THE LONG WALK by Slavomir Racwicz

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: I read a review of it by RosieAmber.

In a Nutshell: The allegedly true story of Slavomir Rawicz, who escaped from a Siberian labour camp during World War II, and, with comrades, trekked thousands of miles to reach safety.  Fact or fiction?

I'd read half of this book before I looked at it on Goodreads, and was so disappointed to find that there is dispute over the veracity of the story.  Some say that there is no record of Rawicz having been incarcerated at the gulag mentioned, but I wondered about that.  Service in Siberia was in itself a punishment for Russian soldiers who had fallen short of the demonic Communist party's expectations; perhaps successful escapees were scratched from the records for the officers' own safety?

The journey takes the small party from Siberia to Mongolia, the Gobi Desert, Tibet, the Himalayas and finally to India.  I was so absorbed in the story and found it completely convincing until I saw the comments on Goodreads.  After this, I questioned everything.  I am not sure if this says more about me than the book!  There was a moment, early on, when I wondered if I would have been so engrossed if it had been fiction; I was able to answer that question later.  Nevertheless, it's fascinating and a real page turner.

One part that made me wonder was the section in the Gobi desert when Rawicz and his friends survived for up to 12 days without water.  Two of them died, yes, but 12 days?  On the other hand, the longest known survival without is 18 days (yes, of course I looked it up!).  And some, such as Ernest Shackleton, have talked about the 'Third Man Factor', during which they felt, in circumstances of extreme danger and hardship, that there was another, unseen being walking with them.

If all true, it's the most incredible memoir of escape, resilience, brotherhood and so much more, in which I often felt the detail itself spoke volumes.  If not, it's still a great story.  

SIDESTEPS TO THE SOMME by Valerie Poore @vallypee

 5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: I've read lots of this author's books, so, with my own interest in WW1, this was an obvious choice!

In a Nutshell: Travels by barge along the Western Front, with Val and her other half, Koos.

Sometimes I wish Val Poore's books had photos, though more than anyone else, the way in which she writes makes one able to 'see' the places, and certainly feel the atmosphere.  As ever, this book made me long to travel down those little side canals (I'm sure I'd be 'sidestepping' all the time, too!), off the beaten track, as it were.  A perfect way to live.

There were so many lovely tales in this book, one of my favourites being Koos and Val's impromptu musical session in a disused factory.  Koos is fascinated by derelict industrial sites and is a fine photographer - I too have a strange attraction to the derelict and abandoned, so I looked up some of his photos on YouTube via his unused TwitteX profile; they're HERE, if you would like to see.

Best of all, though, when browsing his YouTube profile I happened across this gem - I thought, hang on, I just read about this!  It's a lovely piece of music - oddly mournful, made me think of peasants dancing in a Polish village, decades ago (for some reason).  

Back to the book ... another passage that stood out for me was Val's visiting of some of the WWI graves.  She remarked on how the German dead were commemorated there too - because, of course, those poor boys and men weren't the enemy at all.  That label belongs to the generals, bankers and industry moguls whose own greed and megalomania caused the deaths of so many, for ... nothing much at all, really.  Talking of which, I loved Val's comment about Napoleon's aptitude and foresight when it came to building the canals of France - that he should have been an engineer, not a megalomaniac.

At the end of this piece in the book, Val was joined by a grey mare, who stood there and silently contemplated the graves, with her.

It's a beautiful book about a beautiful two months.  Informative, wistful, entertaining - a delight.

 

LIVE AND LET by Judith Barrow @judithbarrow77

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: I know the author, saw this advertised on Twitter

In a Nutshell: A short memoir, mostly to do with holiday lets.

I loved this, thoroughly enjoyed reading it!  The main part of the book is a collection of the author's experiences with some of the people who've rented her holiday flat over the years - very funny, often so strange (and unexpected!) that if they were fiction you'd say they were too far-fetched.  But there's nowt as queer as folk, as I am sure Judith and her husband would agree (and yes, my guess is that Party Guy wasn't actually a vicar at all...).

