Entries Tagged 'books' ↓

I’ve started reading - On Photography, by Susan Sontag. First off - one thing that surprised me is that there aren’t any photos in the book. The first chapter has been really interesting about the first photography taken. It’s something that I’ve noticed a lot travelling - that tourists all have cameras, taking pictures of every single moment; yet they’re not really looking at what’s around them. Ok - I take quite a few pics, but I tend to leave my camera in its bag most of the time.

Just finished The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas. Not the most cohesive of reads, but reasonably easy to read. Dips in and out of existentialism, in an understandable form, unlike trying to read Being and Nothingness by Sartre - which requires a dictionary and headache tablets.

Really interesting factual book about a journalist travelling to the Congo, following the original route of Stanley. I’m not sure that Africa appeals to me any more than it did, after reading it.

Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart

The more I encounter Buddhism - the more it appeals to me. I’ve come back from Laos and Cambodia where Buddhism is the main “religion”.

It doesn’t have any imaginary deities, no prescriptive doctrines and doesn’t incite hatred. Make others happy, make yourself happy. I purchased The Accidental Buddhist: Mindfulness, Enlightenment and Sitting Still, American Style at Siem Reap airport - it’s a light-hearted intro to Buddhism.

For the first time in years I feel a sense of optimism about what 2008 (not 1908) might hold for me. Nothing earth-shattering has happened on my travels, but it feels like somewhere along the line I left pessimism behind, maybe in one of the ninety or so hotel bedroom bins?

I even have some mid-term ideas for the future, though it means starting a new career from scratch.

I will now return to Bill Bryson’s book - The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. It took 144 pages, but finally I’ve read some very funny reminiscences of his childhood.

Happy New Year to you and I hope that you achieve what you set out to achieve.

I’ve been wracking my brain for ages, trying to remember the name of an artist (and specifically a picture) I saw at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The artist is Fred Tomaselli and the picture is called Field Guides. The picture was huge, at least a couple of meters high.

This was triggered off by buying my Dad The Drawing Book: A Survey of Drawing - The Primary Means of Expression for Christmas.

Disgrace - by J.M. Coetzee. Exceptionally well written book and a real page-turner.

Also read recently: Malaria Dreams: An African Adventure - by Stuart Stevens. Another really good book with lots of chuckle moments.

I read this book in Bremen, in about 2.5 hours. It’s the first time for ages that a book has captured my attention.

Anyway - try and read it if you can. It’s by Nick Hornby.

I also read a book by Peter Ustinov - God and the State Railways, it’s a collection of short stories. Ustinov is one of my heroes, despite him passing away; an absolute genius.

I’m really struggling with Terry Brooks’s new series of books (Word and the Void). His The Sword of Shannara Trilogy series was simply superb; I read The Wishsong of Shannara in a day. I’ve finished the first book in the new series, but the second one is a real struggle - only managing a couple of pages a day, before I get fed up with it.

The same can be said of Stephen Donaldson’s new The Runes Of The Earth: The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Last Chronicles of Thomas Cove) - it’s so BORING, whereas the first two Chronicles were exceptional books.