June's books 2014

[Talisman]

In Darkness - Nick Lake

 

In darkness I count my blessings like Manman taught me. One. I am alive. Two. There is no two. Haiti 2010: in the aftermath of the earthquake a boy lies trapped beneath the rubble: terrified, thirsty and alone. Shorty is a child of the slums, a teenager who has seen enough violence to last a lifetime and who has been inexorably drawn into the world of the gangsters who rule his broken city: men who dole out money with one hand and death with the other. But Shorty has a secret: a flame of revenge that burns inside him, fuelling his determination to find his beloved twin sister, stolen from him five years ago. In the darkness the lines between the present and the past begin to blur and, as Shorty fights for life, his struggle becomes part of a two-hundred-year-old story - a story of courage and betrayal, of freedom and of hope. Shorty may not be quite as alone as he believes...

 

This wonderful book which skilfully interweaves the lives of the two leading characters, is set partly during the 2010 Haitian earthquake and partly during the formation of an independent Haiti, the only country to be born from a slave rebellion.

 

The book is narrated by a teenage boy trapped in the wreckage of a collapsed building as he relives his life. This is a short life that has been marred by violence, and the loss of his father and twin sister. The story is skilfully interweaved with tales from the life of Toussaint L'Ouverture, a real life person, who led the slave rebellion that led to independence. It becomes clear that the two characters share a bond - and if you believe in such things, a soul.

 

The author vividly recreates the two Haiti's, both past and present, exploring the birth of this nation and its somewhat violent and troubled present. The Voodoo religion is always present and the book explores many of the myths surrounding this - what Voodoo is and how it works.

 

Like my previous read, this was also a somewhat dark and disturbing book, and perhaps not for the faint hearted, but this is what I love about the Around the World Challenge, the opportunity to explore these themes. I suspect that this is book that will stay with me for a while, and like its predecessor, I would give it 5 stars.  

Edited March 1, 2014 by Talisman

[julie]

Three 5 -star books in a row ! Great job ! They all sound very good .

[Talisman]

They were - I got a bit behind with the reviews, and my reading having had more pressing things to deal with of late, hence the fact that 3 were posted in one day. I don't read that quickly !

[Athena]

Nice reviews ! The Shock of the Fall sounds particularly interesting. I'm glad you had two great reads.

[tunn300]

I have been very tempted by the Shock of the Fall for a while but after that review I will be snapping it up soon.

[Weave]

Great review of 'The Shock of the Fall' June, I have it on my kindle

[Talisman]

Season of the Witch - Arni Thorarinsson

 

When the editors at Reykjavik-based The Afternoon News decide to expand the newspaper into northern Iceland - with their crime writer Einar as its sole reporter on location - the journalist feels as though he has stepped back in time. Compared to the hustle and bustle of the capital, where the nation’s economic and social crises rear their heads on a daily basis, the small town of Akureyri feels slow, quiet, and terribly old-fashioned.

 

So it’s only fitting that one of Einar’s first assignments is to cover a college theatre production of Loftur the Sorcerer, an Icelandic folktale of ambition and greed. But that supposedly ancient history becomes ominously relevant when a local woman dies after falling overboard during a corporate boating retreat. All evidence indicates an accident, but when the victim’s mother cries foul play, kind hearted Einar agrees to investigate. Just days later, the lead actor in Loftur vanishes, leaving the locals reeling- and Einar unconvinced that a single village could be so accident prone. Keenly perceptive and hungry for the truth, Einar begins to chip away at the quaint small-town façade, uncovering a tangled web of power and greed that threatens to devour the historic community for good.

 

This was the second Icelandic book I have read this year, and I am sure will be just one of many more. Like others I have read, I spied this in a Reykjavik book store last year and looked it up on my return to see if it was available on Kindle, when it popped up on one of the regular monthly deals, it was too good to resist, and I was far from disappointed.

 

The book is set in the sleepy backwater of Iceland's second largest town - Akureyri, where I shall very soon be heading myself. It is a town I have not visited for many years, so it was good to renew acquaintances. Einar, the narrator and lead character is a reporter for the Afternoon News who have recently opened an office in this town, and heads north to head up the team, where he soon makes waves. The death of a woman during a corporate bonding retreat and the death of a fledgling young actor may seem unconnected at first, but in such a small town there are no thing as coincidences, and Einar partly through boredom and partly through his own desire to uncover the truth and represent the community that he now works for, sets out to unravel if indeed there are any connections.  