To give the book more context, Judith has written a short autobiography, that explains why and how they came to live in Pembrokeshire and turn part of their house into a holiday let.  Then there are the strange comments left in the visitor's book, the poignant tale of Auntie Olive, and a short story with a most effective and unexpected end.

This is a lovely little book to which I was glued all the way through, immersed in Judith's world - it took me one and a half hours to read, and is currently on sale at just 99p/$1.25.  Worth under a quid of anyone's money!

YOU CAN TAKE THE GIRL FROM THE PRAIRIE by Darlene Foster @supermegawoman

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: Read about it on Sally Cronin's blog

In a Nutshell: See cover!

This book is an absolute delight, and made me want to go back to the 50s and 60s to live Darlene Foster's childhood!  It's unusual for me to give 5 stars to a short book of short stories, but I was completely absorbed by this, an insight into a world so different from my own.  I could have easily carried on reading more, and was sad when it ended.

Darlene grew up on a farm in the prairies of Alberta, and some of the stories tell of her family and how they got to be there in the first place (A Tale of Two Katharinas - fascinating).  My favourite story was A Hero in a Pickup Truck, about her late father, which reminded me of my own.  I also loved Warm Hugs, about her 10th birthday and her love for her grandmother.

Darlene's deep attachment to her family shines through in all the stories, which are so beautifully written.  By the end of the book, when I read that they'd all, at different times, moved to the city, I felt nostalgic for a life I'd never known.

Loved it.  It's a real gem - and you can make the family photos larger on the Kindle version, in order to study them!

FIFTEEN FIRST TIMES by D G Kaye @pokercubster

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: Twitter

In a Nutshell: Memoir; the author looks back at early life experiences, in the form of short essays.

I so enjoyed reading these snapshots of D. G. Kaye's life, growing up in the 1960s, 70s and 80s - partly because I discovered that she is just two months older than me, so it's a world I know about ... mostly!*

I love the conversational aspect of the essays; the way Kaye writes is so readable, so down-to earth that it's like she's talking just to you, from the first kiss to the first love, to the first car and apartment, and, more seriously, the first bereavement of someone her own age.  This one was so heartrending that I found myself missing Alba too, a woman I know only from this one short story.

I think the piece that made me smile and nod the most was the 'first diet' - years of yo-yo dieting and obsession with what is put in one's mouth, the bane of many a young (and not so young) woman's life.  The daft things you try to lose weight.  

It's definitely a generational thing; I remember my mother (born in the 1920s) telling me that when she was a young woman, you were just the shape you were, and you didn't give it a great deal of thought.  In the late 1940s and 1950s most people were slim anyway, before advertising got serious and the world was filled with junk food - and when self-control was considered virtuous.  I grew up with the idea that to eat too much is greedy, as Debby must also have done.  Unlike these days, when young women are encouraged to indulge in 'guilty pleasures', with celebrity role models flaunting excess weight.

Back to the book!  It's great, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone, from those who can relate to Debby's experiences and younger women who want to know what life was like in mum and/grandma's day!  It's not that long; you could probably read it in a couple of afternoons.  Ideal for a nice bit of holiday reading, too :)

*

*Although I found it all so relatable, there are many cultural differences that I thought about while I was reading.  Who'd have thought that growing up in a middle class home in the English East Midlands could be so different from a middle class home in Toronto?  

For instance ... the beginning of the dreaded 'monthlies'.  I knew all about it because my mother sat me down with a book called 'Where do babies come from?' when I was nine, and I think we were taught about it at school.  My first kiss was later, my first adult relationship earlier.

My generation in England tended to move out of home as soon as we were able to support ourselves, renting tatty furnished flats that we found in newspaper adverts, that inevitably had no heating or a dodgy old electric fire.  I left in 1978 and shared a house with a friend.  It cost £11 per week; I earned £31.  It was rare that anyone my age had a car - learning to drive at 17 (16 in Toronto) was only for the school goody-goodies!

