Books

Seeing as how one of my main activities here is reading, I thought I'd write about what I've read so far and what's up next... the stack of unread books is getting smaller and smaller! But no worries, there are English bookshops in Moscow and Freddy has some friends who are coming to visit from the English speaking world... they can bring me some goods.

I just finished Wayne Johnston's The Custodian of Paradise and had mixed feelings. I thought the story was captivating, but unfortunately not entirely believable - in the sense that it wasn't realistic. I don't want to give anything away but ... the ending and what the main character Sheilagh Fielding found out about her birth... was weird... and her reaction was not, as I said, entirely believable. Just my opinion though. What I really didn't like was the continual and incessant reference to her looming, monstrous height - all of 6'3"! I mean I know that is just huuuuge... but really? I would have been equally annoyed (well, maybe not quite as much) if there had been such continual talk of how teeny or fat she was, or whatever... it just seemed a bit unnecessary. I LOVED The Colony of Unrequited Dreams - that remains my favourite of his. I also recently read The Divine Ryans and enjoyed that too.

Here are some other books that I've read here, and a few thoughts:

The Shadow of the Sun (A.S. Byatt) - She's one of my favourite authors but this was my least favourite book of hers. Possession may is definitely one of the best books I've ever read (the movie was HORRIBLE) and I love the language that she uses... yum.

If on a Winter's Night A Traveller (Italo Calvino) - This book was weird - the style and structure were super unorthodox. I can't say that I read the whole thing because I found it too weird... but I will try again when the book rivers have run dry.

Into the Wild (John Krakauer) - A good and gripping read. My only complaint, as voiced by many people who wrote letters to Krakauer and Outdoor magazine after the initial story was published, is the glorification of this kind of outdoor adventure trip. Solo, battling the elements, surviving in the wilderness (in jeans, without map) - maybe noble? I don't know, I'm not convinced. I liked the movie but thought that it did just this. Admirable though his adventure was - to follow his dreams and find solitude in the pursuit of some sort of clarity on the meaning of life... he was horrible to his family and unprepared for the reality of surviving in the Alaskan wild.

The Conde Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys - There were some great stories in here and some fabulous writing. I loved Philip Gourevitch's "Where the Wild Things Are" - I looked up the lodge where he stayed in Tanzania and it looks super deluxe and very fancy... and VERY expensive... a place to dream about.

Paddle to the Amazon (Don Starkell) - definitely a good read but this guy is crazy. I think I said in an earlier post that he could have used the advice of Captain Osberg - he didn't even put all of the stuff in the canoe to see if it fit... until the morning he left! (Or waterproof his maps! Or even have maps!) What a great adventure though... and I couldn't put the book down.

The Long Ships (Frans G. Bengtsson) - a story about Viking and Scandinavian adventures. A neat look into what life was like in this part of the world a thousand years ago... or more. I also mentioned before that part of the story takes some Viking gold hunters down the Kotorosl River to the Volga... not too far from where we are living now! Neat.

So next up is Salman Rushdie's Shalimar... and then there are a few more before I get to reread The Poisonwood Bible... and put an order in for more goods. There are some fantastic book blogs out there - in fact, a whole online blogger book community. Bookmineset is a good place to start if you're interested - there are lots of links posted too.

My last thought (okay two thoughts) for the blog for today are these - last night we saw a short clip on the news about water in the United States (maybe California?)being contaminated with a small panoply of pharmaceutical drugs including growth hormones and antibiotics; it was reported that there were such small amounts that they would do no harm whatsoever. I can't find this story anywhere though... hmmm, how strange. Lastly, the Vatican issued new "deadly sins" that accord with the more modern world, in which globalisation is touching everyone. They include:

- Drug abuse
- Genetic Manipulation
- Morally dubious experimentation (including bioethical violations - like birth control)
- Environmental pollution
- Social inequalities and social injustice
- Causing poverty
- Accumulating excessive wealth (at the expense of the common good of society)

I have too many thoughts and comments about this list to talk about right now - it's sunny! I have to get outside! But... isn't the Vatican one of the richest organizations in the world? I mean, almost excessively so? I don't know... but ???