 

The book although an easy and pleasant enough read for me will no doubt leave those who unfamiliar with Iceland its deep family ties, not to mention the belief in witchcraft somewhat perplexed, but it is worth persevering with for its gentle humour and easy paced narrative. Personally I enjoyed this book, and will be looking for others written by the same author. I have no idea whether this is his first work or just the first that has been translated into English I very much suspect the latter for no one publishes their first novel), but I will be eagerly awaiting more from his pen. I would probably give this somewhere between three and four stars. 

Edited March 24, 2014 by Talisman

[Talisman]

The Reader - Bernard Schlink

 

Originally published in Switzerland and gracefully translated into English by Carol Brown Janeway, The Reader is a brief tale about sex, love, reading and shame in post-war Germany. Michael Berg is 15 when he begins a long, obsessive affair with Hanna, an enigmatic older woman. He never learns very much about her and when she disappears one day, he expects never to see her again. But, to his horror, he does. Hanna is a defendant in a trial related to Germany's Nazi past and it soon becomes clear that she is guilty of an unspeakable crime. As Michael follows the trial, he struggles with an overwhelming question: what should his generation do with its knowledge of the Holocaust? "We should not believe we can comprehend the incomprehensible, we may not compare the incomparable... Should we only fall silent in revulsion, shame, and guilt? To what purpose?"

 

I am normally loathe to read books that I have first seen as films, as was the case here, but sufficient time had elapsed in this case for me not to be oevrly familiar with the plot, even so it is hard not to make comparisons, and I inevitably found myself doing this, in particular comparing Kate Winslet's portrayal of Hanna with that of the author. It was though nevertheless an interesting exercise and my opinion of the story has not changed in that this is a classic German or perhaps Swiss book. Like its predecessor I would probably give this somewhere between three and four stars. 

[Talisman]

The Alchemist - Paolo Coelho 

 

 

The Alchemist presents a simple fable, based on simple truths and places it in a highly unique situation. Brazilian storyteller Paulo Coehlo introduces Santiago, an Andalucian shepherd boy who one night dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he's off: leaving Spain to literally follow his dream.

 

Along the way he meets many spiritual messengers, who come in unassuming forms such as a camel driver and a well-read Englishman. In one of the Englishman's books, Santiago first learns about the alchemists - men who believed that if a metal were heated for many years, it would free itself of all its individual properties, and what was left would be the "Soul of the World." Of course he does eventually meet an alchemist, and the ensuing student-teacher relationship clarifies much of the boy's misguided agenda, while also emboldening him to stay true to his dreams. "My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy confides to the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night.

 

"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself," the alchemist replies. "And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."

 

This has no doubt been a life changing and thought provoking work for many which gave birth to a long and successful career, and the sort of book that I would lapped up when I first stepped onto the spiritual path all those years ago, but to me it just seemed a bit last decade. Maybe this is ego, or maybe it is mark of how far I have come along my own path, and I am sure there is a message hidden in there for those with eyes to see it, but my own have been opened so wide that for me it now seems almost irrelevant. It is time for me I think to stop reading and start living.  

 

While I am sure it is a good book, for me it was not life changing for even one I remember that well. It would then for me merit three stars.

[Talisman]

On the Trail of Genghis Khan - Tim Cope

 

The relationship between man and horse on the Eurasian steppe gave rise to a succession of rich nomadic cultures. Among them were the Mongols of the thirteenth century -  a small tribe, which, under the charismatic leadership of Genghis Khan, created the largest contiguous land empire in history. Inspired by the extraordinary life nomads still lead today, Tim Cope embarked on a journey that hadn’t been successfully completed since those times: to travel on horseback across the entire length of the Eurasian steppe, from Karakorum, the ancient capital of Mongolia, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Crimea and the Ukraine to the Danube River in Hungary.

From horse-riding novice to travelling three years and 10,000 kilometres on horseback, accompanied by his dog Tigon, Tim learnt to fend off wolves and would-be horse-thieves, and grapple with the extremes of the steppe as he crossed sub-zero plateaux, the scorching deserts of Kazakhstan and the high-mountain passes of the Carpathians. Along the way, he was taken in by people who taught him the traditional ways and told him their recent history: Stalin's push for industrialisation brought calamity to the steppe and forced collectivism that in Kazakhstan alone led to the loss of several million livestock and the starvation of more than a million nomads. Today Cope bears witness to how the traditional ways hang precariously in the balance in the post-Soviet world.