Ah, the 1970s, when everyone smoked ... I didn't grow up in a smoking household, but started tentatively when I was 14 and properly when I was 16.  It was just something you did, if you were one of the non-straights ('straight' meaning something entirely different back then!).  It went with drinking and rock music and going to see bands - almost everyone I hung around with smoked.  And we all drank underage too, and pubs never asked for any sort of ID.

MICHEL THE GIANT: AN AFRICAN IN GREENLAND by Tété-Michel Kpomassie #TuesdayBookBlog

5 GOLD stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: Birthday present from my sister.

In a Nutshell: Teenage boy in Togo, West Africa, in the 1950s, becomes obsessed with the idea of visiting Greenland after reading an article about it.  Eight years later, he arrives there.  This is the story of his adventure.

What a story!  

This is not a tale of picture book Inuit folk beaming by sledges as they break ice to fish and build igloos; the author discovered that Greenlanders are not the hardworking, innocent people of his imagination, either.

The memoir begins in Africa, showing Kpomassie's life in Togo. He explains his fascination with Greenland and determination to get there.  The first village he visits, Qaqortoq, on the southern coast, is friendly, yes, as the people drift in and out of each other's houses, are always happy to put up a visitor in colourful houses where the coffee pot is always on - but he also details the drunkenness that is as much a part of their life as the cold, and the casual attitude to sex: 'Greenland morality was beginning to disgust me'.  He is disappointed by the lack of adherence to their native culture, which is down to the influence of the Danish, who owned this enormous island at the time.  Since then, there has been a move to reassert their own cultural identity, self-rule has been established, and the country has been slowly moving towards complete independence from Denmark.

Qaqortoq, recent photo

Kpomassie eventually reaches the far north and discovers the hunters, the kayaks - the frozen world of which he'd dreamed.  Everywhere he is shown great hospitality, except in one village in the north where his only option is to stay with the poorest family in disgusting conditions (seriously, don't read it while you're eating).  He is clearly something of a celebrity, due to his colour and height, and I gathered that he's a rather charismatic man; everyone appears to like him, and he is very popular with the ladies.  In the far north, wife-swapping is a recreational activity, with public 'dances' especially for this purpose.

I love that he finally reached the far, far north, and played a full part in the lives of the people he met, hunting and fishing.

This is an honest, graphic and often funny account, as much about the day-today social life and people as a descriptive journal about the landscape and culture - it's not a pretty travelogue type of memoir at all.  Greenland is somewhere I've often wanted to visit; now, not so much.  Highly recommended to anyone who loves this sort of story - unputdownable!

Article about Kpomassie, now 80 years old, HERE

LUCKY JACK by S Bavey @SueBavey

 4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: via Rosie Amber's Review Blog

In a Nutshell: A biography of Sue Bavey's paternal grandfather, though written in Jack Roger's first person voice.  He and Sue were very close.

This is such a great project to have undertaken; Sue says she wanted to get Jack's story down for her own children, and generations to come.  

It's a charming book, starting with London life in the late Victorian times - Jack was one of those rare people who have actually lived in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.  At one time he was officially Britain's oldest man, and at the age of 103 co-wrote a column for the Lincolnshire Echo for a while.

Although this memoir covers some tragic times, such as the two world wars, it is mostly kept to a lighthearted vein, though I have to say that the section I found most memorable was his time in a German POW camp during WW1, when he and his friends suffered hardship we cannot even imagine in these times.  I also found the chapter about living in the flight path of Heathrow Airport oddly poignant; he talks of a time before, when seeing planes take off was a novelty for him and his wife, only to find, later, that living in its immediate vicinity was no joke.  I felt sad to think of the pub he loved which, of course, disappeared under all that concrete.

