Not entirely sure why this has taken me so long, but here we go. It’s been quite awhile since I actually finished some of these (a couple of weeks), so they aren’t all immediate reactions.
253. The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
I’ll actually be interested to see what Burroughs does to get himself back to Tarzan and Jane after this installment that largely ignores them, in favour of sending their son to discover the jungle for himself. Just as implausible and stereotyped as the others, although with Meriem we do get a woman who can hunt, fight and live the life these men are constantly pulled back to.
254. The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
Ted (who has an unspecified syndrome that reads like Aspergers) and his older sister Kat welcome their aunt Gloria and cousin Salim on a flying visit (literally – Gloria and Salim are about to emigrate to New York) by taking them to the tourist sites of London. Due to the queues Salim goes up the London Eye alone while Ted and Kat watch his capsule round to greet him when he gets off. Except he doesn’t…
This book has obvious links to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, but is its own tale, as well as being a well-crafted mystery. In fact, it’s one of the few such where I would actually have liked to see further mysteries for the sleuthing team, but unfortunately Dowd died shortly after this book was written. I’ll have to get hold of some of her prior works.
255. Cite Them Right by Richard Pears and Graham Shields
Yes, it’s a guide to citing and referencing correctly (not how I do it here!) but I actually did read it cover to cover, and it’s far more readable than might have been anticipated.
256. The Garbage King by Elizabeth Laird
This tale of two young Ethiopian boys from Addis Ababa who end up running away from difficult situations after the sickness of their mothers turns their lives upside down is quite fascinating, well written and feels real. Dani is a shy boy from a well off family who does not get on with his self-made father and feels he cannot stay at home when his mother goes to a hospital abroad, while Mamo has to grow up very fast when his mother dies and his older sister cannot afford the rent for the shack they live in. The boys link up, grow and discover themselves, each other, and different ways of life.
257. In Black and White by Dov Haller
I really enjoyed this anthology of several short stories and the title novella. Haller has a grasp of human emotion and how it interacts with our ideals and the way we live our lives.
258. The Wonder Stick by Stanton A. Coblentz
It’s taken since March for this whole book to be read over on Forgotten Classics, (Julie often features other extracts on alternate episodes of the podcast) and at first I wasn’t convinced I liked it much, but it has grown on me a little. It’s not going to be my favourite book ever (I’m far more likely to revisit The Garbage King) but Julie reads well, and makes it worth listening to. Ru is not an especially heroic hero, since he can be vindictive, but then the society of his tribe (this is set in Stone Age pre-history) is not one that shares our morals, nor even those of classic sagas. Ru is clever and inventive, but not at all respected by Grumgra, the Chief, with whom he quickly develops a personal vendetta.
259. Almost A Man by Dr Mary Wood-Allen
I just formatted (in F1) this whole book/long pamphlet over on Distributed Proofreaders and read it as I went, out of a perturbed fascination. (Currently linking to its DP Project Page, but will change that once it’s up on Project Gutenberg.) Anyway, Wood-Allen seems to have made a bit of a name for herself by writing “moral” and “scientific” works for adolescents and their parents about puberty and how teenagers should behave. I wouldn’t say that this book actually tells an adolescent boy anything that’s worth knowing about puberty, because it doesn’t have many facts in it, but then perhaps it was really meant as a way for parents to open up a discussion. It is very clearly pushing a moral point of view, and is open about that.
260. The Girl’s Guide to Being a Boss by Caitlin Friedman & Kimberly Yorio
This is a fun (the cover is Very Pink) but informative little book, that tries to demystify management for those of us who didn’t enter our careers wanting to be managers, but for whom the career path entails a certain amount of it. I amn’t sure how much I’ll really be able to quote it in my management module, but I think it was still worth reading! It is confidence building, which is good.
261. Adventures of a Brownie by Miss Mulock
Another audiobook, from Librivox and this is a sweet and simple series of six adventures of the Brownie and the six children (three girls and three boys) of the household he lives in, during which they veer between the good and bad sides of the Cook, the Gardener, and his wife. It’s short and worth the listen.
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