 

I first heard about this book during an interview with Cope that I saw on the morning news, and immediately my ears pricked up. This was not only an opportunity to read a fascinating piece of travel literature, but also to cover several hard to find countries from the Around the World Reading Challenge in one book. Although it was a lengthy read, that took me, a relatively fast reader more than week to digest, it was well worth the effort and easily one of the best pieces of travel writing I have come across.

 

When Cope first started on this adventure, which due partly to red tape and partly to personal crises took three years to complete, he had little knowledge or experience of horsemanship, this was then an extremely ambitious journey and he depended heavily on the locals in the form of various nomadic peoples for support along with his former girlfriend (who accompanied him for the first two months of his trek) and other members of his extended circle of family and friends.  

 

The book can also be seen as a historic text book for it details in some depth the history and geography of the places he travelled through, in particular in the context of Soviet influence. His animals of course also played a pivotal role, and the relationships with these are also covered in depth. In some ways this book could be seen as a mourning for a lost way of life. It is a monumental piece of work, epic in is scope and no review could really even begin to give it justice. This for me has to be five stars.  

[Talisman]

Hotel K - Kathryn Bonella

 

Welcome to Hotel Kerobokan, or Hotel K, Bali's most notorious jail. Its walls touch paradise: sparkling oceans, surf beaches and palm trees on one side, while on the other it's a dark, bizarre and truly frightening underworld of sex, drugs, violence and squalor. Hotel K's filthy and disease ridden cells have been home to the infamous and the tragic: a Balinese King, Gordon Ramsay's brother, Muslim terror bombers, beautiful women tourists and surfers from across the globe. Petty thieves share cells with killers, rapists, and gangsters. Hardened drug traffickers sleep alongside unlucky tourists, who've seen their holiday turn from paradise to hell over one ecstasy pill. Hotel K is the shocking inside story of the jail and its inmates, revealing the wild 'sex nights' organised by corrupt guards for the prisoners who have cash to pay, the jail's ecstasy factory, the killings made to look like suicides, the days out at the beach, the escapes and the corruption that means anything is for sale - including a fully catered Italian jail wedding, or a luxury cell upgrade with a Bose sound system. The truth about the dark heart of Bali explodes off the page.

 

This book, the 2nd non fiction offering I have read in a row is an expose of the corruption that exists not just within Bali's most notorious jail, but also within the Indonesian legal system itself, where money can pay for shorter sentences and many privileges once inside, such as sexual favours, drugs often bought from the wardens themselves, cell upgrades and in some cases, the freedom to come and go quite literally as one pleases.

 

I have read some pretty heavy stuff in my time, but even this shocked me. Written from the perspective of the prisoners themselves, who come from all four corners of the world, I would almost rather be dead than face life in a place like this. I would give this four stars.

[Athena]

You've read a lot of books! Great reviews .

[Talisman]

I tend to save them up and write reviews in batches after I have had a chance to mull over the books for a while.   

[Athena]

That makes sense .

[Talisman]

How to Fall in Love - Cecelia Ahearn

 

She has just two weeks. Two weeks to teach him how to fall in love – with his own life.

 

Adam Basil and Christine Rose are thrown together late one night, when Christine is crossing the Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin. Adam is there, poised, threatening to jump. Adam is desperate – but Christine makes a crazy deal with him. His 35th birthday is looming and she bets him that before then she can show him life is worth living. Despite her determination, Christine knows what a dangerous promise she's made. Against the ticking of the clock, the two of them embark on wild escapades, grand romantic gestures and some unlikely late-night outings. Slowly, Christine thinks Adam is starting to fall back in love with his life. But is that all that's happening… ?

 

A novel to make you laugh, cry and appreciate life, this is Cecelia Ahern at her thoughtful and surprising best.

 

At first sound this seemed a bit trite, but after reading some pretty heavyweight stuff prior to this, about life in a women's prison, among other things, I wanted something a little lighter to take the weight off, and this did the job nicely. 

