Top 5 Reads on the Road in September
1. Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman
When Harry Potter came to a dramatic end there was a void left in its wake. Chocolate, caffeine and complex carbohydrates couldn't fill it and I came to the conclusion that a filling literary supplement was required. Northern Lights is exactly that. It's the beginning of a similarly thrilling series, the storyline is fantastically extravagant - yet still believable and the central character Lyra, is lovable because of a tough upbringing and a rebellious streak. Owls are supplemented by friendly demons, Dementors are replaced with armoured bears and in the up coming big screen version, Nicole Kidman replaces Alan Rickman as the token, heavy weight celebrity. The odds against our magical hero are of course insurmountable, the subtle references to the erosion of modern democracy are very much present and the desire to give up sleep in favour of reading is definitely provoked. Move over Potter – this stuff is darker, loveable and a little bit edgier.
Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman is published by Scholastic (paperback; £6.99). It is also available through amazon.co.uk and all good booksellers.
2. The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost
Mr Troost is a travel writer with the kind of literary edge that you usually only find in the world of Bill Bryson. Imagine a cutting and witty account of two years spent in the middle of nowhere, where there's virtually no contact with the western world. Soulless jobs are abandoned, the panic attack inducing debts are put on ice and a new chapter of life is embarked upon. The Sex Lives of Cannibals is an unabashed tale of escapism that so many of us dream about but never realise. Troost took his wife and made it happen in a land full of stunning sunsets, champagne pool lagoons and runways terrorized by the local pig population. It is however all the more appealing because the big picture is nowhere near perfect and all the nitty gritty annoyances of cultural miscommunications are included in this ride.
The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost is published by Random House (paperback; £7.99). It is also available through rbooks.co.uk and all good booksellers.
3. Best of Lisbon from Lonely Planet
In preparation for a special October exposure of the tourism scene in Portugal, I called upon the expansive and well informed resources of the Lonely Planet guide. This 96 page wonder is conveniently pocked sized and it gives you all the insight you need to pass for an informed and therefore non irritating traveller, in Portugal. You can read the Highlights section for free in this month's Travel Extract but just to wet your appetite for the whole hog, here are some of the other best bits. The fold out map is idiot proof, the author knows where all the best shops are, the history is accurately and informatively summarised in eight pages and all the essential information for excursions and emergencies is efficiently referenced. Add to that the mouth-watering food guide and you have a great guide to a city that never seems to sleep. Be sure to take a look at next month's Write Around The World story for my take on the insomniac city.
Best of Lisbon from Lonely Planet is published by Lonely Planet (paperback; £7.99). It is also available through amazon.co.uk and all good booksellers.
4. Singapore Swing by John Malanthronas
A well known sign of a good travel writer is the ability to follow up one good guide with another. Malanthronas has done just that by bettering Brazil, Life, Blood, Soul and Rainbow Diary with Singapore Swing. The writer first encountered Singapore as a backpacker and this tale is an account of the author's return to the city and his search for literary inspiration. The crime rates are low, a variety of faiths live together in apparent peace and respect for people and their property is paramount. When you've spent too long living in a distrustful city like London then this is the kind of read that inspires and reinforces a belief in the basic good of human beings. You may well be threatened into giving a drug addict tramp £3 for a bus ride to visit their cat in rehab on the other side of London, but there is a world outside of this web of lies and aggression and this well written tale of Singapore is proof of that.
Singapore Swing by John Malanthronas is published by Summersdale (paperback; £7.99). It is also available through amazon.co.uk and all good booksellers.
5. Letters to a Young Poet - Rainer Maria Rilke
I recently heard the following words when they were recited on a poplar new TV show - staring Calista Flockhart: “For one human being to love another is perhaps the most difficult task of all, the epitome, the ultimate test. It is that striving for which all other striving is merely preparation.” That struck a chord and after a little bit of online digging I tracked this wisdom down to Rainer Maria Rilke. The quote is an excerpt from a rather amazing little book entitled Letters to a Young Poet. Inside this you'll find ten remarkable letters between the accomplished writer (Rilke) and an aspiring young poet – Franz Kappus. The wisdom and constructive critiques passed on to Kappus have endured the passage of time and still effectively address the conundrums faced by writers shaping their craft in today's multi media age. It's not a long read but the complexity and the advice contained within these ten letters will inspire you to space out the absorption of these wise words.
Letters to a Young Poet - Rainer Maria Rilke is published by New World Library (hardback; $16). It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.
- Rob Savage
