Category Archives: Books review

“Catching Thunder”, by Eskil Engdal & Kjetil Sæter, Zed.

Posted on 04/06/2020 by awtytravels

‘Patagonian toothfish’: raise your hand if you’ve ever heard of it. Apparently, the Patagonian toothfish is a “petulant and repulsive giant” living in the dark bathypelagic depths of the oceans surrounding Antarctica (and how exactly can a fish be ‘petulant’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review | Tagged Anctartic ocean, Bob Barker, Book Review, Books, Captain Hammarstedt, Ecology, Eskil Engdal, Extinction, Fishing, Kjetil Sæter, Mafia gallega, Patagonian Toothfish, Piracy, Pirates, Poaching, Sea Shepherd, Spain, Thunder, Zed Books | 6 Comments

“Narconomics”, by Tom Wainwright, Penguin.

Posted on 08/03/2020 by awtytravels

In these days of pandemic stupidity, I often find myself dreaming of inhabiting a world where I’m always the stupidest in the room. In the evident impossibility of relocating permanently to Antarctica (see uncle Tony’s episode to understand what I … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review, Odd ones out | Tagged Books review, Coca leaves, Cocaine, Drug, Drug trade, Economics, Economist, Journalism, Mara Salvatrucha, Mexico, MS-13, Narco Economics, Narconomics, Penguin, Penguin books, Smart reading, The Economist, The War on Drugs, Violence | 8 Comments

“The Stranger in the Woods”, by Michael Finkel, Simon & Schuster

Posted on 01/02/2020 by awtytravels

Source One fine day in 1986, sometime after the Chernobyl disaster and well into Reagan’s second term in office (and a few months before my birth, though it wasn’t mentioned), a twenty-something called Christopher Knight parked his almost-new Subaru Brat … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review | Tagged Books review, Chris Knight, Finkel, Hermit, Journalism, Junger, Literary review, Maine, Michael Finkel, Stranger, USA, Woods | 22 Comments

“Shark Drunk” by Morten Strøksnes, Vintage.

Posted on 04/01/2020 by awtytravels

Norwegians are an inscrutable bunch. I’ve got colleagues from up there and, let me tell you, they are a constant source of wonder. Amongst many things, they’ll think nothing of saying things such as “Because you haven’t asked for this … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review | Tagged Aasjord, Book, Book Review, Books, Critique, Greenland, Greenland Shark, Havbuka, Hemingway, Lofoten, Morten, Morten Strøksnes, Nordic, North, Norway, Ocean, Sea, Shark Drunk, The Art of Catching a Large Shark from a Tiny Rubber Dinghy in a Big Ocean, Travel literature, Vestfjord, Vintage | 18 Comments

“Midnight in Sicily” by Peter Robb, Vintage.

Posted on 28/06/2019 by awtytravels

Much in the same way that those who learn a language end up with a much deeper knowledge and command of its grammar than the natives, it’s also true that foreigners can, if they live someplace long enough, get to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review, Odd ones out | Tagged Andreotti, Borsellino, Christian Democrats, Cosa nostra, DC, Falcone, Giulio Andreotti, Mafia, Midnight in Sicily, Peter Robb, Robb, Sciascia, Sicily, Vintage, Vintage books, Vintage Press | 2 Comments

“My War Gone By, I Miss It So”, by Anthony Loyd, Anchor.

Posted on 18/08/2018 by awtytravels

My edition has been printed in 2000 and, as all cheap paperbacks, isn’t ageing very well. The pages are yellowing with the characteristic celerity of poor quality pulp; its spine is bent, but in fairness it was already in this … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review | Tagged addiction, Anchor, Anthony Loyd, Balkans, Book reviews, Books, Bosnia war, Caucasus, Chechnya, Croat, Daesh, heroin, HVO, I miss it so, Journalism, My War gone by, Serbia, Serbs, Srebrenica, Syria, The Times, UN, War | 14 Comments

“Wild Coast. Travels on South America’s Untamed Edge”, by John Gimlette, Profile Books

Posted on 01/03/2018 by awtytravels

Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana: raise your hands if you can recite, by heart – and no Googling, I can see you – their capitals. Not a clue? Well, I honestly doubt there’ll be many, amongst the few who’ll stumble across … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review | Tagged At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig, Barrister, Books, Cayenne, France, French Guiana, Georgetown, Guyana, Hmong, John Gimlette, Jonestown, Korou, Maroons, Massacre, Montagnard, Netherlands, Papillon, Paramaribo, Planters, Profile books, ravels on South America’s Untamed Edge, Surinam, Suriname, Theatre of Fish, Travel literature, Wild Coast | 13 Comments

“Out of Steppe” by Daniel Metcalfe, Arrow – Random House

Posted on 06/01/2018 by awtytravels

If the passion for travelling off the beaten path, exploring places that don’t make it on the top-shelf brochure at your local Trailfinders (but, let’s face it, they don’t even make it to the bottom one), was a genetic strand … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review | Tagged Afghanistan, Aral Sea, Arrow, Asia, Books review, Bukhara, Bukharan Jews, Byron, Central Asia, Colin Thubron, Daniel Metcalfe, Iran, Karakalpakstan, Kazakhstan, Moynaq, Pakistan, Random House, Tehran, The Economist, Thesiger, Travel literature, Travel writing, Uzbekistan, Volga Germans, Wilfred Thesiger, Yaghnobi | 12 Comments

“A Death in Brazil: A Book of Omissions”, by Peter Robb, Bloomsbury.

Posted on 19/08/2017 by awtytravels

Courtesy Bloomsbury publishing If I were to trawl through my notebooks, through the shapeless lumps of bytes that make the impalpable documents folder in my laptop’s solid-state drive, I’d find a page, or many a .docx files, titled exactly like … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review, Odd ones out | Tagged A death in Brazil, Bloomsbury, Book Review, Brazil, Fernando de Collor, Lula da Silva, Nordeste, Pernambuco, Peter Robb, Recife | 9 Comments

“Arabian Sands”, by Wilfred Thesiger, Penguin Books.

Posted on 19/08/2016 by awtytravels

Italo Calvino once wrote that a ‘classic’ is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. If this is the approved meter of judgement for the category, then I’ve no doubts that Arabian Sands belongs to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review, Uncategorized | Tagged Africa, Arabia, Arabian Sands, Bedouin, Bedu, History, Middle East, Penguin books, Travel literature, Travelling, Travelogue, Wilfred Thesiger | 8 Comments