An interesting surprise for me was that Jack opened his surgical boot making business in 1920, at a premises in Goldhawk Road, Stamford Brook, which is in Hammersmith, North London.  My mother was born in 1926 and, until the late 1940s, lived in her family home in Vaughan Avenue, Stamford Brook - which happens to be just off Goldhawk Road - I looked up a street map of the area.  So Mum must have known of Jack's shop; she may have even met him!  Small world indeed.

(Note 18 Jan:  She did, and more!  Please see HERE for the stuff I found out.)

The secret of Jack's long, healthy and lucky life seems, from what I read in this book, to have been his positive attitude and adaptability, taking the enormous changes in the 106 years of his life in his stride.  We can only imagine what it must be like to have seen so, so many changes in the world.  I bow with respect.

I Jonathan, A Charleston Tale of the Rebellion by George W B Scott #RBRT

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: Historical drama about Charleston during and after the American Civil War.

Jonathan Vander is marooned in Charleston on his way back to his hometown of Boston, just as the Civil War is brewing.  Circumstances leave him with nothing but the shirt on his back, but he makes himself a life there.  He does not fight in the war; this is more of a social than a military history, showing how the war affected the people during and for many years after.  

The book is written as though a third hand true story; as an old man, Jonathan gives his account to his great-great nephew, who then gives it to the writer.  It is one of those novels that you're aware of being a heck of an achievement, all the way through; the research that has gone into it is evident without one ever feeling that one is reading research.  It's highly readable, and I loved the writing style; it was a delight to read an author who uses the language so well, and is acutely aware of the words and phrasing that would have been used in this period in history.

I particularly liked Jonathan's observations about the futility of war; there is a good section about this in the chapter Laurels of Glory.  And I loved this:

'Duty to an abstract government whose purpose was to use the heroic idealism of youth to forward the goals of the venal wealthy.  Is it not always so?'

The observations and accounts of the attitudes towards the slave trade and segregation were most interesting; I was surprised by some of them.  'Several fine hotels on Broad Street by St Michael's Church were owned by free blacks, serving only whites.  Some freemen were themselves slaveowners, buying them to use as labourers'.  As always with historical events, though, you cannot judge them by the outlook and culture of today's world.

I found the end of the book, about the aftermath, most emotive, not to mention the moment when the reader is told what the 'I' in the title means - it is not as I'd assumed.  Now and again I felt the story meandered a mite too much; it is a very long book and I felt it could have been edited down just a little. However, I could not give it anything less than five stars, and highly recommend it to anyone with a particular interest in the American Civil War, or historical fiction generally.

CATCH ME IF I FALL by Nikki Rodwell @NikkiRodwell

 5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: The author is a friend of my sister, who I got to know when she joined Twitter.

In a Nutshell: Personal story of psychosis and spine injury

I bought this memoir because I've got to know Nikki on Twitter and wanted to support her, and also because I wanted to read about how she recovered from a devastating spinal cord injury. I expected to find it moderately interesting, but it's riveting, from start to finish.  It's written in such a chatty, engaging way; Nikki definitely has plenty of storytelling talent.  I couldn't stop turning those pages.

I did not realise until I began the book that Nikki has a severe mental health problem - and no, I don't mean the sort that is claimed in many a social media post every time someone has a bit of a bad day or feels a bit anxious.  She suffers from psychosis, something I knew very little about.  Her account of the incident that culminated in her spinal cord injury was harrowing to read about, though more shocking in a different way was the blow-by-blow account of her slow, painstaking recovery.

I'm fascinated by all things psychological, less so by the medical, but I was still gripped all the way through this.  It's written in a very 'warts and all' fashion - now and again it was a bit 'TMI', but my goodness, I take my hat off to anyone who has been through an ordeal like Nikki's and come out smiling.  At the same time, I wondered if she realised how much she has told the reader about herself; for instance, she talks about her daughters frequently not speaking to each other or not speaking to her, as if this is something quite every-day, and, although she talks a little about her relationship with her father, I wondered if she sees how much it has influenced the rest of her life.

