The Girl Who Married A Lion by Alexander McCall Smith

I am trying to make my way through The Life of Teresa of Avila by Herself. It's pretty tough going; although the writing is fairly straightforward, it is quite dense in places, and probably more suited to quiet contemplation than busy tube journeys. So I decided to ask our school librarian for something a bit lighter and easier, and this is what she recommended.

I have read quite a few African folk tales before, and these tales, rewritten and compiled by Alexander McCall Smith (with a "foreward by Mma Ramotswe"), and these were very much in line with my previous incursions. Each story is about five pages long - some much shorter, occasionally a bit longer. Some examples of final lines (I won't tell you which stories they are from, so it won't spoil your enjoyment):

The people said that the uncles should be killed. And so this happened.

Later, when he was chief, the short boy grew taller.

"Your sons are not lions," the uncle said to the boys' mother. "I am glad," she said.

They are hardly morals of the tale, but they are quite humorous, and I have enjoyed reading them. And now - back to St Teresa.

Reading in 2008

So I apparently only managed to finish 25 books in 2008, three down from my 2007 total. I am sure I managed more than that, but never got round to writing the reviews!! So here they are, in reverse order:

• 25. Tales of Beedle the Bard - JK Rowling
• 24. The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
• 23. The Tailor King - Anthony Arthur
• 22. Two Caravans - Marina Lewycka
• 21. When A Crocodile Eats the Sun - Peter Godwin
• 20. Fearless Fighter - Vera Chirwa
• 19. The Freedom Writers Diary - Erin Gruwell
• 18. Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight - Alexandra Fuller
• 17. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne
• 16. Apache: Girl Warrior - Tanya Landman
• 15. Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa - Peter Godwin
• 14. A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah
• 13. The Raphael Affair - Iain Pears
• 12. Boy - Roald Dahl
• 11. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid
• 10. The Medici Secret - Michael White
• 9. Fallen Gods - Quintin Jardine
• 8. The Immaculate Deception - Iain Pears
• 7. Misadventure in the Middle East - Henry Hemming
• 6. Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones
• 5. Not Without My Sister - Kristina, Juliana and Celeste
• 4. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
• 3. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
• 2. The Gathering - Anne Enright
• 1. My Booky Wook - Russell Brand

So that's 10 autobiographical works, 9 by women, five set in Africa, four that were on the Booker shortlist (including the one that won), three children's books, four detective/murder-mystery stories. Not sure what that reveals about me!

Fearless Fighter by Vera Chirwa

Reading Vera Chirwa's autobiography brought to life some of the events surrounding the transition from Nyasaland to Malawi. She describes the beginnings of self rule, the hopes and the struggles of the people, and the jealousies and intrigues surrounding the key players, particularly Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, her husband, Orton Chirwa, other Malawian politicians such as Aleke Banda, Masauko Chipembere, John Tembo, Gwanda Chakuamba and so on. The main focus of her book is on the kidnapping, imprisonment, trial and death sentence of her and Orton, and the abuse and suffering they faced in prison. It describes the death in suspicious circumstances of her much loved lawyer husband, and her life as a free woman who sees her role as being one to criticise the government in order to keep them on track.

The book is simply written in a generally chronological, descriptive and matter-of-fact way, and Vera comes across as being very active - appropriate, since she is an activist. Some random quotes:

"'How can I forget you, when we suffered together?' I asked, and went out to form the League of Malawi Women."

"He thought that he was going to make fun of me, but the stupid man did not know that I was a woman activist. As a barrister you are trained to carry yourself in a very proper manner and I continued unmoved by his rudeness."

"When I came out of prison, I was encouraged more or less immediately to stand for President ... But I was weak and felt it was madness to run for President so soon after 12 years in prison. When nominations were up I deliberately left the country. ... In 2004, I thought the time was ripe."

Vera describes studying for her law exams while pregnant, and giving birth on one of the days in between her exams. The examiner has to chase her driver away from the exam hall when her newborn's crying disturbs Vera in one exam. You do get a sense of a woman who does not let things like pregnancy, birth, child rearing get in the way of fighting for the human rights of all Malawians, and women in particular. She is obviously a determined woman, a fighter, as she describes herself. Occasionally, she seems a bit too good to be true! But, overall, it was very interesting hearing about this time in Malawian history from another point of view, and from the perspective of someone who was intimately involved at the time.

My Booky Wook by Russell Brand

What a change from my last completed book of 2007 and my first completed book of 2008! Russell Brand's life so far couldn't really be further from John Pridmore's! Unless of course you include the fact that they were both involved with drugs at one stage in their life.

My Booky Wook is a very well written and interesting book - I read it very quickly, and enjoyed it. Had a long discussion about it with H on the way south yesterday. It definitely starts off well, and Brand's voice is very clearly heard, but the language seems to become flatter towards the end, although that could simply be because we are used to the style by then. One thing I noticed was that there seems to be very little introspection of his circumstances, although they are well described, and the reader can see the connections between different events in his life without the need for much reflection on Brand's part. I suppose writing the book in itself is the reflection.

One of the good things about the book was that it clearly was not one of those ghost written autobiographies, which can be very interesting and informative, but can be quite flat in tone. This seemed to be very obviously Brand's book.

Brand's actual life has been drug and sex filled, so it's not exactly a book to read if you want to be inspired in an uplifting type of way, but it is a good read and I would recommend it.

From Ganglands to Promised Land by John Pridmore

I read this autobiography in preparation for meeting the man himself in a week's time when he will come to speak to our pupils. I read it really quickly because I wanted to find out what happened. John Pridmore was an East End bouncer, involved in gangs and criminal activity round about the time of the Krays. After almost killing a man, he found God and became heavily involved in Catholic youth work. An inspirational story, and unusual for me because although I've read lots of similar stories of conversion to evangelical Christianity, I've never read one which has such an emphasis on the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Adoration of the Eucharist before. Very enjoyable, and I'm really looking forward to meeting the man himself!