Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad

I'm currently back in the U.K. for a short visit and whilst here I've been reading a few books and enjoying the summer sun. One of those books was Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which I always thought I'd read. I suppose it's one of those books that's so famous one assumes one has read it...

As it turned out, I hadn't read it at all. I was riveted almost from the start and proceeded to read the book in less than a day - which is surprising, given that I'm a slow reader. I spent a beautiful summer's afternoon enjoying the story unfold from the mouth of the riverboat captain, Marlow, who goes in search of Mr. Kurtz, a trader who's venture into the heart of Africa has seen him ascend to the level of a god among the natives.

I really enjoyed this book and what it says about European colonialism as well as the human condition.

My Secret History, by Paul Theroux

I found a paperback copy of this book recently and, after having read The Mosquito Coast a few years ago and greatly enjoyed it, I decided to delve into this mammoth work.

At first, I thought it was an autobiography of sorts. From what little I knew about Theroux's work, it all seemed to match up. However, right at the start of My Secret History he takes pains to state that although certain similarities might seem to exist, it's purely a work of fiction. As an author of work of fiction that most readers assumed was autobiographical, I know his pain and will thus take him at his word that this is all made up.

Yet it is deliberately autobiographical-seeming. The novel tells the life of Andre Parent - a writer, would you believe - as he goes through various stages of his life, from boyhood to manhood. Like an autobiography, it is not neat and convenient, with all ends tied up. It is messy and real. Everything about it is entirely believable.

The book is broken into six chapters over the protagonist's life. They jump about a lot in terms of place as Parent moves from America to Africa to England to India, bouncing back and forth in pursuit of something. It is usually women he is after. From an early age, he has an irrepressible appetite for sex. At times he seems morally virtuous like some sort of hero, and elsewhere he utterly reprehensible. He is at times an unreliable narrator, but always an enjoyable one. 

Half a World Away, by Alistair McGuinness

In Half a World Away: Jungle Tribes, African Guides, and a Donkey Called Angus, Alistair McGuinness invites his readers along for an unexpected traipse around the world with him and his wife, Fran. Following the closure of his car manufacturing plant in Luton, he is given a redundancy package, which he and Fran choose to spend travelling the world with their ultimate destination being a new life in Australia.


What follows is a trip around part of South America, a vast swath of Africa, and eventually to Australia, with a little excursion to Fiji in the middle. Alistair and Fran seem to be magnets for odd adventures, with Alistair often finding a way to get drunk or otherwise find trouble. He documents the comical characters they meet along the way, as well as the breathtaking scenery.

McGuinness is, for the most part, a very talented and engaging travel writer. His descriptions of the places he visited are wonderful. (I've been to many of them and his perceptions rather match my own.) However, I was suggest that he find a better editor. The narrative could be tightened somewhat to element weaker elements and thereby create a far stronger book. McGuinness is on his best form when describing amazing places and strange people, but the emotional background and the seemingly amusing personal exploits (somewhere between Bill Bryson and Hunter S. Thompson) are not so well-handled.

One thing that caught my attention throughout the book, and which rather depressed me, was something I've noticed as a fellow world-traveller. Everywhere Alistair and Fran go, they are surrounded by tourists, con-men, and the destructive impact of tourism. While tourism brings some measure of prosperity to far-flung parts of the globe, and brings wisdom and experience to those who travel, it also brings with it a lot of negative results. It's something I've struggled with on my own journeys, and which stuck with me while reading about Alistair and Fran's travels. They are occasionally in a position to look out over a marvelous view or otherwise revel in the glory of nature... and yet there's always a tour group nearby waiting to charge in and take a million photos. Nothing is untouched or unspoiled.

Despite that negativity, the book itself was quite enjoyable. If you want a taste of travel in South America or Africa, I recommend you check it out. 

Unspotted, by Justin Fox

Unspotted, by Justin Fox, is a very short non-fiction book in which the author goes in search of the highly elusive Cape Leopard. It is written in a first person – perhaps even a Gonzo – style of narrative. Fox takes us along on this personal journey, investing the reader quite firmly in his own quest to see a rare animal in the wild. Yet it is not some self-involved, Gonzo rip-off. Fox deftly handles his story, providing vivid, enthralling descriptions of the South African landscape with amusing observations and dialogues along the way.

I very much enjoyed Fox’s writing style, which was always a balance of informative and comedic (“The vehicle bounced over boulders like an inebriated frog.”). I was in Southern Africa for a few months earlier this year and developed a strong fondness for the land, the people, and the wildlife. Fox’s book brought me right back into that place, and made me yearn to hike out into the wilds once again, despite the author’s own apparent disdain for physical activity.

Although I’m a slow reader, I made my way through this short text in one sitting. Apparently this is philosophy behind the book’s publisher, Annorlunda Books, which specializes in “novella length or shorter” for both fiction and non-fiction. I dig the concept and will check out more of their books in future.