There was just one thing missing - pictures!  Nikki talks a lot about the photos she posted on Facebook, throughout, and it would have been so great to see them in the book.  However, if you look here on her blog, there are many posts under 'Hospital 2019' that show some of them, or you can sign up to her newsletter to see them (link in book), and also the video of her learning to walk again.

I so admire Nikki's guts in getting through this life-changing period, whilst turning negatives into positives and using the experience to re-evaluate her life.  I think it should be read by anyone who is going through a long recovery of this type or suffers from psychosis and the stigma attached to severe psychological problems; I hate to use the ghastly buzzword 'inspirational', but it really is.  I highly recommend it anyway, even if you don't think a medical memoir will be your sort of thing.  You won't be able to put it down either, I guarantee!

LIFE IS LIKE A MOSAIC by Sally Cronin @sgc58 #MondayBlogs

5 GOLD stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: the author sent me a PDF, but then I bought it anyway because I wanted a proper Kindle copy.

In a Nutshell: Poetry and Pictures

I am somewhat blown away by this book - it's a work of art. 

The first part is a series of pictures - art, landscape, animals, birds, the fantastical, abstract, flowers, random objects, all sorts - each coupled with a short piece of free verse.  The poems are so clever, often just a few lines that encapsulate an idea, convey a piece of ponder-worthy wisdom, or paint a story in a flash-fiction fashion.  It's a delight from start to finish.  I believe Sally Cronin is producing hardbacks in the not too distant future; I will be purchasing several for presents.  And one for myself :)

Some of my favourites are astute comments on the darker side of the life we live now - notable are Scepticism, Westward-Two and The Future?.  Another repeated theme is that of ageing - I love Ageism and the last verse of Birthdays, in particular.  I name Ageism and Scepticism as joint winners!

The lovely Spices takes us into the second part, which consists of longer poems about Sally's life.  My favourite of these is The Lure of the Waltzer, which made me think of my early teenage years.

Ageism

(reproduced with author's permission)

Mind

body

and spirit

strive not to lose

the urge to explore

outside the barriers

created by young ageists

who dictate terms of existence

for those who have reached a certain age

How

quickly

they forget

who created

the technology

medical advances

and freedoms they now enjoy

are they scared that once set adrift

we might just show them a thing or two?

Take a look on Amazon's 'Look Inside' feature - the book is so perfectly presented.  In an ideal world, the hardback ought to be on display in high street shops at Christmas with all those 'little books of wisdom' type publications, because it's better than any that I've seen!

Sally Cronin is the author of fifteen books including her memoir Size Matters: Especially when you weigh 330lb first published in 2001. This has been followed by another fourteen books both fiction and non-fiction including multi-genre collections of short stories and poetry.

Her latest release, Life is Like a Mosaic: Random fragments in harmony is a collection of 50 + images and poems on life, nature, love and a touch of humour.

As an author she understands how important it is to have support in marketing books and offers a number of FREE promotional opportunities in the Café and Bookstore on her blog and across her social media.

Her podcast shares book reviews and short stories Soundcloud Sally Cronin

After leading a nomadic existence exploring the world, she now lives with her husband on the coast of Southern Ireland enjoying the seasonal fluctuations in the temperature of the rain.

FARING FORTH AGAIN ON THE SHOE by Valerie Poore @vallypee

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book:  I love Val Poore's travelogues, so always buy them when a new one comes out.

In a Nutshell:  Non-fiction, though Belgium to France on the author's barge

I read a big chunk of this book yesterday, in the bath and then whilst drying my hair (it's a long task).  When I'd finished, I stood up and realised that I had been completely immersed in Val Poore's world for the past couple of hours. To the extent that I just wanted to get back there.

