Dec 24, 2009 Posted by booktiger

A Guide To The Birds of East Africa – Nicholas Drayson

And in amongst the sadness and anger of the past few books I have been reading, at last I get the opportunity to read something a little lighter. A Guide To the Birds of East Africa was just the distraction I needed – it is a lovely, feel-good story which doesn’t avoid issues or the reality of the world, but still provides hope in humanity and the power of goodness. Mr Malik is rather taken... read more

Dec 24, 2009 Posted by booktiger

When A Crocodile Eats The Sun – Peter Godwin

I seem to have read a number of books recently which filled me with various emotions – anger at injustice, sadness at the blind greed and selfishness of the human race, and rage at people who use power for their own ends, whilst trampling on anyone around them who gets in their way. When A Crocodile Eats The Sun is a memoir from the journalist, Peter Godwin who was a white who was born and grew up in... read more

Nov 6, 2008 Posted by booktiger

Heart of Darkness and Youth – Joseph Conrad

Hands up all those people who didn’t study Heart of Darkness at school? Not many of you? OK, those of you who did, hands up those who can’t remember much about it. I know my hand is up, which is why I went back to read it again after I finished Blood River by Tim Butcher a few weeks back. The edition I read was also one which contained the short story Youth as well as an introduction by Tim... read more

Oct 1, 2008 Posted by Nancy Williams

Blood River: A Journey To Africa’s Broken Heart – Tim Butcher

More than a hundred years ago, Henry Morton Stanley famously found the lost Dr Livingstone with “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”, and a soundbite which became more well known than the country in which it was spoken was born. Stanley was the first European to travel the length of the Congo River in Central Africa, before he played an instrumental part in the downfall of that enormous country. King... read more