 

Christine Rose, a recruitment consultant with an obsession for self help books is going through a somewhat acrimonious divorce. Her life in tatters and in need of peace, she wanders to an area of the city where she used to experience this, and there finds a man who is about to take his own life. When her attempts to stop him fail, she is understandably devastated. Two weeks later, wandering through the city again, she spots Adam doing exactly the same thing on the Ha'Penny Bridge. Determined that this time she will make a difference, she attempts to talk him down, and this time she manages to succeed. The two strike a deal, whereby Christine has to persuade Adam before his next birthday that life is worth living - what she doesn't realise is that his birthday is in two weeks time.

 

What follows is a somewhat hilarious caper as the two of them embark on a crusade to it seems at times, mutually heal each other - for it transpires as the story unfolds that Christine has issues of her own, which closely mirror Adam's own life. As they attempt to work through Adam's issues, they gradually become closer, until, well the clue is in the name of the book.  

 

Although this was by my usual standards a somewhat light and fluffy read, it was one that I nevertheless enjoyed. It is good to read the lighter stuff every once in a while, as well, my reading can get somewhat heavy at times. This was probably not the best book I have read this year, but neither will it be the worst. Mainly because of it's wonderful Irish humour, I would give this 3 1/2 stars. 

[Talisman]

Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

 

On her way home from school on a snowy December day, 14 year old Susie Salmon is lured into a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold's haunting and heart breaking debut novel, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case.

 

I have seen a lot of people both on and off the Internet reading and talking about this book, so when it popped up as the Kindle Daily Deal, it seemed like an opportunity to try it finally for myself. Reading the description, it sounded just the kind of thing I like, about a young girl, brutally raped and murdered, watching over both her family and her killer from her own perspective of heaven, but with a twist, this time she does not intervene in their lives but simply observes, much like the Divine (so at least I have always thought) observed us. To do anything else would go against the object of this experiment that we call life, for the journey is as always infinitely more important than our destination, and so it is with this book, that the message is more important than the messenger.      

 

After she leaves her body, Susie learns that everyone has their own version of heaven - a theme mirrored in many other books I have read. She struggles to accept what has happened to her and so to a large extent clings to the world of the living, observing them from afar as her family and school friends slowly break apart. One of the more interesting characters is Ruth, a girl she hardly knew. but one who has a gift for sensing and also a gift for writing. Susie shadows this girl too as she grows to maturity, along with Ray, her high school crush with whom she shared her first kiss. Because of their relationship, Ray was unfairly accused of involvement in Susie's disappearance, her body never having been found, and Ray and Ruth strike up an unusual friendship which Susie watches from afar.         

 

The effects on Susie's own family are understandably devastating, slowly pulling her parents marriage apart. Susie learns that her murderer has done this many times before to girls both older and younger than herself, but unlike other books I have read, does not seek justice, for this is for the living anyway - a bit like the ritual of funerals, for this is the act of finally letting go, something that for the most part, the dead have already done. There is the end no justice for Susie's killer, who meets his own death in a most unassuming way and there is no real happy ending either, but there is reconciliation and with this the beginnings of acceptance on the part of her family who were so blown apart.

 

I can see that for many this would be a remarkable and ground breaking book. Many more have of course been written since, so one has to remember that this is now 6 years old - old by book standards in an industry where books have just three months in which to make their mark. Although moving, there are for me though me though better written books of this genre, so despite the subject matter, I would give it four stars.

Edited April 13, 2014 by Talisman

[Talisman]

Because I am a Girl - Tim Butcher

 

Because I am a girl I am less likely to go to school.  

Because I am a girl I am more likely to suffer from malnutrition.

Because I am a girl I am more likely to suffer violence in the home.

Because I am a girl I am more likely to marry and start a family before I reach my twenties.

 

Seven authors have visited seven different countries and spoken to young women and girls about their lives, struggles and hopes. The result is an extraordinary collection of writings about prejudice, abuse, and neglect, but also about courage, resilience and changing attitudes.

 

Proceeds from sales of this book will go to PLAN, one of the world's largest child-centered community development organisations.

 

This is a collection of seven short stories about the lives of women and mostly girls, in some of the world's poorest countries, in particularly the things that happen to them simply because as the title says, they are a girl. 

 

Many of the subjects are ones I have read about before - lack of education, lack of birth control, rape, domestic slavery, malnutrition and so on, but nevertheless, it is still shocking reading. The story that touches me the most was the one from Brazil, where girls as young as 12 and 13 routinely have babies of their own, due to lack of education and healthcare - the Church of course forbidding the use of contraception. It strikes me that this is as much a men's problem as a woman's, for it takes two to tango and many of these young Brazilian men (I hate to generalise) will it seems do almost anything to get these young girls to give them what they want, afterwards casually casting them aside, like a sweet without its wrapper. Perhaps if the men were educated to use a different kind of wrapper, this type of thing would be a little less prevalent. It goes back though to that aforementioned Church - religion has a lot to answer to I sometimes feel.