This is a lovely book, detailing a trip from the Netherlands, where Val and her partner Koos live, through Flemish Belgium and then Val's beloved Wallonia, into France and back again.  As ever, I adored reading the snippets of historical interest, hearing about the people she meets, the simplicity of their life on board, her outlook about life in general (which I totally relate to), and her contentment just from being on her boat and enjoying the beauty of her surroundings.  Though it's not all bliss and country idylls; Val is a self-confessed worrier, especially when faced with the possibility of having to moor up too near a rough town.  There are many moments of humour, like when she went into a shop to buy sheets, not realising that, in her less-than-fluent French, she had asked the shopkeeper for flags.  😄

At the end of sections of the book there are links to Val's photos on Flickr; they took to long to load on my tablet, so I looked them up afterwards instead.  The link is HERE (yes, Val, he does look like a young Gerard Depardieu!).  I was most interested to see the enormous Strépy-Thieu Boat Lift - on the cover - as I couldn't imagine it, and also the enormous white scifi guillotine thing (you need to read the book!).

The only downside was that (again, as ever), reading this made me long to be on the Hennie Ha, too, faring through rural Belgium, on a sunny afternoon that lasts forever.  Thank you again, Val, for allowing us to enter your world for a while.

Finally A Vegan by Stephanie Jane @Stephanie_Jne

4 out of 5 stars

On Stephanie's Etsy Shop
On various online retailers listed here on books2read
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: I know the author from Twitter, and was most interested when I saw that she'd written a book about becoming vegan

In A Nutshell: A mini-memoir about how Stephanie went from omnivore to vegan, what it means to her, and also lots of recipes.

First, a bit about me!  I 'made the change' in 2016 - I was a meat eater, never considered trying anything non-dairy.  Then I watched the film Cowspiracy, which made me realise that by eating meat and dairy products I was supporting industries that wreck the planet and inflict harm on animals.  I thought, I don't want to be a part of this; it was as simple as that.  I went vegan overnight and without fanfare; for the first week or so ate only toast, potatoes, vegetables and hummus.  Gradually, though my range expanded, and a year or so later veganism became trendy - suddenly there were all sorts of products available.  I'm not interested in cooking, so I need things that can be made quickly and without fuss!  For anyone who is interested, I've made a list of good supermarket vegan food HERE.

I don't call myself a vegan - I don't buy leather and use mostly vegan-approved toiletries, but not always, and I do have the odd 'normal' chocolate! My actual meals are almost always totally vegan, and I have non-dairy milk, cheese, yogurt and butter; I'm a 90% plant-based person, that's all!

Now, the book:

Stephanie, on the other hand, has embraced the subject with a great deal of thought, and wholeheartedly.  In this book, she talks about her own eating habits over the years and her gradual shift from being an ominivore to vegetarian; it makes for most interesting reading and is written in a conversational, friendly tone that I liked very much.  She also details the events and books that led to her eventually taking the plunge, and her own first Veganuary food diaries.  You'll find her recipes for basics such as roti flatbreads, dips, hummus, nut roast and many more. 

Going the extra mile, Stephanie gives advice on how expensive (or not) veganism may be, and addresses the health benefits and potential problems to look out for, kitchen tips, the leather and plastic issue - there is a chapter called How Vegan Do I Want To Be?

To sum up, it's a complete vegan lifestyle handbook, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is vegan-curious, or about to start out on Veganuary this year!

PLUMAS DE MUERTE: Tequila Journals and Dreams by Phil Motel @philmotel

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads
On BookBub 

How I discovered this book: Already a fan.

In a Nutshell:  Non-fiction: memoir, journal entries and poems.

The Blurb: 
Life in a long-stay motel, overseen by the on-site muscle: 'if this was a movie, he'd be played by Steve Buscemi'. Twelve-hour shifts at a mundane job alongside a host of strange characters with their own struggle to make it to the end of the day. Anecdotes from journals of adventures past: wannabe musicians, ill-fated relationships and the bottom of a bottle.

Musings on life, death, dreams, and the frustrations of the writing process: the journal entries were written while during the creation of the author's debut novel, Rum Hijack.

Dream Diary
The second part of Plumas de Muerte is as it says: a small collection of dreams: what goes on while we are asleep?

A raw ride that makes no attempt to gloss over the darker side of the author's life at the time, while acting as a cautionary tale about the nightmare of substance abuse - and the final road of alcoholism/addiction.


