The Fool On The Hill

Its summer time; which for us europeans means its time to take a holiday. A break from the routine of everyday life and a chance to get away. That time of year when we can leave the pressures of work at home and relax on a beach, mountain, go on a cruise or if you're blessed with that affliction called parenthood even god-forbid a theme park. Some people with be out to see places and experience things, others will just want to chill out somewhere and forget all about whatever it is that they spend the rest of the year doing.

Whatever destination they have chosen one of the things that many people will be doing is reading that book that they cannot find time to read at home and consequently the papers are full of articles trying to help them do just that. Obviously these articles are full of plugs for the books of their friends and those people who have given them good reviews but nevertheless at least they are a useful guide on current reading and can help you to make an appropriate choice. Ever eager to find more good books to read I am an avid searcher of such articles, scanning them first to see if I've read any of the books mentioned and then re-scanning them to see if there are any that take my fancy. Unfortunately of the two I've come across recently I found that not only have I not read only of the books recommended but I hadn't even heard of any of them either.

I know why this is. Shocked when I realised that my annual spending on books had reached heights that even I could not justify, I have recently been raiding my stock of books in england and I have also, don't tell anyone, been browsing the second-hand shops with a renewed vengeance.

Anyway this year I've decided to beat this silly lists idea by doing my own list. Not that it'll help a lot of people to enjoy their holiday as this blog is only read my myself and the dog. Its so interesting my wife doesn't even bother. But I don't care really, it'll serve to keep me busy today and maybe I'll find out how to put a table in my blog.

So to prune down my list I've realised that it'll have to be recommendations of books that I've read during the past 12 months. Its no use giving my all-time best reading list, thats for Amazon. No, its the last year thats important here.

And how many books do most people want to read in a couple of weeks? - well, 5 I guess. And people usually take more note if they know the people whose list it is, appreciate their work or whatever. So all I can do is tell you that I'm getting-on - this is no teenagers list -, I enjoy all sorts of books and I try to cover a range of topics. I enjoy sport, gardening, reading, travelling, history, politics, photography and loads more.

So anyway, here we go in no particular order. Its based on enjoyability not content as how do I know what sort of book you're going to enjoy. I havn't included, for example, a wonderful book that I found written in 1914 by Patrick Macgill who followed in my fathers footsteps ( or was it the otherway round ) on his life as an Irish navvy in Scotland. Thats not going to be enjoyed by many people, to say the least.

Biography Choice
The Full Monty - Nigel Hamilton
Detailed analysis of how Montgomery won the war

Fiction Choice
Snow - Orham Pamuk and The Remains Of The Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
Strange Kafka goings-on in a remote Turkish town AND
A search for love or something missing maybe, in a 1930's butlers life

History Choice
Tommy - Richard Holmes
A very-readable original look at life and death in the Great War 1914

Travel Choice
Roads to Santiago - Cees Nooteboom
A determined and wonderful search into the minds and buildings of Spain and its people.

Politics/Current Affairs Choice
Shake Hands With the Devil - Romero Dallaire
How the UN really works ( or not ) during the Rwanda genocide.

War Choice
The Face Of War - Marta Gellhorn
Not a war book at all but a very humane look at the people who suffer in this world.