVIEW This was a wonderful book from start to finish. Carey writes with great insight…
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0367 | Mrs Dalloway | Virginia Woolf
Context: We wandered down to the beach a number of times to watch the sun set over the volcanoes of Rabaul while I was reading this. REVIEW My sixth Woolf…
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0365 | Kidnapped | Robert Louis Stevenson
Context: Listened to the librivox.org recording of this while I washed up over many nights. REVIEW Another rollicking adventure from the pen of RLS. I’ll be kind of glad not…
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0364 | Out of the Silent Planet | C. S. Lewis
Context: While I was reading this, we went next door to have dinner with some friends and their dog. REVIEW A colleague has this trilogy and highly recommended it so,…
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0362 | The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists | Robert Tressell
Context: Was reading this when I visited PNG’s only shopping centre in Port Moresby. Saw a Huli warrior in the supemarket in full regalia! REVIEW Took me a long while…
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0360 | The Bell | Iris Murdoch
Context: Mrs Arukiyomi started looking after the lovely Tikvah a couple of days a week while I was reading this. REVIEW A long while ago, I read Under the Net…
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0359 | Elizabeth Costello | J. M. Coetzee
Context: Finished this as Mrs Arukiyomi was hosting one of her popular cafes one Saturday. REVIEW This was a really strange novel. You can’t win the Nobel Prize without being…
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0358 | Where Angels Fear to Tread | E. M. Forster
Context: having recovered from an infection in my left leg, I went out and badly sprained my right ankle while reading this. REVIEW Haven’t read Forster for a long while…
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0356 | The Rainbow | D.H. Lawrence
Context: Listened to this as we used various dugout canoes to travel down the lower reaches of the Watut River in PNG on a language survey. REVIEW As I listened…
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0354 | The Spy Who Came in From the Cold | John Le Carré
Context: Finished this off as we headed back to the Markham valley in a dugout canoe on our Silisili Survey. REVIEW I’ve read a few of Le Carré’s novels before…
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0353 | The Vicar of Wakefield | Oliver Goldsmith
Context: Listened to this on a 14-hour hike from hell through some of the steepest mountains I’ve yet seen in Papua New Guinea. REVIEW If you’re looking for a sentimental…
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0351 | Birdsong | Sebastian Faulks
Context: Was reading this while I visited the war memorial in Port Moresby. So many who died even after WW2 had officially ended… REVIEW Heard a lot about this before…
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0349 | In a Free State | V. S. Naipaul
Context: Was reading this when I visited the National Orchid Garden of PNG outside Port Moresby. Amazing variety of the weirdest-looking flowers I’ve ever seen. REVIEW I don’t think I’ve…
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0347 | A Handful of Dust | Evelyn Waugh
Context: Was reading this from the front seat as we came in to land at Jackson Field, Port Moresby’s airport. REVIEW My, my, what a sad novel. At the start…
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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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0342 | The Return of the Soldier | Rebecca West
Context: Our acoustic band had its debut as I was reading this. Great to be playing live music again! REVIEW Wow, where did this come from? Never heard of Rebecca…
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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…