My review:
The 'Tequila Journals', the first part of this book, makes up 80% of the whole.  There are two main settings: an unnamed place of work, and the motel in which the diarist lives.  Doesn't sound very thrilling?  It is.  PM is one of those scribes who has the knack of making an after-work beer in a fast food establishment or wrangles over his room rent with the seedy 'Steve Buscemi' as riveting as any 'fast-paced' action thriller. I once noted that memoir writer Val Poore managed to bring tears to my eyes in a short chapter about the lighting of oil lamps.  This was similar; it's not the subject matter, but the innate talent of the writer.  

When I got nearer to the end I felt that, although maybe not meant as such, it does make up an actual story.  We see how PM's frustration with his working life and writing increases, how he becomes jaded with (and fails to chase up) possible romantic opportunities, how his depression about events from the past deepens, his drinking becomes more and more out of hand, until happiness visits his life once more, only to be ripped away—and sends his life spiralling completely out of control.  At the end, I turned over the page and thought, 'What, no more?  But what happens next?'.  I'm hoping he will write the next 'chapter' at some point.

One of my favourite sections in the Tequila Journals was a look back at a crazy, chaotic time spent in Colorado, which reminded me of a Kerouac novel, though there's nothing pretentious, plagiarised or 'wannabe' about PM's writing style; it's unique, and appears to be the sort of effortless that tells me he doesn't realise how good he is.  Throughout, every character is perfectly captured in just a couple of lines of dialogue.

The dream diary at the end: I am one of those who dislikes dream sequences in films or books, and suppresses yawns when people go into detail about a dream they had, but I liked these; they were well put together, not rambling, and the style and structure varied.  Also, having read the book, I could see what was behind some of them—some aspects of loss, isolation and anger.

I've read the novel, Rum Hijack, that PM was writing at the time these journal entries were made, and I loved it, but in a way I like some aspects of this collection even more.  Includes some relevant artwork and photos.  Highly, highly recommended.

JUNGLE by Yossi Ghinsberg @yossi_ghinsberg

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On BookBub

How I discovered this book: Loved the film, had to read the book!

In a Nutshell: True life survival in Bolivian jungle

I'm glad I saw the film before reading the book, because it helped me to picture the places - much less frustrating than film-after-book, when you're always too aware of what has been left out.

This is the sort of story that makes you think 'if this was fiction you would say it was far-fetched'.  Yossi, Kevin and Marcus, backpackers in Bolivia, fall in with the mysterious and clearly dodgy Karl Ruprechter, if indeed that was his name, and get talked into going on a potentially dangerous adventure in the jungle.  After many setbacks and difficulties, the group splits up: Karl and Marcus to go back to a village, and Kevin and Yossi to carry on downriver, traversing a section that even experienced rafters would not attempt.  The worst happens (lots of it), the two get split up, and Yossi survives for three weeks in the jungle, on his own, in the middle of the rainy season.

I believe Yossi is on the right, I imagine shortly after his rescue, and Kevin on the left.  But I may be wrong.

The book is perfectly structured, with lengthy background about how Yossi teams up with the others and how they fall in with Karl, all of which makes for a good understanding of the mens' personalities and why various decisons and mistakes were made ... then comes the increasingly worrisome trek into the jungle, all the time with the suspense building as you wait for everything to go horribly wrong.  And I mean HORRIBLY wrong. What Yossi went through defies description, and I was totally gripped all the way through.

As for what happened to Karl and Marcus, I will not give any spoilers....

Ghinsberg shortly after rescue

It's not a perfect book; some unnecessary animal cruelty (I mean when they were ill-treated, or hunted for sport rather than when necessary for food) was hard to stomach, there were times when I thought the editing was a little sloppy (a fair few repetitions), and I thought there was too much detail about Yossi's daydreams and hallucinations in the jungle, but on the whole I couldn't give this book anything less than five stars, because I loved it, to the extent that I am just googling stuff to find out more, and locate pictures.  And I don't think I'll be able to read anything else for a couple of days - always the sign of a thoroughly good book!

