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Current books

  • Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Shadow of the Wind

    Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Shadow of the Wind
    The discovery of a forgotten book leads to a hunt for an elusive author who may or may not still be alive...This book was a real page-turner. I couldn't put it down.

  • Amitav Ghosh: The Hungry Tide

    Amitav Ghosh: The Hungry Tide
    The Hungry Tide is a rich, exotic saga set in Calcutta and in the vast archipelago of islands in the Bay of Bengal. Beautifully written and believable, well-rounded characters.


  • Michela Wrong: In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz

    Michela Wrong: In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz
    Wonderfully written and an interesting portayal of the Congo and its extraordinary dictator Mobutu. The sheer level of corruption that took place under Mobutu means that in some ways this book reads as fiction rather than fact.

  • Jane Fletcher Geniesse: Passionate Nomad
    A fascinating book about the life of Freya Stark. I really didn't know very much about her - what an amazing woman.
  • Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner
    This is an extraordinary novel about moral courage and cowardice, human flaws and forgiveness set against the backdrop of Afghanistan. It gives a fantastic insight into Afghani culture and about how societies cope when they are uprooted and have to start again.
  • Ian Rankin: Fleshmarket Close
    You can't beat Rankin or Rebus for memories of Edinburgh.
  • William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream

    William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream
    We're in it....

  • Ryszard Kapuscinski: The Emperor

    Ryszard Kapuscinski: The Emperor
    Personal insights into Haile Selassie's reign from all the people closest to him...from his pillow-bearers to his spies.

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Humanitarian crisis

It was announced this morning that the number of people urgently needing food in Ethiopia has almost doubled to 3.8 million people. When the appeal was made in December there were only 2.1 million on the emergency list.
We're going to Dire Dowa near to Harar tomorrow. A joint trip organised by the World Food Programme, UNICEF and OCHA (the office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs) to see what is happening on a grass roots level.

More next week. We're back on Sunday night..we're also spending a couple of days going to the area hit by floods.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005 |

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