Overland to Egypt by Gordan G May

Overland to Egypt on a 1952 BSA Bantam by Gordan G May (2012)
Read: September 2012

We'd been waiting to read this book for quite a while as we'd assumed Gordan would publish it soon after his adventure finished (summer 2010) but in fact it was only published nearly two years later.

The reason we were so keen to get our hands on the book is because we followed Gordon's adventures on his Overland to Egypt blog at the time of the trip and in fact met him when he finished his (outward) journey in Cairo.  It was really great to meet Gordan as we got to learn loads about his journey and got to show him around our favourite part of Cairo; the Bab Zuweyla area.  On reading the book we were honoured to find we had two mentions; one for our meeting and wander, and a second when Gordon followed a tip-off from us about looking in to the SS Thistlegorm wreck.

The reason behind the delayed publication of the book was one of the things that actually makes the book so unique and 'of a time'; the fact that six months after completing his trip the Arab Spring took place.  Gordon felt that he could not publish the book until he knew that everyone he had met in the region was safe and well.  The person he worried the most about was his guide whilst in Libya who had travelled the breadth of the country with him and welcomed him in to his life.  It was another six months or so after the Arabi Spring that Gordon finally heard from Ezzat that he was safe and well. As a result of the change in the region, it is just no longer possible to do the trip that Gordon did because of security concerns and boarder regulations.

I found the first half of the book itself rather difficult to read.  This was because it is so 'bike' heavy. This is to be expected I guess because the focus of the trip was to travel to Egypt on a vintage motorbike.  I found this first part of the (two) journeys to be very technical with details of the set up and maintenance required on the bike.  At the end of the book, Gordon notes that he learnt a lot about himself, the countries he visited and about motorbike maintenance (!) and I feel that in this way I did too!  Gordon doesn't go on about this aspect of his journey unnecessarily, as the bike seems to break down / need maintenance a few times each day as well as a large overhaul each morning it seems.  By the end of the book I really did question how wise it was to do the ride on this bike in the first place.  I understand his sentimental reasoning, but considering all the problems that there were (even from the first day of the ride!) I think that for any future ride he should really consider a far longer 'test' period to get the bike 'worn in' whilst on familiar turf.  It took him four days to travel to the Channel when it should have taken two, but surely some of the problems he came across could have been identified (or he could have gotten used to) beforehand.

The journey travels through Europe before hitting North Africa and then returning via the eastern Mediterranean, and my preferred section of the book was definitely when he entered Libya and then Egypt.  I found this to be the most interesting because of the personal connection to that coastal road that we too have travelled on, and of course this was my preferred section of the book as it involves us meeting Gordan!

We get a mention on two different days in his journals - first from our meeting and the lovely evening we spent together. And then a few days later too, when he follows up our tip that BSAs were carried and shipwrecked on the Thistlegorm in the Red Sea. We truely did have a wonderful evening when we met Gordan. We love wandering around Downtown and to meet up with him in a small ahwa outside his hotel was brilliant.  We got to meet Peggy too, of course, and after a wander together we had dinner.  I think we got along really well - considering he is someone we effectively 'met on the internet'! - and we weren't left wanting for conversation.  In fact we even walked back to his hotel for a nightcap at the bar there.

After finally getting to his destination (and I am proud to say that we gave him the tip-off about visiting Saqarra pyramid which is where he got the cover shot from) he is still under pressure to keep moving, but seems to be a lot more at ease with the bike.  This makes the journey a lot more enjoyable it feels and he utilises a whole host of different methods for getting the bike to where he wants to me (lifts on the back of lorries, boats, trains etc).

Tropic of Capricorn by Simon Reeve

Tropic of Capricorn: A Remarkable Journey to the Forgotton Corners of the World by Simon Reeve (2009)

Read: September 2012

This book had been sitting on our shelves for about nine months and so I thought that it was about time to get round to reading it.  I wanted a good read to get me back in to reading here in Cairo and this story of a journey around the tropic of Capricorn seemed to fit the bill. What I hadn’t realised when I first picked it up was that this book actually accompanied a TV series – which I now think we should get a copy of!  The author seems to have had an interesting background, as he has presented a TV series before visiting the ‘places that don’t exist’ i.e. places that are not recognised by different organisations like Fifa, the UN, Eurovision – now that programme I’ve got to see!

What was interesting about this book was the range of different countries and hence experiences that are encountered on route, as Capricorn hits southern Africa, Australia and South America.  The author is quite daring in his food and activity choices during the journey as he meets and spends time with local people.  But he is probably more daring in the fact that he is getting married in the middle of the journey and so the first half of the trip he spends planning the wedding from a distance or with his fiancée accompanying him, and the second half he spends trying to get back to her before Christmas!

Although I found some chapters a little too long and needing more breaking up (or maybe this just reflects my need for sleep sooner in the evenings!), the book hangs together very well and the style is very accessible and understanding about the issues and peoples come across. Without revealing what he will find in other countries too soon, Reeve manages to draw out some similar tales that unite these apparently very different countries.  Although the journey is much about meeting the people who live along Capricorn it is not surprising that it is the (changing) climate that they all have in common, and as such the tale turns from a human one to an environmental one.  One that has implications beyond the belt of countries visited.

The Last Testament by Sam Bourne

The Last Testament by Sam Bourne (2007)

Read: August 2012

We had a good trawl of the charity shops in New Malden and Wimbledon one weekend as we realised that we had  returned to the UK without anything much to read for the whole summer!  We had actually brought back a range of books from Cairo, but these were to store in our ”keeping” collection though. This book was found after much browsing of what was on offer and honed in on because of the setting of the story (between Israel and Palestine) and the subject (old artefacts) and the credits (the bloke with the crazy hair and beard at the British Museum was credited because of his help with the cuneiform in the book).