 

The remaining stories are no less shocking, and ones that everyone should read - ignorance is not an excuse when books such as this are available. I may not agree with everything that the charity that is the beneficiary of this book does, for it makes it clear that much of their work is controversial, but I like to think that as well as educating myself, by buying this book, I am in some way small way helping the lives of women throughout the world. This would then for me be 4 1/2 stars.      

Edited April 13, 2014 by Talisman

[Talisman]

The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology - John Sweeney 

 

This really is a superb piece of journalism, detailing as it does the dark and disturbing world of former and existing members of quite possibly the world's most controversial religion. How do you define religion, and is the Church of Scientology justified in calling itself that - what about their critics who state it is really more of a cult and what exactly is a cult, how are such things defined and where do you draw the line - all these things and more are discussed in this deeply disturbing piece of writing. 

 

John Sweeney is best known for this Panorama documentary which is loosely based around this book - this should perhaps be written the other way around, for this book was written as a companion to those who watched that programme and saw his infamous "tomato" episode, where the echelons of the "Church" deliberately goaded him into losing his rag. Their covert surveillance of John's team and everything that they do is by far the most sinister and the almost Godlike persona that the Church leader has leave me in doubt as what side of the fence I sit on when deciding whether this is a cult or not. If you though really want to know, you will have to read this book for yourself. It won't be easy, but as with most things in life, it has its own rewards.

 

It is somewhat difficult for me to rate this book, because on the one hand, it is difficult read, but on the other it Is most definitely one of the best written from a journalistic viewpoint that I have read in a long while. Because it does tend to waffle in places, I would probably give it 4 1/2 stars.  

[Athena]

Great reviews ! I've read The Gift by Cecelia Ahern and have a few others on my TBR. This one sounds interesting too . The Lovely Bones is already on my wishlist, I'm glad to read you enjoyed it. I'm glad all four books were allright to good reads for you.

[Talisman]

Sao Tome: Journey to the Abyss - Portugal's Stolen Children: Paul D Cohn

 

In 1485 the Portuguese Crown and Catholic Church began to kidnap Jewish children, forcibly convert the young conscripts, and ship them to São Tomé Island off the African equator to work the government sugar plantations. The collision of slavery, sugar agriculture, and discovery of The Americas transformed this island colony into the nidus of the wholesale black slave trade that infected Africa and Western commerce for the next 350 years. Sao Tome reveals the Medieval Church's complicity in the business of human bondage.

This little-known chapter of the Diaspora tells the story of young Marcel Saulo and his sister Leah abducted with other children from their synagogue in Lisbon and shipped by caravel 4,000 miles to the West-African island where they bear witness to the holocaust of African slavery. This is a historical novel that chronicles one man's courageous struggle against religious and racial persecution, torture, and disease, and explores the abyss of Inquisition, Portuguese and Spanish world expansion, and the blight of slavery fuelled by the calamitous growth of sugar commerce.

 

When I started the Around the World Reading Challenge at the beginning of 2012 I knew there would be some countries that would be more difficult to find books for that others, and I fully expected the small island nation of Sao Tome et Principe to be one of them. I thought from the name that this was a French speaking island and former French colony, but learnt that it was actually Portuguese - Sao Tome means St Thomas in Portuguese. I found this book simply by going to Amazon and searching for Sao Tome and up it popped. It was not the cheapest I have read this year, but so far is most definitely the best. Every once in a while a book comes along that is so unexpected and so different that it stays with you for a long time. Last year for me it was a book from Trinidad, this year I get the feeling that it may well be this one. 

 

The story is based upon what is known as the Saulo Chronicle, written by a Marcel Saulo in 1491. This chronicle which covers a period of five years details the life of Marcel Saulo who was the manuscript says, abducted from his synagogue in Lisbon, separated from his sister and the rest of his family and community, and shipped to the Portuguese colony of Sao Tome It seems that this is a dark chapter in Portugal's history which I am sure they would rather forget. The shipping of these Jewish children at a time when the inquisition held sway, was supposedly to turn them into "good" Catholics, but was actually a ruse to get unpaid labour for the sugar plantations (slavery by any other name). 

