Top Reads in May

I cracked on with my 1001 challenge and read quite a few. They were very varied, both in nationality of the authors and in genre. Three of my 1001 books were WW1 and 2 related. The first, Closely Observed Trains is a short 1001 book. I saw the film back when I lived in Prague, and it was pretty faithful to the book as far as I remember. A young man Milos, working for the Czech Railways under German occupation, has just come back to work after a suicide attempt stemming from unconsumated relationship with Masha. It is comic, but also full of tragedy. I dusted off Suite Francaise as part of a Librarything readalong. Suite française are the two books that Irène Némirovsky wrote in WW2, before her death in Auschwitz. The two books themselves are rather different, but as can be seen from the first appendix, the author planned to tie the threads together. This is not a book about heroes, rather this is the reality of people living in terrible times. At first, in the first book, I found it hard to sympathise with the characters, until I tried to place myself in their shoes, surely our own survival is the most basic of instincts. All Quiet on the Western Front, a reread for me, I was chosen by World Book Night to hand out the book in March, and so I read it on its way to a friend. I wanted to give out the book because, despite being written about a war which started nearly a century ago, I think it's still relevant today. All politicians should be made to read this before being sworn into office.
I especially enjoyed Burmese Days, I am a big George Orwell fan, and this is another of his good books. This is a biting look at life in Burma, the machinations of the British, Burmese and other nationalities. Diary of a Nobody was a lighter read from the list, very amusing! I have had this for a while, but it was only at Christmas that I realised it was on the 1001 list, so I bumped it up to the top of my reading pile. Mr. Charles Pooter is a nobody, well, he is no Pepys or Johnson, but he won't let that hold him back. What makes this funny is that Pooter takes himself rather seriously, opening himself up to being laughed at by others.



As for non-1001 reads, Seven Years in Tibet, I finally read it after being put off the beautiful but terribly dull film. The book is Harrer's own words, his experience in Tibet, a country which, even today, is one of the last really mysterious places on Earth. Harrer arrived in Tibet after escaping from a POW camp in India, a great adventure in itself. He writes about all aspects of Tibetan life, from life in the provinces to life in the capital, Lhasa, where he became a tutor of sorts to the Dalai Lama. Recommended.



I also read a good mystery, A Case of Exploding Mangoes. I bought this for the title, who could resist such a provocative one, especially with a great cover. I must admit, I know very little about Pakistan, and the case that the book is about, the suspicious death of General Zia, was completely unknown of by me. The book opens with an assertion of the ending, the death of Zia, and then moves back to explain how Shigri comes to be the only survivor. Keeping with the military theme, I also read Captain Pantoja and the Special Service. Captain Pantoja is ordered to Iquitos to deal with a military problem, he has to stop the frustrated servicemen jumping on the local women. His orders are to organise the "special service", where "specialists" provide "services". Pantoja applies his military ethos to the task in hand, making "Pantiland", as his enterprise becomes known, a great success. As to be expected, "Pantiland" is not universally popular, especially among the good burghers of Iquitos and the clergy. Very funny.