There was not as much on the topic of the artefact itself in the book as I had expected, as for much of the book the tablet is being looked for, rather than being looked at.  It was interesting to see its journey from discovery through looting of the Museum of Baghdad, to illegal selling, transporting and finally translation. 

The real journey that was being followed though was that of Maggie as she tried to trace this object that had caused so much interest.  She, and the reader, had to follow a series of clues, some more obvious than others, that took them from present day to the past, from one country to another and one world to another (I’m still not sure whether the foray in to Second Life was an inspired, or infuriating device)

I was not so interested in Maggie’s love life and personal conflict / attempted redemption in returning to her role of negotiator, but the backdrop of political sensitivity and attempts to bridge the divide between the two countries was good.

I might not rush to pick up another of his books, but this one definitely filled a gap in the summer with something that was engaging and had a little bit of intrigued and mystery in.

Sandstealers by Ben Brown

Sandstealers by Ben Brown (2009)

Read: July - August 2012

This book looked like my cup of tea when we found it in a charity shop in SW London.  I’d enjoyed reading biographies of various journalists in the past (John Snow, Kate Adie and the likes) and this seemed to combine journalism with conflict in areas of the world that we are interested in (the Balkans and the Middle East).

As it was a novel, rather than a biog I knew I’d have to put up with some kind of love story / personal dilemma taking place amongst the characters, but I was able to get over this (even though every character seemed to have their own personal trauma / conflict – much like what people claim with international teaching; that everyone has a backstory).  I found that the book moved with difficulty at first between the present day and the history, but after a while it settled in to a rhythm and pace that I found easy to read.

I did enjoy the settings; the Balkans and then the Middle East, and intense relationships between the journalists, as well as their approaches to their work were well conveyed.  One of the reasons behind buying this book was that the author biog showed that Ben Brown’s alter ego was a conflict correspondent himself.

The twist towards the end of the book was a little disappointing in that everything came back to relationships, rather than the setting itself, but I guess that working in such an intense environment means that relationships are actually important – even though you try not to make them so.

The Village by Nikita Lalwani

The Village by Nikita Lalwani (2012)

Read: July 2012

 

This is one of the few books that I have gone out of my way to buy within the first few months of it being published.  This is because the author is the sister of a good friend from university.  The Village is her second book; the first being Gifted which I also read soon after it was published and enjoyed.

The ‘blurb’ for the book described the story as being about a film crew in India and the ethical decisions they have to make.  This sounded really up my street as it would be more than your simple' ‘film crew abroad’ story. And it was.

It was more than a simple narrative about documentary makers, but there was more about the group dynamics and the relationships between characters within the crew than I expected there to be.  I thought that there was potential to focus more on the protagonists decisions and thought processes around the process of documentary making, than on whether or not she fancied the presenter.  For me, this meant that I enjoyed the first and third sections of the book more than the middle section.  It was the closing section that I found the most interesting in terms of the moral dilemmas that it explored.

What was also interesting with this book, and like Gifted before it, was the dual nationality aspect of the protagonist; someone existing in two cultures but feeling like they don’t quite fit in either.  In a way it reminded me of Alaa Al Aswany, in that Lalwani’s first novel was about an British-Indian family set in Cardiff, but this was about a British-Indian woman returning to India. Both books featured the complex expectations that are unknowingly placed on your shoulders when in such situations.

Overall I did enjoy the book and have recommended it to some friends. I was hoping to recommend it to a media studies teacher, but I haven’t done so yet as I’m not sure the ethical aspects of film-making featured as highly in the book as they could have done compared to the relationships aspect of the story.

I Walked The Line by Vivian Cash

I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny by Vivian Cash (2008)

Read: July 2012

I picked this up ages ago as we’d really enjoyed the Johnny Cash film biog with Joachin Phoenix.  This book thought focused on Johnny Cash’s life with his first wife, but I thought would still be a good read.

When setting down to read it the blurb focused heavily on the fact that she was ‘setting the story straight’ and ‘telling her side’ which had ‘never been told before’.  I couldn’t really work out what preconceptions or stories I’d heard before about Johnny’s first wife and his early career that needed setting straight, but I’m sure she had a good reason to feel hard done by and the need to write the book.

It turned out that over 75% of the book is actually transcripts of three years worth of letters that Johnny had written to Vivian when he was posted in Germany.  He went there just a few months after they met and they were married just a month after her returned from his posting.  To be honest I didn’t read every word of all the letters, but I did skim through them and read some in more detail.  The effect of included them all was seeing a relationship develop (although only being able to see one side of the relationship was weird) and seeing how tough life is when you are posted away from your loved ones.

What the narrative in the book then did show, was how Vivian had to be the stay-at-home mum or their one, then two, then three, then four girls, while Johnny went on tour.  It seems that as the family grew in size Johnny had to be away more often and this naturally led to the strain on the relationship. What led Johnny to drugs I don’t know, but the relationship suffered further from the drugs and then from June Carter.

This is probably the area that is in dispute and that Vivian feels the need to justify, but it is clear that it was not a good situation to be in; four girls, two women, Johnny and the drugs.

I’ve passed this book on to MummyB and warned her that it is interesting, but the bulk of the book is the letters and can be skimmed through to get the rough idea, rather than ploughing through which won’t lead to much more of a deeper understanding.

The Hunger Games (trilogy) by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games (2011) by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire (2011) by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay (2011) by Suzanne Collins

Read: June 2012

I rattled through these and really quite enjoyed them so was greatful to have been loaned them by a friend.  At first I had though they were going to be trashy a la Twilight, but there was a lot more to them and I am glad that I didn't dismiss them.  I really want to see the movie now to compare it to the books and I'd like Scott to read the books too, as I think he might like them being a bit sci fi.