Out of the way

Number 31 - Boudica, by Vanessa Colingridge

A journalist goes in search of the real history of Boudica, often known as Boudicea the archetype British warrior queen. A blend of the actual history with the story of finding out about that history. I am a history nut anyway, but the blend of some interesting history of early Roman Britain with a personal account of what doing historical research is really like was really great.

I started the book at the beginning of the year, but then it found its way into my baggage, which was lost for me by Lufthansa, and sat in a suitcase for a couple of months. But I was happy to take it up again and really enjoyed it.

Number 32 - The Weather Makers, by Tim Flannery

Tim Flannery is a biologist, and currently the Australian of the year. I read a book of his once before - Throwim Way Leg - about working in Papua New Guinea highlands looking for tree kangaroos, and the people he met. This book is about global warming. It is scary, it is scathing of the Australian Government in particular and it examines carefully what actually might save or destroy the environment we understand today. Interestingly, it suggests that we should keep flying, because the huge volume of "contrails" left in the sky by aircraft appear to have a real impact on keeping the planet a bit cooler. It says the simplest thing most people can do is buy a hybrid car, but that there are a lot of important things to do and if we don't then we are in for a very interesting ride in my expected lifetime.

Number 33 - Theft, by Peter Carey

I like Peter Carey's books. He writes in a way I recognise as Australian, and this book is based in Australia. It is a handful of love stories - a painter, his brother who has an unspecified intellectual disability, a woman who loves him, his ex-wife, an art detective, and paintings. Told in the first person by both brothers and wrapped around a crime story dealing with a painting, it was enjoyable, real and yet fantastic.

Number 34 - Memoria de Mis Putas Tristes, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Another love story. Told in first person by a 90-year old, who has never loved anyone and spent a casual life chasing sex, it begins with the rather tricky (but perfectly believable because it happens in the world) proposition that he wants to rent a 14-year-old virgin as a prostitute. From such an unpromising beginning, and such an immediately unsympathetic character, a real love story emerges between people who are all too real. If it deals with a side of society that we might generally prefer not to think about (but which makes tabloid newspapers popular - maybe we just don't like to say we think about it) then it draws out some of the real beauty that exists even in the dirty bits at the bottom of some of our communal barrels. No magic here, just realism. marquez is an author I like, and this was a somewhat challenging but worthwhile read.