It's a story of youthful optimism and naïveté, of comradeship, incredible resilience, bravery, the best of human nature and the worst - and of how the less you have, the more you value the small and seemingly insignficant.  Highly, highly recommended, but watch the film first.

Ghinsberg with Daniel Radcliffe, who plays him in the film

Also found this picture, when I googled Karl Ruprechter - the article says the one on the right is Kevin, but I can't be sure the other is Karl.

The film trailer: 

ADVENTURES OF A SOUTHERN GIRL by Linda Sue Walker @LaloLafleur

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: I got talking to the author on Twitter  

In a Nutshell: Memoir; assorted snapshots of life, domestically orientated.

Linda Sue Walker has written a series of small articles in storylike form, about her life in Louisiana, with the odd excursion to extreme-weather-ridden Oklahoma, a weekend up a mountain, and more than a few hours spent at airports.  I was interested in this book because tales of small town America are something I love, particularly those from the Deep South.  I think it's because life there always seems so different from England, and I'm fascinated by how the US seems (to me, sometimes, anyway), to be more like 50 separate countries, in the way Europe is.  Each state is so different.

LSW has a great writing style; I loved the sort of daily life type memoirs in which not a great deal happens (give or take the odd flood, a run-in with White Trash thieves, and dangerous dehydration up the aforementioned mountain), but the writing style keeps you turning the pages and gives you the odd out-loud laugh.  Okay, quite a lot happens, but it's all still kind of cosy and domestic.  It's in the telling.  You know, like Bill Bryson, or the equally entertaining Barb Taub.  The stories centre around LSW's observations of others, her amused and amusing take on life.  It really is a delightful book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

She has a great turn of phrase; here are a few examples I highlighted. 

'Mama's apartment was in an area called the Chauvin Basin.  'Basin' is primarily a British word; however, in French it means, "For the love of God, don't build your home here, it's going to flood."  That is not in Webster's, but it can be found in the Cajun dictionary.'

'We ate after I Lysoled off the table and chairs.  Of course Lysoled is a word.  It is the past tense of spraying Lysol on everything.  Of course, I never really quit spraying it, so I guess it is the present tense also.'

'I replied, "Oh, that's nice."  It's just something we southern ladies say a lot and it can mean anything from. "Are you out of your mind?" to "I have no idea how to reply to that," and lots of things in between.'

'We had two storm chasers at work because, you know, you need a spare.'

'Basically he married me for my Tupperware.... You see, he wanted some Tupperware but was too shy to go to a Tupperware party.  I had a lot of Tupperware so it was easier just to marry me and get the Tupperware by default.'

😁😁😁 

WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR by Paul Kalanithi

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: the paperback was sent to me by a friend, for my birthday last summer.

In a Nutshell: 'a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question: What makes a life worth living?'

Not an easy book to review, or indeed to read.  It starts off with Kalanithi's diagnosis - the unlikely occurrence of a man of 36 who (I assume) didn't smoke, getting lung cancer.  At the time, he and his wife were about to separate, but they came together again when he fell ill, and had a child, Cady, who was just 8 months old when he died.

The beginning of the book tells much about what led Kalanithi to become a neurosurgeon, and his search for meaning in his life - I enjoyed this part.  Less so the mechanics of some of the work he did (not for the squeamish).  Then comes his suspicion that he's ill, the diagnosis and treatment.  From the point of view of one who has known people who have died from and some who have recovered from cancer, I found the information about the treatments and his reaction to them, and the thoughts that went through his head, most interesting to read about.

What is so sad is that he didn't know how much time he had left; in the end, it was less than perhaps he'd thought.  The last section of the book is written by his wife, after he died, and it's heartrending.  Some reviews have said it's the best part of the book; in some ways I agree.

It's probably not one to read if you're not in a good frame of mind, but I'm glad I did.