 

The book details five years in the life of Saulo following his abduction and his struggle to make a life for himself in his new home. It is a heart-breaking tale of mans inhumanity to man and of slavery in all its guises for when he arrives Saulo realises that the island nation that is now his home is also home to a myriad of African slaves, indeed a staging post for their trafficking throughout Europe and the newly discovered Americas. Despite these circumstances, Saulo makes the island his home and starts a family of his own to have this brutally snatched away by sickness in more ways than one. His downfall is his objection to black slavery and support for the the black Bishop who as an African himself is also against this practise. I will say no more, as it will only spoil it for those who may wish to read this book.

 

I would easily give this 5 stars, and a lot more if I could.  

 

[Talisman]

The Humans - Matt Haig 

 

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. OR IS THERE?

After an 'incident' one wet Friday night where Professor Andrew Martin is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, he is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confound him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst a crazy alien species and hates everyone on the planet. Everyone, that is, except Newton, and he's a dog.

What could possibly make someone change their mind about the human race. . . ?

 

This was certainly a different book, both in terms of it humour, spirituality and subject matter. It is unusual in that it manages to combine humour and spirituality in the one book, which is no easy task.

 

Professor Andrew Martin is a well known mathematician working at Cambridge University, who manages to crack one of humanity's great mathematical conundrums. The problem is, the aliens don't want him to, as they believe man is not ready for the results of this knowledge and will not know how to handle that knowledge responsibly. So they "dispose" of Professor Martin and one of their own walks into his body in order to assassinate all that Professor Martin told about his breakthrough. The walk in is of course totally unprepared for the reality of life on Earth, inhabiting a body, and understanding what being human is all about. Against all the odds, the alien finds himself empathising, even falling in love with humanity and the Professor's family, and unable to carry out his mission, and this is where the fun really begins.  

 

The last chapter is al list of advice written by the alien for the Professor's son, but aimed at all of humanity. I have to say that a lot of it makes sense and makes you look at life and realise just how damned stupid a lot of it. This is perhaps the books greatest strength, the ability to point out so matter of fact just how flawed the human condition and our attitude to and about life and the Planet we live on is. This is indeed a book for our times and a definite 4 1/2 stars. 

[Talisman]

The Balkan Odyssey: Travels around the former  Yugoslavia, oh and Albania too! - Jason Smart

 

Travelling through cities and towns once ravaged by the Balkan Wars, Jason Smart witnesses first hand the beauty of this much-maligned region. With his friend, Michael, they find out that the Balkans is not a region to avoid; it is a part of Europe to explore and embrace.

From the urban sprawl of Belgrade, to the tranquillity of a glacial lake in Slovenia, the pair experiences the Balkans up close. Find out how they end up in a rickety clock tower in Macedonia, do battle with a sticky nemesis in Kosovo, and learn that Albania had a king called Zog.

The Balkan Odyssey is a journey through every country of the former Yugoslavia (and Albania too). Join Jason as he visits Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania.

Jason Smart is a published author, with articles appearing in both magazines and print. Currently he has two other travel books published, together with a book chronicling his journey to become a pilot. 

 

I love books like this, as they a nice quick and easy read on a subject that I love (travel), presenting an opportunity to cover several possibly difficult to find countries in one book for the Around the World Reading Challenge. Smart has written a whole series of books on his adventures around the world, and they are all very well priced at no more than £3.99 each. I suspect I shall end up reading every single one of them.

 

I enjoyed his witty writing detailing a whistle stop tour of the former Yugoslavia, not forgetting of course Albania, which had to be included as Smart and his travelling companion Michael had to travel through Albania to get to some of the other countries they visited. Smart gently pokes fun at his travelling companion who is walking satnav with a love of museums, unlike Smart who has not a cultural bone in his body. Somehow they get along though without killing each other, which is sadly more than be said for those who inhabit these former Yugoslav states.

 

This is a quick read, like all of Smart's books at under 200 pages, which I would probably give 3 stars. 

[bobblybear]

The Humans sounds really interesting. I went to add it to my wishlist, but it was already on there.

[Athena]

That happens to me a lot too .

[Talisman]

It will be moved to the top. I have given up with my own wish list which now has 80 items on it. I look at it now and again just to see if any of them have gone down in price.